How to succeed on your IELTS journey
If you came across this post and decided to check it out, it’s because you’re probably trying to score 7.0 or higher in the IELTS certification test. If that’s the case, you came to the right place. I’ll explain how you can succeed and excel in this exam. I’ve taken IELTS a few times until I could get the score I needed, and I can definitely say it’s a milestone in one’s life. This post will guide you throughout the entire process, and it will provide you with important tips and courses you can take for both the academic and general modules of this test.
This article turned out to be a long read due to the amount of info I included, so be prepared to spend a few minutes reading it. I’m sure you won’t regret.
Academic or General Module?
The vast majority of people don’t know the real differences and similarities between the two IELTS modules. To get matters even worse, many think that the General one is way easier than the Academic one. I will show you that this is not the case, and you’ll see how to get a good score no matter the module you’re doing.
I’ve taken the Academic and General versions, and I got the following scores:
Academic: Overall: 7.5 | R: 8.0 | L: 7.5| W: 7.5 | S: 7.0
General: Overall: 7.5 | R: 8.5 | L: 7.5 | W: 6.0 | S: 7.0
How much time does it require?
Well, that’s is a common question among most of the test takers, and the answer can vary depending on your background, fluency, and communication skills. This challenging test requires you to have and well-developed domain of English, as well as excellent communication skills. If you are like me and can communicate with people without any problem what so ever, you’ll have no problem in achieving good marks in the speaking part.
However, if you don’t feel comfortable when having a face-to-face conversation, that’s going to be a little of a problem at first. But don’t worry, anyone can succeed in the speaking section with some practice. How about writing? Do you like writing? Because I’m not a fan of writing, especially nowadays where everything we consume is digital and writing is rarely used in some professions. So, the time you’ll need to study for the IETLS can range anywhere from a couple of weeks to a couple of years. Yeah, you read that right, it could take months until you can score a high band in all categories of this test.
On average, if you’re a fast learning and are willing to study hard for a long period of time, a couple of months is all you’ll need to get straights sevens in all sections of this test. However, we know that not everyone uses English in their life every day, which can make this journey a bit harder. But don’t worry, if I could get scores above 7 in my tests, you also can do it. I do recommend you studying for three months for this test though.
Computer-based or paper-based test?
If you are doing the IELTS for the first time ever, go for the digital version. Overall, the listening and writing parts are easier than the paper version. I’ve done both tests, and I can guarantee that the computer version is way better than its paper option.
You may argue that reading on the computer is not as comfortable as reading in the paper. However, the time you’ll save in the computer test will be a tremendous advantage in your favor. This is why:
- You can copy and paste text, so no need to write your answers in the reading part.
- You can highlight words and sentences.
- The audio is better when using a headphone.
- You’ll have a word count for the writing tasks.
- You’ll save at least 10 minutes for the reading.
- You’ll save at least 15 minutes for the writing.
- Your results will be available sooner.
That’s right, you’ll save a significant amount of time if you choose the computer-based IELTS. In my case, I managed to save 15 minutes to check my writing in the final. This allowed me to fix spelling mistakes that would have cost me valuable points.
If you choose the paper version, be careful with the writing part. Writing speed has been proven to be slower than typing speed (on average). In my opinion, the main benefit of the computer version is the writing part.
When studying for the computer-based test, it is important to do the practice tests on your computer to get used to the setup. The same goes for the paper version where you should practice with pen and paper.
Reading
You'll make this part the easiest one of your exam. Even if you hate reading or think it’s too hard for you, this will still be perhaps the most manageable section out of all four parts. The reason for this is quite simple, and it only requires practicing and applying the right technique. Here I will explain how you can study for this part.
Practice makes perfect!
When I was studying for the IELTS, I first began by focusing only on the reading section. I bought a course on Udemy for less than USD 10, and it was worth every penny I spent on it. This is the one:
The course will require you about two months to complete it, and the most useful lessons are the ones in reading and listening. Don’t worry if you can’t complete this course on time, but make sure to go through all the reading and listening classes at least. I will break down the technique that I followed and it worked just fine for me.
- If you’re taking the general version, you have to begin studying for the ACADEMIC version. Only after excel the reading academic you can start to practice the general one. This is pivotal if you’re aiming for an 8.0 or a higher score in this part.
- NEVER read the passage first. You don’t need to read the entire passage before answering the questions. If you decide to read the text and highlight the keywords, you won’t have enough time to complete the test. This is applicable to almost everyone, so don’t read the text.
- Go straight to the questions.
- Look for the easiest questions types first in this order: True/False/Not Given > Filling the Blanks > Multiple Choice > Summary > Heading/Matching
- The most difficult questions are the heading and matching questions, so you have to leave them to the final. However, is also good to have an idea of these questions (keywords) in your mind so you can do it in parallel while searching for other questions in the text (quite advanced at first, but once you practice it, it’ll become manageable)
- Search for keywords in the questions because these words are the ones you’ll use to look for the answers in the text.
- Make this part like a math problem. Some types of questions go in order, and all types of questions have a formula to solve. You have to break down each sentence in words so you can fit the variable into your formula. Even though it can be challenging sometimes, if you do it in that way (the one taught in the course), you will succeed.
- Answer one question at the time. you should only proceed to the next one if you finish the previous one or if you couldn’t manage to find the answer right away. It is extremely important to maintain this flow during this process.
- When searching for a keyword in the text (i.e. answer), you must look for synonyms.
- You MUST perform scanning and skimming of the text when looking for these keywords.
You should learn all those steps in the online course mention above. I promise you won’t regret buying this material.
Talking about the material itself, you’ll need to get the official IELTS books since they are the best resources for practicing. Here are the books I used:
- Cambridge IELTS Academic 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13
- Cambridge IELTS General Training 11 and 12
You can get these books online on Amazon or eBay, but if you dig deeper, you can download them on the Internet.
In order to do well on this part of the test, you have to practice as many times as you can. The more mocked tests you do, the better prepared you’ll become for the real one. I’ve done 40 complete tests including academic and general ones. There is no big secret on this part. Once you’ve learned the technique, you must practice it. I improved from getting 5.5 to straights and constant 9.0's in my practices.
If you choose the computer-based test, you should highlight sentences and words in the passage, and use the copy and paste feature to avoid spelling mistakes.
Listening
Like the reading part, this section is deeply related to practice. You should learn how to do each of the question types, and avoid making spelling mistakes. In fact, this last point plays a vital rule in your final score. If you make a couple of spelling mistakes, it’ll be enough to lower your grade in a whole band point.
For this part, you should use the IELTS books mentioned in the reading section. The Udemy course I recommended for reading is also a key thing to succeed here. If you have trouble understanding different ascents, you should give your best and train your hearing to different accents. In other words, you should listen to PodCasts and try to comprehend every single word spoken. These are the ones which helped me:
When it comes to training your writing skills, learning how to spell hard words does help a lot. So, for this part, you could make a vocabulary list where you can put all the words you don’t know. Each time you come across a new word that fits this criteria, you should include it in the list. I used the App called AnkiApp both in my phone and computer to create vocabulary lists. I also used the website Forvo to download the sound of the words. The flashcard technique is quite useful, and I included the sound of each word I didn’t know.
However, if you are aiming for an 8.0 or higher on this category, you need to pay special attention to the last section of the listening test: the lecture. This section requires specific vocabulary, and if you don’t have a wide range of vocabulary, you should learn new ones.
The key thing here is to read all questions before the audio starts and underline the keywords in each one. You must pay special attention to the many traps the exam throws at you, especially in the multiple-choice and matching questions.
You should study for this part for a month or more if you want to get a good score. Remember, practice is the key.
Speaking
If you can communicate with English speakers without problems, you can nail this part as well. You should learn some tips in the Udemy course for part 2, which is the most difficult, and be yourself in the other two parts. This is because sometimes we spend too much time preparing our speech to get good marks when the reality is the more fluent you are, the higher your grades will be.
Be yourself, just talk.
For this part, you also have to practice. I used a website to find speaking partners for practicing mocked tests over the phone.
After setting up your profile there, you can mail people asking them whether or not they would partner with you. I do recommend practicing at least 10 times before taking the real test. You can ask a friend to help you out with this part if you want to.
Another thing that could help is recording yourself talking. It is only when you hear yourself that you can notice the mistakes you make. Remember, everyone makes mistakes, just try to give your best in not making simple mistakes. My final tip for this part is to NEVER stop talking in part two. It is better to let the examiner stops you when the time is up. By doing this simple act, you will avoid talking for a length which is too short.
Writing
Now, my dear friend, we’re about to talk about WRITING! This will be by far the most difficult and challenging part of your entire test. If you are like me, who don’t write that often, you’ll have to study a lot for this section. You should study for this part for at least two months so you can perfect your writing skills.
The main key here is to write as often as you can. After getting the technique mastered, you should write an essay every single day. If possible, hire a professor to correct your work and give some feedback. Understanding your weakness is perhaps the most valuable asset you can have on this part.
Task 1 (Academic)
If you are an engineer or a math-fan person, you’ll love this part. You must follow the template given below and develop your answer as much as possible. Don’t describe the process like you were going over the basic points only. You have to be creative here by imagining scenarios and details that are hidden in the graph/process/map.
For instance, if there are three countries being analyzed against three categories, the detailed information you should come up with is data originated from comparison and differences using the numbers in our favor. Let me explain it better. Consider you were comparing these two figures:
- X = 10
- Y = 3
This is what you could say about it:
- X’s figure is more than three times bigger than Y’s.
- Y’s figure is nowhere near as higher as X’s.
Do you see how strong those comparisons are? You must develop your answer like that in order to score 7.0 or higher. For connecting your ideas, you must use complex and compound sentences. This Udemy curse is the best you can get:
Try to use words like whereas, however, in contrast, while, although, etc. Remember, the more complex your vocabulary and structures are, the better your score will be.
I do recommend dividing your work like that:
- Summary (1 sentence)
- General Overview
- Detail Paragraph 1
- Detail Paragraph 2
You should write no more than 200 words for this question. Focus on the quality of your work rather than the quantity.
Task 1 (General)
When it comes to the general letters, it is important to know the main differences between the different styles. I do recommend taking this course:
- Mastering IELTS Writing: Task 1 (General Training)
It is important to pass through the impression that your work is NOT a mechanic essay when writing formal letters. In other words, don’t overuse linking words to connect ideas. Instead, try to make the fluency of your text better by using sentences that related to each other. What I mean by that is using things like “this is because”, “one reason for this is because”, “in contrast”, “another point to be made is” instead of words like “Additionally”, “furthermore” and “in addition”.
I do recommend dividing your work like that:
- Introduction
- Detail Paragraph 1
- Detail Paragraph 2
- Conclusion
Task 2
Task 2 is worth more points, so you should allow twice as much time for this essay. The same tips given for Task 1 are applied here with no exception at all. You can start by enrolling in the following Udemy courses:
- Mastering IELTS Writing: Task 2 (Achieve Band 7+ in 5 Hours)
- Mastering IELTS Writing: Task 2 (Band 9 Model Answers)
I do recommend dividing your work like that:
- Introduction
- Body Paragraph 1
- Body Paragraph 2
- Conclusion
Here I explain some general tips that may be helpful for you.
- You should paraphrase as much as you can.
- Use complex and compound sentences.
- Go for long sentences if you know what you’re doing. Try to merge two complex sentences or/and compound sentences.
- Don’t focus on the introduction and conclusion. You should be able to apply an algorithm for these two paragraphs so you don’t waste any time planning what to write.
- The introduction should have no more than 3 sentences.
- The conclusion MUST begin with “In conclusion,”. Believe me, this really works!
As mentioned for task 1, never overuse your transaction words. Try your best to come up with sentences that connect with each other without using explicit connectors. Take a look at the example below:
Another point in favor of independent workers is that they frequently spend less hours to get to work compared with a standard employee. For instance, a man who has to commute for 2 hours to work may not be as time-efficient as someone working from home. This difference is widely seen in major cities like New York and Sao Paulo since these locations require long commute hours. The downside of this aspect is that if this worker, who is working from his house, has a baby or children at home, he or she can be distracted by them, thus reducing working performance
Notice that each sentence relates to the previous one somehow. It’s also important to mention how cohesion is influenced by your ideas in the paragraph. If they don't fit together, you’ll lose precious points for this category. Again, be careful not to transform your essay into a mechanical text. You can’t put too many words like in addition, therefore, additionally, furthermore, etc.
What I dit for practicing was writing an essay every single day for one month. It’s important to time yourself when doing so. Because I did both types of IELTS, I end up with 62 essays in total from my practices.
Private classes
After all, is it worth taking private classes? In my opinion, yes. Getting feedback, especially for the writing part, is pivotal for your success. However, this type of service is quite expensive, so make your classes as efficient as you can get it. What I mean by that is to learn all the techniques and structure of the writing before getting help. This approach will save you tons of money. Here are two professors I do recommend:
Bear in mind these services go in line with the Udemy courses I recommended here, so they will teach you the same technique. It is totally worth.
That's all folks! If you have any questions regarding this topic, please reach me on my email at jaimejales [at] hotmail.com.
