IELTS Preparation Strategy By Higher StudyAbroad, Walid Mohammad Muku and Sharif Shahadat in HigherStudyAbroad TOEFL-IELTS Subdivision (Files)

Edit Doc As many of us are planning to go abroad for higher studies, IELTS is one of the choices for them who dont want to take pain of rigorous preparation. Definitely, for those who do not have any plan for USA, they can take short term preparation and can do well in IELTS easily. I will try to give a quick guide for how to take preparation for IELTS.

How to start: Preparation should start with a simple overview of question pattern. After having a quick glance on the pattern you should sit for a getting started exam with Cambridge IELTS 6: Test 1. Remember recent IELTS exams are a lot harder than older Cambridge IELTS (1-5) tests. After checking your answer for the test you are now aware of your positions. Now you should go through all the types of questions that may come in test. In this stage you should go through tips and tricks, common mistakes and exam strategies. After setting a strategy you should sit for Test 2, 3 and 4 of Cambridge IELTS 6. Then find out your strong points and weak points in Listening and Reading. Now you should plan a new strategy to overcome your weak points. For my case, the weak points were long Multiple choice questions in Listening and Matching sentence, Matching speaker & Giving titles in Reading section. Another problem was completing the Reading section in 60 minutes. When strategies are found to overcome your weak points; try them in exam by practicing from Cambridge IELTS 7 and 8. After finishing Cambridge IELTS 6, 7 & 8 Listening and Reading; if you are not happy with your performance then practice more reading from various reading and listening examples. If Listening and Reading performance is good enough then start thinking about Speaking and Writing but trust me you have to be clever, spontaneous and quick to do good in these sections. Do not memorize anything; it will just increase pressure on your mind. Now I will suggest some preparation strategies that I have followed. Listening: >Its the easiest part. Practicing Cambridge IELTS 6, 7 & 8 will be more than enough. When you find a section which is hard for you, give the extra time to check your answer for that section. Trust me you do not need to check your answer, thats just waste of valuable time. >Technical detail: You have sufficient time to go through the questions in section 1,2,3,4. Once the Audio Track gets started, start going through the questions and mark the keywords. >CAUTION: In section 3,4 and particularly MCQ type questions, MARKING KEYWORDS alone wont help you. Try to read the question once, just a glance and be sure what the question demands. >Tips: If you miss one answer, dont try to extract it from your memory. When audio tape is running, forget about it and look for next answer; otherwise you will miss more answers. Reading: >When you are practicing, stay away from everything else for one hour and try to finish it within one hour time. At first it will be difficult but by time you will see that you are improving your speed. >At first, check your ability whether u are able to complete a single passage in 20 minutes. Try to make it within ~18 minutes when you prepare in such way.

>Then 2 passages at a time within 36-40 minutes. This method will generate your own tactics for yourself and will give you confidence. Finally go for the full length reading test consists of 1 hour. >Do not read the passage first, read the questions first and write or underline the keywords or names in the question, and then start reading passage, and whenever you see any matching keyword or name on in the passage underline that. Speaking: >Don't make your face like a 'prisoner' to the examiner. this will give him/her a free chance to play your nerve Enter the room with confidence (definitely not with over-confidence) and with a smile. Be sure to yourself that you are here to prove your CONVERSATION ABILITY to grab the handsome score in SPEAKING MODULE. Just be yourself as much as you can. But don't get casual like yeah, yup,nope. >Be confident and keep eye contact with your interviewer. (* its okay to feel nervous for first few moments but you should recover quickly cause normally interviewers are smart enough to make you talk spontaneously.) >Get a list of speaking questions and answer them spontaneously as if you are giving an interview. Don't get stiff. Be polite, dont use chatting words. Try to keep it simple, dont make something so colorful or extra-ordinary. >Examiners expect you to talk on a topic or to continue with him/her. Continue with what you know regarding something. Don't make something very much irrelevant like the ' '-, ----- --------, --remember, this will reduce your impression and consequently mark. Be on topic though you know a little about it. > Practical tips--my examiner's voice was too low. I was striving to listen to her accurately and for once, I couldn't get her. In such situation, don't give any 'weird' answer. Ask her politely, 'could you please repeat the question?' >Even if you don't understand the actual insight of the question, ask the examiner..''could you please explain it?''. It won't bother him/her. THESE ARE COMMON IN REAL LIFE CONVERSATION

Writing: >Read some examples from Cambridge IELTS books >This is for the Bengali Medium Students like me. We are not that much habituated with using CONNECTIVES and LINKING WORDS. But this very common in general writing. Additionally, it can give your writing a COHERENT look. Undoubtedly, this will increase your impression to the examiner. So, start using these words WISELY then set a common structure of 2-3 paragraphs for Task 1 and 4-5 paragraphs for Task 2. Then whatever the topic is, follow your structure. Use pencil in writing so that you can erase your mistakes in your final exam. At the end of everything you can sit for full length Official Practice Material Tests 1 and 2 on the day before the exam to check your final position.