[My personal] Tips, tricks, strategies for IELTS General test from a CLB 10,9 er

[okbangaram]

First attempt score:

Reading 6, Listening 7, Writing 7.5, Speaking 8

My second attempt at IELTS after struggling hard for around 1 to 2 months. 8)

Listening: 8.5 ==> CLB 10
Reading: 8.0 ==> CLB 10
Writing: 7.0 ==> CLB 9
Speaking: 8.0 ==> CLB 10

Rule#1. Your IELTS score is fixed. [Your IELTS score = Your Real World Ability + Artificial Increase with Preparation, tactics and strategies]
Your Real World ability will not change much. With prep you can increase score from +0.5 to +1.5

Rule#2: Find out your current score.

Once you get your score. Understand, this will be your base score. You will not get less than this in the real test.

Rule#3. This is for Reading. Never read the RC passage first.

a) Pick the easiest section out of 3
b) Don't answer the questions one by one. Answer the questions which seem to be easy first.

c) True/False/Not Given. This is tricky.
i) True means absolutely 100% true and you can tell that it is true from the passage.
ii) False, again means absolutely false. It should be false from the passage.
iii) If you find yourself struggling and spending too much time between deciding True or Not Given or False and Not Given then it is probably Not Given.
iv) Don't think too much.
d) All RC answers follow an order. The answer to the first question will be in the first passage. The answer to the last question will be from the last passage, etc

Rule#4. This is for Listening part of the test.
a) You should write the answer down right away. Listen carefully for corrections made on the tape to the answers.
b) Assume that the IELTS examiner wants to trick you into writing the wrong answers.

Rule#5. Practice, practice, practice. That is the only way to get better. Use Cambridge IELTS 1 - 9 and nothing else for preparing for the test.

Rule#6. Don't downward spiral.
It might be possible that despite your best intentions, you might not have enough time to finish the last few questions on the RC. Or you might have missed a few questions on the listening test. Those few questions that you missed may not change your scores all that much. Let it slide and don't let it affect the remainder of your test.

All the best!

 

[sharpe88]

Hey okbangaram, those are not bad tips.

However, as an IELTS examiner and teacher I would disagree with or clarify a few points..

- Real world ability can change, but usually not very much in one month. Depends how intensive practice you do though.
- Your actual score can be lower than your practice score because of the stress.
- The reading and listening (and even Speaking to some exent) are designed to get progressively harder. The easiest sections are usually in the beginning.

Best,
B

First attempt score:

Reading 6, Listening 7, Writing 7.5, Speaking 8

My second attempt at IELTS after struggling hard for around 1 to 2 months. 8)

Listening: 8.5 ==> CLB 10
Reading: 8.0 ==> CLB 10
Writing: 7.0 ==> CLB 9
Speaking: 8.0 ==> CLB 10

Rule#1. Your IELTS score is fixed. [Your IELTS score = Your Real World Ability + Artificial Increase with Preparation, tactics and strategies]
Your Real World ability will not change much. With prep you can increase score from +0.5 to +1.5

Rule#2: Find out your current score.

Once you get your score. Understand, this will be your base score. You will not get less than this in the real test.

Rule#3. This is for Reading. Never read the RC passage first.

a) Pick the easiest section out of 3
b) Don't answer the questions one by one. Answer the questions which seem to be easy first.

c) True/False/Not Given. This is tricky.
i) True means absolutely 100% true and you can tell that it is true from the passage.
ii) False, again means absolutely false. It should be false from the passage.
iii) If you find yourself struggling and spending too much time between deciding True or Not Given or False and Not Given then it is probably Not Given.
iv) Don't think too much.
d) All RC answers follow an order. The answer to the first question will be in the first passage. The answer to the last question will be from the last passage, etc

Rule#4. This is for Listening part of the test.
a) You should write the answer down right away. Listen carefully for corrections made on the tape to the answers.
b) Assume that the IELTS examiner wants to trick you into writing the wrong answers.

Rule#5. Practice, practice, practice. That is the only way to get better. Use Cambridge IELTS 1 - 9 and nothing else for preparing for the test.

Rule#6. Don't downward spiral.
It might be possible that despite your best intentions, you might not have enough time to finish the last few questions on the RC. Or you might have missed a few questions on the listening test. Those few questions that you missed may not change your scores all that much. Let it slide and don't let it affect the remainder of your test.

All the best!

 

[evadenzin]

nice tips. rule#6 is something quite useful.

 

[Sks69549]

My IELTS tips :

Writing tips :

Structure your essay into following paragraphs:
1)Introduction
2)Agreement/Opinion with any personal or social examples
3)Disagrement/Opinion with any personal or social examples
4)Conclusion

1)The paragraphs between intro and conclusion must be elaborately written as in major paras. You can add more paragraphs between intro and conclusion if you have more ideas on the topic .
2)Use different starting phrases for all these paragraphs appropriately. Try to use good English words which are neither too difficult to understand nor too easy .
3) If you’re practicing writing , try to have a friend or teacher evaluate your essay , so that they can point out improvements and give feedback .
4) when you’re done writing an essay , check online about the same topic to compare/see how others have answered it and try to take good points from them . There are answers from people around the world on the internet . It really helps to read many perspectives and re-write our own essay to improve it.
5) The steps I wrote are for basic structure for the essay . Once this structure is formed , one can add up by including good English words, some proverbs , correct grammar and bigger paragraphs filling 2 papers of the answer sheet or more . I improved my score by writing the exam twice.

Most writing/speaking questions come under Government responsibilities, Parents/children/family/youth, moral values , wealth , environment , health , science and technology .

Listening tips:
practice is critical for this . Listen to British , American accent videos or documentaries or movies/shows if you find difficulty in understanding accents . Stay alert always and keep making notes while listening . Try to be prepared for different kinds of question categories that can be expected and how to handle them.

Reading tips :
again be prepared for different type of question categories and understand how to handle them. Read books and newspapers a lot so that you can increase speed and also understand the summary of each paragraph.

Speaking tips :
Make a list of most repeated topics and write down all the points you can think of for that topic. It’s similar to writing but you have to speak for a shorter duration . So try to read and practice as many topics available online so that no topic looks new to you and you find yourself silent in front of the Examiner.

For preparation, you can first try some practice tests available online . That will help you understand your strengths and weakness . Then practice all the sections one by one daily. Give it atleast a month . If you feel confident and your English is good , you can even give exam in 2 weeks preparation . But it is important to score 8 in listening and 7 in other 3 sections ie reading , writing, speaking . For achieving this score , you need to prepare really focused and practicing regularly .

On the day of the exam:

Relaxing is very important. Take each section as it comes , don’t be overwhelmed thinking about all the sections. I was literally doing breathing exercises in breaks between different sections, to release the stress and feel good. Relax and focus on one thing at a time

 

[seadrag0n]

First attempt score:

Reading 6, Listening 7, Writing 7.5, Speaking 8

My second attempt at IELTS after struggling hard for around 1 to 2 months. 8)

Listening: 8.5 ==> CLB 10
Reading: 8.0 ==> CLB 10
Writing: 7.0 ==> CLB 9
Speaking: 8.0 ==> CLB 10

How many words did you write for the letter and the essay in your test? I wrote 200+ words for the letter and 400+ words for the essay and got a 6.5. I think this was the main problem for me for not getting a score of 7 in writing. Any tips for writing please?

 

[Sks69549]

How many words did you write for the letter and the essay in your test? I wrote 200+ words for the letter and 400+ words for the essay and got a 6.5. I think this was the main problem for me for not getting a score of 7 in writing. Any tips for writing please?

Increase your number of words by writing examples from real life or from celebrities from sports or fashion or politics or scientists or philosophers worlds that you read in general news etc. It will add more content to your essay.

 

[rio-ottawa]

How many words did you write for the letter and the essay in your test? I wrote 200+ words for the letter and 400+ words for the essay and got a 6.5. I think this was the main problem for me for not getting a score of 7 in writing. Any tips for writing please?

You should write less, because you will have more time to check for mistakes.

 

[farazsattar]

nice tips. rule#6 is something quite useful.