As promised earlier this week, we are sharing the tips from Rojelle, our IELTS Results Competition winner. Rojelle lives in the Philippines and works with nursing students. Her IELTS story is remarkable because she didn’t have much time to prepare and also didn’t have the right books, but looking at her score no one would have guessed that.
Rojelle got the Overall Band Score of 8.5 with straight 9’s in Listening and Reading, a 7.5 in Writing and 8.5 in Speaking. This is what she wrote in her email to us:
“Thank you for this amazing website! It really helped me a lot for my IELTS preparation. I didn’t have enough time to read books or watch videos because of work schedule, but because I have my phone with me all the time (while in the subway or bus on my way to work, for example), I would always read the tips that are posted on your site! The writing correction service was very helpful too. The overall band score I got was more than what I asked for. Now, I always recommend your site to all my nursing students every time they ask me for tips on how to prepare for their IELTS exam. 🙂
One strategy that really helped me get a 9.0 score on the Listening exam is watching British talent shows like “Britain’s Got Talent” or “X-factor UK”. I know it’s a weird advice, but it really does help! People who join these competitions have different English accents – and I find that the more I watch these shows, the better I become in terms of understanding everything (without even replaying it anymore). And it helps that these shows are entertaining too – so it could be a form recreation plus review! During my IELTS exam, the majority of the people inside the room were mumbling complaints because they couldn’t understand anything that the recording was playing. Plus they get distracted easily. Improve your listening skills. On the day of the exam, just focus – do not pay attention to the other people and listen well to the recording. 🙂
As for the Speaking exam, just be yourself. Be as natural as you can and don’t memorize answers. Don’t be afraid to show a little bit of emotion (it is supposed to be like a “normal conversation” after all). What I mean is, smile when it’s a happy topic, frown when you’re trying to decide about something, etc. Behave as you would when talking to a teacher, or an older person – but not too friendly as you might go off topic.
That’s all for now, because everyone mentioned on this site already all the advice I could think of. Thanks again and more power to the team! :)”
