IELTS Preparation

“ Every battle is won before it was ever fought ” —————San Su(A Chinese maxim)

One of the best maxim I ever heard and I personally believe it so if you try to touch your dream then better be prepared for the obstacle.

Rumors : In Bangladesh, IELTS Exam is conducted by two institutions :

1) British Council

2) IDP- Australia

Some people believe that if you take IELTS exam in IDP then your chance to maximize your score is little bit higher then British Council IELTS Exam. I personally heard that IDP gives an average score( band score 6.5-7 in a scale of 9.0) in speaking section which definitely be an advantage for the students who has a poor command in conversation. On the other hand, British council provide students a more accurate mark i.e. if a student deserve a score, let’s say 8.0 in speaking then if he/she can be able to demonstrate this fluency then obviously they get it . Moreover, all the section in IELTS Exam may be little bit easier compare with British Council. However, I personally believe that Taking Exam from British Council is safe. I saw few Universities in USA who only recommend IELTS Exam conducted by Cambridge. So It is better if you take the exam in British Council. Now in point of view of Bangladesh, IELTS exam- British Council is taken in five different metropolitan cities. Because of excessive burden in Dhaka Branch if anyone is like to take the exam in other places such as Chittagong, Sylhet, Khulna, or Rajshahi they are highly welcome.

Preparation for IELTS :

First of all its just a skill which is developing when you are in 7-8 grade student. If u are a English movie or serial maniac then IELTS in not too much burden for them except the Reading section. If u are not that kind of person then you have to work much sedulously to nail it. So Best of luck to Everybody.

Booklist :

Want to Band Score 7.5-9.0 :

1) IELTS Trainer

2) Practice Plus Series 1,2,3

You can take almost 24 exams by practicing these books.

Want to Band score 6.0-7.0 :

1) Cambridge 5-9 is more than enough . so need to practice Cambridge 1-4 because quite a bit outdated.

2) There are so books found in Nilkhat which are published by British Council specially for Reading Section. I believe this part is the most terrific part in IELTS compare with TOFEL because of so tiring lengthy passage. Anybody can lost their track in this mighty ocean of words. So be prepare well for this. If you are bookworm then no problem I guess.

Now I give a brief a suggestions regarding all sections.

Listening Module :

Listening is the synchronization of what you hear and what you write. So one should have to do both the task simultaneously and get over it. This is only possible by practicing it deliberately and until you get a consistent score which is above 32 out of 40.I try to use these strategies while practicing listening.

At first, look through the Questions very carefully from top to bottom. Read the Instructions carefully which means what they needed such as a number, no more than two words etc. So Never skip them and Never think about saving time by skipping them. That can be a wrong decision and it will cost you in the long term. Another thing is that Mark the “KEYWORD” so that when you listening to the tape you may concentrate on the keyword and find the answer easily and use this procedure While practicing. Never rewind or pause the tape. Remember you heard the recording only Once. Just complete the track and try to answer as much as you can during preparation. After the end of each segment you will be given one minute to check an answer, always try to use this time to scan the next section. One should keep in mind that You will never get any number for spelling mistakes and grammatical error. Better be careful about silly mistakes and always use the word that is said in the conversation, don’t use synonyms. In the end of listening section, if any question is left then use your guess power to answer the question as you do not lose any marks for wrong answers. If you are lucky may be you a point who knows.

Reading Module:

Most difficult part in IELTS section because of poor reading skill and not accustomed with English newspapers. But Those who already taken the GRE exam and after that preparing for IELTS exam reading is not so arduous task for them. So if anybody want to pursuit for higher study in USA then they should take the IELTS Exam after taking the GRE Exam .Always careful not to stuck in the passage. cademic more leniently marked than General One should keep in mind that questions are sequential. That means if you find an answer in paragraph two then answer two in not in paragraph one i.e. not up in the text. Not Given only when it is 100% absent. Do one question at a time. This strategy is very useful. Save heading match until the end
Do not read the text from start to finish. Find answer and write question numbers Engage practice tests. Try to follow 15-20-25 method. That is first passage should be finished within 15 minutes and the next is 20 minutes and the third one in 25 minutes because it is the most difficult and abstract one. So give more time to this passage . Use last 5 minutes effecitively.

Writing Module :

My recommendation is that watch Ryan’s Video Blog. You get a whole idea how to write Task 1 and Task 2. Though I am not be able to follow this rules completely and get a poor marks. Nevertheless, Watch these videos which is found in you tube. Besides if anybody interested One can see the sample answers given in the book “Academic Writing Tasks (1 & 2) ”—B. C. Mackottor.

Focus on quality before focusing on speed Learn essay structure i.e. whether it is an argument or descriptive task or cause and effect task (Task 2 only) Actively Reads lots of example essays Get your writing assessed to ensure you know how to improve and what stage are you now. Try to write one or two essay everyday and utilize variety of words to ornament this essay. As there is always a place for modification you can include your own style. But, practice variety of topics with convincing language foundation to be the best.

Speaking Module :

In this module if you focus on some simple approach, you get better results.

Coherence trumps all Stay on topic Use colloquialisms appropriately and naturally. Most important thing is that try to use linking words. Answer directly and summarize with different words (use in a nutshell, in the end , in conclusion, in sum, above all,……..) Use transition phrase but overuse can sound robotic Make up something if u don’t know. Try to tell story and give proper example. Keep the conversation portions sounding like conversations Practice speaking for longer than 2 minutes. Marathon (1,3,5,7…) You can score 9.0 with an accent Practice all the Exam Seriously like an real time exam situation. Forgot about using pen for preparing days, just try to use pencil because you have to use it in real examination. So better be prepared for this.

This doc may be lengthy enough to fell boredom. Sorry for inconvenience.