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IELTS Test Results competition

IELTS Results competition winners in May 2017

May brought us 11 winners who received great IELTS results ranging from Overall Band 7.5 to an amazing Band 8.5! This is a very diverse group of people – they come from 4 countries and speak 6 different languages: Hindi, Uzbek, Gujarati, Malayalam, Urdu and Arabic. Their achievements prove beyond any doubt that no matter where you come from, no matter what language you speak, you CAN get a great score in IELTS, if you work hard for it!

With great pleasure and pride we present the successful test takers:

Academic Module – 1st placeBand 9 in IELTS

  • Roshith Chandran from India, Band 8.5
  • Sahar Zaima from Egypt, Band 8.5

Academic Module – 2nd place

  • Abror Khaytbaev from Uzbekistan, Band 7.5
  • Rahul Rajeev Bhavan from India, Band 7.5
  • Azizbek Muminov from Uzbekistan, Band 7.5
  • Prayaga Ammini from India, Band 7.5
  • Mokshda Singh from India, Band 7.5

General Training Module – 1st place

  • Roshni Haye from Pakistan, Band 8.5

General Training Module – 2nd place

  • Sarth Dakshesh Parikh from India, Band 8
  • Malik Swati from India, Band 8

General Training Module – 3rd place

  • Ruju Garg from India, Band 7.5

Congratulations to the winners! A day like this should be remembered – and so we are sending your certificates of achievement to your emails. Your IELTS results will be displayed in the IELTS-Blog hall of fame – please feel free to show off to your friends!

The big question on everyone’s mind now is “How did they do it?”, but only our winners can answer it. We could learn so much more from their actual advice, things they learned while preparing for their exams can be very useful! So we look forward to hearing the stories of how they studied, and what techniques helped them achieve success in IELTS. Anything they wish to share will be posted on IELTS-Blog without delay, so everyone can use the same technique and get a better score in their own exam this month.

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

Two strategies help Vietnamese student achieve IELTS Band 9 in Reading and Listening

Thành Đỗ Hữu is originally from Vietnam, but currently lives and studies in Australia. His Overall IELTS Band Score is 8, with two straight 9’s in Listening and Reading. When we asked what would his advice be to other test takers working to achieve similar results, he said:

“Basically, you need to do a practice test, then try to give a reasonable explanation for every single mistake that you made or problems that you have. It can be a group of mistakes/difficulties, for example something like trouble with choosing headings, leading to a huge amount of time consumed for just a few questions, etc. You need to come up with solutions for that problem, I googled my problems and found several good solutions online, most of which worked. Be selective though, try and find what works for you as everyone is different.

For the Reading: time your practice for each test and speed it way up, try to finish the first section in 12-14 minutes, the second in 15-18 min, and the last one in less than 25 min. I got around 10 minutes to go back and check my answers in the end, and was able to make one crucial correction (which could have cost me half a band). Also, try to summarise every paragraph that you read in just a few words, this will help you immensely in understanding the whole passage and make it easier to find answers.

Finally, if you’re looking to get a high score in reading, you must improve your vocabulary a lot. Tricks and tips can only get you so far, you need real ability to score high. To score above 8.5 you shouldn’t have more than 1 new word for each paragraph.

For the Listening: To be able to listen well you should be able to pronounce your words correctly, otherwise you will have a lot of trouble. My way of fixing my vocabulary and pronunciation was to watch TV shows with subtitles, and write down every single word that I mispronounce, as well as new words, with their pronunciation, meaning, and example, and review the list every single day (this is necessary or else you will forget most of them in 24 hours). It may sound like a lot of work, but nothing worth having comes easy.

After being able to score above 8 in practice tests consistently, you can focus solely on test taking skills. To go from Band 8 in my previous test to Band 9, I fixed my plural/singular form problems (by checking and listening for plural form in every expected noun in answers) and multiple choice questions with massive amount of info to read by spending time reading and preparing ahead. I was preparing for my third task, when the recording was waiting for everyone to prepare for the second, this had to be complemented by fast reading skill as well.”