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IELTS Test Results competition

Writing tips from IELTS high scorer (Band 8.0)

Some time ago I began publishing the tips I’ve received from Vasco Medeiros, our previous IELTS results competition winner, who got an Overall Band Score of 8.0. Thanks to those methods Vasco was able to score as high as he did.

Even though I had to interrupt the sequence of his tips to deliver the most recent exam updates to you, I hadn’t forgotten about the rest of them – his advice makes a lot of sense to me, and may help you with your exam preparation. Today it’s Writing tips, the previously published Reading tips are here and the Listening tips are here.

Vasco says:

This was, by far, the most difficult and challenging task for me, since I haven’t written anything in English since high school, many years ago. I can recall the first essay I’ve written: it took me 3 or 4 days to write it in my spare time with lots of thinking, planning, browsing the dictionary and grabbing words to express my thoughts on paper.

The reason I say this is simply for you to persist and try again even if the first attempts seen frustrating or greatly exceed the time limits. Don’t let this hold you back! By browsing the dictionary and writing down unfamiliar words, you will minimize spelling mistakes that cost you points!

This was also the section where IELTS-blog was more helpful to me, with the writing tips and essay examples. I read lots of them and even printed some band 7 and 8 essays in order to study the structure and vocabulary more closely. Learn from the best. If you persevere, you will write at their level.

Plan your report or essay before you actually start writing it. Those 2-4 initial minutes in planning can save you a lot of time and frustration while writing because you don’t have to worry about structure and sequence of ideas later on. With practice you will be even able to produce texts within the word limits without having to count the words every time.

If possible, have a teacher review your work and correct your mistakes. My own method was to complete the writing tasks in exam conditions in pencil on paper. Then I would type my text and mail it to my teacher for correction. This way I would immediately be aware of the number of words I’ve written (keep an eye on the “word count” functionality of your software) and got some basic spelling mistakes corrected right there. Them my teacher would review and correct my texts giving me valuable feedback both by e-mail and in the class.

After a few weeks of typing, I installed voice recognition software to speed things up. Instead of typing I just had to read aloud my hand-written text. Since the accuracy of the voice recognition software depends on how well you pronounce it, you can imagine how my speaking improved: I had to pronounce the words/phrases correctly for my words appear on the screen. Feedback in real-time! And it also saved me many hours of cumbersome typing in the process.

IELTS competition winner reveals secrets of her success

I would like to share with you the email I’ve received from Trang Do – our results competition winner with overall Band 8.0. The reason I’m doing this is not to publish more praise for IELTS-Blog. You know who we are, and you know what we do. My reason is entirely different – the way Trang Do describes her preparation really proves that it is possible for an ordinary person to get great results in IELTS – just add practice. Here is what she says:

“Dear Simone,

Thank you so much for your blog in which I found valuable sources for my English practice in general and IELTS test in particular. I was introduced to IELTS-Blog by some friends of mine a couple of months before my actual test. Since then, I regularly received helpful tips for my self study. I especially appreciate your efforts in compiling tests taken from different parts and giving out to all blog members.

To share a little bit about my IELTS learning process, I practiced intensively a month before the test date. I tried to listen to English tapes, videos and read as much as possible all kinds of English publications. Regarding listening, which was once my weakest skill, the book “Target Band 7” was of great assistance to improve my listening score. I followed tips presented in the book and it really worked.

2 months before the test, I rarely scored 7.5 for the listening section. But in the real test, my score was 8.5. I hope that the blog will continue to be a partner of English learners.

Wish you all the best.

Trang Do”