Advice for the IELTS by an IELTS teacher

[Bronwyn&Co]

We didn't have to do it back in 2006, because our school was English. Are you serious that doing Afrikaans as a subject disqualifies you because all the tuition was not delivered in English? Surely you're joking. Most schools here in Aus also teach a 2nd language, that doesn't mean your schooling wasn't in English.

I phoned my case officer and told her what I thought of her k@k idea, and she changed her mind ?

Most Aussies are terrible at spelling and speaking & they have a nerve expecting 2nd language English speakers to pass a test they couldn't even pass themsleves in a month of Sundays.

Trust me even the Afrikaans speakers on here write far better English than the average Bruce & Sheila

Edited August 8, 2014 by Bronwyn&Co

[DeSwardts]

I was told that I (wife, not main applicant) don't need to write IELTS, if I attended an English high school, or have a 4 year degree with English as the language of the subjects. Unfortunately I only have a 4 year higher diploma. So it doesn't count. But I only need 5.5

[ruditrix]

I was told that I (wife, not main applicant) don't need to write IELTS, if I attended an English high school, or have a 4 year degree with English as the language of the subjects. Unfortunately I only have a 4 year higher diploma. So it doesn't count. But I only need 5.5

Jip. Same on this side but i could have swarn he said 4.5?

Anyways hubby needs 7 and me and the mil needs 4.5

Whoopy doooooo!! And we could only get october. So we wil have to take the mil to english lab in sandton. Are you also paying another $600for the tra to get max points?

[KCT]

Can I offer my 2 cents worth regarding IELTS. My first go I got 9.0, 6.5, 8.5 and 9.0, I prepared well and was expecting at least the minimum 7. Second time around, no preparations just quick look the night before. Results, 8.5, 7, 7, 8.5.

I still feel the IELTS is a test for technique not English.

Now on a side item, I have waited 3 months for our government department to respond regarding my qualifications, chased them up!

[DeSwardts]

I've never visited a website so often as the British Council IELTS online the past 2 days

I have a booking for 6 September at Language lab. Currently in hubbies name, but if he scores at least a 7, we are OK and I can do the IELTS on 6 Sept. But I need to do the name change by the Friday.... So waiting. tik-tok-tik-tok-tik-tok-tik-tok-tik-tok-tik-tok-tik-tok-tik-tok....

[Kay79]

Hi everyone. I have booked to do both the Academic and General IELTS tests. I am working through the Road to IELTS practice stuff and am finding it pretty useful (albeit a bit time consuming and boring!) I am determined to get an excellent score on these tests! So my question is: for the Listening section, are they ridiculously strict with the wording? Here is an example: a woman wants someone to fix her washing machine and she says she is only available in the evenings as she works every day. The question/gap asks why the day time appointments are not convenient for her. I put down (keeping to the 3 word limit - I know they are very particular about that!) "working every day" but got the whole answer wrong - apparently the correct answer is "she is working". Now, as a first language speaker with a father who is from England and 13 years of English teaching under my belt, I would think my answer was correct! Is the website just really specific because it's computer marked or am I going to lose marks on technicalities??! Oh, and does anyone know the grade boundaries i.e. band 9 = ?/40 or ?% etc or is this information not given to us?

[Bronwyn&Co]

Omg Kay! That's mad. Does a computer mark them?

[DXB2OZ]

The IELTS are not computer marked, they are computer scored. There is usually a selection of options for markers, the tests in the books are more limited in their answers

[Kay79]

Thanks DXB2OZ. Bronwyn, I was talking about the practice material which is computer marked. Panic over Plenty more to come, no doubt

[Bronwyn&Co]

Kay I was thinking about this one. I wonder if the problem (to them) lies in the grammatical structure? What I mean, is 'she is working' is a complete sentence but 'working every day' isn't.

Maybe?

Oh, the things that keep one awake at night...?

[vanSchoorFamily]

I've never visited a website so often as the British Council IELTS online the past 2 days

I have a booking for 6 September at Language lab. Currently in hubbies name, but if he scores at least a 7, we are OK and I can do the IELTS on 6 Sept. But I need to do the name change by the Friday.... So waiting. tik-tok-tik-tok-tik-tok-tik-tok-tik-tok-tik-tok-tik-tok-tik-tok....

So ... what happened?

Hubby and I are both writing General IELTS tomorrow in Jhb. I am terrified of the writing. I have been freaking out with the practice tests as I don't have the faintest idea what to say with the 250 word writing. I dont understand half of what they are talking about, so how do I agree or disagree?

Can anyone give me an example of the actual test question for writing 250 words? Maybe the practice material is more difficult than the actual test?

[Kay79]

Bronwyn, I see your point but they don't specify that you need to write in full sentences - all they say is to use no more than 3 words.

Good luck, vanSchoorFamily - I am sure you will do very well!

[Kay79]

I did my speaking exam today. I'm not used to speaking continuously and so came a bit unstuck when I thought I had said enough and was told to keep going! 2 mins felt like 45 mins! Do you think I will get penalised for stopping and then adding more? I was talking about why I enjoy spending time with my sister and what we do etc but that is not exactly the type of thing one can wax lyrical about now, is it?!

I'm doing the reading, writing and listening tomorrow (academic) so hopefully it will go well. It feels weird to be on the other side of the table! The IELTS is definitely more challenging than you expect it to be.

[DXB2OZ]

I stopped too early on both speaking exams and ended up just babbling frantically after it was indicated I hadn't spoken for long enough - got 9 both times. I think you will be fine. Good luck for today.

[Kay79]

Thank you very much - I feel a bit better now after hearing that!

[NiniJ]

Hi everyone. Does anyone have any links for us with regards to

1. Booking to write the IELTS test in Durban, KZN and

2. Study material/prep that we can do to try and prepare and brush up

Also, what is the cost to write the test each time?

Thank you :-)

[Sunnyskies]

Bronwyn, I see your point but they don't specify that you need to write in full sentences - all they say is to use no more than 3 words.

Good luck, vanSchoorFamily - I am sure you will do very well!

I would have said "working during daytime". Did you ever work this out?

[Pietnaude]

Hi everyone. So we booked our ielts for the 1st Nov 2014. We also paid and scanned our passports in online. The bank has sent the proof of payment through to the british coucil. I havent received any confirmation from them and it has been well over 2 weeks. What is the process? Do the mail the confirmation through? I loged into the portal and on there it also doesnt confirm anything. Should i give them a call rather?

[blung]

Hi everyone. So we booked our ielts for the 1st Nov 2014. We also paid and scanned our passports in online. The bank has sent the proof of payment through to the british coucil. I havent received any confirmation from them and it has been well over 2 weeks. What is the process? Do the mail the confirmation through? I loged into the portal and on there it also doesnt confirm anything. Should i give them a call rather?

I wrote 20 sept. They didnt answer the phone during the 2 week period i tried to get a hold of them and only sent out the timetable the day before we wrote! Their admin and attitude is pretty useless.

[Pietnaude]

Wow, one would think because it is the British council they would be clued up..... How did it go? What topic did you get in the speech test? I hear they allways give difficult topics.

[blung]

It went well got 9,8,8,8.5 L,R,W,S

I had to talk about my home town and then a bit about service delivery. Do a couple hours of the practice tests on their website, the structure is identical to the test.

[Kay79]

I would have said "working during daytime". Did you ever work this out?

No, I didn't but I got 9 for listening in the test so obviously I knew what I was doing!

[DanielK]

For those who struggle with languages like me, I can highly recommend -http://www.passieltshigher.com/.

Growing up in a small town in the then Transvaal, I always struggled with languages, even with my native language Afrikaans, that and the fact that I never heard people speaking English made me neglecting this now desperately needed professional proficiency in English. My biggest nightmare by a large margin to immigrate to a foreign country is to learn their language. I attend a couple of classes which did not help me improve my band score and in desperate need for assistance searched for podcasts and discover IELTS TEST Prepcast. Since then I have buy and downloaded the IELTS Writing task II, written by Steve Price and enrolled into their Writing Assessment which helped me tremendously.

I know there are those of you who stroll over the IELTS exams just like me writing a maths exam, but heck, I do not have a spell checker and or a ‘Grammarly’ app for assistance, and for me, it is like writing maths without a calculator.

Hope this post will also help language impaired individuals in obtaining their IELTS mark:-)

[Wannagonow]

It went well got 9,8,8,8.5 L,R,W,S

I had to talk about my home town and then a bit about service delivery. Do a couple hours of the practice tests on their website, the structure is identical to the test.

Hi blung

Just wanted to know how you access the Road to IELTS - Last Minute material. This is the 20 hours free material they refer to not the Test Drive 10 hours.

I have searched all over the British Council websites to try ''upgrade'' to the 20 hours but keep getting told I must enroll with the British council, which I have, three weeks ago..... Pulling my hair out......

[DanielK]

Hi Wannagonow,

You will receive a mail from the British council about 10 days before the exam date with the subject IELTS Test Confirmation where you will find a LOGIN HERE link which will take you to https://ielts.britishcouncil.org/CandidateLogin.aspx. Within the same email, in the same line where the LOGIN HERE link is you will find your IELTS reference number which should look something like this “ZA001-70153-00416” .