Results for IELTS 7th June 2014 are out!
- Thread starter pumbaa_g
- Start date
To pumbaa_g,
Congratulations to you for getting such a good score 8 and above.
I got listening-6,reading-7.5,writing-5.5 and speaking-6 in June 7th General test.
I need to get overall at least 20 points due to my other factors i.e atleast band 8.
so I am planning to retake test on July 20th.
so I am looking for guidence to get 8 or 9 band. Please advise me how did you prepare and what materials used for each part of test preparation and how long did you prepare for this test.This will be really helpful for my next test preparation
Thanks in advance!
Congratulations to you for getting such a good score 8 and above.
I got listening-6,reading-7.5,writing-5.5 and speaking-6 in June 7th General test.
I need to get overall at least 20 points due to my other factors i.e atleast band 8.
so I am planning to retake test on July 20th.
so I am looking for guidence to get 8 or 9 band. Please advise me how did you prepare and what materials used for each part of test preparation and how long did you prepare for this test.This will be really helpful for my next test preparation
Thanks in advance!
@Benton Thanks for your kind words. I was lucky in quite a few aspects and that got me over 8, luck plays an important role in this exam. I was not at all happy with my speaking as I got a tough topic to speak about and felt that given a easier topic I would have done better. However, I may have scored less in Listening where I guessed the answer to one question correctly
I do not have extensive experience in IELTS as this is my first time giving the exam but from what I have understood from experts is that a month is a very short time and the best result that can be reasonably expected in this duration is + or - half a band. If this is your target then I will urge you to work hard and practice as much as you can to achieve your goal. If you are looking for more than half a band, that may take more time to achieve and may require greater focus on your weak areas/vocab etc
Regarding what me and my wife (she scored 7.5 and lost on Reading due to bad luck but that's another story) did to prepare for this exam I have tried to jot down most of it below
These are the books that me and my wife studied from
1.Prepare for IELTS Skills and strategies – Book 2 Reading and Writing
2.Barron’s IELTS
3.Prepare for IELTS Practice tests: General training module (UTS: Insearch)
4.Cambridge New insights into IELTS
5.Cambridge Vocabulary for IELTS wit answers.
6.Cambridge IELTS 9 with answers (Cambridge IELTS 8 came with the BC exam registration)
7.Collins Cobuild Key Words for IELTS: Book 1 Beginner (I did not use this, if you feel your vocabulary needs improvement start here)
8.Collins Cobuild Key Words for IELTS: Book 2 Improver
9.Collins Cobuild Key Words for IELTS: Book 3 Advanced
We did attend the BC Workshop as this was recommended by a friend who gave the exam last year. This was our first attempt and we had identified Writing as one of the areas of improvement second area was speaking. Most of our work was done in writing, we practiced Task 1 and Task 2 with recent exam questions daily. The objective was to write atleast 200-250 for Task 1 and 300-350 for Task 2 in the stipulated time frame keeping 5 minutes for jotting down points and 5 minutes for correction. We then checked each other response and highlighted and discussed the problem areas and tried to improve these in the next attempt/next day.
For speaking we took the topics that were discussed in last 2-3 years and put those in Word, we answered these questions on Word itself and then did mock tests where we asked each other random questions (key takeaway was not to memorize the answers but to speak for 3-4 minutes without looking at the word file). We also tried to read essays, newspaper articles and discuss the current topics daily.
I do not have extensive experience in IELTS as this is my first time giving the exam but from what I have understood from experts is that a month is a very short time and the best result that can be reasonably expected in this duration is + or - half a band. If this is your target then I will urge you to work hard and practice as much as you can to achieve your goal. If you are looking for more than half a band, that may take more time to achieve and may require greater focus on your weak areas/vocab etc
Regarding what me and my wife (she scored 7.5 and lost on Reading due to bad luck but that's another story) did to prepare for this exam I have tried to jot down most of it below
These are the books that me and my wife studied from
1.Prepare for IELTS Skills and strategies – Book 2 Reading and Writing
2.Barron’s IELTS
3.Prepare for IELTS Practice tests: General training module (UTS: Insearch)
4.Cambridge New insights into IELTS
5.Cambridge Vocabulary for IELTS wit answers.
6.Cambridge IELTS 9 with answers (Cambridge IELTS 8 came with the BC exam registration)
7.Collins Cobuild Key Words for IELTS: Book 1 Beginner (I did not use this, if you feel your vocabulary needs improvement start here)
8.Collins Cobuild Key Words for IELTS: Book 2 Improver
9.Collins Cobuild Key Words for IELTS: Book 3 Advanced
We did attend the BC Workshop as this was recommended by a friend who gave the exam last year. This was our first attempt and we had identified Writing as one of the areas of improvement second area was speaking. Most of our work was done in writing, we practiced Task 1 and Task 2 with recent exam questions daily. The objective was to write atleast 200-250 for Task 1 and 300-350 for Task 2 in the stipulated time frame keeping 5 minutes for jotting down points and 5 minutes for correction. We then checked each other response and highlighted and discussed the problem areas and tried to improve these in the next attempt/next day.
For speaking we took the topics that were discussed in last 2-3 years and put those in Word, we answered these questions on Word itself and then did mock tests where we asked each other random questions (key takeaway was not to memorize the answers but to speak for 3-4 minutes without looking at the word file). We also tried to read essays, newspaper articles and discuss the current topics daily.