How I Increased my IELTS Score in 4 Months

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An IELTS student increased her scores in each part of the IELTS test in 4 months. Her name is Priscilla. Below you can learn some of her tips for increasing your IELTS score.

Priscilla’s Results

April: L8, R7.5, W6.5, S7 (OBS 7.5)

August: L9, R8.5, W7, S7.5 (OBS 8)

Her certificate April:

Her certificate: August

Priscilla’s Experience in 2 IELTS Tests

April 20th IELTS preparation and examination evaluation
I was too excite and too confident mainly because I felt that since I spoke English from cradle, the exam should not be a big deal thus I practiced less.During the exam, I lacked understanding of the writing task 2 question. Generally I lacked structure, I just started writing and wrote too many words and even collected an extra sheet. In reading, because i lacked method, i took a lot of time for passages 1 and 2 which resulted to less time for 3. In listening, I got worried when I missed some points and i kept thinking about it. In speaking, I was nervous and i tried to impress the examiner. I was not generally natural, I used learned phrases too.
August 3rd IELTS preparation and examination evaluation  
I was calmer and took corrections. I learnt planning for writing task 2 and i wrote average words in the two tasks using only the sheets provided, no extras. I had extra time to go over my work. For reading, I found a method that worked for me and I held on to it. I solved the first two passages faster and had more time for the third passage still checked my answers. In listening, I anticipated answers, did not dwell on missed points and followed the conversation by tracing the questions with my pencil. While speaking, I spoke more naturally (no forming of intonation). I avoided impressing the examiner, i did not look for big words to use  and I answered the questions mostly sincerely as if my information would be verified; this prevented me from overthinking.

Priscilla’s Tips to Increase your Score

These are some tips that i think helped me. First, observe how calm Liz is when she teaches. Adopt that nature at least for the exam!

  • Don’t be too excited
  • Don’t try to impress the examiner
  • Read and Follow instructions
  • Understand Questions

In Listening: (9.0)
*Listen carefully and move on when u miss an answer.
*Sometime predict answers (this helped me a lot)
*Use your pencil to follow the conversions (it kept me on track)

Reading: (8.5)
My method:

  1. read questions fully
  2. read passage fully but fast
  3. then answer questions
  4. I finished passages 1 & 2 in 30 mins then 3 in 25 mins. Used 5 mins to go over questions and answers

Writing (7.0)
I practised sensibly. I learnt planning for my writing. This works like magic. I finished task 2 within 30 mins
Went over the two tasks and made error corrections.

Speaking: (7.5) I never believed I’d get this mark!
I was less excited, I spoke naturally. I wasn’t thinking of any big words to use.
I don’t know if this will work for another but I answered the questions truthfully as if I was in a non-English exam interview. I added details to short answers too.

http://www.ieltsliz.com is perfect for learning. Don’t be in a hurry. Just give yourself practice time. I now tell my friends, study everything on LIZ first, then do practice tests a lot.

Message to Priscilla: Thanks so much for sharing your experience. It truly shows students that it is possible to increase their scores with the right techniques and practice. Well done to you for your great achievement !! Liz

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Is Band 9 possible in IELTS?

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Hi guys,

Share your thoughts…

  1. Do you think it is possible to get an overall band score of 9 in IELTS?
  2. Have you ever known someone get band 9 overall?

Post your answers in the comments box below.

Liz

 

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Answers for Listening Answer Exercise

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Hi guys,

Here are your answers to yesterday’s listening exercise about choosing the correct answers.

Questions:

Answer using no more than three words and/or a number.

  1. John can’t have  ……………or …………….
  2. Mary will need  to buy …………… for the car park.
  3. The car park will close at ………………………

Possible Answers:

Choose below which are the correct answers for these questions

**  You can choose more than one correct answer. In some cases, there might be two or three correct answers. **

Answer to Q1:   a) milk or butter         b) milk, butter           c) milk  / butter      d) milk  butter

Answer to Q2   a) ticket      b) a ticket     c) the ticket        d) car park ticket

Answer to Q3   a) at 9.30pm     b) at 9:30pm     c) 9.30pm     d)9:30pm

Answers

Click below to reveal the answers:

Answers

Q1 = You could choose b, c or d. All three were correct. Answer a was wrong. The word “or” was already given in the question and shouldn’t be used again.

Tips: When you have two words as an answer for one question, it is best to just leave a space between the words. For example, “milk   butter”. You can separate the words if you want using punctuation but it isn’t necessary.,

Q2 = You could choose b. The other answers were wrong.  The sentence must be grammatically correct to be marked right. So, you needed to write “a ticket” as your answer.

Q3 = You could choose c or d. Both of them are right. The answers a and b are wrong. The word “at” was given in the sentence so you should not repeat it.

Tips: When you write the time, there is no set rule for this. You could write 9.30pm or 9:30pm. As long as the person marking understands, it will be marked right. 

 

 

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Student Tips for Getting IELTS Band 8.5 Overall

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My Tips for IELTS Overall 8.5

This page gives you my tips for how I got IELTS band score 8.5 overall in 3 steps. And also my tips for getting band 8 in IELTS writing and band score 9 in IELTS speaking.

by Deeksha

My IELTS Test Results

24th June; United States; First Attempt. I just received my IELTS score:

  • Listening – 7.5
  • Reading – 8.5
  • Writing – 8.0
  • Speaking – 9.0
  • Overall – 8.5

I barely had 5 days to prepare. 70% of my preparation included watching the videos on your blog, answering your sample questions, and going through your tips! For the rest 30%, I printed some of the full-fledged tests and
sample answer sheets from the Cambridge IELTS books and just practised using those.

For anyone of you who has a very little time to prepare, I hope that the process I followed can help you lay out a basic schedule.

My 3 Step Tips for IELTS Band Score 8.5

See my 3 steps:

Step -1 (Know the test)

– Go through the test format.
– Spend some time and understand the question patterns in each segment.
– Keep in mind the time limit for every segment.
– Do an initial sample test (download from IELTS official website) just to see where you stand.

Links:

Step-2 (Prepare using Liz’s blog)

– Go through every one of the 4 segments (L, R, W, S) in this blog, one after the other. Links: Listening Tips, /Reading / Writing T1 /  Writing T2 / Speaking
– In each segment, read every tip and watch every video.
– Make notes of the points that you would like to keep in mind.
– Try and answer every sample question that Liz has laid out there. She has specified at least one sample question for every possible pattern that could appear on the test.
– Look at the answers and compare with yours. Figure out what you got wrong and more importantly, “analyze why you got them wrong.” This helps you understand how you approached the question, and how you should have.

Step-3 (Practice)

– Download all the versions of Cambridge IELTS books (you can just google them out).
– From these books, print out the full-fledged tests and sample answer sheets.
– Take these tests using a clock and write your answers in the sample answer sheets.
– Grade your tests and find out your weak areas.
– Make notes of your analysis and try to keep it in mind during the following tests.

In addition, go through the comments in this blog and find out what the recent test takers said about their tests. Know about the tips that helped them, learn from their experiences and be prepared.

Writing Tips for Band Score 8

On my test:

  1. Write a letter to your friend who is going to stay in your apartment during the next month while you are away on vacation
  2. Tell your friend where to get the keys
  3. Tell your friend about the equipment in your apartment
  4. Tell your friend about some places to visit in the area
  5. Advancement of technology has obliterated libraries and hard copies of books. Do you agree or disagree?

–          Apart from your writing skills and the topic at hand, it may help to do this section in a way that encompasses all the elements that the examiner is looking for. Liz’s writing section mentions specific guidelines for content organization, format, tone, logical reasoning, titles, signatures and many other tips. Go through them and try to follow all those tips as you write. In other words, you will have a shell prepared in your mind even before you know what the questions are. Click here: IELTS GT Letter Tips 

–          I didn’t have time to practice this section at all so I had a bit of an issue managing time on the test. If you have very little time to prepare for IELTS, make sure you squeeze in at least a few writing tests and see where you stand with the time limit.

Speaking Tips for Band Score 9

Go through Liz’s list of sample topics, sample answers (Liz’s Speaking Page), comments from recent test takers (Recent Topics) on this blog and questions from IELTS Cambridge speaking tests. Try to answer them. These should be more than enough to help you familiarize with the test pattern and to understand what to expect on the test. From the comments, I also found out that most of these questions are being repeated so make sure you go through them. Almost all the questions that my examiner (whose name was coincidentally Liz) asked me were also from the above lot.

As Liz mentioned, they expect you to be casual and test you only for your language and not for your knowledge on the topic at hand. Think about this segment like you just bumped into a fan who would like to know some of your opinions and experiences. Well, you don’t simply meet a fan every day, so this is your chance – talk her ear off! J Be casual, funny, and confident and you’ll do just fine.

Try to book your test in a test center that does not use hallway speakers to play the audio in the listening section. There is a definite distinction in terms of quality compared to headphones. There is always a possibility of noise and distraction. I didn’t know about this while booking my test and I certainly experienced the difference.

Thanks,

Deeksha.

Good Luck!

Liz – Thanks again for the effort you are putting in, to assist so many test-takers all over the world, each with their own questions and training needs. It must feel incredible to know that most of these people credit their success to you. Keep up the good work!

Deeksha.

Message from Liz

Deeksha, you’ve done exceedingly well. Congratulations!! I love your tips! They are logical and very helpful for all IELTS students. Tackling IELTS methodically is essential and Deeksha has really hit the nail on the head !!! 🙂

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July 20th IELTS Writing Task 2 Question

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Today (July 20th) the IELTS writing task 2 question was reported. Below you can see the essay question.

 

IELTS Essay Question: July 20th 2017

Billions of dollars are spent on space research. This is a waste of money. More money must be spent on improving the problems of people on earth .To what extent do you agree or disagree.

The topic of Space Exploration and Space Travel is for Academic students only. It is not an easy topic to write about so make sure you prepare ideas for this topic.

 

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Prepare properly for IELTS

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Hi guys,

This video is a free video lesson about how to prepare for IELTS. It is posted on my home page but I feel many students are not finding it. So, here is your chance to watch it and think about the points given.

In the video, it mentions about knowing your level of English. Let me explain:

  • Band 5 = frequent errors
  • Band 6 = some errors
  • Band 7 = few errors
  • Band 8 = most sentences are error free

I am sure you all know how many errors you make on average. You don’t need a teacher to tell you. You can use spell check and grammar check in ms word doc. You should also review your vocab frequently and your understanding of grammar tenses. You can also review your range of grammar tenses by recording your speaking answers and playing it back to check. Or writing a task 2 essay and underlining each grammar tense you use.

IELTS Video Lesson: How to Prepare

[su_youtube url=”https://youtu.be/2TAhwbB8GKM”]

 

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Answers to Dinosaur Reading Questions

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Hi guys,

Yesterday I posted a reading exercise on pterosaur dinosaurs and now you can find the answers. If you didn’t finish the reading exercise, please do it now: TFNG questions pterosaur dinosaurs

Answers

Click below to reveal the answers:

Answers, Explanations & Tips

Answers

  1. Question = Pterosaurs were the first creatures to be able to fly by creating lift

Answer: F

Passage Information: “They were also the first animals after insects to evolve powered flight—not just leaping or gliding, but flapping their wings to generate lift and travel through the air.”

Explanation: the word creatures refers to both animals and insects. The passage shows that animals (pterosaurs) could fly after insects. This means insects were first. Creating lift relates to “generating lift”.

The reading passage for this lesson was taken from the American Museum of Natural History. You can read the full information about pterosaurs on their website: AMNH pterosaurs.Some students have comments on “flapping wings”.  You can read about insect flight on this page: WIKI Insect Flight  or check directly with AMNH about their article.

2. Question = Pterosaurs were able to fly as high as modern aeroplanes.

Answer: NG

Passage Information: ” Some were as large as an F-16 fighter jet, and others as small as a paper aeroplane.”

Explanation: You can see that the passage does not give information about how high the dinosaurs could fly. No mention of height is given. The passage only mentions “F-16 fighter jet” – not a range of modern planes. This means the answer is Not Given.

3. Question = The shape and the size of pterosaurs varied over time.

Answer: T

Passage Information: “Over time, the earliest pterosaurs—relatively small flying reptiles with sturdy bodies and long tails—evolved into a broad variety of species. Some had long, slender jaws, elaborate head crests, or specialized teeth, and some were extraordinarily large.”

Explanation: You can see from the passage that at the beginning all pterosaurs were quite small. But then they changed and some of them grew to be very big. The word “evolved” indicated natural evolution which happens over a period of time and also the confirmation “over time”. The passage also mentioned the shape of the pterosaurs = “Some had long, slender jaws, elaborate head crests”. The word “some” means that some had this shape and others had a different shape.

Tips

The answer might not be in one sentence. Once you locate the information, read the sentences before and after to locate more information. You will often have to read 4 or 5 sentences in the passage in order to decide your answer.

You can see that I posted the passage information and explanation. You should do this when you practice full reading tests at home. After you finish the test, review each question and answer -write down the explanation for the answer so you can see your mistakes more clearly in order to learn and develop.

Message from Liz

Most of you got the answers spot on – well done 🙂 If you got one or two wrong, I hope you can understand why from my explanations above.

I will try and post more lessons soon.

Liz

 

 

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Answers to Listening: Office Etiquette

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Hi guys,

I have posted the answers to yesterday’s listening lesson with the transcript as well.

I’ve posted them back on the lesson page. Click this link to see the answers: Office Etiquette Listening Lesson

Thanks

Liz

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