How do I prepare for the IELTS test on my own?
Preparation and delivery of IELTS. This happens when a person already knows how to use English to a sufficient degree and feels the need to go to study or work abroad.
There are many rumors and legends about this exam. Some believe that it is very difficult to pass it, arguing that even native speakers do not always succeed. Others, on the contrary, consider IELTS to be quite simple. Who to believe?
What is the IELTS test?
How to properly prepare for it?
Which is better, to prepare with a tutor or in a training center?
Can I prepare for IELTS on my own?
How to submit it?
What happens in the actual exam?
Of course, my personal point of view may be contrary to some accepted norms and stereotypes, but I hope that my experience will seem interesting to you and will help you correctly assess your strengths, choose the best training option for you, prepare and successfully pass IELTS
With respect and best wishes, Dmitry Kashkanov
For a qualitative assessment of the level of English proficiency, there are many different exams, both national and international. If desired, each person can test their strength and try to pass them. Based on the test results, a certificate - an official document confirming the level of knowledge of English. One of these international exams is IELTS. It is considered one of the most popular and most difficult, so if you need to prepare for IELTS from scratch, you need to do it right. Read more about the features of preparing for IELTS and will be discussed in this article.
What it is
IELTS stands for international system testing in English . This method allows you to assess the level of proficiency foreign language and is used in many countries. People resort to passing such an exam at, and other English-speaking states. IELTS is also mandatory for admission to foreign universities.
Note! High performance has made IELTS one of the most popular language tests in the world. Therefore, almost 150 countries recognize the results of the exam, and more than 12,000 different organizations have made it a mandatory program.
Purpose of the test
Successfully passing the exam can open the door to a person in different areas activities, providing a lot of new opportunities. But most often, obtaining a certificate is required when doing an internship abroad, moving to a permanent place of residence in English-speaking countries, as well as when applying for a job in a foreign company.
Advantages
IELTS has many advantages that have made this type of exam so popular. Let's consider the main ones:
- everyone can test their strength;
- There is no such thing as "failed". Upon completion of the exam, you are issued a certificate indicating the level of language proficiency (from 1 to 9);
- there are no quantitative restrictions for passing the test, so even with failed attempt you can try the exam again. This test is carried out every week;
- the exam has an “academic” and a “general” module, so that the test can meet the goals of each applicant;
- You can pass IELTS in many countries of the world, or rather, in 140. These include government bodies, commercial organizations, universities, etc.;
- the received certificate is of great value, which is confirmed by the guarantee of its application.
The development of the IELTS system was carried out by representatives of the world's leading organizations, for example, the British Council, Cambridge and others. All this was done with one goal - an adequate test of the level of knowledge of the English language and fixing the corresponding results in the form of a special certificate.
disadvantages
Despite the huge number of advantages, IELTS has several disadvantages, which are mainly related to self-study:
- all the materials necessary to prepare for the exam, you need to look for yourself;
- there is no set schedule of classes, so people do not always devote enough time to preparation, which is bad for the results. AT this case much depends on willpower;
- the applicant does not know what the format of the exam will be;
- a person will not be able to give an objective assessment of his knowledge of the English language if he prepares without an assistant.
Specialized courses will help to cope with all the above disadvantages. Even if you decide to hire a tutor or sign up for additional English language courses, this will not prevent you from getting more high score for the test.
Features of preparation
Before you start preparing for the exam, you need to assess your level of knowledge, and then choose the most suitable date for the exam. For example, if you have an exam in 1-2 weeks, and the level of foreign language proficiency leaves much to be desired, then you risk scoring an insufficient number of points.
Consider the ratio of English proficiency and the recommended time to prepare for the upcoming test.
- Elementary. To achieve maximum results in the exam, you need to spend about 12 months preparing.
- Pre-intermediate. This is a higher level, but still not enough to get good results. Therefore, the preparation in this case will have to spend at least 10 months.
- intermediate. According to statistics, more than 50% of people with higher education are at this level. The preparation will last from 5 to 6 months, depending on the success.
- Upper Intermediate. If you speak English at this level, then you can start the preparatory course about 2-3 months before the exam. This time should be enough.
- Advanced. The highest level of English proficiency, which does not require special training or learning new material. You only need to spend 1-2 weeks to repeat the material.
All times above are approximate and depend on several factors. First of all, you should decide how much time you are willing to spend on preparatory stage, because sometimes people who speak English at a high level take a preparatory course designed for 2 weeks, in 1 or 2 months. Therefore, experts recommend allocating about 3 hours for preparation per day. This is the secret to passing the test successfully.
Where to start
As soon as the calculation preparatory course will be completed, and the date of the IELTS exam will become known, you need to proceed directly to the preparation. Of course, there are a few nuances to consider, such as where it is best to prepare or which books will be the most informative. Let's try to figure this out.
Training center or tutor
Of course, preparing for the exam requires individual approach especially when it comes to learning English. But if you are faced with a choice: a tutor or group classes at a training center, then each of these methods has its own characteristics. Many people, preparing for IELTS, hire a private tutor, because in this case all the information is provided to only one person, which allows you to solve all the difficulties. But not all English tutors are able to fully prepare for a particular test.
On a note! If we touch on the issue of cost, then training in specialized classes will cost much less than private lessons with a tutor. Therefore, if finances do not allow, it is better to refuse the services of a tutor in favor of group lessons.
Training in training centers is an opportunity to master or improve the level of English proficiency for all people, regardless of their initial knowledge in this area. Despite the lack of an individual approach, training centers offer the study of all the subtleties relating specifically to IELTS, which is much more effective than the general expansion of horizons when studying English with a tutor. In addition, groups are usually small and consist of several people (no more than 5).
Based on all this, we can conclude that training with a tutor is best suited for those people who plan to finish learning English in parallel, and group classes are for preparing exclusively for IELTS. But we must not forget about the possibility of preparing for the exam on your own, through regular training in oral and writing, watching foreign films without translation and reading educational literature. This will speed up the learning process.
What books can help
Due to the fact that IELTS is a very popular testing format, there are now a lot of books and articles for preparation on the Internet and bookstores. It's about about collections of tasks in English, dictionaries and textbooks. When choosing a book for training, you need to pay attention to its relevance and the connection of the manual with IELTS (among the authors of the book there should be representatives of organizations supervising IELTS). Below are the most informative and useful books.
Table. Review best books for the IELTS test.
| Book title | Description |
|---|---|
| An excellent guide for self-study, which is a comprehensive material. Here you can find many tests and exercises of varying difficulty, as well as the correct answers to evaluate the results. | |
| An excellent express benefit, which is ideal for people who do not have much free time. All the necessary information is presented here in the most concise volume. There are various examples. | |
| Studying the information presented in this book helps to increase vocabulary, which increases the chances during the exam. It is mainly used by beginners who speak English at a low level. | |
| This copy is available in different versions, which are designed for more high levels language proficiency. In addition to the collection, you also receive a CD containing useful materials. | |
| Another one useful book for exam preparation, designed to improve the grammatical foundations of the English language. The manual contains a large number of practice tests and explanations for them. |
This is not the whole list of popular books used for the period of preparation for IELTS. If you wish, you can independently visit the official certification website and select the most suitable option from the list.
Self-preparation
IELTS consists of separate modules - general and academic. If we consider common module, then it is lighter, therefore it is intended for employment abroad. Academic module needed for an internship or study abroad. But regardless of the module, the exam is divided into several stages, each of which requires careful preparation.
Speaking
With self-preparation, this stage is characterized by increased difficulty due to the lack of an interlocutor. But this should not be a serious problem, because English texts can be spoken aloud. Moreover, in big cities it is not difficult to find a native speaker with whom you can practice the correct pronunciation of different phrases.
Writing
One of the most difficult parts of the exam is spelling. To develop the habit of writing in English, you need to regularly write various texts by hand. It is not necessary to compose something, you can rewrite the text from another source. Try to keep the style and sequence of the story.
Reading
Today, there are no problems with the search for English-language literature. It is enough to go to the Internet and order or download a suitable manual (the most informative books for IELTS have already been mentioned above). You just need to set aside a little time every day to read books. So that the lesson does not seem boring, you can pick up more interesting books like detectives. But you also need to read scientific articles.
listening
Everything is quite simple here: listen to dialogue programs, audio books and other types of programs. This is the essence of preparation. But on the test itself, you need to be very careful, because there are many pitfalls. The compilers of texts and tasks do not get paid in vain, so it is very difficult to get the maximum number of points for the exam, especially the first time.
When will the results be ready
After IELTS is passed, the results will be known not earlier, than 13 days after the exam. To see the results, just go to the official website, where all the data will appear on the 14th day.
To obtain a paper certificate, you must visit the BKC IELTS Center, which is located in Moscow on the street. Tverskaya 9a. If you took the exam in another city, then supporting documentation will be sent to you by mail, so there is no need to go to the capital for this.
Video - How to start preparing for IELTS
Today I will touch on the topic of self-preparation for IELTS - an international English language exam. We will highlight three important components of successful IELTS exam preparation, discuss the main mistakes and draw conclusions that will serve as advice on how to prepare for IELTS and how to pass the exam.
TOEFL or IELTS
I want to make it clear right away - depending on your goals, you should decide which test you need to take: TOEFL or IELTS.The IELTS exam tests knowledge of British English, so if you want to study, for example, in America, you should clarify: what if you need not IELTS, but TOEFL (American version).
As far as I know, most universities accept certificates for both tests, but you still need to make inquiries, if only because this exam is not a cheap pleasure.
General and Academic IELTS
IELTS exam (test) is taken by those who want to live and work (General ielts) or study (Academic ielts) abroad. In this article, I will tell you how to prepare for the IELTS test on your own.
IELTS preparation: important ingredients for success
There are important components to success in preparing for the IELTS exam.
To successfully pass an exam or get a score required at a university, you need the right attitude to prepare for this important test, In second place - IELTS preparation itself, which is different from just learning a language, and on the third again the right attitude, but this time for the correct behavior during the exam.
I took the IELTS exam three times, and the first two results did not suit me - and this despite the fact that I know and love English from school and tutor in this subject!In order not to fall into the same stupid position (an English tutor - and didn’t “pass” IELTS ?!), use my tips. Learn from others' mistakes. And you will succeed!
Now let's go directly to the description of the main mistakes made during self-preparation and passing the exam in English ielts. This information is based on personal experience, so I strongly recommend that you listen to my findings and advice on how to pass IELTS.
Mistake #1. If you know the language, then you should not worry about the test
For how many years they have been telling the world... Before the first test, I still looked at various sites, where they warned about this in the first place! But some bearish logic is at work.
Well, how! I explain such complex grammar rules, I read literature in the original, I write essays in English, I have friends with whom I communicate in English and with whom I have mutual understanding!How can I fail IELTS?! Seven? Easily! Yes, I can do eight! (Dreamy: maybe they will give a nine ...)
But the sad result at 5.5 was a low blow. And the thing is that this exam is not an ordinary test in English. And preparation for IELTS should be special. That's why I like this test so much.
Here, at the IELTS exam, it is impossible to smuggle a cheat sheet, a phone, or cheat from a friend. It values intelligence, time management, communication skills, listening skills and, most importantly, independent work and accepting responsibility for your mistakes.
After all, this is what will be useful to you in the first place when you go abroad, and not at all knowledge of complex grammatical rules. I am familiar with those who, in my opinion, know English worse than me, but scored a seven the first time.
This means only one thing: they prepared better and all the qualities described above are better developed in them than in me. A reason to move in that direction, yes.
Advice: even if you have no problems with English, start preparing for IELTS on your own at least a couple of months before the test. And not just for textbooks, “what is”, but for those that suggest how to prepare for ielts on your own.
There are a lot of sites on the Internet dedicated to preparing for IELTS. Take advantage of them.
How to prepare for IELTS on your own
We continue to analyze how to prepare for IELTS on your own.
Mistake #2. Disregard for time and structure
Not all of us have the iron 3-4 hours a day to take trial tests. It remains to be content with what is. For me it was an hour in the evenings, and then not every day.
In such an environment, when it was important for me to listen to sample listening, speaking, read reading and copy sample writing or write my own essay, I was not interested in time frames.
She wrote with a pen, not a pencil. While it is more convenient to do everything with a pencil on the exam!
As a result, during the first test, I wrote terribly slowly (with a pen faster!) And spent precious minutes on a stupid word count! It's funny, but don't make that mistake.
Better count how many words you can fit in one line. So you will be sure that you wrote the required amount.
When preparing for the IELTS exam, you should understand that in the Writing part you have 20 minutes for one task and 40 minutes for the second, 150 and 250 words, respectively.
Since I love to write, I was sure that writing would not be a problem. But the problem took place and consisted in the fact that during the exam I could not pretend to be Gogol and write a super story. And yes, there is no time for that.
All that is required of the examinee is clarity, conciseness, following the instructions. No need for water and artistic digressions, write - only on business.
The main mistake was my desire to understand every word in the text. The texts are large. Even if you understand everything, to answer the questions you will have to go back to what you read and look for the right places. This takes time.Tips on how to pass the IELTS exam successfully:
— practice writing straight away in pencil and write as quickly as possible with neat, readable handwriting;
— for each form of an essay or description of a schedule, the creation of a business letter has its own structure - this must also be taken into account;
In principle, these forms are similar, and even with a short amount of time to prepare for IELTS, you will have a clear idea of \u200b\u200bthe correct spelling, paragraph separation, which counts towards your score.
— expand your vocabulary ahead of time, not on the eve of tests. Otherwise, memorized words will become a complete mess in your head;
— master the skills of scanning (fluent reading of the text, when you read over the words and just figure out for yourself what the text is about) and (search for the desired passage in the text);
Everything, of course, depends on the task, there are some nuances, but usually the text is a page spread, or 2 A4 pages (sometimes a little more); after it comes tricky questions, the answers to which you still need to figure out, and for all this - 20 minutes.
There are three such texts. Decide for yourself.
Special IELTS test
Mistake #3. You won’t be particularly prepared for the listening and speaking parts, we are not in the language environment
Here is my special message to fellow sufferers: I had a special IELTS test for deaf people.
Since I have a large hearing loss and the matter could not be solved with headphones, I was given a special teacher who talked to me a little more slowly and read listening tapescripts (printouts of the audio version) more slowly.
But this is where the concessions end, the time frame is like everyone else. So you need to prepare for IELTS.By the way, remember: an application for a special IELTS exam is submitted three (!) months before the test, you will need to send it by e-mail copies of a document on disability, an audiogram and a medical report from a doctor from the district clinic. Also, a couple of days before the test, perhaps the manager will ask you to come to the office and submit all these documents on disability in the original.
How can we, people with hearing impairments, prepare for the IELTS test on our own? Learn to read English articulation. And understand that English accents, of which there are many, also differ in articulation.
I prepared for films (English subtitles, English audio track + headphones), and since I have IELTS ACADEMIC, I needed something more serious.
Coursera came to my rescue. org. There are wonderful subtitles for almost all video lectures on many subjects, and many free ones.
I spoke a lot of English out loud.
I combined preparation for writing (I read my essays aloud several times and retell them) and learning new words (I put each new word in context and rehearsed it too), and this all had a positive effect on listening + speaking.
Adviсe:Firstly, everything described above will be useful to hearing people. Secondly, in the process of preparing for IELTS on your own, do not be afraid to speak.
Until you become fluent in the language, you will not be able to maintain dialogue and answer questions (skills assessed in speaking, on the IELTS exam).
And without constant training, due to the differences in the speeds of Russian and English (plus accents), you will simply mix up and will not be able to adequately listen to listening.
So, I talked about self-preparation for IELTS - an English language test. I wish that my advice on how to pass the IELTS exam will be useful to you in this difficult matter. I hope I didn’t bore you, and in the future I will write a few more articles on this topic, for example, about useful and scanning. See you soon!
1. My language background.
2. Watching movies in English.
3. Online English courses.
4. Full-time courses to prepare for IELTS.
5. Preparation for Writing.
6. Preparation for Speaking.
7. Results of preparation and summary.
8. Further plans.
9. Materials that I used.
The score for which my husband and I passed the first IELTS after six months of preparation:
listening 8.5
Reading 7.0
Writing 6.5
Speaking 6.5
listening 8.0
Reading 8.0
Writing 6.5
Speaking 7.0
- My language background.
So, to begin with, I will say a few words about my language background, in order to make it clear how useful this article will be specifically in your situation.
I studied English at school, it cannot be said that nothing was taught there, but general level English after school was, I think, the same as that of most other schoolchildren in our country. At the university (and I graduated from the St. Petersburg "Voenmeh") English, despite all the efforts of the teacher, it was impossible to learn, because the level of English in the group was completely different and I would even say that I had the highest. Therefore, after the University, I left with approximately the same level as after school, I simply did not lose the level over these five years. After university, at work, I occasionally had to read and write in English, mostly done using Google Translate, because, despite the seemingly good vocabulary, it was difficult to formulate my thoughts into a sentence. So another 2 years passed without learning English, but at least maintaining the general level.
2. Watching movies in English.
Around May 2014, I decisively and completely refused to watch films in Russian. In general, our family has a tradition in the evening before going to bed to watch at least one episode of the series or a whole feature film if it is a weekend. The decision to forego films in voice acting was not for the sake of learning the language, just decided that watching films in the original is great and, as it turned out, this was one of the key decisions to help improve the score. The first months (!) Films were given very hard, I occasionally understood individual words, phrases, in general, this was enough to understand in conjunction with the picture on the screen common sense movie, but more often than not, I just fell asleep without watching the movie. After a couple of "not caught" films, we started watching with English subtitles. Yes, things went more fun this way, without subtitles, the words mixed up in a bunch for me, but with them I already began to watch films and understand them. My husband and I have reviewed almost the entire top IMDB, all the films that we have already watched in Russian look like brand new films in English and it is a pleasure to watch them. Sometimes we came across films without subtitles, and if six months ago nothing was clear to me in them, now I could already understand and sometimes understand entire sentences. Now, 2 years after I started watching films in English, I don't have any difficulties watching films at all, with the rare exception of super-accents, I understand them perfectly. From this we can conclude that even without making any effort to learn a language in the classical sense of this process, you raise your Listeneng skill quite quickly. I want to note that I did not pause the films to “google” unknown word, I didn’t rewind to listen again, I just watched them and that’s all, leaving part of the film incomprehensible.
3. Online English courses.
And so, it was February 2016 when we decided that we need to take the IELTS exam. The target score was: Listening 8, Reading 7, Speaking 7, Writing 7 in the General module. This is a level that, in combination with a master's degree, will give us the very necessary + 50 points to the immigration application to Canada. I started reading forums, groups, websites, getting acquainted with the format of the exam and trying to understand how we should prepare. We consulted and decided that we needed online courses for learning the language and the first thing we found and what we chose was English First online courses. We were interested in these courses in the first place famous name“English First”, which I think is heard by everyone, even those who do not study English, and secondly, the low price for the first month. Only 100 rubles, in addition, since we planned to study together with my husband together, we registered a second account using a referral link, we received another month of classes for free. Alright, let's get to work. To begin with, we passed a small test, which determined the level of the language as Upper-Intermediate (level 11 out of 16 for me and 12 out of 16 for my husband) and offered us a training program, a goal, everything is as it should be. Classes are an interactive school where you can read tests, practice pronunciation, learn new words, watch videos, there were a lot of useful activities. Once a day, it was possible to participate in a webinar with a teacher, based on the results of which he graded and talked about what needs to be worked on. such webinars started every half an hour 24 hours a day, which was very convenient, I came home from work and took part. The topics of the webinars changed every day, could be such as home renovation, household chores, travel and hometown… Of the minuses, I would like to note that the teacher did not always have a good microphone, and sometimes some other participants from other countries were not heard at all, this is not very convenient. The teachers at the webinar are native speakers, and the composition of the participants is very different, there were guys from China, Japan, Eastern countries, India and from Russia too. It was also necessary to write an essay of ~150 words at the end of each section, which was checked by the teacher for 1–2 days and, with his comments and assessment, was displayed in personal account. General impression the school left extremely positive, but we got the feeling that we are moving in the wrong direction. We wanted to prepare more for the IELTS exam format, and not just learn English, because at that time it seemed to us that we had a good knowledge of the language, we just needed to get into the exam, so after a “trial” two months we abandoned this school. In fact, now, looking back, I will say that if you know what exactly you need to prepare for the exam, then this school may well help. But if the goal of learning a language is passing IELTS, then it can rather be a good addition to other preparation methods to raise the general level of the language.
4. Full-time courses to prepare for IELTS.
April 2014 came and after a semi-successful experience with online courses we decided that we should try to work out in the classic face-to-face courses, but sharpened for IELTS. Therefore, our next step was to find IELTS courses in our city, St. Petersburg, and the main criterion was their distance from our home. Our choice fell on the IELTSnow school, which is located on Udelnaya. I read the reviews and they didn't seem to be bad. The requirements for course participants were Upper-Intermediate. As a result, we came, paid for a month of group classes and began to study. The courses consisted of 4 academic hours of classes once a week on Saturdays only in Speaking and Writing, since we decided that we could train Listening and Reading on our own at home. It turned out that the course was not just recruited, but works according to the ongoing system, i.e. the teacher considers various aspects of the exam in a circle, students constantly join and “fall off”, having listened to full cycle. In theory, this sounds good, but in reality, the weight turned out to be not so beautiful. Firstly, the main accolades were directed at one teacher, Alina, and the teacher who taught our courses was not that “touted professional”. Secondly, the courses had a policy that if you can't come to class, it's okay, skip a couple, join later. As a result, for a month (4 lessons) we constantly studied with different people, the teacher could not read the material normally, because he could not base the lecture on information from the previous material, since half of the students did not know that this had already been dealt with in the last lesson, questions were asked in a circle. Of course, the governor did not like it very much, it seems that in a month we received some knowledge, but we did not improve our level of the language. The most important thing that we took away from this course is that our Speaking and Writing teacher estimates about band 5.5, or even less. This was cause for panic! Our fairly good performance on the Reading and Listening tests gave us hope that we can also speak and write about as well at target score. We decided to change the policy of classes and the next month we studied with the teacher Alina personally, me and my husband together. Yes, Alina turned out to be a really good teacher, we trained mainly Speaking, because I never had any communication practice and this turned out to be critical. Alina chose a topic for the lesson and asked a bunch of questions on this topic, listened to the answer and suggested how best to rephrase this phrase using complex tenses, complex speech turns, idioms. As a result, our classes were interrupted by a vacation in May, and after our return, for some reason, we did not go back to study with Alina, we decided that we would work out ourselves and, in which case, we would return to her. Now I can say that regarding Speaking 4 classes with Alina for 3 academic hours did an incredible thing, I got phrases, set expressions, grammatical constructions in my head that are ready to fly out of me at a convenient question. In a separate article dedicated to Speaking, I will definitely share these phrases.
5. Preparation for Writing.
After our return from our May vacation, we decided that we would suspend face-to-face classes with a teacher and try to work out on our own. I started scouring the forums again and looking for the best ways to prepare, books, tips. We began to practice writing essays, it took us a week (!) to write one essay. It was not at all clear what words to use, I wanted to complicate the essay as much as possible by adding complex revolutions, non-trivial words and grammatical structures. As a result, we got terrible “monsters” that were simply filled with all sorts of errors. In pursuit of complicating the text, I could translate the phrase “uncomfortable shoes” as “arudous shoes”, instead of the standard uncomfortable, which ultimately turned out to be completely unacceptable from the point of view of native speakers, because these words are never used together. In the end, I came to the conclusion that something needs to be changed, I don’t understand how to write these essays! And then I came across an absolutely amazing Youtube channel. IELTS Ryan. I have not seen someone better, easier and more understandable to explain how to write an essay. In the evening after work, armed with a laptop, I watched video after video, repeating in my Worde how Ryan writes an essay. At first, it seemed that his essays were too simple, but he complicates them gradually, giving an understanding of the structure at the beginning, and then “winding” complex structures. This channel, like his website, was a breakthrough in essay writing. Now I could write an essay in one evening, yes, I spent 2 hours instead of the prescribed 40 minutes, but all parts of the essay fell into place. Thanks to Ryan, I created my own “fish” for an essay, in which you just need to change the sentences a little depending on the topic. I occasionally submitted my essays to former IELTS examiner Mike Wattie, who lives on the IELTS Answers website, for review. Such a check is very convenient, since Mike lives in Australia, which means that his time is very different from our Moscow one. By sending 4 essays to Mike in the evening ($30 for 4 essays), I received verified papers in the morning. I liked the way Mike checks essays, he gives a score for each part of which builds a score for Writing: Task response, Cohesion and coherence, Vocabulary and Grammar and a comment on what needs to be improved in addition to just finding errors.
6. Preparation for Speaking.
Since I am very tired after work, despite the advice from the Internet, I could not study all parts of the exam at the same time. Reading and Listening have not been practiced for a long time, because there was a realization that the main problem of getting the target score was not in them. After Mike Wattie confirmed that my essays were eligible for a score of 7, I began to think about how I could improve my Speaking. I already had a stock of phrases in my head, after full-time courses, I just needed to practice speaking in the form of a dialogue. Without hesitation, I decided to find a teacher from Canada on italki and just start talking to him. My choice fell on a nice middle-aged Canadian, who seemed to me adequate for the price and his video presentation. We didn't run Speaking with him on questions from IELTS, while training for the exam, we just talked about Canada, about life, he corrected my mistakes and pointed out shortcomings that needed to be corrected. And there were not many such classes, about four to five, until the moment I felt some confidence in my speaking.
7. Results of preparation and summary.
As a result, all this preparation, which lasted from February to mid-July, we decided that it was time to test our first IELTS exam. Until I knew mine real level I got a little demotivated in learning, started to be lazy and limited my language learning again to just watching movies and series. Therefore, in mid-July, together with my husband, we registered for our first exam, which took place on August 20, the results of which, on the whole, suited us. I will separately tell you how the exam was passed, here I will only note what has already been discussed many times in blogs and forums. When preparing at home, you should write, read, speak and listen at least half a point higher than your target score, as there will be a couple of questions on the real exam that will put you in a dead end. When preparing for IELTS, I identified several factors for myself, which I consider to be the main ones as a result:
1. Watching movies and series in English every day really raises the general level of the language without any effort.
2. There must be motivation, without it, classes once a week will not give a really strong increase in points.
3. Before you study, you need to figure out exactly how the exam is assessed, this will help you prepare faster and not waste precious time studying what is not a priority.
8. Further plans.
The current score seems to be enough for us for our program, but I plan to retake IELTS this winter so that I have backup options. After passing the exam for the first time, I realized where my weak sides and now, when I already understand the format of the exam and the parameters from which the grade is formed, I want to improve my general level of the language by continuing to train for the test. Preparing for IELTS has greatly improved my general level of the language, so I think that I will continue to study in the context of preparing for IELTS in all four of its main sections.
9. Materials that I used.
As in any article on Wikipedia, it is not so much the information on the page itself that is valuable as links to the sources used, so I want to attach a list to my article useful resources who helped me a lot along the way and I think will continue to help. I am compiling the list in the order in which I would advise them to get acquainted with them so as not to get messy in my head, because from a large number of different opinions on different sites, I had a mess in the first days, without which I would have prepared for the current level for a couple months faster, that's for sure.
1. IELTS Ryan Youtube channel.
His playlists are divided into selected topics and first of all, I would advise you to listen to the section on the rules and methods for assessing the exam, it is called “Ryan’s Videos about the IELTS Assessment Process and the Writing Skills Demonstrated at Different Bands”. After the big picture appears in your head, you can start watching videos about writing essays, letters, and other sections of the exam.
2. How I passed IELTS.
On the GDay forum dedicated to immigration to Australia, I came across a very useful post by a user called Ili4, who tells his process of preparation and, most importantly, shares a link to his GoogleDrive with materials that he has accumulated in the process of preparation. There you can find books, examples of his verified essays with comments from teachers and invaluable experience.
Many people underestimate the importance of self-study for the IELTS exam. Everyone lives with the confidence that it is necessary to prepare not only by raising the level of English proficiency, but also by studying the features of the exam format. Of course, a teacher who has previously taken this test himself will be able to tell you about all the nuances and pitfalls of the exam. But you can prepare constantly, using every free minute, only you yourself, having taken up self-preparation.
Many native English speakers take a test score that is lower than that of people learning English as a second language. This happens for the simple reason that speakers are confident in their knowledge and do not prepare for a special exam format. About that, we talked about earlier. In addition, we even told you about . It is worth noting that self-preparation can help to successfully pass the test. It is not at all necessary to choose one thing: training in English courses or self-training. Self-preparation may well be an additional technique to improve your knowledge and skills.
Benefits of self-preparation for a language exam:
- can be combined with training courses
- you can practice in a convenient place at a convenient time
- costs less than English courses (you only have to pay for textbooks and study guides)
- you can choose the pace that suits you best
Disadvantages of self-preparation for IELTS
- materials for preparation will have to look for yourself
- you set the class schedule (this is both bad and good: everything will depend on your willpower)
- you are not familiar with the exam format
- you cannot objectively assess your level of English, weaknesses
IELTS Self-Study Resources
A special resource of the British Council for everyone who decides to prepare for the test on their own. Here you will find answers to questions: what is IELTS, how to properly prepare for the test format, what textbooks and educational materials use how to prepare for each individual part of the exam. More than 30 hours of free information and a lot of interesting and useful materials. The British Council always offers the highest quality and up-to-date information, so you should pay attention to this resource.
Another resource that you will definitely need. The portal offers you a 10-hour Road to IELTS Test Drive intensive preparation course. You can listen to materials and answer questions at any free time. Thus, preparing for the test will turn into a daily exciting activity.
Having prepared well, you will feel confident in the exam, especially if you read about. If, nevertheless, you are not completely sure that you can prepare for the test yourself, you can study.