IELTS preparation tips from winners

This post is dedicated to success stories of four working professionals who had to fit IELTS preparation into their busy life. Not only did they manage… they exceeded everyone’s expectations – including their own – and got IELTS scores ranging from Band 7.5 to 8.5. Earlier this week we promised to share their testimonials on the blog – so here they are.

Everyone, meet Akinola and Abimbola, a husband and wife from Nigeria, both in their 30s, native Yoruba speakers.

They used ‘Ace the IELTS’ book in their preparation, and took the test in Saudi Arabia. Right after the exam Akinola wrote to Simone:

“The exam was great! Your resources were very helpful to both me and my wife (we both took the exam). We feel very confident.”

It turns out they had every reason to feel confident, because Akinola got Band 8 and Abimbola got Band 7.5.

Akinola said:

“You materials really helped a great deal, I only had 1week of effective study.”

Only ONE week? Well done, Akinola!

The next person we’d like you to meet is Vivek Sharma, a 43 year-old native Hindi speaker, who now resides in Melbourne, Australia.

Vivek got an Overall IELTS score of 8.5 in his first attempt. Can you imagine he isn’t completely happy with his score?! Here is how he describes his IELTS preparation:

“I wanted to update you regarding my IELTS Result which I cleared in 1st attempt with an overall score of 8.5. In writing, I was not happy with the output and got only 7.5, otherwise it could have been 8 all the way. And it was my mistake as I started writing without framing the structure first and after all was done, I was sure that 8 will be difficult and there was no time left for rewriting everything. This book ‘Ace the IELTS’ helped me prepare in a very short time.

My scores are: Listening 8, Reading 9, Writing 7.5, Speaking 8.5.

For a person like me, with almost 20 years of work experience and hardly any time for preparation, ‘Ace The IELTS’ helped me to clearly understand what is expected and how to best use the time. Have discussed IELTS with many friends before but did not have a clear reply except from the one, who referred me to your website. [Your book of] around 70 pages and to the point guidance helped me prepare in a short time. Before subscribing to this, had tried on my own with Cambridge series of books, but the results were not encouraging. Somehow after I read your book and did some practice, I could see the difference. I would have spent less than 72 hours preparing for the test over a period of 2 months.”

And the lucky last for today is Theresa from Lagos. Theresa is 45 years old and took the IELTS test for immigration to Canada. She got an Overall Band score of 7.5 (with an 8 in Listening and Writing) and here’s what she wrote to us:

“Your book and the various practice materials helped me greatly, especially in the areas of letter writing and essay writing. l last wrote an essay when l was in secondary school about 27 years ago. l could only practice 2 weeks before the exam due to a tight work schedule. l was so thrilled to see a score of 8 in Writing. The listening examples were great also and helped me in achieving these scores.

l have already recommended your book to my sister and her husband, and to my friends and colleagues who are writing this exams soon. God bless you for the role you are playing in making us realise our dreams, please keep it up. And oh my husband got an overall band of 6 with only about 3 days of intense practice with your materials. Thanks.”

Alex Umeanozie is a 26 year-old man from Nigeria who took the IELTS test and got a 7.5 Overall Band Score. He didn’t have much time to prepare, only two weeks, because taking the exam was required for his scholarship application. As one of the winners of our monthly IELTS results competition, we asked Alex to share some tips with future test takers. Here is what he said:

“Speaking Test

I thought the Speaking Test would be the most challenging for me, as I am quite a shy guy. But before the test I got to know all about the speaking part and what was expected from the candidate. It is important to keep in mind that the examiner only cares about how you communicate in English and not whether your answers are right or wrong. This gave me a lot of confidence. So I spoke to the examiner as I would speak to a colleague in an everyday scenario. I scored 7.5 in the speaking test.

Listening Test

The listening test was by far the most comfortable for me. It requires a lot of practice, in a way of doing some listening exercises. Answer the questions as you listen, as the recording won’t be repeated a second time. If you miss a part of the recording, don’t panic, move on with the conversation and answer the next questions accordingly. My score in the listening test was 8.0.

Reading Test

The reading test consists of some passages. You don’t have to read the whole passage. My technique is to go to the question first, then look for the answer in the passage. The first sentence in each paragraph is the topic sentence and tells what the whole paragraph is about. My score in the reading test was 7.0.

Writing Test

I think writing was the most challenging for me. There are two tasks, the first has to do with how well you are able to analyse a given chart, diagram, table, etc and it carries less marks than the second task. You should study the chart carefully and build your paragraphs clearly. Ensure you know what is required for each question to avoid deviating from the topic.”