IELTS Preparation

As I've said before, I'll post information regarding IELTS preparation that I got from at America on November 11 2017 which consists of writing, reading and listening session (due to my limited memory, I forgot to make it on November 4 which was speaking session). So, in this occasion there will be only writing, reading, and listening explanation. IELTS consists of 4 sessions, and its order is, firstly we'll do listening, second is reading, third is writing and the last session will be speaking.

• Listening

For some people, listening session in IELTS or TOEFL is not as easy as listening in daily conversation, especially for those who don't get used to listen to academic listening. The listening session sounds difficult since the speaker is usually a native with a dialect, sometimes British, sometimes American, and so on. What makes it even harder is, in listening session, the record won't be played twice, but only once. This session, consists of 4 audio sections, which each section lasts around 6-7 minutes with 10 questions. So, the total time will be around 40 questions in 30 minutes. But, we'll be given 10 minutes in addition to transfer our answers from notes to the answer sheet. This picture below shows us the details for each section.

From the simulation that I got, the social context conversation for first and second sections (somehow it's connected, one topic) went naturally so that it sounds sooo fast in just a blink of an eye. Somehow, we need to find the location of the place based on the record. While for the third and fourth sections it usually connected as well, but it's in academic context. From my last simulation, it's all about how elephants and and dormice lives, about its habit and everything. It's said about the characteristic of its physical appearance, its foods, etc. So, make sure to read all the questions before the listening session starts, so you know what you need to listen to.

There are several points to be bold, underlined and highlighted, which is there will be some limitation in the number of words you need to fill in the blank and you need to write your answers in correct spelling. If you write the answers more than the limitation number of words or write the answer in wrong spelling (even only miss one word), it will be counted wrong. From what I experienced (I ever took 2 simulations of IELTS), the listening session felt hard. I mean like, I needed to be focus, that if I lost focus for even 1 second, I couldn't catch up the next line. Moreover, I need to answer the questions while the record played (yes I had to do both at a same time), so if it's stuck, it'd be better just to pass it. The record won't wait for us just because we couldn't catch it, it'll keep playing. According to what I've experienced, I lost so many scores just because I was in a hurry so I didn't pay attention to my spelling, so that my answers which were supposed to be correct (if I wrote it correct) marked as wrong ones.

• Reading

The reading session consists of 3 reading passages, which is each passage is 800-900 words long. Since it's an academic test, it seems difficult since the passages are quite long and use the academic words. I mean like, this is like article or some text you'll only find in newspapers, or books, or journals, or something similar. But, those celebrity magazines consist of gossips won't make it. That's what the lecturer said to me.

This is the academic reading strategy given by the lecturer when I had that short course. You can make notes by yourself from the picture below.

What I remember from reading session is, if the answer of the question is explicitly stated in the passage, don't try to use the paraphrase. Just write the answer down as it stated. Just copy and paste it. Also, the spelling should be correct as well. It goes same as the rule in listening section. Once it's wrong written, it counts wrong. The picture below shows us the question types for listening and reading session, but the reading session has more various question types. From what people said, the most confusing question type is True/False/Not Given or Yes/No/Not Given. It'll be a trouble if we ain't that sure about the main topic and the answer is not given, or maybe it's stated in another paraphrase. So, the vocabulary is absolutely needed. The richer vocabulary you have, the safer you'll be (because at least you know the meaning for mostly sentence that you can get the points).

Tips to get used to the long passages with unfamiliar vocabularies is try to read some articles and find the meaning each day. It sounds cliche, but yeah, it's still the proper solution you have to try. You can start it by reading some articles on newspapers (whether it's online or printed newspaper). Those dramatic or sweet quotes on Instagram or Tumblr don't count, it won't make for academic IELTS. These following lists are few examples good reading sources to get used for the IELTS passages.  You may find the others depend on your interest. Hope it'll be helpful.

• Writing

Next is writing, what we do in writing? In writing, there are 2 sections. The first section is to describe figures/facts as presented by graphs, charts, tables or another pictures. I'll show you some examples after this. The analytical skill is absolutely needed since you need to know which one is the key or the points you need to be emphasized, such as the trend, the peak, the period, etc. Being a student in Statistics major actually gives us such an advantage that we already gotten used to the various tables or charts.

This following picture is the example of the second section in writing. In the second session, we have to make a writing, such as an argument text. In this section, since I haven't experienced it, as the lecturer said, we aint going to judged on the right/wrong opinion, I mean we don't have to stand at a certain position, instead, what will be evaluated and judged is how well we make the whole text. How well we pick vocabularies, how we arrange the words and sentences, and if it is matched with the questions. For instance, we'll only be judged on how well we use English. It's similar as the speaking session (as the lecturer said), what won't be judged on where we stand on position, but in how well we speaking in a good English (good vocabularies and grammar). 

This following picture shows us the details about the criteria in judging the writing.

Due to the unclear picture of mine, I'll retype the points of judgement below.

• Task achievement. Do we understand the questions? Do the answers poured on the paper answer the questions? Do the answers match? For specific task, the first task, it's all about making an overview, comparison, finding the trends and differences and summarizing the graphs, charts, etc while the second task is to define where our position is and adding some supporting ideas.
• Lexical resource. It's all about how wide our vocabulary is, how we paraphrase the sentences provided, and how we use the words and idioms correctly and properly.
• Grammatical range and accuracy. It's all about how we use English. Do we only use basic yet simple English for all sentences? Do we put the words in correct order and structure? Simply, it's all about our knowledge on grammar and how we apply it.
• Coherence and cohesion. How well-organized are our ideas? Do they have clear overall progression? Make sure the sentences we arranged are connected one another.

The key of writing session in IELTS is the use of paraphrase. Do you know what's paraphrase? To understand what's paraphrase and its various form, I'll post the definition below. Check it out.

I guess, that's all I got from iLearn IELTS preparation held by atAmerica. But before I end this post, there is such a picture which consists of bunch of links where you can try IELTS online. Basically, I only deliver what the lecturer said, and what I say here is not originally made by me. Taking IELTS for some people is pricey, yes, expensive, it costs around Rp.2.900.000 per test. So, if we aint so ready yet to take IELTS, or aint so sure to take IELTS, aint so sure that we will succeed, better we take course first. Because, even if we try, but in the end we fail, it'll waste money. It's not about being pessimist, but it's all about strategy. Rather than wasting money and fail, it's better to prepare first by taking course till we're sure will succeed. 

And, besides IELTS, there are another academic tests which are similar such as TOEFL, TOEIC etc. However, as the lecturer said (again), academic TOEFL is slightly better than academic IELTS, but still, it depends. It's up to you. Hopefully this post will be useful. 

Sincerely,

fv.