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Advice for the IELTS by an IELTS teacher


luckytobehere

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Some people still write the test if they need the points and it also depends on your occupation and visa type.

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  • 3 weeks later...

Hi Everybody

In 2008 we did our first IELTS, but life happened and we were not then able to see our migration through even before it started. So the IELTS is re-booked and this time Academic. We still have an old copy of the tutor book. Will this still be valid for IELTS and if not, what is the quickest way to obtain the latest study material. The exam is set for the 27th July already. :blush:

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My wife also did her academic in 2008 and has re-done it now.

She claims that she never used a tutorial book, she practised on the tests on the IELTS website, which also thenimmediately gives you the answersm- hope this helps.

Best of luck.

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  • 2 weeks later...

Hi guys,

My wife is writing the academic test on the 29th of August. She can't go for the workshop on the 24th as recommended by Language Lab, but will be able to go on the 10th. is it still worth it or should she just knuckle down and do self study?

Thanx

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12:32 AM in Brisbane - just back from the pub. There are on-line tests she can do, and get the results. So if she can self-study that may be an option. My wife, albeit an english teacher, opted for the self-study route (twice, first time expired).

Ooor en uit, klaaar getik

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  • 2 weeks later...

My wife majored in English at Uni and I ouscored her on the speaking part... 9.0 vs 8.5 she is still annoyed... ha ha ha ha ha ha

If I did it again, I would do the practice round that Language Lab offers before you do the actual test... remember a lot of us haven't writen an exam in ages so it's a bit intimidating and the process is foreign... for me the writing part was the worst as I kept getting cramp in my hand and wrist!!

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  • 2 months later...

I wrote my test on Saturday & am praying for at least a score of 7. I had very little time to prepare, but all I can say is try to stay calm. The order of the test was listening - reading - writing - speaking

My advice for the listening is to wait for the speakers to complete the topic before assuming the answer. You do get time to transfer your answers to the book so scribble & scratch in your question book. Stay focused and don't get stuck on one question otherwise the audio runs away from you. I found that it helped to scan the questions first (they give you some time to do that) and do some practice tests to get the feel.

The reading I found the easiest. Their seems to be more than enough time to complete the questions & recheck all your answers. My advice is to skim the text, read the questions & then reread the test with those in mind. You do not get extra time to transfer your answers, but I still scribbled all over the question book text & questions, rechecked, transferred & went to the toilet.

The writing was the toughest for me. My profession relies on short crisis management emails so handwritten essay structure was very foreign. Just keep an eye on your time.

The speaking was ok. You get warmed up with questions about yourself, your home, etc. Then you talk on a topic for a minute or so. All I can say here is try to find a suitable personal experience that matched the topic, since it is always much easier to draw from memory

I am still waiting for my results so I am not sure how good the aforementioned advice is, but I thought I would share my own experience.

I did find the following site extremely helpful and especially these pages (attached as word docs so I could read them offline). http://www.dcielts.com/

Good luck

essay tips.doc

letter tips.doc

listening tips.doc

planning an essay.doc

reading tips.doc

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  • 2 months later...

Hi! I am brand new to this site :hug:

I registered me and my husband for the IELTS workshop which we will do on 25 January 2013. I just want to know if I should do the Academic or General IELTS test if I will be applying for 189 (Skilled Independent) visa? I already started working on practice tests, and it's not as easy as I thought it would be :blush-anim-cl:

I have to score at least 8 in order to qualify for extra 5 points on application that we need to qualify, or wait till my husband finishes his degree which will be end of the year - we don't want to delay.

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Hi 4viljoens, welcome to the forum. The workshops are great. My husband also attended and it helped him tremendously. Good luck and let us know how it went!

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  • 2 months later...

Hi! I wrote the IELTS Academic for the second time on Saturday 15 March. During the listening test the earphones went off and I missed one question. Luckily the invigilator was quick to respond and gave me her earphones. They made a note of this and told me to fill in a complaint form which they have to send to Language Lab Australia. They will decide then if they will give me that one point because of the technical error. Problem is, this will delay my results and I might wait longer than the usual 13 days. I don't have any time to waste, as Accounants will be taken off the SOL and I still need to get my assessment done with ICAA. Did this happen to anybody else and how long did you have to wait for an outcome?

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  • 2 weeks later...

Sooooo happy!!! :D I got the scores needed to get my assessment done! Finally we can carry on with the process!

IELTS Academic:

Listening - 7.5

Reading - 8.5

Writing - 7.5

Speaking - 7.5

Hubby got the same but beat me with the speaking! LOL! :ilikeit:

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  • 4 weeks later...

anyone have contact details for an IELTS tutor????

have done all the online Academic IELTS prep that British Council offer and still failed reading :-(

(got 9 Speaking, 8 Listening, 7.5 Writing, 6 Reading)

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I have a pdf work book that you can go through. My sister has done tutoring for IELTS but she is based in Pretoria.

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  • 3 weeks later...

I went and sat the exam on Saturday with no practice, pre-reading etc, other than to read what the centre issued in their pamphlet as advice. It was a breeze in my opinion. yes English is my 1st language, and yes I am somewhat proficient, but there are some singular pointers for success in my humble opinion.

The order of exam was as follows: Writing, Reading, Listening and Speaking.

Task 1: 150 words. I wrote 253. Not being verbose or boastful, but the storyboarding is crucial.

task 2: 250 words: I wrote 450. As above, but to ensure the quality of the topic is covered in enough salient detail to ensure success. I finished with 29 min to spare.

Reading is as recommended here. i speed read it and then dived directly in the questions, it was okay once I had figured how they used similies, onamatopiea, etc to force the people to interpret the information. In all, I am guessing I aced it (HOPES!!!! :jester: :jester: :jester: )

No point in shooting the lights out above 8 anyways, but secretly I am hoping for W - 9, R - 9, L - 8.5, S - 9. Lets see where I land though, amongst my delusions of intellectual grandeur. LOL. The test is, in it's simplest form, merely playing you back the same information using different words, pauses and structures. Go get 'em Saffers! :king: :king: :ilikeit: :ilikeit:


anyone have contact details for an IELTS tutor????

have done all the online Academic IELTS prep that British Council offer and still failed reading :-(

(got 9 Speaking, 8 Listening, 7.5 Writing, 6 Reading)

Dont give up Mvluik, keep going! :ilikeit:


I wrote my test on Saturday & am praying for at least a score of 7. I had very little time to prepare, but all I can say is try to stay calm. The order of the test was listening - reading - writing - speaking

My advice for the listening is to wait for the speakers to complete the topic before assuming the answer. You do get time to transfer your answers to the book so scribble & scratch in your question book. Stay focused and don't get stuck on one question otherwise the audio runs away from you. I found that it helped to scan the questions first (they give you some time to do that) and do some practice tests to get the feel.

The reading I found the easiest. Their seems to be more than enough time to complete the questions & recheck all your answers. My advice is to skim the text, read the questions & then reread the test with those in mind. You do not get extra time to transfer your answers, but I still scribbled all over the question book text & questions, rechecked, transferred & went to the toilet.

The writing was the toughest for me. My profession relies on short crisis management emails so handwritten essay structure was very foreign. Just keep an eye on your time.

The speaking was ok. You get warmed up with questions about yourself, your home, etc. Then you talk on a topic for a minute or so. All I can say here is try to find a suitable personal experience that matched the topic, since it is always much easier to draw from memory

I am still waiting for my results so I am not sure how good the aforementioned advice is, but I thought I would share my own experience.

I did find the following site extremely helpful and especially these pages (attached as word docs so I could read them offline). http://www.dcielts.com/

Good luck

Yip! I got lost in the listening section due to hanging onto a previous statement. Good point mate!

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SurferMan, you are then very lucky as I am a English speaking working for an American and British Companies in the past and I would not say battle with the practise test, but find it challenging enough. Maybe I am wrong but I find the T, F and NG questions almost opinion based, there is no clear cut?

My test is on Saturday and I too hope for 7.5 and above.

Greetings

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Hi Surferman,

I hope you feelings are correct and you aced the exam but from our experience (hubby wrote 10 times and missed 8 by .5 in a different band each time and we are english born and bred).

Ielts warned us that marks are deducted for going way over the words requested.

Hope you are successful

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Agree Parks - it doesn't seem to be about English ability but more about exam technique. In the exam practices online (where they do give you the answers) the answer to one question was eight o'clock. My sister wrote 8:00 and was marked wrong because the answer they wanted was 8 am. Go figure.

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SurferMan, you are then very lucky as I am a English speaking working for an American and British Companies in the past and I would not say battle with the practise test, but find it challenging enough. Maybe I am wrong but I find the T, F and NG questions almost opinion based, there is no clear cut?

My test is on Saturday and I too hope for 7.5 and above.

Greetings

Give it horns KCT. I had a misspent youth and read entire volumes! LOL. Im sure you will be just fine.

Hi Surferman,

I hope you feelings are correct and you aced the exam but from our experience (hubby wrote 10 times and missed 8 by .5 in a different band each time and we are english born and bred).

Ielts warned us that marks are deducted for going way over the words requested.

Hope you are successful

I understood at the session it was said marks will be taken off for not hitting the limit (150 & 250) but going over is accepted. Marks may not be taken off unless they explicitly say so. I found no reference to this in any of the documentation provided. Ill check again.

I have emailed them and will let you all know.

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Hi KCT,

I did not find them opinion based at all, as you did. I found that they were singularly explicit in the information requirement. :jester: Here's to me getting it all wrong! I suspect there are some vicissitudes to the testing. Damn, ten laps, my eyes water at the though of all that $$ sailing away! :cry:


I wrote my test on Saturday & am praying for at least a score of 7. I had very little time to prepare, but all I can say is try to stay calm. The order of the test was listening - reading - writing - speaking

My advice for the listening is to wait for the speakers to complete the topic before assuming the answer. You do get time to transfer your answers to the book so scribble & scratch in your question book. Stay focused and don't get stuck on one question otherwise the audio runs away from you. I found that it helped to scan the questions first (they give you some time to do that) and do some practice tests to get the feel.

The reading I found the easiest. Their seems to be more than enough time to complete the questions & recheck all your answers. My advice is to skim the text, read the questions & then reread the test with those in mind. You do not get extra time to transfer your answers, but I still scribbled all over the question book text & questions, rechecked, transferred & went to the toilet.

The writing was the toughest for me. My profession relies on short crisis management emails so handwritten essay structure was very foreign. Just keep an eye on your time.

The speaking was ok. You get warmed up with questions about yourself, your home, etc. Then you talk on a topic for a minute or so. All I can say here is try to find a suitable personal experience that matched the topic, since it is always much easier to draw from memory

I am still waiting for my results so I am not sure how good the aforementioned advice is, but I thought I would share my own experience.

I did find the following site extremely helpful and especially these pages (attached as word docs so I could read them offline). http://www.dcielts.com/

Good luck

Hey mate,

Did you get your results as yet?

Cheers

Paul

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Hi Surferman,

I hope you feelings are correct and you aced the exam but from our experience (hubby wrote 10 times and missed 8 by .5 in a different band each time and we are english born and bred).

Ielts warned us that marks are deducted for going way over the words requested.

Hope you are successful

Hey PARKS,

I have just confirmed with IETLS that marks are not deducted for going over the limit, but waffling will lose you points. I will know my results around Friday, so long as I get 8 overall I am happy. Just want maximum points for my EOI.

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Hey Surferman,

That's great news. I will be holding thumbs for you for Friday.

Good Luck

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