Vickiw89 Posted October 2, 2015 Share Posted October 2, 2015 Hi all, I have my general IELT's test booked for November, I did have the option to do PTE, but the IELTs centre is much closer to me and coincided with my days off from work. I need 7 in each band, which I was fairly confident on until I started doing some research, and now I'm starting to worry that I won't be able to achieve it. I'm doing an online course and doing the 30 hours you get with applying, and I have also ordered a book to help me. So far I am finding the questions in speaking task 3 hard to answer, and the reading test I am loosing concentration on, which I know I shouldn't! I've briefly looked at writing and found this is the one most people struggle with. I'm starting to panic and I'm not very good at exams so if anyone has any tips or pointers, please feel free to share Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
CaptainC Posted October 3, 2015 Share Posted October 3, 2015 Generally I found that the actual test questions to be a lot clearer and plainer than the practice questions. If you are a native English speaker then I wouldn't worry too much about the speaking part of the assessment, just have a look at the types of questions that they ask and even if you have to make something up to fulfil the question then do that. They don't care if it is all lies, but is easier to answer a question that is familiar to you, unfortunately you won't know that until the day. Don't worry if you have an accent, as long as you speak clearly and the examiner can understand you then you shouldn't have any issues on that part. Keep practising though, it is definitely recommended even for people with English as their first language. Some tips are to practice writing, make sure you know what the word count is, and how it looks on a page. In the reading part, if you get stuck then eliminate the impossible answers and choose the best fit of the remainder. If you get really stuck then just guess the answer. You can only gain a mark for a correct guess, but if you don't put anything then you will lose a mark so it's just worth answering anyway even if you don't know. For listening, listen out for the keywords and synonyms and don't assume that the first 'obvious' answer is the correct one. Listen on, as they often throw a red herring or two into the sections. Best of luck Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bungo Posted October 3, 2015 Share Posted October 3, 2015 Hi all, I have my general IELT's test booked for November, I did have the option to do PTE, but the IELTs centre is much closer to me and coincided with my days off from work. I need 7 in each band, which I was fairly confident on until I started doing some research, and now I'm starting to worry that I won't be able to achieve it. I'm doing an online course and doing the 30 hours you get with applying, and I have also ordered a book to help me. So far I am finding the questions in speaking task 3 hard to answer, and the reading test I am loosing concentration on, which I know I shouldn't! I've briefly looked at writing and found this is the one most people struggle with. I'm starting to panic and I'm not very good at exams so if anyone has any tips or pointers, please feel free to share Keep perspective is my advice and remember that to you, this is not an "English" exam, in that it is not an English GCSE, it is a literacy test and you are clearly literate. Most native speakers do not struggle with IELTS, a small number may do and then they are vocal about it, so that is why you might think peple struggle. My thoughts on th sections: Speaking - this is the one you should not even waste your time worrying about. You can speak can't you, you can converse with anybody at any time, that is all this is testing. It doesn't matter about the topics, if you don't know anything about the topic then you just say so, like you would if any person in your normal life brought up a subject you don't know. I was asked about gardening, I replied I didn't like gardening, have better things to do and would happily concrete over my garden. Listening - likewise not worth worrying about. They play short bursts of conversation, people speaking unnaturally slowly and very clearly. Then you have some blindingly obvious questions to answer. It is no time for day dreaming, if you miss it you miss it. But it is certainly not technically difficult. Writing - the main thing to remember is to not worry about the topic, if you don't know much on the topic well just make something up. They are not interested in your general knowledge or debating skills. Leave an empty line between lines in case you need corrections. Don't try to use fancy words, use plain English amd if you can't spell a word then use another, although it isnt a spelling test either. Make sure you don't mis use words like "their" and "there" and "they're". One of the writing exercises is usually a letter, asking for a refund or something, so therevis no topic as such. Reading - ignore any advice to skim read and highlight key sentences, this is good advice for non native speakers that do not have your command of the language. For a native speaker you can easily read the text, do so slowly two or three times before attempting the questions, just to let it sink in. Then be thorough, read all the answer options carefully not just the first one. I did all of this and still finished in twenty minutes (out of an hour), so it is not massively time pressured. I bought a practice book too although I only looked at it the night before, the practice book was in my opinion, harder than the real test. Still it is better to be over prepared. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wrussell Posted October 3, 2015 Share Posted October 3, 2015 Unless you must sit IELTS, I suggest you review alternative tests. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
marie Posted October 3, 2015 Share Posted October 3, 2015 regarding the speaking test my other half got asked to talk about a street that was memorable to him and talk about it for 2 mins. he had 30seconds to think about it and he could write in that 30seconds., ,then he had 2 mins to talk about it. So he spoke about the street he lived in as a child and explained surrondings,neighbours ect. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lukescotty Posted October 3, 2015 Share Posted October 3, 2015 Hey Vicki Defo go through a couple practice tests, just to see the format of the Ielts test, it will help. I did alot of practice reading papers because I'm thick. Speaking, just be prepare to answer ridiculous random questions, just use your imagination and make stories up. and secondly if you think you have more to say on the negative side, do that, I can always find more negatives to talk about than positives. I've done 2 ielts in the last months. Speaking questions: "what do you think about people adapting to change" (very broad) "do you think older people find it hard to adapt to changes" "do you think technology is important" "tell me about a long walk you've done recently" "how do you feel about the house you grew up in" "what improvements could be made in your community" "why?" reading, i'm not going to comment on this because I got a 5 on one of my tests Listening: defo listen to a few practice tests. they seem to be in 4 parts, easy to hard Writing: scrub up on your punctuation and practice writing if your always using a keyboard I've also done and passed a Pearson Test, hit us a message if you want any pointers for that Regards Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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