IELTS preparation tips from winners

You may remember Pritam Kumar, who scored 8.5 in IELTS and took the second place in our monthly IELTS results competition in June. When we asked Pritam what helped him achieve this great score, he said:

“I would advise the below strategy:

Benchmark yourself – The first thing to do before taking up any competitive test is to benchmark your abilities against the requirements of the examination. You can do this by taking diagnostic tests and comparing your score, or generally be aware of what the test demands and where you stand right now. The more honest you are in your assessment, the more chances you have of landing up with a good score later on.

For IELTS, I discovered that I was already scoring well in Reading/Listening. Since Speaking and Writing were subjective, I took the help of others to judge me on those sections, and then I knew where I needed to alter things or think differently. Someone who has given the IELTS before or an IELTS trainer can help you here.

Start practicing (regularly) – Start working more on your weak/ambiguous areas but make sure this doesn’t hamper your score in your strong areas. I regularly used to take tests from the Cambridge Practice test book that was sent by the British Council, once I enrolled with them for the test.

Even if you find the test easy, keep on practicing regularly.

For the Speaking section, IELTS demands a structure more than anything. You need not speak fast, this is absolutely not required, but you should be clear and precise. Take your time to gather your thoughts and then choose the right words. I have seen friends falter on the day of the test, even though they speak very decent English generally. Remember the test taker doesn’t know you and he/she has just 15-25min (or maybe even less) to judge you and give a score. Pay particular attention to Speaking, as it is very subjective. Practice recording short monologues about your daily life/pet/weekend activity/wife/family/hobbies on your smartphone and make someone listen to those or listen at a later time and rate yourself.

Writing is easy as long as you follow the structure (salutations, paragraphs etc.). Never write less than the specified word limit. Also, read the topic carefully before you start writing. Don’t rush for the initial 5 minutes, at least.

Listening and Reading – I guess most people are fine with these sections, but if you find that you are weak in these, just practice as much as you can. Work out a pattern that works best for you as these are mostly objective questions and a lot depends on your approach.

Prepare yourself for the test – The test is also about endurance. Till I came to the Writing section, which was the last one, I must admit I was getting a little bit slow. And this is when you also need to use your thoughts and hands at the same time. Make sure you prepare yourself for the Writing section, and don’t let yourself slow down and think that you have time. In the test, time flies 🙂

Best of luck to all of you! The IELTS is an easy test if you follow the structure in each section. That is all that it demands.”

Achieving a great result in IELTS is very important to all readers and subscribers of IELTS-Blog.com, which is why you will probably find this post interesting. Nima, who recently got Band 8 in IELTS, is talking about the methods that helped him face the exam being well-prepared:

“I would like to share some quick notes regarding the IELTS exam so that the contestants achieve the best result:

First of all, I defiantly recommend the book provided by your website “Ace the IELTS“. My main reason is that this book provides the most vital and right to the point information one needs in order to take the exam. In my opinion reading this book is mandatory for people who are sitting the exam for the first time and is also very beneficial for others.

Speaking

Frankly, in my opinion this skill cannot be very improved within a short period of time. If you have listened to many English /American conversations such as movies or T.V series, you have already picked up a good accent. On the other hand I suggest speaking to other friends in English and trying not to cheat! Being in an English speaking environment is the ideal opportunity.

Listening

Practice makes perfect, and regarding this specific subject , try to get your hands on as many sample exams as you can, after taking 5 or 6 exams you’ll get the hang of it and figure out how the exam is going to be taken, so you will never be caught off-guard. I took all the tests provided by the Cambridge IELTS test samples and while taking the actual exam, nothing was new to my ears.

Reading

Again , you can gain the know-how of this subject by reading the “Ace the IELTS” digital book, it has explained everything so anything I say won’t compete with that, and then practice with the sample test I mentioned earlier.

Writing

This part was the bottleneck of my project. Frankly, I am not a big fan of reading books and novels and the only writing I have ever done is in the office which was mostly work related material. Try to get to know the common subjects that you will face in the exam and be creative, and don’t forget the rules of writing , if you go by the book you’ll be safe , and by now you know which book I’m talking about.

One last thing I want to say is that my speaking test experience in Iran was a little bit awkward. I have worked in international companies for more than 6 years and have talked to many different people with different accents, from Japanese to Chinese, Canadian, American, Australian and of course British. However, at the time of my interview the examiner talking to me had the weirdest accent which confused me very much, and his act was also quite weird. I have to say that this experience was the same for other students who took the exam with me; I did get an eight for my speaking exam, but I was expecting much more, so I guess what I’m trying to say is , aside all other things , be prepared for some unexpected stuff.