IELTS
What You Need To Know About IELTS
Most reading this blog never understand why a person must write something for strangers to read and just maybe it’s to gain some insight to what you seek in life. I never thought that I would be writing a blog, but after leaving the classroom, I made a promise to future students, back in my second home –Tianjin China- that I will do this as a labour of love for the future world business leaders and just maybe new world leaders; for we know the more information one has, the better equipped we are in making worldly decisions. My name is Ernest Ouimet and I am Canadian. After spending 6 years in China teaching English at all levels, I found my niche, as they call it, in conducting classes for the IELTS. I know that this is not an easy task in a country that has very limited English media present - to listen to, read about and write your opinion without getting into lots of trouble. As I tell all my students, you need to do these three before speaking for you did that to learn your own language. You disagree? Then here is the reasoning behind this. When you were in your mother’s womb you actually were hearing and learning how to speak. As you were born you started to speak the language that you knew but the outside world has no concept of your language so you listen then tried to speak it before reading or writing it. As we get educated we reverse some of these processes. Listening is the foundation of all learning. We do it in class for we are listening to the teachers or professors. Then we are given a book and they ask us to comprehend someone else’s thinking and reasoning using a vocabulary that we don’t know what they are saying. From that reading we are writing an academic paper in which you have no training for and guess what nor do most other countries, for academic writing is just for academic, or as my mom told me, “the people that seek a greater level of intelligent to make the world a better place”. Being born French I had to learn English. But unlike most of you I was in an English speaking country, but what made it more difficult was our school had over 20 different languages spoken in it and “We had to speak English all the time.” Most students know that doing this test is not an easy task for wave after wave, of modern brains, coming and going through classroom around the world, trying to pass this exam in the first go. Most of you have done much study time, spent lots of money on lessons and material, so that you can proceed to the next step in your life’s quest. I’m for one that commends you on your effort for the next level is nothing close to what you have had experienced and this test is the foundation of the sweat you will need to reach that golden fork, which in turn gives your new lifestyle, but above all you make your parents proud of your success in life. As a conductor, of the IELTS, and observing the people having troubles with this exam, I have found that most of them want the material to be handed to them with answers, but the true secret is just to practice each section one at a time. However most fail in scheduling their study time with encompassing family and friends to keep the nervous system calm. I do hope that the following information is going to help most of you in gaining the required information for each section no matter if you are studying for “A” or “G” IELTS material. If you use this as a study manual and reference guide and not exercises then you abilities to pass at the first attempt is and will be a feather in your cap. The most common excuse I get all the time is how to start studying for this test — well the answer to this is, one step at a time, but give yourself a long time (longer than 40 hours of lessons) for each section and to continue it as you go to the next step. General knowledge for overseas learning for every one hour of class you have 2-3 hours of homework start now with this idea in mind. Since listening is the hardest one, for the lack of English radio or TV station, this is where the Internet comes in for all. In the listening section I am posting many sites for you to hear and downloading the transcripts for without the printed word most are lost. Your language has different pronunciation sounds so your ear never hears them all and this is where the trouble starts and you must grasp this portion for it does affect your overseas education. But did you know that no teacher can teach you this portion of the test they just point out certain aspect of it for you are alone in doing the hard work. With the links you not only get the words but you also are learning the sounds from different English speakers. As we know that American is not like British enunciation as the word usage in this blog. In the reading portion, most of my students started to read the passage and when times has terminated they haven’t started the third passage for they forgot to bring in a watch, forgot to write down when they must move on to the next text or to scan the information. In this section some of the ways in scanning and skimming at brought to the forefront and then you can forget about reading the text, but how to prepare the brain to the text and question and finding the answers quicker and smarter at learning a skill you will need for that overseas degree. The hardest portion is the writing for there is not real training in academic writing for some educational systems do not even encourage writing as a learning skill even in their language. Writing is attainable just with small steps in using expressions and understanding sentence structure, paragraph structuring and most important the logical order in expressing what you see and opinion. Many aspects for academic and very different for general writing, these are address in a logical fashion. And some of you are doing research dissertation or coursework thesis and this is the foundation for that portion of your education. Most of what I am using is a book called “Revealing The IELTS Secrets”. This study guide complied by me, from all the students that came through the hollow halls of IELTS learning. You can say this is their sweat and lots of tears that went into learning material. I am not putting the book on the blog however I am putting exercises links for those students who needs better material in finding out their true level for this exam. I know that there are very good learning material out there and you should get some different ones for they are one person understanding. What was done here was a number of IELTS teachers sitting down at a round table in planning material for a school material in aiding the candidates in learning the correct material without added pressures. So the learning manual was made for this reason. The process of studying for IELTS is an overwhelming task. It is a great importance to one’s future and the stakes are high. Among countless rules of IELTS it is easy loosing focus and begins drifting in the wrong direction, especially when you have everyone around you are giving negative vibes. This is the reason why most candidates don’t receive the score they deserve. Here are the some of the top mistakes IELTS candidates do make. Writing answers in the booklet, not on the Answer Sheet.
Writing answers on the booklet margins looks more natural than having to copy them directly to some special Answer Sheet. Everyone knows the only answers IELTS examiners check are those copied to the “Answer Sheet”. Every answer written on booklet margins scores zero.
Losing track of time?
During Reading and Writing sections it is the candidate’s responsibility to manage their own time. No one will tell you to stop working on the current task and to move forward to the next one. So, in worst case scenario, you could spend all the time working on just one passage, when there are 3 more to go. Giving more answers than necessary.As your teachers have already mentioned, instructions are there for a reason. If they say “give one answer” or “answer in 3 words”, this is exactly what the examiners is looking for, and if they find two answers or four words, points are not given.
Are you wasting time on a hard question?
All IELTS questions are of different difficulty. It is wrong to assume that the next question will be harder than the previous one. This is why getting stuck on one hard question is easy to do and a bad idea. By moving on to the next questions you could win more points.
Are you reading the whole passage in the Reading module?
Those passages are not meant to be read. It is enough to skim and scan through the text, noting in the margin what the text is about and what the purpose of each paragraph is. After getting familiar with the passage, it is the time to scan and underline keywords then read the questions and scan for answers.
Test writer assume you may know the answer.
There is an old saying “Assumptions is the mother of all trouble”. Many people walk right into this trap, by reading the question and then assuming that they already know the answer from their experience or general knowledge. What a mistake! The answer is what is written in the passage not what comes to your mind. For example, the question is “Does smoking cause cancer?”, and your mind says “Yes”, but the passage supports “No”, then “No” is the correct answer.
Most of you copy the task in the Writing Module.
Let me list some basic reasons why this is a huge mistake. First, it is forbidden by writing rules. Next, you don’t get any points or word count for it. Lastly, it wastes precious time where you could be writing something more meaningful.
You are not checking answers.
It is only human to make mistakes and there is nothing wrong in admitting that. This is a good reason to check or double-check your answers if there is any time left.
Are you trying to impress the examiner with word usage?
When a person starts trying to impress the examiner it usually goes to the opposite direction. Be the best at your level; don’t try to write at a level higher you are not at. Don’t start trying to use those super complex sentences or big academic words (without being sure of their usage).
Are you answering simple speaking question with “Yes” or “No” or with 6 words or less?
When an examiner is asking you a question, it is not the reply he/she is after. Their goal is for you to speak and is an opportunity to show how fluent your English is. Answering with very limiting words ruins every chance of good band score.
In concluding, this blog is about you, what you seek overseas and the work needed to gain the knowledge in obtaining that quest you’re seeking and which your parents have sacrificed most of their earning for you. All you can do if focused on what you have to do but also maintaining your self-confidence at a high level with balancing study, family and friends and for some of you to do this is not there. You need to know how to handle stress and not to follow other bad habits or action which puts your future in harm’s way. They are jealous that you have the motivation, the desire to tackle that outside world and become the best in your area of study. That is what is waiting for you after you have passed the IELTS. Good luck to all and all the best with your studies.
Ernest Ouimet