How to get the IELTS Bands YOU want?
Getting the required scores in IELTS in the first attempt, although it may seem daunting, is not impossible. Keep in mind, if you are unable to clear it, you will have to take it again, or consider taking the more relatable exam OET. So, if you are not confident enough, you should first focus your attention on taking the English language exam earlier.
IELTS takes roughly 2 weeks (13 days) to publish their results. The sooner you book, the better. (By booking, it means already paying for the test on that date, at that test center.)
To summarize how to plan for IELTS:
1. Estimate time for IELTS preparation. This depends on your English language capability. Remember to keep enough wiggle room to retake the exam, if by chance you fail to obtain the required scores.
2. Book IELTS. Check on the respective websites when the next available dates are. Remember the results are published within roughly 2 weeks.
3. Start IELTS prep.
Where to Study From?
Your best guide for IELTS will be the 12 books from the IELTS Cambridge series. Or you could start with this guide for writing (send an email to (dromernasim@gmail.com) with the subject saying ‘IELTS GUIDEBOOK’ and the PDF guide will be sent to you).
The book contains sample tests from past exams. You do not need to read any theory or any long essays to practice for IELTS. You just must go through these past tests to get yourself acquainted with IELTS. There are 12 books in the series so far. Each book contains four sample tests. Each test has four sections (listening, reading, writing, and speaking).
For this sake of this article and the section that most people face trouble in is the writing section. This is the trickiest part of the exam. There is no scoring system to judge yourself here.
There are two tasks in writing.
Task 1 involves a diagram, which can be a table chart, a bar chart, a line chart, a pie chart, a flow chart, or a graph. You must explain the diagram using at least 150 words.
Task 2 involves writing a detailed essay on any subject.
Test Duration
You have 60 minutes to complete writing.
It is ideal to spend 20 minutes on Task 1 and 40 minutes on task 2. But you’re not bound to divide your time like that. The bell only rings at 60 minutes.
It is also your choice to write task 2 before task 1.
I preferred writing task 1 first, because it was small, and I wanted it out of the way. Because in task 2, you can write as much as you want. Practice Before you start practicing your writing skills, it is important to understand how you need to write. To understand this, go through the answers section of each book.
Read the task, then read the answer. When you’re done reading answers from 8 or 9 books, you can use the remaining books, to test yourself. Assess your writing skills by showing your writings to other candidates. You can find other candidates on Facebook.
Preparation Time
It usually takes 10–20 writings of each task, which can take 2–4 weeks or longer to feel comfortable with writing.
Summary of IELTS Preparation
Even if you have good command over English, it is important to go through IELTS preparation, to make yourself familiar with the test.
You will need a week or two for listening and reading.
And 2–4 weeks more for writing practice.
Speaking should not take much time. It usually takes people 4–8 weeks to prepare for IELTS.
Important points:
Take IELTS UKVI Academic, so you will not have to take IELTS again for your visa application.
The pattern of the exam is the same. The only differences are that the UKVI version costs a little more, it has increased camera surveillance and is held less often.
IELTS is accepted by both AEO & British Council. There is a common perception in Pakistan that AEO is more generous with IELTS scores. Because AEO has local examiners in the speaking part of the test, while the British Council has British Speakers. However, this should not affect the scoring criteria.
Studying for IELTS only makes us familiar with the test. It does not improve our English language skills.
The only way to improve your language would be to increase your exposure to English. You can do this by reading books, watching movies and shows and talking to people in English. You can improve your scores by practicing as much as you can. If your scores still do not improve, then you might need to increase your exposure to the English language. You can do this by reading books, watching movies and shows and talking to people in English.
Below you will find the two distributions of bands descriptors for the writing section of Tasks 1 & 2.
This gives us details on how they a lot the scores for each band and it is from their official website for the ease it has been presented here for your learning purpose. It applies to both the AEO and British Council bodies.
Another method that you can use is to take help from your colleagues that can help you check your essays and your graphical representation passages. I have helped my colleagues with giving them feedback and if you feel you are someone that can help ours with their learning you should too, here are some examples of how to provide constructive feedback on Task 2 portion. Keeping in mind that most of the focus is given to Task 2 but it does not necessarily mean that Task 1 should be ignored, one needs to practice both the Tasks effectively to have a comprehensive understanding of this section of the exam and also be able to attain required scores.
I hope you can take some pointers from this short piece, best of luck for your endeavors in the future if you have any queries you can reach out at this email address (dromernasim@gmail.com), but please add a subject in the subject line so it easy to address similar concerns.
References
1. https://naseersjourney.com/ has all the necessary blogs for all the steps and they are written by someone that studied from Lahore, so everything is a lot more familiar in the context of being a Pakistani. Does not require an account to access
2. https://roadtouk.com/blog-posts/ has comprehensive blogs regarding all steps but they are written by someone from Bangladesh, so they do differ, but it has quite the comprehensive details when it comes to making online accounts for GMC and so on. It does require you to sign up for the account to access.
3. https://www.britishcouncil.org/ has all the scoring criteria and the essentials that you would need to study through to know the scoring pattern and other frequently asked questions.
4. https://www.youtube.com/ E2 language channel has all the videos that helped me personally to achieve a 7.5 in the computer-based exam after getting a 6.5 in writing the first time when I gave it handwritten.
