How to prepare for IELTS in a short period of time?
Running out of time to prepare for your IELTS exam? Do not despair. Here are a few very practical and useful tips to get you back on track and ready for your IELTS exam.
Firstly, keep in mind that in this crucial time you should not harp on learning "new" stuff, you should make most of the skills and knowledge you already have. Here's how to do so:
1. Completely familiarize yourself with every single aspect of every module (Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking). It is highly essential. For example,
o How many parts does each module have?
o How many questions are there in each part?
o How much time is allowed for each module and the individual parts of that module?
o What is expected from the candidates?
o What does the answering sheet look like?
o Will I get time to transfer answers to sheet (like in Listening Module) or not (like in Reading Module.
These are absolutely essential things and unfortunately many candidates waste time on other things while ignoring them completely. If you do not know what the paper looks like chances are that you might panic on seeing it the first time on exam day. If you already know what the "pattern" of the paper is you will feel at ease and more comfortable in attempting the questions.
2. You must have heard, "practice makes perfect", and rightly so. Practice prepares your brain for the real thing, the IELTS test. The more you expose yourself to the real exam material, the more you will get familiar with it, the more your mind will get adapted and the more "comfortable" you will feel in attempting the real exam on the big day. So practice IELTS past papers whole-heartedly and soon you will start feeling a difference.
3. Practicing also has another major benefit: it exposes you to more information and "enhances" your existing knowledge. So when practicing IELTS papers, when you encounter new and difficult words, write them down in your diary or journal and look up their meaning to give a boost to your vocabulary. So this will be like killing two birds with one stone. You will be practicing the exam papers while building your word power at the same time. (By the way, it pays to build your word power!)
4. As you practice, also take not of useful idioms and phrases which you might be able to use in your own writing in the Writing Module. Remember idioms and phrases (like killing two birds with one stone OR it pays to build your word power OR an apple a day keeps the doctor away etc.) are universal. "Everyone" can use idioms and phrases in their writing! Just make sure the phrase or idiom you are using is correct and you know how to use it accurately!
5. When you are practicing try to complete the tests within the time frame. When you start preparing, you do not need to do all the modules in one go. Do one module at a time but try to remain within the time allowed. This will prepare you for attempting the paper within the time frame on the big day.
6. When practicing IELTS papers, remember to check your answers and give yourself honest marks (but only after you have finished doing the test). This will not only give you a clear picture of where you stand, how much effort you need to put in but also help you monitor your own progress and give you a sense of achievement as you improve! This acts as a huge motivation. It’s a must try!
7. Since time is crucial, make everywhere and anywhere your learning arena. Confused? Don't be. You read the newspaper everyday or at least different articles on the Internet. Make the most of them. After you have read them ask yourself. What was it about? Was it well written? How did it benefit me? Or just simply, did I like it? If possible write down your ideas in your diary, or type on a MS document, you can even write it in an email and share with a friend. Then again, listening to the radio or news (in English) can boost your learning. Try to concentrate on what is being said. Seek out important information from just every day news. Try writing a summary of the most important news or try talking about it with a friend. You can even record it on a tape recorder or your cell phone. This will improve your speaking power and give you confidence to speak fluently.
8. Improve your concentration span. The longer you can stay focused on the set target, the better the chances of success. Do not let yourself get distracted when you have sat down to study. Keep study time separate from entertainment, work and other stuff especially when practicing papers. Try to keep conditions as close to the real exam conditions as possible, especially when you are approaching the exam day.
9. Use all the practical tactics when attempting the IELTS test (practice exam or real test). Read for meaning, underline key words in passages and in questions for better comprehension, write clearly and use accurate grammar as far as possible (as much as you know), do not waste time on one question, go on to the next, you can always come back to it. If you waste too much time on one question then you might not get time to answer other questions to which the answers you might know very well. So use time effectively; it is precious, especially in exam conditions.
10. Take lots of rest and eat a balanced diet. Do not neglect your health while preparing for exams. Health is wealth, after all. (An other useful phrase for you). So do not stay up too late, studying or "watching TV" or "surfing the Internet just for nothing", rest, sleep well and see the difference. You will be pleasantly surprised how good you feel and how ready you are for exam preparation and the real exam when you have rested and slept well. Do not take it for granted and do not ignore your own well being at any cost. This is vital for doing well in the exam.
Finally, stay focused, monitor your own progress, practice the exam papers and go well prepared on the exam day and you will see that you will feel a lot more confident in attempting the paper. The better prepared you are and the more confident you are, the greater the chances of success! Best of Luck!
Showing posts with label tips. Show all posts
Showing posts with label tips. Show all posts
Tuesday, August 10, 2010
Thursday, August 5, 2010
IELTS READING: Which points should be underlined?
This advice is applicable to both IELTS Reading Academic and General Modules
In the previous post, the importance of underlining key points was discussed. In this post, you will learn that what are the actual important, key concepts and points which should be underlined.The whole passage is full of lots of sentences made up of verbs, nouns, articles, prepositions, adjectives, adverbs, etc. So how do we decide which words are important and need to be underlined?
Here are some important tips to pin point the points which are important. You should be looking for:
Some more useful tips:
In the previous post, the importance of underlining key points was discussed. In this post, you will learn that what are the actual important, key concepts and points which should be underlined.The whole passage is full of lots of sentences made up of verbs, nouns, articles, prepositions, adjectives, adverbs, etc. So how do we decide which words are important and need to be underlined?
Here are some important tips to pin point the points which are important. You should be looking for:
- facts (important names like Dr. Someone or Professor someone etc., some important activities like research, skydiving, mining etc.)
- figures (dates, amounts, quantities like two whales, 150 research participants etc.)
- locations
- descriptions (tall, short, gold, blue, deep, shallow, etc.)
- comparisons or contrasts
Some more useful tips:
- Do not underline every single word as this will only confuse you when you come back to the text to look for answers.
- Do not underline articles like the, a etc unless it helps in understanding a quantity Example 1: There was only an apple on the table and nothing else. Here "an" shows quantity that is "one" apple. Example two: The baby was crying. Here the article, "the" does not need to be underlined.
- Do not underline prepositions like in, on, etc, unless they help pin point the importance of something. Example 1: I live in a bungalow. Here the prepositions "in" does not need to be underlined. Example 2: The squirrel was hiding in the tree hole and was not sitting on a branch. Here, in can be underlined as it shows significance of the location of the squirrel.
Passage courtesy of Insight into IELTS but underlined personally!
Wednesday, July 28, 2010
Writing Module - How to comprehend the question and build a draft? (1)
It is very important to comprehend the question before starting to write (as explained in the previous post: Writing Module - Basics!)
These tips are applicable to both academic and general training module, since they are basic writing tips.
In order to comprehend the question you need to be familiar with the 5 W's and 1 H.
Lets understand how to apply the W's and H to a question and build a draft:
Here's an example of a question from academic module writing, part 2:
Should rich countries help poor countries or is it the duty of the poorer nations to feed their own populations?
Here is a possible set of W and H questions you may answer to produce a small draft for your essay:
(there can be many other possibilities as well. These are only examples for your help)
Q. What are "rich" and "poor" countries?
Q. What can poor countries do for themselves?
Q.What factors contribute to poverty and how can these elements be eliminated by poor countries themselves or by the help of rich countries?
Q. Where are rich and poor countries located geographically?
Q. How can rich countries help poor countries?
Q. Which countries are actually capable of helping?
Q. When should the help be stopped? (How much help is sufficient?)
Q. with Which fields should the poor countries be helped with (food, clothing, education etc.)
As you can see there can be a bunch of possible questions but the key is to stick to the topic and by asking specific questions and answering them, jotting down useful points you can develop a good basis for writing a well-developed piece of writing (in this case an essay). You can also see here that there are more than one What, Which and How questions, it only helps to have a more detailed draft with lots of useful points to have a head start and make a good influential ending.
These tips are applicable to both academic and general training module, since they are basic writing tips.
In order to comprehend the question you need to be familiar with the 5 W's and 1 H.
- What
- Where
- When
- Why
- Who, and
- How
Lets understand how to apply the W's and H to a question and build a draft:
Here's an example of a question from academic module writing, part 2:
Should rich countries help poor countries or is it the duty of the poorer nations to feed their own populations?
Here is a possible set of W and H questions you may answer to produce a small draft for your essay:
(there can be many other possibilities as well. These are only examples for your help)
Q. What are "rich" and "poor" countries?
Q. What can poor countries do for themselves?
Q.What factors contribute to poverty and how can these elements be eliminated by poor countries themselves or by the help of rich countries?
Q. Where are rich and poor countries located geographically?
Q. How can rich countries help poor countries?
Q. Which countries are actually capable of helping?
Q. When should the help be stopped? (How much help is sufficient?)
Q. with Which fields should the poor countries be helped with (food, clothing, education etc.)
As you can see there can be a bunch of possible questions but the key is to stick to the topic and by asking specific questions and answering them, jotting down useful points you can develop a good basis for writing a well-developed piece of writing (in this case an essay). You can also see here that there are more than one What, Which and How questions, it only helps to have a more detailed draft with lots of useful points to have a head start and make a good influential ending.
Reading Module - a few basics!
These points and tips are applicable to both academic and general training modules
What is expected from the candidates?
The reading module assesses a candidate’s ability to comprehend written material in English language. Simply put, you are given a score on “how well” you can understand the given passage(s). You can answer the questions only if you understand the given passage(s).
Key to reading and “comprehending” the passages:
The key to do well in the reading module is to underline important points and key concepts, as you read the given text. Thinking it is pretty obvious? Yes it is and unfortunately also often taken for granted! Firstly, it must be understood that the questions are usually set on the key issues being discussed in the passage and if we overlook them then it might be a little difficult to answer particular types of questions.
Secondly, by underlining important points, it is easier to come back to the text and look for an answer rather than groping and looking for it by reading the whole text or a part of the paragraph again. (How to pin point key ideas will be discussed in detail in later post.)
Be confident because the questions are 100% “from” the given passage(s) and you are not required to have any additional or previous knowledge regarding the topic. (Every passage will have a set of questions which follow it. There are three passages for the candidates to read and answer questions regarding them.)
You need to:
• Be able to fully comprehend/understand text written in English.
• Have a good reading speed (points to improve speed will be discussed in detail)
• Answer the questions (answers must be written on the provided answer sheet and “not” on the question paper).
Tips on answering different types of specific questions (like True, False and Not Given, Fill in the blanks/gaps, matching etc.) will be discussed in detail in following posts.
What is expected from the candidates?
The reading module assesses a candidate’s ability to comprehend written material in English language. Simply put, you are given a score on “how well” you can understand the given passage(s). You can answer the questions only if you understand the given passage(s).
Key to reading and “comprehending” the passages:
The key to do well in the reading module is to underline important points and key concepts, as you read the given text. Thinking it is pretty obvious? Yes it is and unfortunately also often taken for granted! Firstly, it must be understood that the questions are usually set on the key issues being discussed in the passage and if we overlook them then it might be a little difficult to answer particular types of questions.
Secondly, by underlining important points, it is easier to come back to the text and look for an answer rather than groping and looking for it by reading the whole text or a part of the paragraph again. (How to pin point key ideas will be discussed in detail in later post.)
Be confident because the questions are 100% “from” the given passage(s) and you are not required to have any additional or previous knowledge regarding the topic. (Every passage will have a set of questions which follow it. There are three passages for the candidates to read and answer questions regarding them.)
You need to:
• Be able to fully comprehend/understand text written in English.
• Have a good reading speed (points to improve speed will be discussed in detail)
• Answer the questions (answers must be written on the provided answer sheet and “not” on the question paper).
Tips on answering different types of specific questions (like True, False and Not Given, Fill in the blanks/gaps, matching etc.) will be discussed in detail in following posts.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)