IELTS Reading: Band 9

Reading is one skill in which many people find it difficult to score high despite a lot of practice. I, myself was initially stuck at band 7/7.5  during practice until I found out a few techniques that finally helped me boost my score to a 9. So, here are some of my tips that might help you. There won't be any typical terms of skimming and scanning and what not :D

The test has 3 sections with a total of 40 question and 60 minutes to attempt. There would be no extra time to transfer the answers to the answer sheet after these 60 minutes. So, make sure that you either write your answers directly on the answer sheet or transfer after completing each section. You have to be quick here as time management is the key to score high in Reading.

To prepare for this skill, start reading. Read anything you like, be it a newspaper, blog or a book in English. Try to read quickly while understanding the text. If you come across a new word, look for its meaning and synonyms. The passages in the test can be from any newspaper, magazine or book, about any topic like archaeology, history, medicine, geography etc.  So make sure you are familiar with the basic vocabulary. Practice the tests from the Cambridge IELTS books as I mentioned for the Listening part, making sure to set the timer and try to finish the test in 50 to 55 minutes to spare some time for a quick recheck. I used to finish mine withing 40 minutes during practice but on the exam day, I struggled to finish it in time and hardly had 2 or 3 minutes for a recheck.

There are different types of questions in the exam, for example, Mutiple Choice Questions (MCQs), Match the Headings, Sentence/ Summary Completion, Short Answer Questions and a few more, which you can find out on IELTS website and your practice tests. For some questions like MCQs, short answers and summary completion, the answers would be in the same order as the information in the paragraph while for some of the others like matching headings and matching information, they would not be.

I would advise to quickly go through all of the questions of a section first, underlining the key words and then find the answers one by one. While reading if you come across a word that you think is a potential answer to a question, underline it. Underline any dates, names etc. These might be the answers to some of the questions or might help you locate the answers quickly.

If a section has Match the Headings questions, attempt it after attempting all the other questions of that section, because by that time you must have read the paragraphs a couple of times and might have an idea about what each paragraph is about. Also, for this question type, read all  the headings first then start matching. Not all headings match with the paragraphs so don't worry about it as there will be more headings than paragraphs. Carefully read the letters designated to the paragraph (A,B,C) to make sure you are matching the right one.

TRUE/FALSE/NOT GIVEN and YES/NO/NOT GIVEN type of questions are a nightmare for many. Firstly, make sure you answer them correctly and not write TRUE/FALSE to answer a question that asks YES/NO and vice versa. Secondly, don't get confused between NO/FALSE and NOT GIVEN.  If you can find the statement/information in the text, it is TRUE. If the text contradicts that statement or gives an opposite information, it is FALSE/NO and if the writer does not mention that specific statement or gives no information about it, the answer would be NOT GIVEN. For example, the statement is  THE SKY WAS BLUE. If in the passage, it is written that Mark was looking at the blue sky,  TRUE. If, Mark was looking at the grey sky, FALSE. If, Mark was looking at the sky, NOT GIVEN.

Make sure to paraphrase the question and look for synonyms of the key words as you might not find the exact word or statement in the passage. Pay attention to the instructions for each question. If you are asked to write NO MORE THAN ONE WORD or NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND A NUMBER, don't. You can write fewer words but not more. In MCQs, check if you have to write the word or just number/letter of the correct option (most probably).  Spell the words correctly, I would suggest to write in block letters, it makes the writing clear and easy to read. Don't forget to practice as practice makes a man perfect!

Scoring Band 9 in IELTS Listening

The easiest skill to get Band 9 in, out of the four, is probably Listening. The test comprises of 4 sections with 40 questions in total. You will have 30 minutes to answer all the questions then 10 minutes in addition to transfer your answers to the answer sheet. I would suggest you to visit the IELTS official website and have a look at the pattern of exam before starting your preparation to know what you are preparing for.

The study material I recommend is the Cambridge English IELTS book series (the academic version of course). There are 12 of them available, I would suggest to practice at least books 8 to 12. In addition, start watching English movies/ TV shows or even You Tube videos to familiarize yourself with different accents and pronunciations of words. 

I believe practice is the key to success here. As you practice more and more tests, you would certainly improve your score. Before you start practicing, check with your exam centre if they provide headphones or not and practice accordingly. I've met a lot of people who practiced with headphones and ended up getting low scores just because they could not focus on the exam day without headphones. 

Coming to the actual test, as the audio begins, you would hear some instructions and then a sample answer just like the practice tests, then you will have some time to read the questions (say 1 to 5). I would advise you to utilize this time in reading as many questions as possible of that section. After every set of questions, you would be given some time to recheck the answers and read the next  set of questions, which you should take full advantage of and try to read ahead.You are free to turn the pages once the test begins. So, if you have time, you can read the questions on the next page.

While reading the questions, I suggest you to underline the key words to focus on them later in the audio. Don't just hear for those specific words, you might hear there synonyms, so be prepared! Pay attention to the instructions written on the question paper, for example, NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS, NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND A NUMBER etc and follow them. You can write fewer words but not more. I would suggest to write in block letters to make your writing clear to read and not worry about capital letters at the beginning of proper nouns.

What if you miss an answer? This is something very common while listening to something you are not interested in for 30 long minutes, particularly in the last section when you generally lose attention. Try to be attentive till the end but if you do miss an answer, simply move on to the next question. If you keep on recalling and guessing at that time, you are likely to miss answers to the next questions as well. So move on and come back to that question at the end, read a couple of questions before and after that one, try to recall the audio and make a logical guess, it might work, it worked for me.

In the last 10 minutes, recheck all your answers and after transferring them to the answer sheet, recheck one more time. Make sure the spellings are correct (can be either American or British) and the answers are clearly written.  Believe me, double checking makes a lot of difference because sometimes we make very silly mistakes and end up regretting. I myself misspelled a couple of words that I corrected while rechecking for the 2nd time.

That was all I could suggest you from my experience. I hope it would be of help to someone, somewhere. All the best :)

How I Achieved 8.5 in IELTS

This is for all the IELTS (Academic) aspirants who are asking for tips to score 7+ band in each section. First of all, relax! This is not as tough as it seems to be. You have been through much harder exams in your life. So, here is what worked for me to achieve the target score (L:9, R:9, W:7, S:8 overall 8.5) I hope it would benefit you all.

To begin with, familiarize yourself with the test pattern. Go through the introduction of any Cambridge IELTS book and you’ll get to know the exam pattern. You need to have the basic knowledge of the language i.e grammar, spellings, punctuation. If you don't, you have work on it before proceeding further.

Now, I’ll address each section i.e. Listening. Reading, Writing and Speaking one by one.

LISTENING:

                    This would be the first skill in which you will be tested on the exam day.  The key to success here is practice before the test and stay focussed while you attempt the paper.

Familiarize yourself with various accents such as Australian, British, American etc. This can be done by practicing the tests from Cambridge CDs. Start watching YouTube videos, it honestly helps a lot. You’ll get used to listening and understanding English and learn some new words.

Practice as many tests as possible and don’t stop until you consistently get a band higher than your target.

During the exam, stay focussed. Pay close attention to what you are listening because you might miss an answer if you lose attention for just a couple of seconds. You might not hear the exact words as in the test paper, hear for synonyms. Don’t leave any question unanswered. If you miss a question just mark it and move ahead to come back to it later at the end. Try to logically guess the answer, you might be right.

READING:

                  Time management is the key here. I would suggest you to read all the questions of one section first, underlining all important words then look for those or their synonyms in the passage. Don’t try to read and understand the entire passage, you’ll waste your time.

For Match the Heading type of question, attempt it after answering all the other questions of that section. You are most likely to get the main idea of the paragraph by reading the first and last sentences of the paragraph. Learn to differentiate between the main and supporting ideas.

Practice using the Cambridge books and stay within the time limit, ideally try to solve it in 50 or 55 minutes.

WRITING:

                 Now comes the most dreaded part of the exam! It has 2 tasks, which you have to complete within 60 minutes. Again, manage your time. I would suggest to attempt Task 1 first as it is shorter (150 words). Complete it as fast as you can to have enough time for the longer and more important Task 2. Practice these tasks from the Cambridge books. Use academic formal language. Avoid informal words

For Task 1, I would recommend Liz’s pattern.  Paraphrasing is very important, pay attention to it. A good overview is the key here, in which you highlight all the important information. Don’t write each and every detail that you see. Just mention the most significant points and compare and contrast whenever possible. Make sure you reach or cross the word limit but don’t try to write a lot as you would waste your time. Keep the report short and simple.

For Task2, planning is the key. Read the question very carefully and plan what you are going to write step by step to address all parts of the task. It’s fine to give 3 to 5 minutes to planning. Believe me you will not regret it because you will have a framework in your mind. Use the question paper to make a plan.

Pay attention to your grammar. If you have a lot grammatical errors, you will not be able to score high. It’s good to use complex sentences and words but only if you are sure that what you are writing is correct. Otherwise, stick to the basics. Make sure you fully understand the question and address all its parts such as give your opinion and give examples where required. You can use your imagination to create examples if you don’t know of any. You will be judged on your language not your truthfulness, just make sure those are logical.

Remember to write at least 250 words.

How to count words? Count the lines on the answer sheet and calculate how many words in each line and how many lines would make 250 words. Do this as soon as you get the answer sheet and count the lines after finishing the task for a rough idea.

SPEAKING:

                  This part is tough for many people who don’t speak English in their day to day life. Watch English TV shows and movies, You Tube videos etc. Try talking to your friends or family in English. If you don’t have anyone to talk to, talk to yourself. You just have to practice and get used to speaking in the language. Make sure your grammar is correct. Don’t try to use fancy words if they don’t come naturally. Stay calm. Smile. Breathe. Talk to the examiner as if you are chatting with your friend. Don’t use slang. For part 2, use the 1 minute to fully understand the topic and plan your answer. Write points on the paper that you would explain later on. Don’t stop until you are asked to. Improvise if you run out of ideas. Remember you’re not being judged on your opinions but on your language. The key here is to be fluent and natural. Pronounce the words correctly.

I hope this would help you reach your target. I'll be writing soon in detail about each of the four skills. So, stay tuned. All the best 😊