IELTS 30th June 2018 - Preparations - Answer Comparison - Result Discussion

[dearmilkyway]

Now I see why I didn't get 8 in reading. I got 7.5. I put False on that answer. I got confused with the word 'concession' as I didn't know the meaning. Sigh. I am pretty good with reading and have being scoring above 7 easily.

Congratulations.

I learnt the word "concession" is commonly used in Australia and New Zealand after I took the test.
I made this question correct but this word has no common usage throughout the world. FYI.

 

[SithLord]

Congrats to the people who were succeeded. But I am still behind of my target with half band in Listening and Writing sections.
I took IELTS first in 2014 and this year I took it twice. My scores are;

Listening: 7.5
Reading: 8.0
Speaking: 7.0
Writing: 6.5
Overall: 7.5

In Listening, I think map & recording home while learning language parts were wrong.
We had discussed questions here with other IELTS takers. They were right.

My Reading score is enough. I am happy that blackpepper and TFNG parts were correct.

Speaking score is also enough. I could have got more points but I dont worry about it.

Writing is a real barrier to me. I dont know how to move forward. It is my third time and I always get 6.5.

I really dont know what to do about Writing. I tried everything.
Youtube channels, private tutors, everyday practices, complex sentences, memorized clauses, simple words, perfect collocations etc.

Maybe you are not addressing the task properly. I never went tutoring for ielts and I got 7. Write a strong introduction and in your supporting paragraphs give 2-3 lines of strong view followed by an example. You can actually fake the example by saying such such data collected by university of oxford in 2003 shows... and so on. They honestly don't care if that is true or not they only care about whether you have fulfilled the task.

 

[R.A.G]

Congrats to the people who were succeeded. But I am still behind of my target with half band in Listening and Writing sections.
I took IELTS first in 2014 and this year I took it twice. My scores are;

Listening: 7.5
Reading: 8.0
Speaking: 7.0
Writing: 6.5
Overall: 7.5

In Listening, I think map & recording home while learning language parts were wrong.
We had discussed questions here with other IELTS takers. They were right.

My Reading score is enough. I am happy that blackpepper and TFNG parts were correct.

Speaking score is also enough. I could have got more points but I dont worry about it.

Writing is a real barrier to me. I dont know how to move forward. It is my third time and I always get 6.5.

I really dont know what to do about Writing. I tried everything.
Youtube channels, private tutors, everyday practices, complex sentences, memorized clauses, simple words, perfect collocations etc.

You have to keep it simple. Writing is about following the structure. Each type of essay - views, advantages/disadvantages, opinions expect a specific structure.
i know why we find this difficult. in most of our schools, essay just meant putting down your thoughts and knowledge about the topic. It was never taught the way it is taught in say - UK. I used RoadtoIELTS - bought the complete pack for 3500 INR or so. Went through the structures of each type of essay and practiced with their practice tasks.
My conclusion is this - You have to follow a good structure
and then you only need 4-5 good sentences
Good intro - with paraphrasing and thesis statement about 40 words
Para 1 - 80 words - 3-4 good sentences 1 good example
Para 2 - 80 words - 3-4 good sentences 1 good example
Conclusion - 70 words - summarise and good closing sentence

for any topic: you have to think. Look at all topics - Globalization, environment, family, schooling, sports - for each topic list down your views.
if you are prepared on all generic topics you can crack this.

I have observed that the essay topics are repeated (broad Topic). Road safety - in previous tests lowering speed - advantages and disadvantages were asked. and in our test it was lowering speed or other measures. So, if someone read about road safety you can easily tweak that for any related topics with your won views.

 

[VenuM]

My scores are:

L: 8.5
R: 9
W:6.5
S: 7

If i apply for EOR, is there any possibility to get .5 raise in writing? Or should I take the test again?
Any suggestions?

 

[rahul09]

I found reading to be the easiest of all. I did not even practice that much for reading compared to writing and listening.

The things that worked for me was I did Section 3 first, since that is the hardest part. I would recommend spending atleast 30 minutes there. Section 1 is very easy and you can finish it in 10 minutes max and 20 minutes should be enough for section 2. You need to do a lot of skim reading.

Always read the question first clearly and mark the key words in the question and then skim read through the passage and identify those key words and circle them. Then read that sentence of the matching keyword and check whether it matches with the question asked if it is true or false question or it is fill the blanks.

The first question will be in first para and the second question might be in first para or second para but will probably come after the first answer you marked in the first para. So don't read whole passage. Just skim the key words and mark them.


For true or false or not given. You should always remember not to answer based on facts but what is actually given in the passage. The answer in the passage should match 100% with what is asked in the question. Let's say the question asks children under 10 can travel in public buses free of charge.

Now the passage it will say school students travel free of charge.

Unless, they mention about teenagers travel fare or give a specific age category details for travel fare rates that is below age 17. School student here are basically anyone under 17 that means the answer to this is TRUE.

Now suppose the passage says school students are allowed a concession on travel fare. Now this is a trick question, here it doesn't say if the travel fare is free or they have to pay a price. all it says is they get a concession so there is no 100% clear answer. So the answer for this will be Not Given.

Just keep practicing and good luck. PM me if you need more help

Thanks a lot !

 

[R.A.G]

My scores are:

L: 8.5
R: 9
W:6.5
S: 7

If i apply for EOR, is there any possibility to get .5 raise in writing? Or should I take the test again?
Any suggestions?

some people found success with reval. I also tried after my second attempt. no change. it took 5-6 weeks and 6500/- INR. But if you are very sure that you followed a good structure and you provided clear views you can try this.
On the same hand you should also appear for another test so that you have broader options.

 

[kunalv]

y

1st attempt

L/R/W/S - 6.5/6/5.5/6

2nd attempt

L/R/W/S - 7.5/6.5/6.5/7

3rd attempt

Listening - 8.0
Reading - 9.0
Writing - 7.0
Speaking - 7.5

I am beyond happy right now. I did not even complete my Task 1 and had only written 110 words. I was disgusted with myself and did not even eat properly or sleep well for 3 days because I knew I had done all the other parts well but will lose in writing. I already started preparing to sit for my fourth attempt on 28th July.

Getting still a 7 band in writing is nothing but a miracle. There truly is god!! I would like to thank everyone here for their wonderful support and I would just like to say to all who are in same position as me, never lose hope guys!! If I can do it so can you. Good luck to all!!

I just need to get my WES evaluated and I am good to go

You given via IDP or BC? which country? BTW congratulations.

 

[SithLord]

y



You given via IDP or BC? which country? BTW congratulations.

I went for BC, India.

 

[kunalv]

I went for BC, India.

Greta jump in your third attempt. Any specific practice you did? That was really nice jump on points.

 

[SithLord]

Greta jump in your third attempt. Any specific practice you did? That was really nice jump on points.

I practiced using materials from ielts liz. Just type her on google.

My weaknesses were listening and writing so I spend a lot of time on those 2. I read a lot of band 8 and band 9 essays and practiced for 5 hours daily for nearly a month.

After doing a lot of research on essays I found out that they test the command of English language and not your opinion. For example, you can strongly disagree on a statement that may seem controversial and you may think that they will judge you on your opinion which is not true. They just don't care about what you think. All they care about is whether or not you can express your opinion clearly. This is true when it comes to Speaking as well.

For my speaking, I was interrupted a lot since I kept on talking lol.

 

[foluajim4u]

I practiced using materials from ielts liz. Just type her on google.

My weaknesses were listening and writing so I spend a lot of time on those 2. I read a lot of band 8 and band 9 essays and practiced for 5 hours daily for nearly a month.

After doing a lot of research on essays I found out that they test the command of English language and not your opinion. For example, you can strongly disagree on a statement that may seem controversial and you may think that they will judge you on your opinion which is not true. They just don't care about what you think. All they care about is whether or not you can express your opinion clearly. This is true when it comes to Speaking as well.

For my speaking, I was interrupted a lot since I kept on talking lol.

You are so right...

 

[ersandee]

Hello Everyone,

My First Attempt: 24 March BC India
L-8.0,R-8.5,W-6.5,S-7.5.
Applied EOR for Writing and there is no change in Result.I am pretty sure that BC did not review my application and sent it back after 8 weeks as the BC Customer Care person told the same thing by mistake when I called them.

Second Attempt: 21 April BC India
L-8.0,R-8.5,W-6.5,W-6.5,S-7.5
Applied EOR for Writing and I did not get the Result yet.Its been 6 weeks since I applied for EOR.

Third Attempt : 24 May IDP India
L-8.0,R-8.0,W-6.5,S-7
I was shocked seeing this result as I scored low in Reading and Speaking compared to my previous attempts.Applied for EOR for Speaking and Writing and received the result in 2 weeks with no change in any module.

Fourth Attempt: 30 June IDP India
L-8.5,R-8.0,W-7.0,S-7.5
I was both happy and a tad bit sad seeing this result yesterday.My CRS is 438 now with this score and it would have been 441 had I scored 7.5 in Writing i.e CLB 10 in all modules.

I was very confident after the test that I would score 7.5 in Writing but that did not happen.Do I need to go for EOR for Writing or wait it out till the CRS Draw drops to 438? If by chance, my score gets increased, my CRS shoots up to 441 and might be able to get an invite in the next 2 or 3 draws.

with CRS cutoff trends 438 might not be coming soon. Couple of times they hold a draw when it was supposed to breach 440. If you are confident on your writing go for reval. IDP usually give reval results in couple of weeks.

 

[Junaid-Montreal]

Maybe you should check if you are eligible for some other province. 3rd time IELTS is a lot of investment and time consuming @SithLord Check this tool: Canada PNP Tracker

 

[mr_vishal]

1st attempt

L/R/W/S - 6.5/6/5.5/6

2nd attempt

L/R/W/S - 7.5/6.5/6.5/7

3rd attempt

Listening - 8.0
Reading - 9.0
Writing - 7.0
Speaking - 7.5

I am beyond happy right now. I did not even complete my Task 1 and had only written 110 words. I was disgusted with myself and did not even eat properly or sleep well for 3 days because I knew I had done all the other parts well but will lose in writing. I already started preparing to sit for my fourth attempt on 28th July.

Getting still a 7 band in writing is nothing but a miracle. There truly is god!! I would like to thank everyone here for their wonderful support and I would just like to say to all who are in same position as me, never lose hope guys!! If I can do it so can you. Good luck to all!!

I just need to get my WES evaluated and I am good to go

Hi, how did you able to boost your score? can you guide us with your resources? Thank you.

 

[SithLord]

Hi, how did you able to boost your score? can you guide us with your resources? Thank you.

Wow this thread brings back so many memories

Just read a little further up and you will see my posts on how I prepared for IELTS and what I understood

Good luck!