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IELTS preparation tips from winners

IELTS high achievers share their secrets

How Tony overcame all challenges and got Band 7 in IELTS

Tony’s first language is Spanish, and he lives in Venezuela. When Tony started his IELTS preparation, things looked tough because he only had 9 weeks until the exam, he learned English 15 years ago and hasn’t ever been to any English-speaking country. However all these obstacles didn’t stop him from getting Band 7 in the exam! As one of our students and a winner of IELTS results competition, here is what Tony shared about his exam preparation:

Band 7 in IELTS“My real challenge was preparation time, I had barely two to three months to prepare for the test with not much free time available due to my busy life. So I needed a reference material because it was my first IELTS attempt and I needed a score of 6 in all components of the test for immigration purposes, so I decided to get IELTS Success Formula, it was a wise decision, I got an overall band score of 7.

My advice is to practice every day to improve your listening and reading skills, but the first and most important step is to familiarize yourself with all the type of questions of the test, IELTS is not actually very difficult, but it is a demanding, very technical and tricky test.

For Listening, I trained my ears listening to BBC podcasts first thing in the morning almost every day for about 2 months, and practiced with many IELTS Practice Tests.

For Reading, timing is important, there isn’t enough time to think carefully about each answer, so I had to read a lot and practice a lot under real test conditions, I found a lot of helpful exercises in IELTS Success Formula.

For Writing, again, time is your worst enemy, my advice is to read a lot of essays, and then begin practicing writing under real test conditions, www.IELTS-Blog.com is a great source of information and I found a lot of examples to practice for the Writing part of the test.

For Speaking, I did not have the opportunity to practice for this part of the test, and I got a 7 in Speaking which is amazing, considering the fact that I learned English 15 years ago, and I have never been in any English-speaking country, but, again, my advice is to check IELTS-Blog.com and IELTS Success Formula, they both have a lot of useful advice and exercises for this part of the test.

On the test day try to be calm and make eye contact with the examiner, speak with confidence, and consider the speaking test as a friendly conversation.”

Romit’s 4 secrets to IELTS Band 8.5

Band 8 in IELTSRomit is a 34 year-old Indian IELTS candidate, whose first language is Bengali. His remarkable IELTS score (Overall Band 8.5 with a perfect 9 in Reading) was the reason we ‘met’ – he sent his IELTS results to participate in our monthly competition, and won. When we asked Romit to share his secret to success, it turned out there was more than just one – “Start early, be determined, know yourself and have confidence” are the rules that should guide you in your IELTS preparation, he said.

Here is what Romit suggested in his winner’s interview:

“First of all, I think it is very important to start preparing early for IELTS. I used to practice for a minimum of 1 hour every day for 3 months. There are numerous online materials for IELTS preparation available and test seekers should look to exploit them, especially for Reading and Listening modules.

Secondly, I feel that focus is very important. One should have fire in their bellies and an urge to perform well. Dedication, determination and discipline are extremely important. Otherwise you cannot separate yourself from the crowd.

Thirdly, it is also important to understand one’s strengths and weaknesses for each module. For example, I felt I needed more practice and tips for the Writing tasks and so put more time and effort towards it. I referred to many materials online to understand the requirements of a good score in the Writing module and tried to write accordingly in the test.

Fourthly, for the Speaking test, it is not only your speaking skills that are evaluated by the examiner, but also your body language, facial expressions and attitude. So I took extra care to get these aspects right. One has to look confident and positive during the Speaking test. It is good to listen to a lot of videos available online, listen to people who speak well, focus on grammar and pronunciation and converse as much as possible in English to iron out any issues that might be there.

Lastly, for the Listening and Reading modules, there are certain techniques that are employed for every section and which are very well explained and captured in the British Council training materials. One should go through them, understand the intricacies and implement them in the exams.”