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IELTS Test Results competition

Trinadh overcame his fears, confusion and overwhelm, and the prize was IELTS Band 7.5

Exams make most people nervous, and Trinadh was no exception. Just like other IELTS test takers, he wasn’t sure about the best resources or books to use, and how to study. But the one different thing about him was, he didn’t give in to his fears, he went from confusion to clarity and achieved his IELTS goal!

Here is what he wrote to us, after receiving his IELTS score:

“Ace the IELTS made my dream come true!!!

I first heard about this book from a friend. Initially I was skeptical whether to buy this book or go with tons of resources available online, however, I’m overwhelmed and also perplexed by all the materials accessible over the net. After thinking for a while I chose the book, and trust me you won’t regret buying this book.

I wrote few practice tests before I start my preparation to know my current level so that I can plan my preparation accordingly, and my initial scores were worse than I expected. Then, I started preparing seriously for the test. This book has so many useful tips and strategies that helped me to overcome my fears. In addition to the tips, it also has a 21 day study plan that assisted me to practice well.

I’d say this book is a must read for all the test takers. But those tips come handy only if you implement them while practicing. So don’t neglect the practice.

Boom!!! On my result day, I can’t believe my scores. I was over the moon. I got the required scores for my immigration.

IELTS Band Score 7.5

Listening – 8
Reading – 7.5
Writing – 7
Speaking – 7
Overall – 7.5

I’m forever grateful to Simone.”

As a winner of our IELTS results competition Trinadh kindly shared his tips, to help everyone score their best in IELTS. Here they are:

Listening

It is not that easy as it sounds. Even I felt it was difficult during the initial stages of my practice. The tips in “Ace The IELTS” helped me a lot. In addition to this, I started watching BBC News to get used to peculiar accents. You can watch your favourite movies or TV programs, and make sure you watch them without subtitles.

Practice the High Scorer’s Choice tests by Simone Braverman and also Cambridge Tests 11 and 12. And after every test, play the listening audio again and identify how the answers are being embedded in the audio.

Reading

Again High Scorer’s Choice and Cambridge Tests. Though I’m okay with Reading, synonyms played the trick here. The more synonyms you know, the faster you’ll get the answer. For this I started reading newspapers and weekly magazines to improve my vocabulary. Understand and implement the tips given in Ace The IELTS book. Practice as much as you can until you constantly get above 35 out of 40. The tips in Simone’s book are succinct.

Writing

For writing, understand the question first and try to identify what type of question it is. Read the band 8 & 9 essays on ielts-blog.com to know the structure and format of the essay. Though I didn’t opt for writing correction services, I surely recommend it for the test takers if you want to score 7 and above. Make sure your style of writing is formal throughout the essay. And try to write the essays or letters/reports directly on the sample answer sheet that you’ll get on test day.

Speaking

Here comes the fun part. However, it’s not as simple as you may think. You need to get used to the sequence of questions. I tried recording my speaking while practicing few sample cue cards and general questions, and while listening to my own speech I identified my pain areas and focused improving on them. If you get a chance to talk to native speakers, it would be a great benefit for you. Refer to the band 8 and 9 Speaking samples on www.ielts-blog.com as well.

On behalf of our entire readership – thank you, Trinadh, congratulations on your big IELTS win, and good luck with everything you plan to achieve next!

Baris prepared and scored 7.5 in IELTS while working 40 hours a week

It is safe to say that English is a third language for Baris Arslan: he is a Turkey national who speaks German and needed to prove his English ability to study a master’s degree abroad. Life didn’t make it easy for him to prepare for IELTS – he had to study while working full time, on weekends and in the evenings – but that didn’t affect his score much, because he got Band 7.5 overall with an 8 in Reading.

When Baris took part in our monthly IELTS results competition and won, we jumped on the opportunity to ask him – how exactly did he do it? And here is what he said:

Band 9 in IELTS“I’d be glad, if I helped future IELTS test takers with my experience and strategies for getting a good IELTS Score.

Here is how I prepared for the exam:

The primary reason why I decided to take the exam was because I needed it for a specific master’s degree program outside my home country. The first thing I did after registering for the exam was to look more detailed into the exam structure and how answers were being evaluated by the examiners. I think that it is really important to get comfortable with the questions and each part of the exam.

Then, I began to do practice questions that I found online and realized that writing and listening were my weaknesses. Just to clarify my preparation began 2 months before the exam, therefore I had plenty of time to prepare myself for the exam (since I am working 40 hours a week, I had to study in the evenings and weekends throughout the 2 months of preparation although I got to admit that I did not study everyday… resting and relaxing is also very important and essential for productive learning).

Because I knew that writing and listening were my weaknesses, I started doing only those two parts and kept getting better over the next 3-4 weeks. For me the writing part was the most challenging one. What I did was reading all sorts of essays and reports and kind of memorized the structures that were being used in those tasks. Essentially, my writing skills remarkably improved. For listening I mostly watched documentaries (mainly by BBC and National Geographric) and all kinds of TV shows in English of course which really helped me to follow conversations a lot better. I also did practice questions that were provided by the British Council.

For the last 3-4 weeks I started doing exams under real conditions. By doing that, I noticed that everything went really smooth with a few inconsistencies here and there. For the exam day I recommend to get enough sleep and don’t get too excited and nervous about it.

My biggest fault in the preparation was to neglect the speaking part. I thought that my speaking skills were really good so that I did not prepare for that part at all and got 6.5. I’d suggest to search a speaking partner (either your friends, family or online) and try to simulate the speaking part as much as possible.

And by the way, the tips and samples on the IELTS Blog Website really helped me to get through my preparation. I am sure that it will help to better understand how IELTS works and how to get a good score.

To sum it all up:

  • Get to know the structure of the exam
  • Get comfortable with the questions
  • Identify your weaknesses
  • Improve your weaknesses
  • Do practice exams under real conditions
  • Get enough sleep on the exam day and don’t get too nervous

Good luck to you all!”

P.S. IELTS results competition runs every month, and everyone is welcome to participate. Learn how to enroll here.