IELTS 30th September - Native Speaker

[Smgawt]

Hi All,

After finally getting round to having my qualification assessed, I have booked my IELTS test for the 30th September. I am from England and English is my first and only language.

Obviously I want to ace the test and receive scores of 7+, however I do want to try and receive the best possible score I can. The main purpose of this thread, as a native English speaker are there things that may go against me, for example, there may be something things English people slip into, bad habits ect..... the only thing I can think is under preparing which I shouldn't be.

If there are any problematic things things that English speaker can fall into.

Any advice would be greatly appreciated.

 

[trumprefugee]

Hey, I am an almost native English speaker who grew up in the US. One of the most important things for us native and near native speakers to do is to pay close attention in the listening section. The speakers speak slowly for us natives, so it can be easy to get distracted. I missed a question during a practice exam because my mind had wandered. So I made sure to make a conscious effort to pay full attention.

In the speaking exam, just speak as you would normally speak in a conversation, but keep the language on the formal side, as if you were talking to a business associate rather than your good friends. Try to elaborate and go into some detail, but do not ramble on. Feel free to embellish the truth or make up stories. Use dynamic language rather than answering in simple, terse sentences, but not to the point of sounding pretentious.

Most important is to practice as much as you can. I took several practice exams over the course of about 2 weeks. We just need to get used to the format which might seem strange at first.

For writing, use the standard essay format taught in schools, and develop your ideas. Pay attention to grammar, punctuation and spelling. Vary your sentence structure occasionally. Try to write as neatly as possible. Especially in this day and age of computers, an hour of hand writing can be rough on the arm. My handwriting is terrible, and I'm sure I lost some points because of that, but I still did well enough for CLB 10+.

 

[hetmavani]

Hey, I am an almost native English speaker who grew up in the US. One of the most important things for us native and near native speakers to do is to pay close attention in the listening section. The speakers speak slowly for us natives, so it can be easy to get distracted. I missed a question during a practice exam because my mind had wandered. So I made sure to make a conscious effort to pay full attention.

In the speaking exam, just speak as you would normally speak in a conversation, but keep the language on the formal side, as if you were talking to a business associate rather than your good friends. Try to elaborate and go into some detail, but do not ramble on. Feel free to embellish the truth or make up stories. Use dynamic language rather than answering in simple, terse sentences, but not to the point of sounding pretentious.

Most important is to practice as much as you can. I took several practice exams over the course of about 2 weeks. We just need to get used to the format which might seem strange at first.

For writing, use the standard essay format taught in schools, and develop your ideas. Pay attention to grammar, punctuation and spelling. Vary your sentence structure occasionally. Try to write as neatly as possible. Especially in this day and age of computers, an hour of hand writing can be rough on the arm. My handwriting is terrible, and I'm sure I lost some points because of that, but I still did well enough for CLB 10+.

Hi, I understand that I'm going off topic, but I noticed in your profile about NOI from Ontario. I went through the details on their website and I understand that there are a few programs in OINP that can be useful for immigration purposes. I just want to confirm - is there an additional criteria for the Human Capital Priorities program?

I'm from India and I have an MBA degree with a work experience of 3 years in the same NOC. Do you think I will be eligible to apply to this program?

Thank You.

 

[trumprefugee]

Hi, I understand that I'm going off topic, but I noticed in your profile about NOI from Ontario. I went through the details on their website and I understand that there are a few programs in OINP that can be useful for immigration purposes. I just want to confirm - is there an additional criteria for the Human Capital Priorities program?

I'm from India and I have an MBA degree with a work experience of 3 years in the same NOC. Do you think I will be eligible to apply to this program?

Thank You.

Yes, you should be eligible. OINP requires at least bachelor's degree and 1 year of skilled work experience. So you should be eligible. You do need to wait for them to issue you NOI before you can apply. Usually you also are required to have CRS of at least 400, but in the last week of June, they issued NOIs to ICT workers with scores under 400 and made an exception only for those people.

Unfortunately the HCP stream has been closed since July 25. This means they are not currently issuing NOIs, and even those of us who already received NOI cannot apply. I scrambled to get all my documents ready as soon as possible and was ready to submit on that day, only to find it closed! So I have been waiting every day since then for them to reopen.
This is their updates page:
http://www.ontarioimmigration.ca/en/pnp/OI_PNPNEW.html
And their application guide that contains detailed information on eligibility and requirements:
http://www.ontarioimmigration.ca/prodconsum/groups/csc/@oipp/documents/document/oi_en_hcps_010517.pdf