What is the best way to prepare for IELTS

[SSKHAN]

What is the best way to prepare for IELTS? I will be taking my IELTS in Sep and have a little more than 1 month but my schedule hardly permits me to sit down and prepare (the way i have heard people do).

If I get the IELTS preparation material from the British council, will that be enough? I know there are thousands of web sites related to IELTS but can someone guide me to the best possible 1 or 2 links from where I can download practice exam etc. I think I migtt be able to do okay on the speaking part but am worried about the Listening, Reading, and Writing part.

Will be very much thankful if someone will please help.

 

[ja77]

http://forums.ebook-share.net/showthread.php?t=6215&highlight=ielts
http://artefact.lib.ru/languages/eng_textbooks_ielts.shtml
http://www.freebookspot.ws/Default.aspx
http://avaxhome.ws/search?q=ielts&commit=Go
http://www.scribd.com/doc/6632739/IELTS-Secrets

i believe this is more than enough. download a couple books of your choice and do a few sample tests to get used to the format. good luck.

 

[SSKHAN]

Thanks ja77.

BTW, saw your other post and congratulations on your SUPERB IELTS score.

I am pretty nervous about this IELTS thing. If it's okay, can you share how many months you prepared for IELTS and how many hours per day on the average did you spend preparing.

Also, did you go through everything on the URL's that you have kindly posted.

Look forward to your reply.

 

[ja77]

thanks. it's not superb score. just a normal score but i am satisfied as at least it is enough to get me through.

dont be nervous. just like i said, download a few books and go through a few practice tests. depends how comfortable you are with your proficiency level in english language. i did not prepare much. i registered only a few days before exam, downloaded some books, and did two or three sample tests just to familiarise myself with the type of questions asked. i think i only spent maybe around total 20 hours on ielts... not in a single day, on different days of course .

 

[SSKHAN]

ja77 please tell me that you are joking when you say that all together you put in about 20 hours (maximum) to study. You really get this great score by putting in only a total of 20 hours? Please confirm? Oh... maybe you are not based in Pakistan and are either in USA or UK or one of the western countries and that may have understandably made it easy. Do reply.

 

[ryetams]

based on my personal experience, its not so hard to take the IELTS in writing, reading and listening... the challenging part is the one on one interview (speaking) so you have to prepare for that part specially if english is not your first language. you can try to watch late night shows like david letterman, conan etc... i did that and it helped me a lot and of course you can try to do some online practice with your reading, writing and listening skills... goodluck!

 

[ja77]

ja77 please tell me that you are joking when you say that all together you put in about 20 hours (maximum) to study. You really get this great score by putting in only a total of 20 hours? Please confirm? Oh... maybe you are not based in Pakistan and are either in USA or UK or one of the western countries and that may have understandably made it easy. Do reply.

no i am not joking. i am a pakistani but working in south africa from the last few years. but i dont think living in a country where english is widely spoken can really help you towards achieving good band in ielts... maybe only in listening and speaking modules. even the native english speakers will most likely not achieve full score. but just like i said, you need to sit down, do a few sample tests, and understand the pattern of the exam. if you are not feeling confident, then practice and do as many tests as possible.

 

[SSKHAN]

Ok thanks ja77. Best of luck to you and everyone who has started or are thinking of starting the process (like me). May ALLAH make everything easy for all of us and shower us with his blessings (AMEEN).