Wenstu Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 How hard is the test to achieve 8 for 20 points? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
pegibson Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 How good is your English? :biggrin: Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wrussell Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 How good is your examination technique? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sephie Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 I'd say it depends on both your English level and examination technique. I am not a native English speaker, but managed to get the 8s I needed at my first go but it was through a lot of practice papers and training. Quite some people taking the IELTS underestimate the difficulty of the exams itself but if you're sufficiently prepared, you should be fine! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wenstu Posted February 26, 2013 Author Share Posted February 26, 2013 I'm a native speaker with good English skills and have tried a couple of the trial tests online and did ok but wasn't sure if in order to get the 8, you had to sit the academic test...? Everything so far I have read for migration just states General, we have a date for end of April so gives us time for studying... Any advice would be appreciated. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
nic1171 Posted February 26, 2013 Share Posted February 26, 2013 Hi the job you do usually determines whether it has to be academic, so for my nursing registration I needed academic and level 7 in all bands. However as I scored a 7.5 (rest were all 8.5 and above) I may sit the general version to try and boost to an 8 in all levels to gain 20 points for immigration purpose as it dosent matter whether academic or general for point allocation. Im a native speaker but was certainly in minority on day of exam! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wenstu Posted February 26, 2013 Author Share Posted February 26, 2013 It's really just to make up the points, we are needing the 20 to secure the chance of State sponsorship but age is against us. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sephie Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 I took the Academic one as I needed it for studying purposes and also as nic mentioned, for some occupations such as nurses, and teachers you'd definitely need to have the academic one as part of the assessment. So I think for migration purposes you would only need the General paper. I practiced on both the General and Academic practice test papers and found the Academic papers just marginally more difficult than the General papers. Some people here in past have mentioned that they managed to score a slightly higher band with the Academic paper than with the General paper, and I found that also in my opinion to be the case. I'd say sign up for the General paper and practice as much as you can and if you find that you have difficulty in getting the bands you want, perhaps an option to try the Academic paper as well? Good luck! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Rupert Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 How hard is the test to achieve 8 for 20 points? As a native English speaker with good English skills, you should not have too much trouble. I would describe myself the same way and thought it was very straightforward. Worth preparing / familiarising with the format of the tests as much as anything. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Candygirl Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 As has been said, Google all practical material for the IELTS and time your tests. This will help you on the day. The majority of people seem to struggle on the writing. My OH got all 9's on his second attempt. He failed his first test on the writing by 0.5 point. You can also purchase the Cambridge IELTS book from Amazon which will have some practice listening tests to also give you an idea of what to expect. Good Luck. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DonnaC Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 I didnt quite manage the 8 I needed in the writing. Pretty gutted!! but need to do some revision now, brush up on those techniques!! Good luck and keep us posted. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Wenstu Posted February 27, 2013 Author Share Posted February 27, 2013 I've had a look at a few of the practice books so will get stuck in, whereabouts are you headed? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tayloal Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 Wenstu, it really is about understanding how the exam tests are presented. I did quite a few practice tests and made sure i thought hard about the presentation of a question before i committed to an answer on the answer paper. Don't know if you have tried these (at this link) but it is where i started: http://takeielts.britishcouncil.org/prepare-test/free-practice-tests I did the general test. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Chall77 Posted February 27, 2013 Share Posted February 27, 2013 Lots of practice and be prepared for an intense 3 hours. The timings are really tight so be ready to work super efficiently. I scored 9s and 8.5s but I practiced loads and was knackered at the end of it! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sephie Posted February 28, 2013 Share Posted February 28, 2013 Totally agree with tayloal and Chall77, I also practised a lot, at least 1-2 hours every night for the last 2 weeks and it was a bit killing after work! But it was worth it in the end! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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