Pedro Echenique is a young man from Mexico who speaks Spanish as a first language. We met Pedro through our monthly IELTS results competition in June. As you know, every winner can share his or her tips for success in IELTS, and here is what Pedro said:
“First of all, enjoy the language. If you enjoy learning English, then none of the English tests you are going to take is going to be hard. Secondly, it is really important to understand the format of IELTS. Therefore, you really need to know everything about it.
I used many tips from IELTS-Blog.com, however, for me the most useful were the following:
1. Reading: This section is one of the most tedious. There is no need to read precisely every detail of the reading passages, so my advice is to go directly to read the questions for each passage and then you search for the answers in the reading using the skills of Skimming and Scanning. Time is your main enemy, so use it wisely.
2. Listening: My main advice in Listening is “DON’T GET DISTRACTED”, this is something that happens a lot so avoid getting distracted. Usually between each part of the listening test they give some time to check your answers, my second advice is to “PREVIEW, do not REVIEW”. Use the time they give you to read the next set of questions, this can help you to focus and understand the listening even more.
3. Writing: This was the toughest part for me. If you don’t have time enough to study for the IELTS, I highly recommend you to focus on this part. This is the part where you can succeed using a wide range of grammar and vocabulary. It is really important to use connectors, less common words, paraphrasing, complex sentences, etc. so get used to them.
4. Speaking: For me this was the easiest part. If you speak English well, you don’t have to worry too much since you are asked some questions about your personal life and public interests. Don’t worry, get used to the IELTS format and, in particular, don’t get nervous.
