kellyv Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Thanks Debs...i did wonder. Well i am sat in bed whiling away time until i might be able to sleep! Up at 5.45 to get to test centre! Really hope I can nail this first time, really don't want to have to repeat it! I have done a fair bit of revision so fingers crossed it will pay off! I am the same as you in that can't get skills assessed by ANMAC until passed this! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travelchic Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Do you need the IELTS for points as well? Debs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kellyv Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 I only need 10 (which i will get from the academic test as long as i get 7's at least in everything). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travelchic Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Think before you write your answers on the listening test. One of mine was about an insurance claim where a washer had leaked and the floor was ruined. In the text it wanted to know what ruined the floor and a wrote 'a leak' but later changed it to 'water'. You have 5 mins at the end to transfer your answers onto a separate sheet. If you've missed any of the questions, this is the time to have a good guess at what the missing words are. It's worth writing something in as you could guess right. ReadingI found to be difficult. The answers tend to be in order though. If your stuck on one, move on and come back to it at the end. If for example you couldn't find the answer to question 7, it'll be between the answers to question 6 and 8. Writing was was easy enough. I jotted down on the question paper what I wanted to write. I discussed the diagram easy enough. Just write about what you see and what it means to you. The second part I wrote an introduction, a paragraph about the pro's, a paragraph about the con's, a paragraph about my thoughts on the subject and a conclusion. Don't copy the question as the introduction, it won't count towards your words. Rephrase it instead. Counting your words is imperative. I counted mine and was slightly under so added an extra line at the end. It's a silly way to lose points. Don't attempt to use words that your unsure about spelling. Use words you can spell. This is another silly way to lose points. Speaking is wired but I think you just have to pretend the person your talking to known nothing about the subject they have asked you about. When they ask you a question don't say yes or no, say yes because...... Don't talk too quickly if you can help it. Be expressive. Believe me, your gonna feel stupid but just think of the visa and go with it lol. I wish you the best of luck kellyv. I'll say a little prayer for you tonight. Debs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterJa Posted January 10, 2014 Author Share Posted January 10, 2014 I did it twice. Needed to sit the academic IELTS for my skills assessment and needed 7's or above for that. However, I needed 8's and above to claim 20 points for my visa. As i only got a 7.5 for my reading on the academic test I had to sit it again. But because it was for points only, I could do the general instead of the academic which was a bit easier. I suspect toodoloo is doing it for the same reasons. Debs Hi, same here I need 20 points for the visa so I need 8's all round. I'm confident about the reading, listening and speaking but the writing is my nemesis. I've been using keyboards, cut and paste, and writing emails in note form for the last 20 years so absolutely nothing flows. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travelchic Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Hi, same here I need 20 points for the visa so I need 8's all round. I'm confident about the reading, listening and speaking but the writing is my nemesis. I've been using keyboards, cut and paste, and writing emails in note form for the last 20 years so absolutely nothing flows. When is your test peter? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
travelchic Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 Kellyv, forgot to say, wear something warm. Your not allowed to wear your coat and they take your bag and mobile phones off you. You can only take pens, pencils, erasers and sharpeners and water in a clear bottle. I was freezing when I did mine. Could hardly write my fingers were that cold. Debs Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterJa Posted January 10, 2014 Author Share Posted January 10, 2014 When is your test peter? A week tomorrow. I'm sitting here doing a mock writing test! As you can see, I'm easily distracted... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest Posted January 10, 2014 Share Posted January 10, 2014 i had to resit my test as have many before me i failed on the writing test, mainly due to similar points travelchic has just described, ie not thinking properly beforehand and using words from the question at the beginning and also trying to use bigger words but probably didnt use in right grammer and context, i did it second time and got the 8 in it as i needed 8 for the 20points like many on here. I agree with what people say the time limit is tight but practice beforehand a structure as such as most questions are similar in there answer layouts. Like travelchic mentioned you need to answer for and against the topic and your personal opinion and also seeing it from different angles and a conclusion at the end. if it asks for your opinion on something dont get to set up in your fairytale think back to the question aksed in the first place. hope that helps and good luck. if u have time after the reading test which i had before my writing try do a toilet visit as writing task u cant afford lose 2 mins going to the toilet Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kellyv Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 Thanks for the tips and advice guys. I'll let you know how it goes. Good luck for next week Peter. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kellyv Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 Well, thats the first 3 parts over. Reading definately the most difficult...few trick questions in there. Hope i managed to get enough points! Back for the speaking test in an hour! Big glass of wine for me later i think! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Guest guest30085 Posted January 11, 2014 Share Posted January 11, 2014 Well, thats the first 3 parts over. Reading definately the most difficult...few trick questions in there. Hope i managed to get enough points! Back for the speaking test in an hour! Big glass of wine for me later i think! Good luck kellyv, I'm sure you will have done well Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterJa Posted January 12, 2014 Author Share Posted January 12, 2014 Well, thats the first 3 parts over. Reading definately the most difficult...few trick questions in there. Hope i managed to get enough points! Back for the speaking test in an hour! Big glass of wine for me later i think! It's funny the way everyone has their own bad section. The reading is no problem for me, it's the writing. I've noticed the trick questions. Some of them are clever but others go too far. They are more plain sneaky than tests of English ability. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toodolou Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 Toodoloo why do you need to do the general aswell? sorry have been away a while , i need to do general for visa points , need all 8 s in general ielts = 20 points Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Toodolou Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 when do you guys get your results? , fingers crossedx Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kellyv Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 friday!!! :-/ Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
gtaylor30 Posted January 22, 2014 Share Posted January 22, 2014 I did mine back in September. I did lots of practice papers, and so rarely dropped a single point I think I might have been a little overconfident. I also made the mistake of being a little hung over on the day. Not too bad, but that combined with a poor nights sleep meant I didn't feel particularly sparkling on the day. Still, I got 8.5 in listening and writing (despite being an IT man with awful handwriting), 8.0 in reading which is a bit of a disappointment as I thought they were very ambiguous in two of the sections, and 9 in speaking. I even managed to make the invigilator laugh. I don't like the way the questions are phrased and devised in the reading, but the rest was relatively straight forward to me (without meaning to sound rude to anyone struggling). Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterJa Posted January 23, 2014 Author Share Posted January 23, 2014 I did mine on Sat but I suspect I messed up the speaking test. I'm annoyed about it tbh. I was sick, which is obviously my own fault, but we didn't get out of the test room until 1:30, then I had to leg it across London without eating to get to my interview at 2:20. I was starving and completely crashed before the interview. I could hear the mistakes I was making. So could the examiner Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dls Posted January 23, 2014 Share Posted January 23, 2014 I did mine on Sat but I suspect I messed up the speaking test. I'm annoyed about it tbh. I was sick, which is obviously my own fault, but we didn't get out of the test room until 1:30, then I had to leg it across London without eating to get to my interview at 2:20. I was starving and completely crashed before the interview. I could hear the mistakes I was making. So could the examiner Hi - Did you have to travel across London just to do the speaking test? I'm terrified of sitting the IELTS - it's the writing that's got me! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
PeterJa Posted January 23, 2014 Author Share Posted January 23, 2014 Hi - Did you have to travel across London just to do the speaking test?I'm terrified of sitting the IELTS - it's the writing that's got me! Yeah, it was really lame, the organisation was basically milking the IELTS cashcow and crammed too many people in. - The morning session was supposed to finish at 1pm. - We were told to get to our speaking tests 45 minutes early - We got out of the classroom at 1:30pm... to face a queue of about 200 people picking up coats. - Then I had to walk over a mile to get to the speaking test for 2:20 (or 1:35 if I was to obey the 45 minute rule). I've looked on IELTS for how to complain, and it looks like complaints have to be made to the test centre! The very people I want to complain about.... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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