FOR IELTS PREPARATION

1. You should first know what score you need because your target score will determine the
whole plan.

2. Build your basics; try to collect an old grammar book and read the tense, preposition, forms
of words etc. Just go through those once. These should be the stages: learning the basics –
learning the strategies – practicing with the official questions – mocks.

3. Never use official IELTS books for building the basics. Use them only for practice after
learning the strategies and then for mocks.

4. I strongly believe – to Speak better, you need to Listen to quality

materials and to Write better, you need to Read quality materials.

5. So, for reading – start with Reuters – Guardian – Scientific American – Economist etc.
Please, don't read any local newspapers (highly debatable, but trust me, it's better to use
international sources.)

Here are a few links for reading –

https://www.reuters.com
https://www.theguardian.com/international
https://www.scientificamerican.com
https://longreads.com
https://www.hisour.com ------- a gem for TOEFL/GRE!

6. For Listening practice –

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sounds
https://www.abc.net.au/pacific/programs

7. For listening – never watch anything! In the exam, you must listen and then figure out the
answers. So, it means you can't use your eyes to figure out what's happening. Thus, train
your ears, not eyes & ears! When you listen to podcasts/radio, try to detect – facts,
scenarios, and the gist of the discussions. Listen from different genres. Also, rely on mostly
British/Australian accents for practice.

8. Try to listen with a speed of at least 1.2x…. Try to increase it to 1.5x. You'll see how easy the
actual exam sounds due to this practice!
9. For writing – try to take help from others. Show your writing to someone you think can
give you valuable feedback. Try to understand the marking criteria of the writing section.

Try to do these:

 Make sure you're fulfilling the requirement of the essay -

questions/prompts. Write the minimum number of words; better to write
more. For Task 2, target 300+.
 Use relevant vocabulary. Relevant to that topic, not difficult words!
 Vary your sentence structure: simple, complex, compound,
past/present/future tense, conditional sentence etc.
 Use synonyms and linking words. Don't overkill!
 Spell check all the time.
 Try to read a few 9.0 band essays and a few 7.0 bands and see the difference.
Ask yourself what you can do to improve your essay.

10. For Speaking –

 Give the questions from the IELTS books to one of your friends and then ask
her/him to take the test
 Record your voice and see how you sound

In the exam –

 Try to vary your pitch – intonation.

 Use relevant vocabulary. Relevant to that topic, not difficult words!
 Vary your sentence structure: simple, complex, compound,
past/present/future tense, conditional sentence etc.
 Especially for parts 2 and 3: only stop once they stop you! Continue to talk
till you realise the examiner wants to ask another question…observe the
body language/gesture/cue.
 Explain everything in part 3: the reasons – why/how with examples.
 Use as many as Synonyms, linking words which come naturally in that
discussion.
 Try to use natural pauses.
 Always remember – the more you speak, the more the examiner gets to see
that you know different sentence structures, you can use conditional
sentences and synonyms, you can talk in an organised manner, etc. This
means she/he can find many ways to grade you.
My scores are:

• TOEFL: 108 (R - 23, W - 28, L -29, S - 28)

• IELTS: 8.0 (R - 8.5, W - 7.0, L - 8.5, S - 8.5)

• GRE: 311 (V - 157, Q - 154, AWA - 4.0)

**** As you can see, I’m not perfect! So, take my advice if it works for you. ***

Intentionally, I'm not sharing any IELTS-related YouTube channels.

All the best!