IELTS preparation tips from winners

Sometimes the inspiration you need to achieve your dreams can be found in a few simple words of wisdom, and that is exactly what we have for you today. We would like you to meet two winners of our monthly IELTS results competition, because there is a lot you can learn from their experience.

Kourosh Moini lives in Iran, he is a native Farsi speaker who got Band 7.5 in Academic IELTS. When we asked Kourosh how he scored so well, he said:

“In my experience, knowing where your strengths and weaknesses are is the best guide you can have. So the first step is to identify those and be truly honest with yourself. I achieved this simply by taking standard practice tests at home. After 3 tests, I recognized very clearly where my skills came short and needed improvements.

Then you can parcel the issues and come up with a solution. In my case, my strength is listening and my weakness was writing. So, I started searching for information on how to improve my writing skills and I found out that collocations and the ability to write in the appropriate structures are of great importance. Then, I studied this book called “Collocation in use” by Cambridge publications that helped me a lot and started watching some online courses on how to use the appropriate structure in regard to various writing questions.

I can also recommend, when practicing your reading skills, pay attention to how native authors paraphrase a concept because it is very useful. This can fix many errors in this section and it gives you the ability to imitate native authors’ styles when writing your own material.

In www.IELTS-Blog.com there are many speaking questions from actual recent IELTS tests – that can be very effective and helped me a lot to prepare for my speaking session with the help of a dear friend. Actually, Part 2 of my speaking was somehow similar to a previous test I found on IELTS-Blog.com.

Hope what I wrote helps others and wish you all the best possible results in your IELTS exams.”

Amir Ebrahimi also lives in Iran; he got Band 8.0 in General Training IELTS. When we asked him what others could do to increase their IELTS score like he did, he put together quite a few handy tips:

“Firstly, I suggest that candidates increase their connection with the language they are trying to learn. To do so, I used to listen to at least 10 podcast channels with varied accents. In addition to that, I switched my bedtime reading from Farsi to English. I also used to watch TV series with English subtitles to improve my reading comprehension and listening at the same time. All in all, you shouldn’t miss any chance to be a professional English consumer 🙂 .

Secondly, I was wrong thinking that I can get the required score purely by self-study, which led me to fail in 3 exams in a row. That was when I started to consult with IELTS teachers and successful candidates to get familiar with my weaknesses and get feedback on my essays and speaking skills. Therefore, I asked a local teacher for help with the writing section and bought the writing correction service from IELTS-Blog.com to have my essays revised by a native IELTS expert. During my preparation, I had collected all the mistakes I was made aware of, and reviewed them the day before the exam to avoid repeating them. Therefore, do not forget to ask an expert for help in order to get your desired score in the first attempt.

Finally, use the official IDP and British Council resources to get ready for the test condition. You can’t get a high band without knowing the tricks and techniques to face different question types, even if you have decent language abilities. I also suggest that you read the Writing Band Descriptors very closely, as it’s the most important document used by IELTS examiners to mark your essays.

I hope reading these will help other candidates overcome their IELTS challenges.”

A very big thank-you to Kourosh and Amir from us all for sharing their knowledge.

The tips we have for you today come from a very reliable source. Michael Abosi, a winner of our June IELTS Results competition who scored Band 8 in IELTS, is sharing what he learnt in his exam preparation:

“IELTS exam is a test of your English language proficiency. In other words you are going to be tested, as you already know, on your grasp of the English language.

Whichever way you approach this exam, your frequent usage and skill will show in one way or another. The best way, in my opinion, to tackle this exam is to expose yourself to a broad base of material that will challenge your knowledge base on the subject matter.

Writing skill

My favorite writing tips can be found here, most notably the 4 C’s of writing. You should read and understand all the tips presented in this website as they are informative. Remember ‘skill’ is the key, and not being verbose. Less is more!

Listening skill

Have a pen in hand to scribble down all important points discussed (these may include dates, addresses, team members, pointers, topics, requirements nuances etc) as you listen to the recording. That will be your only reference while answering the questions later.

Reading skill

The key to acing the reading section is to read books. The more abstract the books are, the better. This will better prepare you for the various content IELTS exam reading section is based on.

I have found that reading the first two lines in a paragraph and the last sentence gives you a good overview of the paragraph information. Skim through all the paragraph this way at first glance. Then head straight and read all the questions and return to read the comprehension thoroughly. With the questions ringing at the back of your mind, as you approach possible answers while reading the text again, you will be better poised to answer quickly and correctly. Feel free to skip hard questions an return to them later on.

Speaking skill

The key is to communicate clearly. I found that speaking is a skill both native and non-native English speakers have to learn. You need to be clear, concise and expressive to make a subjective impact on your examiner.

In summary, all the necessary tips can be found on this website. Wish you all the best in your exams.”