Tips on all modules by IWES, Pakistan

Listening tips
● Know the test: make yourself familiar with types of questions in this section.

● General listening capability: first things first, make sure you are able to listen to any
English conversation and you are able to clearly understand it. If not, listen to different
resources , e.g podcasts on BBC, listen to native speakers on BBC Sounds (app
available), TED Talks etc.

● Time management: Manage your time wisely as every second counts; when you are
given time in the start of this section, it is recommended to spend it on part 2 or 3. Part 1
& 4 are relatively easier.

● Highlight key words: The most significant part I’d say. As you read the questions,
underline the keywords, and try to predict the context of the recordings – who will be
speaking, what the speech will be about.I can’t stress enough how important the
keywords are. Think of other words that could replace them, particularly, for the
multiple-choice questions, as you may not hear those exact words in the recording.
Concentrate on the question or statement and try to predict what kind of information is
needed. Is it a noun? Is it a verb? Make sure the sentence you produce is grammatically
accurate, and you use the right form of the word.

● MCQS: Time is an important factor here. You need to manage time wisely. When you are
provided time to ‘check for answers’ , use that time to read difficult questions and
highlight their keywords. They always speak the first few words that are in the question.
From there you can guess they have moved on to the next one. Also, speaker gender
may change according to the one in question. For example, if a female name is written in
the start of a question, the speaker will shift to a female.

● Distractors: What you hear first may not be the right answer, so watch out for
distractors. For example, the speaker may say one thing, but then reverse their answer.
You may also find that the speaker mentions all the options with slight differences in
meaning. Pay attention to the details.

● Know your weaknesses: A point of paramount significance; always pay attention to the
mistakes. While practicing, listen to the mistaken parts of the audio file again once you
are done with the listening test. Ask yourself where did I make the mistake and how can I
correct it next time.
● Practice, practice and practice: Listening is one of the easiest modules of this exam.
But you need to practice effectively to score higher in this section.

Reading Tips

● Effective Reading skills: Make a habit of yours to read English books or articles from
online news websites. Learn to scan and skim the passage without trying to understand
the full passage.
● Paraphrasing skills: You need to master this skill to be an expert at reading. Learn
what this skill is and try to practice it in articles. Read an article and try to summarize it in
your own words.
● Vocabulary: Reading articles or books in English can also help improve your
vocabulary. A good lexical resource is required to understand all terms written in a
passage.
● Questions or passage first? Always read questions first and not the passage itself.
Read the first 2 questions of every type of question in a specific passage. This way you
will be able to pick up the answer for all types of questions wherever it shows up in the
passage.
● Prioritize time: try to give less time to passage 1 and 2 as these are relatively easier
than passage 3.
● Highlight keywords of the questions so that you can easily grab an answer while
reading a passage.
● Know your weaknesses: Always always go back on the mistakes and read the
passage again (when you’ve seen the answers) , and see how you could have corrected
it in the first attempt. This way you will be able to find out the reasons for the wrong
answers.
● Headings: For matching headings in the reading module, you need to first read
headings quickly and understand & highlight main words. Read all these headings once
again to keep them in the back of your mind. Now, start reading passages from A. Use
that knowledge of headings here. Most of the time, the answer is at the start or end of a
passage. Besides, your paraphrasing skills need to be excellent for this part.
● Practice a lot: The more you practice, the more you are going to learn. Your own
strategies are your best friends in this module.
● Sequence: All Qs are in sequence in the passages except for these types: matching
heading, matching info given in question to the paragraph, flow chart completion,
diagram labeling.
● Free Resources: Check tips from Ielts liz, Ielts advantage youtube channels to learn
how to find answers to each type of question.
● True / False: Read the first 2 statements from questions. Start reading the passage and
paying attention to the parts similar to the question (1st or second) as first may be not
NG and you may skip the second one.
● These Qs are always in order, so if you think you are reading the next Q related info, it
means you have skipped the earlier one. So check back again.
● You can keep doing this for all Qs and what I have understood from these types of
questions is this:
○ True- if all info is present from the statement in the passage, the answer is true.
False-if most part of the statement is present in the passage and a little part is
not, the answer is False. NG- if most parts are not present in passage and a very
little or no part is present, the answer is NG.

Speaking Tips

● Practice a lot: Keep practicing with your friends, colleagues on work place or family
members or find any partner online. Speaking is nothing but a usual conversation with
someone on exam date.
● Familiarize: Make yourself aware of the 4 criteria of speaking on which your abilities are
assessed and work on these: pronunciation, grammatical range and accuracy, fluency
and coherence.
● Intonation: Don't speak in a monotone. Vary the stress and intonation to add emphasis.
Use your hands to gesture and help the rhythm of the conversation.
● Smile: Smiling can help calm your nerves which in turn helps your pronunciation. Make
sure to enunciate clearly, opening your mouth wide enough so that sounds come out
clearly. When we smile, our mouth is bigger and the tone of our voice is more friendly.
● Avoid using fillers: don’t say ‘like , you know, umm , ah ‘ etc.
● Rather use certain phrases to help you think: ‘ That’s an interesting question, That's a
difficult question, but I'll try and answer it, Let me think about that for a minute’
● Be cool: Always speak in a calmly manner and talk a little slower so that you are able to
express your thoughts clearly without making mistakes.
● Confidence: Speak with confidence and believe that your ideas are not being tested but
the language. Speak in front of a mirror. It helps!
● Download BBC Sounds app from the store. Listen to native speakers. Watch
documentaries, English news and TED Talks.
● Practice some common topics: Education, Environment, Tourism, Family life,
Advertising, Crime, Punishment, Internet.

Writing Tips

● Basics: In your Writing test there are no right or wrong answers or opinions. The
examiners are assessing how well you can use your English to report information and
 express ideas. Notice the minimum word limit. If you write less than 150 words for Task 1
and less than 250 for Task 2, you will lose marks.
● Correct format: Follow a proper structure for all task types. This will help in achieving
maximum band score in task response criteria.
● Understand the question: Analyze the questions carefully to make sure your answer
addresses all the points covered by the question.
● Planning: Task 2 of the Academic Writing test is an essay. Don’t forget to plan your
essay structure before you start writing. You should include an introduction, ideas to
support your argument or opinion, real-life examples to illustrate your points, and a
conclusion based on the information you have provided.
● Vocabulary: Be careful to use your own words because the examiner will not include
words copied from the question in the word count. Write more ‘less common words’,
avoid repetition of words and keep changing the words. Try not to write the same word
more than twice. Try to change a verb into a noun or vice versa.
● A clear opinion: Make your position or point of view as clear as possible in your essay
for Academic Writing Task 2. Your last paragraph should be a conclusion that is
consistent with the arguments you have included in your essay.
● Sufficient explanation: Write an extended explanation for your. arguments. Never ever
leave your arguments under or unexplained.
● Avoid over-generalized response: Never overgeneralize your argument and always
explain it in a logical sequence.
● Practical examples: support your ideas with practical and real-life examples which
apply over a large area of population , for instance, examples which apply on a city or
better on a country.
● Proofread: You have 40 minutes to write your Task 2 essay. Make sure you give yourself
up to five minutes to plan your answer before you start writing. Also leave five minutes at
the end to review your answer and check for mistakes.
● Task 1: In Academic Writing Task 1 you have to select and compare relevant information
from data presented in a graph, table or diagram. In your introduction, do not copy the
text from the question. Use your own words. You shouldn’t try to interpret or give
reasons for the data; keep your response factual.
● Improve grammar: Make less grammar mistakes. Learn basic punctuation rules. Many
candidates confuse singular and plural nouns. For example, the plural form for many
nouns includes an ‘s’ – students, journals, articles, issues. Pay attention to this when
writing/typing (in computer-delivered IELTS). Take care to spell words correctly. Standard
American, Australian and British spellings are acceptable in IELTS.
● Sentence structures: learn first what are complex, compound , and complex-compound
sentence structures. Work on these structures and write more and more in them.
● Coherence & Cohesion: Make sure your task is in a flow and is easily understandable.
Use cohesive devices to connect your sentences and the paragraphs. You must write
both your answers in full, not in note form or in bullet points. You must arrange your
ideas in paragraphs, to show the examiner that you are able to organise your main and
supporting points. You do not have to write very long sentences to do well in your Writing
 test. If sentences are too long, they will become less coherent and also make it harder
for you to control the grammar.
● Memorizing: Memorizing a model answer for the Writing test won’t help you. The
examiner will see that your answer does not match the topic of the essay.
● Daily habit: Make a habit of yourself to read English articles daily and keep learning
new words from these articles. Analyze the sentence structures written in articles.
Analyze where they put a comma and where they did not. Believe me this will help.
● Follow this official link for more details. Link is also posted in the comments.
https://ielts.idp.com/pakistan/prepare/article-ielts-writing-task-2-8-steps-to-band-8