WRITING
Woah woah woah, you have covered more than 1200 words. Congratulations. Finally here is the most anticipated section. This is one of the section where scoring high is next to impossible. Rest of the sections can be learned and practiced but for writing the effort required is far more than all the other sections. If you feel your writing is weaker, dedicate more time to improve your writing skill. Detailed below are the steps I took.
Tip1==> First and foremost you got to understand the format in which to write the essays. For this I would suggest to fire up google and read as many sample essays as you can. The thing about sample essays is that you will easily understand the format in which IELTS is expecting your answer. Read multiple of these and you will have a fair idea on how to write these.
Tip2==> Most of us have given up writing on a piece of paper long back especially with a pencil. It is hard to regain touch in a short span. Write a minimum of 10 essays before the exam. Make sure you write both the essays in one stretch.
Tip3==> Before writing the essay, write bullet points. Have a fair idea of what you are going to write in each paragraph. Don’t start off blindly. You should have a fair bit of idea on what you are going to write else you are going to erase and rewrite which is going to eat away your time. For reference, spend first 5 minutes understanding the question, writing key points and how you are going to structure your thought.
Tip4==> Don’t write complex, lengthy sentences. The chances are you are going to make errors and you are going to lose the flow of your thoughts. Simple , elegant sentences that convey the meaning eloquently is more than sufficient for you to score a good grade.
Tip5==> Read the paragraph after a while to spot your mistakes. Often when we write, we omit words and it changes the meaning completely.
For example: While on an official trip, husband sends an SMS to his wife at night, “Had a great time, hope you were her”. He missed to write the ‘e’ at the end of the sentence and it changes the meaning completely. I am sure we all have reread something we have written and thought “How the hell did I miss such an obvious mistake”. It is part of writing and you have to recheck your answer, this is the only solution. To spot the mistakes easily, read it after sometime.
Tip6==> Ensure you spell check. It goes without saying. Make sure all you spellings are correct. Nothing much to write here. Check your goddamm spelling.
SPEAKING
Here we are in the speaking section. First of all , I salute your dedication. It has been over 1900 words and you are still reading. This is the last stretch. The problem with speaking is that there are very less practice speaking test online. Almost all of the online IELTS tests have recorded section for speaking which does not really help you much. I was confident of scoring a good score in speaking. Yet I made some cardinal errors.
Tip1==> Practice is the key to mastering speaking section. You are not going to improve your speaking skills in a week or two. You have to be naturally good at it in order to score good in this section. Speak in English with your, friends, family and colleagues. Pretend you don’t know any other language other than English. When you start speaking in your daily life you will encounter many instances where you struggle to express yourself. Slowly but steadily you will start improving your command over the language.
Tip2==> Make sure to watch lot of UK movies, series and documentaries. Immerse your-self in the language. This is scientifically proven to improve your language skills. Record your practice sections and listen to it. You will find golden nuggets to improve your score. Have a friend listen to your recording and take his inputs improve your score.
Tip3==> Ask your friend to prepare a set of sample IELTS speaking questions and try to replicate the test. It is vital that you don’t know the questions before hand. Have a mock test as close to the original as possible.
Tip4==> Don’t even bother to prepare your answers before hand. IELTS examiners are trained to spot these and you won’t go much further with this approach.
Tip5==> English is a language that has to be enjoyed slowly. Make sure you speak it at the right pace. Non native speakers have a tendency to speak at a higher pace. Don’t rush.
Tip6==> Answer to the point. Let me illustrate with an example. A question like “Do you like teaching?” can be answered with a simple “Yes, I like teaching”. Which is sufficient. The examiner will ask the follow up question. Mostly it will be “Why”. Most of the students in their nervousness, starts speaking paragraphs. Something to the lines of “Yes, I like teaching because it gives….”. Don’t over do it. Answer to the question.
