IELTS preparation tips from winners

Wai Hong Tan is 26 years old; he lives in Malaysia and speaks Chinese. Wai isn’t a native English speaker – in fact, he doesn’t even speak English regularly. This, however, didn’t stop him from getting an Overall Band Score of 7.5 in IELTS and winning in our monthly IELTS results competition. Here are a few tips he shared that may help other test takers score higher:

“I am not a native English speaker and I hardly speak in English at all in my state. However, I have my pride in my writing skills as I would frequently win the competitions in which I participated. Getting a 7.5 surprised me, not because it is good, but because I expected more, especially in the writing section. I am quite sure I made no grammatical errors at all in writing, and I met the word limits. Here is my advice to do better in IELTS:

1. Writing: Avoid grammatical errors, do not exceed the word limit by more than 10%, and try NOT to use too many bombastic words (which is one of my tendencies, as I like to include words like VENTRIPOTENT CONCUPISCENCE and MELLIFLUOUS MAGNILOQUENCE), and most importantly, try to make it content-rich and cohesive (this could be one of my weaknesses). Additionally, I think I wrote something like ‘Apropos of this statement, I am in consummate discord/accord with it’ and I am not quite sure if this is accepted as a correct sentence in the eyes of the examiners, so it is best to avoid.

2. Speaking: The MOST important part is DO NOT GET STRESSED. I know it is impossible not to have butterflies in the stomach at all, but the best thing to do in this part is to think of it as a casual conversation with the examiner, and try not to show too much tension. Speak as much as you can, avoid errors if possible, and correct yourself whenever you realize you made a mistake.

3. Reading: This part is quite hard for us. I noticed many test takers could not complete the paper in time (they were trying to write even though the time was already out), probably due to the lengthy and complex texts in the paper. I myself did not do particularly well in this section but I think I would be able to do better by first reading the questions (rather than the text first) and focusing on what the questions ask. This component is indeed the most challenging race against time.

4. Listening: For most candidates I think this may either be the easiest or hardest part. Firstly, read the instructions (the number of words required) and the questions, and try waiting for the recording to reach the point of possible answers. In case you miss the part and the recording moved on to another question, leave the first question and try to fill it in with possible words later (better than to leave it blank).

I wish this would be of some help to the other IELTS candidates. Good luck with scoring Band 8+ 🙂 “

Ashkan is a 19 year old Farsi speaker and a proud owner of a remarkable IELTS score. He received Band 8 in a recent exam after preparing on his own. This is how he dealt with all the obstacles on the way to success:

“The most terrible thing for an IELTS candidate is confusion. This is especially true for self-taught students. This confusion is caused by the gigantic number of different sources of information, which are sometimes inaccurate, so finding a trustable source of tips and tactics for how to approach the test, and studying it as well, is the key to success – at least for me it was. In the book Target Band 7 the information is classified and helps students familiarise themselves with the types of questions that they’ll be given in the real test.

The Reading Module was the hardest one for me. I used to get a 5 or 6 in the practice tests, and I was pretty disappointed. But surprisingly I got an 8.5 in the real test. So do not feel dizzy and frustrated if you have the same problem. There are pretty nice tips in Target Band 7, especially on time management, which I believe is the most important thing in the Reading test. I put these tips and tactics into work; I tried to figure out the causes of my mistakes, and wrote them down on a piece of paper. I read them every time I wanted to start practising. For example ‘read the whole statement’ or ‘do not use your assumptions, use what you actually read’ or similar. This really worked. Believe me guys, at least for this module, all you need to do is practice. I admit that I never achieved more than 7 in my practice tests. By the way, after finishing a test, I used to read and enjoy the passages. The information comes handy sometimes, for Writing Task 2.

The Listening Module was really easy for me though. I am used to listening to English podcasts on my iPod, and that really helped. The most important point was achieving the ability to write and listen at the same time. You need to be really quick. There are many common mistakes, such as getting stuck on a question and losing the following ones because of that, and Target Band 7 helped me avoid them.

The Writing Module is always a little hard to practice, as you can’t evaluate your own essays and reports. But writing lots of them helps you get quick at it. Target Band 7 helped me the most in Writing. It helped me learn what I’m going to deal with. Almost every possible type of chart is given in the book with great tips and important points. I wrote at least one of each type, and used the explanations given in the book.

If you still feel disappointed about your writing, knowing about the mess I made in my exam could make you feel better. I started from Writing Task 1, and wrote for 10 minutes. All of a sudden, I found out that I’m quite into details instead of writing selectively (as I had read in Target Band 7 book), so I erased it all and started Writing Task 2. I was really nervous because I knew that I did not have much time, but I did my best and was pretty surprised by getting 7.0 in writing. I believe this was due to writing selectively instead of covering the whole chart.

My Speaking test went well. Again, paying attention to the tips given in the book helped a lot, but practicing is also needed. First of all, make sure your anxiety does not affect your performance. And secondly, as I read in an article in IELTS-blog, “Do Not Stop Until the Examiner Stops You”. That’s the key to success. I talked a lot to myself, and tried to record my voice and listen to it (but I hate hearing my own voice so I skipped this step). I did not try to be fancy, instead I kept it simple, correct and fluent and I made it to a 7.5.

To wrap up, remember to practice, practice and whenever you’re tired of practicing, practice again. I want you to know that the IELTS exam is not a monster unless you make one out of it. Try to do your best and even if you feel disappointed, don’t let it influence you. Keep going and you will make it!”