Ashlenelouise Posted July 8, 2014 Report Share Posted July 8, 2014 Eekkkk so the time has come where i am taking my ielts this weekend. I am sooo scared about the whole thing that I took this week off work to get in some extra revision.. Any tips I should consider? Any little tips would be a big help. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunflower Posted July 8, 2014 Report Share Posted July 8, 2014 Hi Ashlene, First part is listening. As you hear the recording only once, listen very carefully. There are some tricky parts, like "I'll buy the saver one." But in the answer you will see economy or budget. They like using a few of these tricky synonyms or close meanings. Also pay attention to figures, generally the first nunber you hear is not the correct answer, eg: How much is the membership fee?" "Oh, let me see, it's 450 pounds. Oh wait a minute, there was a 50 pound increase. So not it's 500 pounds." In such case most people fall into the trick and pick 450 as the answer. For last section pay attention, it's a long monologue. For the reading part most mistakes are done at the "true/false/not given or yes/no/not given" questions. You may assume something from the passage but it may not be the writer's view. If the info is present (mostly in a paraphrased way) in the passage, then it's a yes or true. If the info contradicts the passage then it's false/no. You cannot find anything about the info, then it's a not given. Last part again is the difficult part. You can use reading tecniques like scanning, skimming. Eg: the question has the words or numbers like China, Louis Armstrong or year 1940, then scan only for these in the passage, then when you find the correct paragraph, read that one rather than reading the entire thing. For writing you must answer the task completely. For task 2, write a well-structured essay consisting of an intro, 2 body and 1 conclusion paragraph. Good luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gar374 Posted July 8, 2014 Report Share Posted July 8, 2014 Ok, so the listening...they'll play an example to make sure you can all gear everything ok. Then you'll get time to look at the first few questions, listen for the answers and write em down - there will be a gap, look at the next few questions and wait for the audio to play. It's usually 4/5 questions at a time. They answers come out in the order the questions are on the sheet. I didn't know this for my first go and lost the plot a bit. Take your time, if English is your first language you'll be fine. Reading...Take your time. You WILL have plenty of time to read each of the passages. I was panicking the first time coz I thought I read slow. Make sure you read the questions and answer them in the manner they have asked for. One of the sections asks you to tell which paragraph talks about something in particular. I started ok with this then reverted to true/false/not given as the answer you put on the sheet for true/false/not given is a, b or c, and the answer you put for which paragraph, the paragraphs are lettered a,b,c and so on! Fortunately, as I was checking over (and you will have time to check over before the end), I realised and put it right - it was down to the wire though. Writing. Do NOT go under the word count. I was seen many many times counting words - I made a note every 50 words to speed the process up for the next count. If you're using big words, make sure you can spell them correctly. The first is generally a letter, make sure you definitely cover each of the points they ask for. This counts for both parts. For the second, make sure you have beginning, middle and end. Speaking, relax, this one is very much examiner dependant. My first one was dead relaxed and I got a 9. Very conversational, so no problem. The second, it was very much more stifled. I was also asked questions that threw me. Things about typically british Birthday celebrations and other family events. Obviously if you're not british you should have studied these things. It never occurred to me as a native speaking brit and I stuttered a bit and felt off guard. It was very much, end of this question, now this is the next question. I still managed an 8.5. I got 7 7 8 and 9 on the first go and was chuffed, thought I had what I needed. Then told by the visa company I really needed 70 points to be picked for my job title, so had to go again. So much easier the second time because you know what to expect having seen it all before. Good Luck, you'll be fine. Gareth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashlenelouise Posted July 9, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 9, 2014 Thank you so much guys for the break down and these points are very informative, I have been revising and it was the actual layout that has been scaring me not the actual content .. So this makes things a little easier xx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
sunflower Posted July 9, 2014 Report Share Posted July 9, 2014 Hi Ashlene, Check this link. It's British Council's online preparation aid. It will give you enough info regarding the test. If you click on listening, reading, writing etc, you will find sample tests. http://www.roadtoielts.com/testdrive/ Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
peterc1983 Posted July 9, 2014 Report Share Posted July 9, 2014 What everyone says about using synonyms and paraphrasing -- this happens a fair bit. Same for the reading AFAIK, it's there to force you to interpret the text rather than just understand the words. So long as you are fast enough to give yourself ample time to check it should be all good. I lost marks in my reading on my 1st attempt, but made up for it on my 2nd to score 20 pts. It was definitely a case of reading and re-checking (I seem to recall checking everything at least 3 times -- reading probably double that!) Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashlenelouise Posted July 12, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 12, 2014 Just sat waiting to go in ... Had my pictures and fingerprints taken ... My speaking exam is at 13.30 so not tooo bad ... Just want it over with now thanks for the advice I've just read through it again ... ( as I have done the past few days - numerous times) eeekk here goes xx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
cocolevi Posted July 12, 2014 Report Share Posted July 12, 2014 Good luck x Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jac2011 Posted July 12, 2014 Report Share Posted July 12, 2014 Good Luck Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashlenelouise Posted July 13, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 13, 2014 Wasn't too bad took all your points on board and it really helped ... I struggles a bit on the writing mainly due to lack of practice, I concentrated far too much on reading listening and speaking that I didn't practice the writing as much as I should ... Just 12 long days until I find out my result xxx Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImmilBees Posted July 14, 2014 Report Share Posted July 14, 2014 Good luck! I'm booking mine today for September 20th Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Ashlenelouise Posted July 25, 2014 Author Report Share Posted July 25, 2014 So I've passed my ielts ... Kind off I need 7s in all sections for my next stage which is the skills assessments and as you can see from my signature I did get above 7s but I do need all 8s for my visa in October ... So I will have to re sit ... How ever for the meantime I am ecstatic to of passed it first time eeeekkkkkkk thank for all your help guys Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
clairej456 Posted July 25, 2014 Report Share Posted July 25, 2014 Mine is tomorrow....I need the same. 7's for skills assessment and 8's for visa. Want it over now !! claire Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonM Posted July 25, 2014 Report Share Posted July 25, 2014 As you are only missing .5 on writing why dont you ask for a remark first ? I did this as i also had 7.5 on writing and i was lucky enough that it was remarked to 8.0, you never know as you have to resit the whole test again and will need to get 8's again in all sections not just the 1. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
annjean Posted July 25, 2014 Report Share Posted July 25, 2014 congratulations and all the best for the future Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Posted July 25, 2014 Report Share Posted July 25, 2014 Well done, you will be onto the next step now, congratulations, I get my results a week today for the fourth time so you should be made up to pass first time! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImmilBees Posted July 25, 2014 Report Share Posted July 25, 2014 Well done!! once my poorly girl is back at nursery, I'm starting my revision for my test. Why do you need all 8s for the visa, and not an average? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonM Posted July 25, 2014 Report Share Posted July 25, 2014 To get 20 points towards the visa process you need 8 or above in each section, the overall mark doesn't count. If you only need 10 points then 7's in each section are enough. Ashlene needed 7's for her assessment but requires the 8's for the visa points, however the good news is she will only need to take the general IELTS for the points so she should smash it if she retakes the tests for the points instead of going for a remark on the academic test that she sat. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ImmilBees Posted July 26, 2014 Report Share Posted July 26, 2014 Oh ok, thanks for that. I need sevens so a little less pressure hopefully! Still going to bury myself in test papers from now till the test! Good luck Ashlene for next time. Have you considered appealing the .5 mark, like someone suggested? Do you have to pay to resist? X Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Posted July 26, 2014 Report Share Posted July 26, 2014 Each test you take is around £145, academic or general it can be a costly part of the visa process, in my case once I turn 33 I need to obtain a 8 in each section, but I have until November before I'm in that situation, hopefully when I get my results next Friday I'll have achived a 7 at least in each section! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JasonM Posted July 26, 2014 Report Share Posted July 26, 2014 Keith you need to have your EOI visa accepted before you turn 33 or you will need them 8's i turned 40 in may and missed my eio deadline so i needed to sit the ielts. be carefull that you dont run out of time, have you done the skills assessment yet ? mine is taking ages and no dates for my practical yet so could be sept / oct before i get dates for my practical. unless your Gareth and very lucky with timings. Just a heads up Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Keith Posted July 26, 2014 Report Share Posted July 26, 2014 I have completed are skill assessment with the TRA, it's just the IELTS to complete then we can put are EOI in so fingers crossed I get my results Friday then we will put are EOI in on Monday it's wishfully thinking but that's how close we are, that should hopefully give us enough time to have are EOI accepted but it's cutting it close ! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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