I am not one for writing testimonies but what the heck, let me just do it, it may inspire some

of you future plabbers. My name is Golden (yes that is my first name :), Im a British
Citizen studying in Russia/Simferopol (Lived in London for 21 years and Russia for almost 6
years). I did the IELTS EXAM 7 weeks ago in London and my results were L=8, R=6.5,
W=6.5, S=9. Me being British and a native speaker, I went to exam thinking I was a
complete badass and I am going to kill this silly IELTS exam and eat it for breakfast and it
would be a mere walk in park hence I didnt really take the exam as seriously as I should
have and my results were as you can see not up to GMCs standard. Humbled by my
results, I buckled down and put 8 hours a day for 3 weeks into my writing and reading!! I
took the exam in Moscow 2 weeks ago and here are my results. L= 8.5, R = 7, W = 7, S =
8.5. Moral of the story even if you think you know English and its your first language,
take the IELTS exam seriously!! Going a bit off topic, drgoldeni is my Instagram, I want to
be an ophthalmologist! Keep your eye on the goal people, yes we may not be Oxford and
Cambridge graduates but that doesnt mean we can't make an impact in the medical world!!
Stay focused and believe in your dreams. And yeah most importantly, pass your damn IELTS
EXAM :) If you have any questions about how to improve your IELTS please contact me
on my facebook (https://www.facebook.com/golden.c.ogbonna) or watsapp (+79788047972)
I'll be happy to answer any questions you may have :)))

Attempt 1 (in London Attempt 2 (in Moscow

11/02/2017) 18/03/2017)
Listening 8 8.5
Reading 6.5 7
Writing 6.5 7
Speaking 9 8.5
Average 7.5 8
Pass or Fail FAIL PASS

Attempt 1 as you can see, was a failure and I felt quite embarrassed (a British citizen failing
IELTS never in a million years I thought to myself!! lol). The thought of going back to my
university and explaining to my friends (Russian friends and international friends) who saw
me as an English wiz king mostly due to my British accent that I had failed the exam felt
excruciating painful but I did and I brushed it off after a goodnights sleep and booked the
exam for Moscow (my second attempt) the very next day!! Now I am going to talk about
what I did for each section to improve my band scores in my second attempt.
Listening:

Practice makes perfect >>> (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UC-

j7RHzQtWKqppZ9aLczCZg/videos) this is the website I used for the majority of my
preparation however, I also used a couple of audios files from the Cambridge IELTS book 10
and 11. I would advise you to use these audio files from these books and print out the
corresponding listening questions. Get used to listening to audios in a large room with a large
speaker playing at the front! This is how it is going to be in the exam.

Failed exam (attempt 1)

In my first exam I wasnt aware that that I would be listening to the audio in a room with
large speakers I was under the impression I would have headphones in the exam to listen
to the audio so I was in an unfamiliar environment during the exam (without my beloved
headphones) and I missed a couple of the answers because of that hence, I only got band 8!!

Passed exam (attempt 2)

I didnt repeat the same mistake in my second attempt and I practiced using large speakers in
my bedroom to listen to audio files and my band score was higher as you can see 8.5.

I did one listening paper every day for 3 weeks 1 hour before I went to bed.

Reading:

Failed exam (attempt 1)

Hate to admit it, but I struggled with reading and I have struggled with reading ever since I
was a child. Before the exam I was only getting 24-27 during my mock papers. During my
exam, I had too many heading matching questions and they literally killed me in the exam. I
was seriously unprepared for this sort of question and in passage 3, there was 9 heading
matching questions my jaw dropped in the exam and I was sweating furiously like a pig,
struggling to find the answers which happened to be mostly wrong I believe which
consumed a lot of my precious time!! Also I did each question one by one in order, e.g. I
would do question 1, then q2, then q3 and so on BIG MISTAKE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

Passed exam (attempt 2)

I practiced heading matching with various sources over the internet (under time conditions of
course )along with T, F, NG questions until I became a professor in getting these questions
right. When I did full length Cambridge practice papers (40 questions 1 hour) I found
heading matching a breeze and I wouldnt do the questions in order, I would do passage 1 for
example but just find the answers to which ever I could find first and come back to the others
later. This helped enormously!! I aimed to finish passage 1 in 15 minutes, passage 2 in 20
minutes and passage 3 in 25 minutes. In the exam, I finished the paper with 3 minutes to
spare - talk about cutting it close

I did 1 reading practice paper a day for 3 weeks in the afternoons after my university
classes.

Writing exam

Failed exam (attempt 1)

I had not even practiced or written a task 1 before the exam (I did task 2 only once)!! I was
too confident, too bad ass, so full of myself, so pompous that my As in English and English
Literature from 10 years ago in my GCSEs and A levels would carry me easily through this
part of the exam I WAS WRONG!!!! During the exam I dont remember even doing an
intro, overall or even putting paragraphs even for task 1. It was just one big block of text (20
lines with no paragraphs can you imagine lol). My task 2 was better but I was not aware
that intro, body 1, body 2 and conclusion were all necessary. I managed to scrape through
with a 6.5 but looking back at it now, I should have got a 5.5 for the pure nonsense that I
wrote!!

Passed exam (attempt 2)

Most of my preparation time for IELTS went into writing! I read IELTS made easy for task 1
pdf version and it made everything crystal clear! I can see why I didnt pass my task 1 in
my first attempt its because I didnt have that book!! I must stress again, make sure
you read that book, eat it, digest it, absorb it, and make sure you get that book in your
bloodstream/blood brain barrier, by active transport if you must!! Simple diffusion just wont
work, period!! Also this YouTube site helped me too >> (https://www.youtube.com/watch?
v=XATlmM286wg) which explained how task 1 should be written.

Moving on to task 2, I read novels and sample band 8/9 essays. I painfully analysed and
deconstructed these to see how they were written. Topic sentence, this is because, for
example, consequently etc. I didnt have a professional to mark my essays but I would
recommend that if you are struggling with your writing, you should get a professional or
someone you know who is extremely good at marking essays and giving constructive
feedback! This is absolutely vital and the biggest advice I can give you in terms of
improving your writing. You cant mark your own work! During the exam, aim to finish
your task 1 and task 2 before 52 minutes and spend at least 8 minutes checking your work
for grammar mistakes, spellings, etc it could mean the difference between a sloppy 6.5
and that wonderful band 7 that you (and the GMC ) requires.

I did 1 writing paper every day for 3 weeks at 8am before I went for my morning classes.
Speaking

I didnt do any practice whatsoever for attempt 1 or attempt 2 for my speaking. I just walked
in the exam room, shook the ladies hand, sat down and said some mumble jumble for 15
minutes in my mother tongue and took a band 9 straight out the door when I was done. Now
that ladies and gentleman, is what you call a badass

I hope you have enjoyed my story

If you have any questions regarding the IELTS Id be happy to help you, please contact me
on my facebook my name is Golden Walter Ogbonna Chinedu (picture of me with the
English flag) or my watsapp (+79788047972), my Instagram >>> drgoldeni

Last note: I am a British citizen (6th year medical student in Russia) and I struggled with this
IELTS exam, meaning anybody can struggle with this exam, there are plenty of non-natives
who have scored way better than I did, and so can you!! Just believe in your-self and put the
work in and I am sure you can pass this IELTS EXAM. I wish you all the best in your IELTS
journey and feel free to send me a message. If it motivates then great, update me your on
IELTS progress and drop me a message!!

Mr Golden Ogbonna