AMANDA LYNN

IELTS HANDBOOK:
HOW TO GET A HIGH SCORE IN 3 MONTHS

Written by: Amanda Lynn

Utalkly.com

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 Who This Book is For

This book is for everyone who is going to take the IELTS general or academic
test. We are going to focus on what you need to do to get a high score in the
test. These are things that you absolutely must do to increase your score
whether you have never taken the test or you have taken the test before and
arent happy with the result.

It is important to note, there is key information in here that even a native

English speaker could use to get a higher score. It is very important to know
how the IELTS test works and what they are looking for in your answers.

Life Lessons about IELTS

I have been teaching the IELTS test for a very long time, but I still remember
when I was new to teaching the test. I was a part of this major English center in
a city where I once lived, and the organization had this idea that they would
have their teachers take the real IELTS test. Their plan was to advertise that
their native English teachers got 8s and 9s in the test so that everyone would
believe that this company is the ideal place to learn how to get high scores.
However, this did not work out so well. Their native teachers scored high in
listening, reading, and writing, but their speaking scores were ALL 7s. These
were not only native English speakers. They were well educated IELTS
teachers, and one from Australia was even going for a PhD in chemistry.

This English center learned the hard way (and the expensive way) that you need
to know what you are going to be tested on. The teachers had no idea that they
needed to use a lot of idioms to get their vocabulary score any higher than that.
They had never read the band descriptors, and they thought that all their
experience teaching out of all different IELTS books was going to land them a
high score. Yet, they received a lower score in speaking than even some of their
own students.

No IELTS book had ever explained what is required to get a band score above a
7 in speaking, and this is even true for the ones that had get a score above 7 in
the title.

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I put many years of my knowledge and expertise in the IELTS test and
education to create this easy-to-follow book. In this book I will explain the
material you need to use, how to use the materials effectively, what to focus on
when preparing, and strategies to increase your score. This book will show you
the fastest and most effective way to prepare for the IELTS test.

What You Need to Get Started

The first thing you need are the right materials. Now there are a lot of IELTS
materials. In fact, there is a sea of IELTS materials out there that you could
get lost in. As a teacher, I have used so many different types of IELTS materials
in class, and they really range in quality.

If you get any, there is absolutely one that you must

A Sea of (something)-
get, and that is the real IELTS tests that were given
by Cambridge in the past. Cambridge publishes the An idiom that means there
real tests that they gave each year. These are is a very large or vast
absolutely what you must be using in order to amount of something
practice for the test.

Of course, there is nothing better than taking the real test to prepare and have an
idea of what you might get in the test if you took the test today, so that is why I
highly recommend it.

You should take at least 10 different tests from the books before you go and
take the real IELTS test. That is, of course, assuming that you have at least a
few months to prepare. If you dont have enough time, then you just need to do
what you can before your test the date.

How much time is enough time? That depends. What do you think your current
level is right now and what band score do you need to get? It takes the average
person hundreds of hours of practice to increase their score by a fraction of a
band mark, so you need to be willing to put in long hours of hard work before
the day of the test.

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Of course, you could increase your score three times faster if you prepare in an
effective way. I will do my best to give you all the tools you need, but I am
quite limited to how much I can put in one book. I have to speak generally. I
have designed a program where I can give individualized attention through
online lessons on www.utalkly.com

I also suggest getting the IELTS Made Easy books for writing, and I will
discuss this later in the writing section of this book.

Which Test Will You Take

When you are preparing for the IELTS test, you need to make sure that you
know which test you are going to take. There are two different types of IELTS
tests.

1. The Academic test

2. The General test.

They can be quite similar in some ways, but you must not get these confused.
You do not want to prepare for the wrong test. That would be a disaster!

There are similarities and differences between the two tests. For the listening
tests, they are exactly the same in both tests. The reading test is completely
different. In the reading section, the academic test is much more difficult.

The Cambridge books that I Key note: When you purchase the
mentioned before contain all the Cambridge book, make sure that you buy
academic tests and the general the one with audio included. If you dont,
tests with the exception of Book you will not be able to practice the
11. Book 11 is different. The listening test. The ones with an audio CD
are more expensive. However, its very
last time I checked it out in
important that you get the ones that include
online bookstores, it showed the audio, because some dont have it.
that the academic test was a
separate book from the general test, so just be careful about that. The past book
numbers 1 to 10 have both tests in them, and they start with the academic test.
The general tests are in the back.

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If youre not sure what test you need to take, you should check. The general test
is usually used for working in another country, getting a work visa, and
immigrating to another country. The academic test is used for getting into a
college or university.

On the day that you going to take the IELTS test you will first take the listening
test, then the reading test, and right after that the writing test. You might have a
break before you take the speaking test in the end.

The writing test for academic and general is also quite a bit different. Task 2 is
pretty much the same. In writing Task 2 you will have to write an essay. Task 1,
however, is different. For Task 1 of the general test you will have to write a
letter, and for the academic test you have to write about a graph.

You can use other materials that I dont discuss here, and I absolutely suggest
that you do use other materials to prepare for the test. There are a lot of great
books out there and free websites that can help you with the test, but the
important thing again is that you practice the real IELTS tests from Cambridge.
No other books are going to have the Cambridge quality that the real tests have.

The IELTS Test

We are going to move on to ways to increase your score in each part of the test.
When you practice, you might practice different sections on different days. That
is good to do, but make sure to practice taking the entire test a few times as if
you were simulating the real test. It is a very long test. Its a 2 hour and 45
minute long test that is designed to measure your maximum level of English.
Needless to say, it can make you feel very tired. Taking the entire test with all
the sections several times can help you build up the stamina you will need
during the day of the test.

Practice doing all parts of the test in public places, because it is important that
you learn to ignore distractions when youre taking the test. Being in a slightly
uncomfortable environment can also get you used to the pressure that you might
experience during the test. You can practice in cafes for example.

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If you have test anxiety, you need to find ways to overcome that. There are
many and resources out there to help you if this is your problem.

For the listening and reading tests, you must write all of your answers on the
answer sheet. The answer sheet is the only part of these tests that you will be
scored on. You are free to write anything you want on the test question sheets as
these will not be part of your mark.

Never leave an answer blank even if you do not know the answer. It is better to
guess and possibly guess right than to not guess at all.

Dont forget, if your spelling or grammar is wrong on the answer sheet, your
answer will be marked wrong. This is true even if you have the right word. For
example, if the answer is [phones] and you wrote [phone], your answer is
wrong, because you did not add the s to the word phone. As you can see, even
the smallest mistake will be counted wrong, so make sure to check your spelling
and grammar on your answer sheet.

Improving Your Listening Score

Okay, lets dive into the listening test. This will be the first part of the test that
you will take when you go in for the IELTS test. There are four sections to the
listening test. You want to practice taking the test under real test conditions. The
listening test takes 30 minutes, and after you will have 10 minutes to transfer
your answers to the answer sheet.

In the listening test you will have extra time to transfer your answers, but the
same is NOT true for the reading test. In the reading test you will not have extra
time to transfer answers.

Here are the steps to practice for the listening test. Practice with the paper test
and the answer sheet as if you were taking the real test. Check the answers in
the answer sheet to see if your answers are wrong, and put an X on all of the
ones that you got wrong. Then, go back and listen for the question that you got
wrong. See if you can catch the answer the second or third time you listen. At
the back of the IELTS Cambridge books you have the answer key and
transcripts from the audio.

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The transcripts can be really helpful. After you check your answers, read the
transcript while youre listening to the audio, and see if you can find the
answers you got wrong that way. You should practice listening while reading
along with the transcripts, because this is a really powerful way to improve your
listening skills. If you didnt make any mistakes in this section, than just skip
this. Only go back into the parts of the test where you made mistakes.

You will also want to retake a test a week later if you did not do well on it the
first time. You could just focus on answering the questions you got wrong and
see if you have improved at all.

Nailing the Reading Test

Now lets discover how to prepare for the reading test. For the reading test, you
want to make sure which test youre going to take. Again, the general test is
different from the academic test.

You should take the reading test under real time pressure. Make sure you time
yourself. In the reading test you have 60 minutes to answer 40 questions. In the
back of the Cambridge book there is an answer key that you can check to see
how many questions you got wrong. With a red pen put an X on all of the
questions you got wrong.

Next, you want to understand WHY those are wrong. Look at the test carefully
to try to understand why your answer is wrong. If youre still not sure, you may
want to find a tutor or someone who can help you if possible. You also want to
search online for strategies to answer that type of question.

There are several categories for the types of questions in the reading test. There
are multiple choice questions, identifying information, identifying the writers
opinion, matching information, matching headings, matching features, matching
sentence endings, sentence completion, completing a summary or a graph, and
short answer questions.

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What I have found it in teaching the IELTS test is that it is normal to do really
well on certain types of questions in the reading test and not do so well on other
types of questions. For example, I had a student who did really well on most of
the reading test, but for matching the headings he got most of them wrong. Once
you identify your weakness in what type of questions you normally get wrong,
start doing research online to find out strategies for answering these type of
questions. You should read websites that discuss strategies for the types of
questions you normally get wrong.

For example, a lot of people think its hard to choose the right title for the text.
Here are some strategies for this:

Avoid answers that are too specific and are only about a part of the
text
Avoid answers that are too general or go beyond the focus of the
article

Another type of question Ive seen many students get wrong is matching the
headings. Try this:

First, underline keywords in the options and immediately cross out the
option given as an example.
Next, skim the entire paragraph to get a general understanding.
Then, look back at the options, and eliminate the obvious wrong
answers.
Finally, you should be left with 2 or 3 options. If you are still not sure,
quickly read the paragraph again.

There are also general strategies for the reading test. Always read the
instructions very carefully. You should mark where you found an answer in the
text, because some answers can be found in order. Put a question mark next to a
question if you cant find the answer, and move on to the next question. Dont
get stuck on an answer, and dont get stuck on a place in the text that you think
the answer might be. Keep moving! You can come back to the question later if
you have time.

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After you have done your research on strategies that you need, hold onto the
tests that you took, and go back to that test later on. You dont have to do the
test all over again, but you should redo the questions that you got wrong before.
Check to see if after you have learned the strategies, you have improved at all in
answering those questions. Dont just try to take a whole lot of tests very
quickly without looking back to the questions you got wrong and trying them
again, because otherwise you will not improve your reading skills. Remember,
you have to do this to increase your score.

Get the Best Score Possible in Writing

Lets immerse ourselves into the writing test. This and the speaking test are the
areas where I can share keen insight, and you can benefit from my vast
knowledge on these subjects. This part of the test is 60 minutes long, and you
have two tasks to complete in those 60 minutes. Preferably you would start on
Task 1 and then do Task 2, but if you want to start on Task 2 and then do Task
1, that is entirely up to you.

If doing Task 1 first and then Task 2 doesnt work for you, experiment and try
out what does work best for you. The important thing to understand is what
works for you and what doesnt work for you when preparing for the IELTS
test.

You are going to have to manage your own time in this test. You will have one
hour to take the writing test, and no one is going to tell you when to finish Task
1 and start on Task 2. You have 20 minutes to do Task 1 and 40 minutes to do
Task 2. When you practice for the test, try to practice under the real time
pressure.

Another strategy while you are studying is to not focus on the time and focus on
quality instead. That can be really helpful for improving your writing, but
before you take the test, make sure that you have practiced finishing the test in
one hour. That is key.

I went through the glass door of the classroom ready to help my private student
develop the two IELTS writing tasks that he had finished. When I sat down to
check his writing, I immediately saw the same mistake hundreds of students

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made before. His Task 1 response was WAY beyond the word limit, and his
essay for Task 2 was poorly developed. He spent over 30 minutes writing Task
1 when he should not have spent more than 20 minutes.

This is a huge mistake, because Task 1 is not worth as many points as Task
2. If youre going overtime on Task 1, youre basically just accepting the fact
that youre going to get a low score, and nobody wants that. That is not good at
all. Make sure that you only spend 20 minutes for Task 1. Now for Task 2
which is worth more points, you have 40 minutes.

For both of these tests you want to make sure that you follow a standard format.
There are four areas in the writing tests that youre going to be scored on. What
a lot of people think is that theyre just going to be scored on their grammar and
vocabulary, but that is not true. Youre also going to be scored on your
coherency, how well you follow the task, and your ability to develop your ideas.

Aside from just being able to use high levels of grammar and vocabulary, we
can say that youre being scored on your ability to communicate properly. In
English theres a certain way that you must communicate that may seem very
weird to other cultures. Its really important that you understand essay formats
in English and you follow the typical format. Just task completion is a huge part
of your score. When you write, you need to ask yourself:

Did I answer the question CLEARLY?

Did I include all of the elements in the task?

Ive had so many students who wrote something entirely different from what the
test asked them. I mean, they mentioned the topic, but they did not directly
answer the question and stay on topic. Just simply answering the question and
answering it properly is 25% of the score. That mistake could cost them a
HUGE reduction in their score. Make sure that you take time to understand the
question and plan your essay with an outline, because if not, you could be very
disappointed with the score you get on the test.

Another fourth of your score in writing is coherency. In other words, your

ability to stay organized, follow a normal essay structure, and to include
relevant support and examples for your ideas.

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Actually, the English vocabulary and grammar Cant stress enough-
part is half of your score. However you might
A phrase to show or
feel about that, it is still half of your score, so I
emphasize how important
cant stress this enough. If you do the math,
something is
vocabulary is only a quarter of your score and
grammar is another quarter of your score.

For vocabulary make sure that youre using linking words, sophisticated words,
and the right form of the word. The worst thing you could do for vocabulary is
keep using the same word, use a word more than once, or use too many words
from the task sheet. Make sure that you paraphrase and avoid using the same
words that you have already used. The graph below shows a list of linking
words. Chose which linking words you are familiar with, and practice using
them as often as possible. You should print this page and keep it handy
whenever you practice writing.

Linking Words
Contrast Add information Result Sequence
However In addition Therefore First
On the other hand Additionally As consequence Second
In contrast Moreover Thus Third
In comparison Furthermore Consequently Next
On the contrary Also As a result of Then
Although Finally
While

Giving opinion Reason Example Concluding

In my opinion Because For example In conclusion
In my view Since For instance In summary
I believe As To illustrate To conclude
I think

For Task 1 of the academic test there are different types of vocabulary that you
need to know for different types of graphs, so make sure that you research
writing about tables, line graphs, bar graphs, pie charts, maps, processes and

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any other types of graphs. I will add resources later on in this section for any of
the IELTS writing tests that you are going to take.

The last one is grammar. You will want to try to make your grammar accurate,
and you also want to use different forms of sentences. Dont list a bunch of
ideas like you are stringing them together on a shopping list. You should have a
combination of short sentences and long sentences. Keep in mind that a very
short sentence between two long sentences stands out, so it can be used to make
a very powerful statement. Have a variety of structures like tenses, comparisons,
conditionals, and more as long as they are appropriate.

For the academic test, Task 1 is where I see that a lot of people use the wrong
tense. Just make sure that if the graph is about past years, use past tense, and if
it is projections for the future, you use future tense with will.

You should check out this link that I added here from the British Council. It is
the public version of the IELTS writing band descriptors for Tasks 1 and 2. That
way you will have a clear idea of what you need to do to get the score that you
want.

Task 1
https://takeielts.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/IELTS_task_1_Writing_ban
d_descriptors.pdf

Task 2
https://takeielts.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/IELTS_task_2_Writing_ban
d_descriptors.pdf

I am going to share more resources for you soon, but I want to explain how to
use them first. The websites include practice tests and model answers. Read the
task carefully, and write your essay. Try to do both Task 1 and Task 2 together
in 60 minutes. After that, read the model answers for the two tasks so that you
can learn from the language and the way that the sentences and paragraphs are
structured. It is fine if your answer is different from the model answer. The
model answer is only an example, and it is not perfect. Here are the links as
promised.

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General Task 1
http://www.ielts-exam.net/general_writing_samples_task_1/

Academic Task 1
http://www.ielts-exam.net/academic_writing_samples_task_1/

IELTS Task 2
http://www.ielts-exam.net/ielts_writing_samples_task_2/

One more thing I want to mention about writing is to make sure youre
practicing writing consistently. You need to get feedback on your writing. I
offer private classes online for people who need feedback on their writing at
Utalkly.com

After you got feedback on your writing, dont just to read it and say, OK good,
thats all. You need to use that feedback and write that essay again. Do not
make a brand new essay. What you are going to want to do is write that same
exact essay again incorporating that feedback so that you internalize and learn
from that. This is how you learn how to write well, and you will be able to use
the knowledge that you gain from rewriting with the corrections when you
practice writing again. You probably dont have that much time before you have
to go in and take the real test, so this is a fast way to improve your writing.

Furthermore, reading the model answer can help a lot. You should even
compare the model answer to the question and copy the model answer by
writing it out by hand, as this will also help you improve your own writing very
quickly. This is how professional writers become better writers, because they
have read and analyzed so much good writing.

If you copy the model answers, you will learn to internalize that language and
use that language in your own writing. Compare the model answers to the
question so that way you can clearly see the connection and understand what
words to use for different questions, what grammar you can use, the different
sentence structures, and how to organize paragraphs and sentences within the
paragraphs.

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All of these things will help you improve your writing fast, but keep in mind
that model answers are not perfect answers. They are helpful if you need a 7 or
below, but if you want a higher score than 7, you should find books that have
model answers that would get 8 or 9. I am almost afraid to write this, because I
dont want someone to read model answers that are too high above their level. I
dont think that it would help to read model answers that you have a hard time
understanding.

Structuring Your Writing

Lets go over some basics on paragraph structure in Task 2 for both the
academic and general test. You want to have an introduction, and the
introduction first starts with the topic of the test. Then you give further details
about that topic. Next, you give your thesis statement. In other words, you
specifically answer the exact question or the task, and this is the last sentence in
your introduction.

A lot of people are tempted to copy the words and phrases (even the full
sentences) from the prompt, but dont do this. For Tasks 1 and 2 you always
want to use your own words and your own sentence structure. Youll be marked
down if you simply copy words or phrases from the task.

After you have completed your introductory paragraph, you write two body
paragraphs. Only include one main idea in each body paragraph. The main idea
is the first sentence of the body paragraph. After that, you need to give reasons
for that main idea. So why? Why is your idea to right? Then, you need to give
an example.

The test always asks you to give examples in Task 2, so you need to give at
least one example in each body paragraph. That is a total of two examples
minimum for your entire essay. Youre examples need to be from your
experience or knowledge. Experiences are things that happened to you in your
past, and knowledge is what you know from the news, watching documentaries,
reading magazines, or anything that you heard about. Finally, after you give
your examples, explain how that example connects to the main idea of that
paragraph or your thesis statement. Its important to make that connection,

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because otherwise it could seem as though you went entirely off topic. Its
consequential not to go off topic, because, again, coherence is of your score.

I know this is getting boring and might be Bear With Me -

hard to understand, but just bear with me for
An idiom that means to be
a bit. I will give you a visual of what I mean. patient while you do
something. It is a polite
For your conclusion you want to give your request, and is often used in
answer to the task or question just like you did customer service.
in the introduction, but you need to
paraphrase. Your first sentence to the
conclusion is your answer to the question or task, and it is called the thesis
statement. Dont just copy word for word what you said in the introduction.
Always remember to paraphrase and use different words in everything that you
write. The first sentence should start with a clear indication that this is the
conclusion like In conclusion, or In summary, After writing that first
sentence, you have some options for your conclusion. You can summarize the
points that you made in your body paragraphs and/or make a call to action. A
call to action is your advice to society based on what you have said in your
essay.

When you think of a call to action, try to answer these questions. After youve
explained all of these ideas in your essay, what now? What should society do?
What should the government do? A call to action makes for very strong
conclusion. Presenters on Ted.com make very powerful calls to action at the end
of their speech if you want to see some examples.

Look at the following template to see a great way that you can structure your
essay in Task 2. I would even use this template as an outline to prepare to write
your essay.

INTRODUCTION
1. Topic
2. Details narrowing down the topic
3. Answer to the task/question

BODY PARAGRAPH 1

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 1. Main Idea 1
a. Reason for the main idea because
b. Example For example,.....
c. Connect example to Main Idea 1

BODY PARAGRAPH 2
1. Main Idea 2
a. Reason for the main idea because
b. Example For example,.....
c. Connect example to Main Idea 2

CONCLUSION
1. In conclusion. Answer to the task/question
Option - Summarize main points
Option - Call to action

Another element to pay attention to is your style. You dont want to use a lot of
contractions like I am using in this book. What that means is you dont write the
word cant. You write cannot. Another example is you dont write the word
arent, and instead you write are not. I am writing contractions in this book,
because I dont want it to sound too formal and boring. I just want to give you
the best tips and tools that I know of for achieving those higher scores on the
test.

Another reason to be aware of style is in Task 1 of the general IELTS tests you
might even need to be informal depending on who you are writing the letter to.
If you are writing to a friend, you will get points in style if your writing is
informal. However, you would not want to write an informal letter to an
employer or a university.

If any of this information on writing sounds very difficult for you, there is a
very good book called IELTS Made Easy. Ill give you the link here so you can
go and check this out.

http://www.ieltsbuddy.com/ielts-ebook.html

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It is the best book Ive ever used for IELTS
writing, and Ive been teaching the IELTS test Come Across-
for a really long time. I was so happy when I A phrasal verb that has a
finally came across this book, because it is just lot of meanings. In this
so good. There are a few tasks in the book, and context, it means found.
its just focused on the knowledge that you need
to know to get a high score in writing.

One last thing I want to mention about writing is that the IELTS test will NOT
be done on a computer. When you take the writing test, it will be done on paper,
so you want to practice writing on paper with a pen or pencil. You want to
practice writing on the official paper that I will leave a link to here. That will
help you get a feeling for the real test.

http://www.tahasoni.com/resources/ielts/new-IELTS-writing-answer-sheet.pdf

You can also instinctively learn if you have written enough words by using the
real test papers for writing. Dont try to count all of your words. That is a huge
waste of time. Instead count the average number of words you have on each
line, and count how many lines you have. Most people write 10 words per line,
so to have a MINIMUM of 250 for Task 2, they should write 26 or 27 lines.

Pass the Speaking Test With Flying Colors

So lets journey into the last part of the IELTS test. This is absolutely my
favorite part of the test. This is the speaking test, and it is essential to
understand that it is not a speaking test where youll be sitting by yourself in
front of a computer. The IELTS speaking test is a one-on-one interview with a
real person.

When you go into the IELTS test, you will finish the listening, reading, and
writing test all together in one sitting. After that, you might go right into the
speaking test immediately after finishing, or you might have to wait. I even had
a student who had to wait three hours before he could take the speaking test.

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If you have to wait, it would be very good for you to spend the time warming
up. What I mean by warming up is that you practice speaking. What a lot of
students of mine have noticed is that when they record themselves, they lack
fluency for the first 15 minutes of speaking, and after that their answers start to
get much better and much more fluent. This is why you would not want to go
straight into the test without warming up first.

The speaking test lasts between 11 to 14 minutes. You dont want it to last for
only 11 minutes, because that means that you were not fluent enough. In other
words, the examiner couldnt get you to speak enough. In the months leading up
to the test you want to practice giving longer answers for each question.

Your answer should never be only one sentence long. It is way too short. Even
if you dont know what to say, you should find something to talk about. For
example, if the examiner asks, Do you have any pets? the worst thing you can
say is, No, I dont. That is a terrible answer.

Make sure that you extend your answer. For example, you could say, No, I
dont. I have never had any pets, but if I could have a pet, I would really like to
have a cat. I think cats are really cute, and I like to play with them. However, I
dont have enough time to take care of a cat. That is a far better answer, and it
uses a variety of structures including present perfect tense, a conditional with
if, and present tense. Using a variety of grammatical structures like this will
help you get a higher score on the test.

One of the first things you should do in preparing for the IELTS speaking test is
go to Youtube and watch the entire speaking test. For instance, you can go to
Youtube and search real IELTS speaking band 7 and you will see a lot of
videos of the IELTS speaking test. This is crucial because you need to
understand what exactly happens in the test.

Pay attention to this in the videos. What do you do when youre in the test?
What does the examiner do? How much time do you get to prepare your
answer? How long do you have speak? Its very important, because there are
many factors in the tests that you really must understand and be very familiar
with. You must understand exactly what happens, because if you are confused

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in the test and you havent prepared for what you need to do, youll get a lower
score.

One other thing that you need to do is check the public information on the ban
descriptors. I left the link here so you can check it out.
http://takeielts.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/Speaking%20Band%20descr
iptors_0.pdf

Your target should always be at least one band score higher than what you need.
For example, if you need to get a 6, then you should probably be targeting a 7.
If you want to get a 7 then you should be targeting an 8. Make sure that you
read through exactly what that means in the speaking band descriptors. When
you open up the link to the band descriptors, you will see that you are scored in
four areas. These include:

1. Fluency and coherence meaning your ability to speak without

hesitating and without forgetting words, and your ability to be understood
and stay organized

2. Lexical resources this is the vocabulary that you use

3. Grammatical range and accuracy this means that you are able to
use grammar correctly and that you can use many different types of
grammatical structures

4. Pronunciation this means that you pronounce words correctly and

that you use intonation to convey meaning

In the band descriptors link that I gave before, if you look at what you need for
lexical resources to get a band 7, you will see that you need to include idiomatic
phrases and less common vocabulary, and you must have good vocabulary in
any topic that the examiner asks you about. Therefore, if 7 is your target, you
need to set that as your goal and work toward that every day. You should have it
printed out or written down somewhere where you will look at it each day as a
reminder of what you need to do. This will help you stay focused each and
every time you practice.

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Make sure that you have a lot of energy throughout the speaking test and dont
sound monotone. You dont want to sound like a robot, so make sure that you
have intonation in your voice. You should use your tone like a native speaker to
create meaning in your voice. If youre shy and quiet and the examiner cant
hear you, or if you are monotone and there is no personality or character in your
voice, then your score is going to go down.

Keep in mind that if you get nervous, you might naturally become monoton, and
you might be very nervous in the test. Therefore, you should practice under
pressure. You shouldnt only practice in environments that make you feel very
comfortable like your home.

Sound like youre interested in what youre saying, because thats part of your
pronunciation score. Even if you dont normally speak with intonation in your
first language, practice this for the test, because this is a performance test. You
are performing and putting on a show so that the examiner can see how good
your English can be.

That being said, a good mindset to have during the test is that you are having a
deep conversation with a friend, but youre doing most of the talking. This
mindset can help you set the right tone and be comfortable enough to perform
well.

The examiner might not seem friendly, and he/she might have a very serious
expression on his/her face. This is very normal for examiners. Dont let it
throw you off if the examiner doesnt smile, because he/she is just trying to
stay focused on what youre saying and how youre saying it. The examiner is
not trying to be unfriendly or anything. They just need to focus. Even if the
examiner doesnt seem like he/she has much
personality, dont mirror the examiner. Make Throw (someone) Off-
sure that you are full of energy and personality An idiom that means to
in all parts of the speaking test. The start of each confuse someone.
new part should be a reminder to pump up that
energy.

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Dont worry about having good ideas or a different opinion from the examiner.
The examiner is not going to score you on your opinions or how intelligent your
ideas are. The examiner is only focused on your English, but try to be polite and
positive. Examiners are human, and their perception of what kind of person you
are could subconsciously impact your score. Always thank the examiner at the
end of the test. Many people forget to thank the examiner, and doing this could
make the examiner remember how nice you are.

Lets talk about preparing for the test. When you practice speaking, you should
actually be speaking. You should not just think quietly to yourself, because
thinking is not speaking. You should practice speaking a minimum of 15
minutes every day, not two hours two days a week. Its okay to practice for an
hour or more every couple of days, but keep in mind that you must practice
every day to improve your speaking. Studies have shown that it could be more
effective if you practice a few hours before you go to sleep at night. Of course if
you can practice more than 15 minutes every day, that is even better. The key is
that you practice every day and make it a daily habit.

If at any time during the speaking test you are getting close to a word that you
dont remember, try to veer off in a different direction. You dont want to get
stuck and not remember a word during the test. This could bring your fluency
score down. Dont ever say I dont know or What was that word. Try
not to look like you are struggling to think. Doing fluency drills when you
practice for the test can help you with this problem.

To practice improving your fluency, time yourself for two minutes, and speak
without stopping or hesitating in those two minutes. Dont worry if you make a
mistake. Your only focus here is to continue speaking without stopping. You
dont have to speak too fast. After you are comfortable with that, try to do the
same thing with harder topics. Then see if you can speak for 4 minutes. then
6 minutes and keep going to 10 minutes. If you do this every day, you will
eventually be able to speak for a long time without having to stop and hesitate.

Also, dont try to speak too fast during the test. It is better to speak slowly with
control and clarity than quickly. If you try to speak too fast, you could make a
lot of mistakes and even be hard to understand.

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Now lets look at the three parts of the speaking test.

Part 1

In Part 1, the examiner will ask you about familiar topics. It could be about your
house, your country, your favorite food, what you normally do, what you like,
your opinion about different types of music, your favorite color, or anything like
this. You want to make sure that you give an answer that is at least three
sentences long but not too long. Also make sure that you stay on topic. This is
the part of the speaking test that warms you up to the rest of the test.

Part 2

In Part 2 of the test, the examiner will give you a card, and the card will have
four or more questions. The topics will also be familiar, and you will be asked
to talk about experiences youve had, things that you own, music that you like, a
movie that you have watched recently, etc. From the moment you see the card,
you have 1 minute to take notes. You can practice using the effective note
taking strategy that I outline here.

Let's say you get a card like this:

You are going to talk about a teacher that influenced your life. You
should say
Who is the teacher and where you met them
What they taught
What was unique about this teacher
and explain how this teacher influenced your life.

Here you can see a picture of my notes. Everything in BLUE is what your notes
should look like, and the numbers and arrows in RED are just used to explain
the strategy.

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You can see that I drew two lines to make four boxes. These represent the four
questions on the card. I put my answers to the first question in box number 1.
This way I can stay very organized before I have to give my answer. As you can
see from the card above, there are 4 questions.

1. Who is the teacher and where you met them

2. What they taught
3. What was unique about this teacher
4. Explain how this teacher influenced your life.

Questions 1 through 3 are simple Wh- questions like who, what, where, when,
why, and how. You can answer these quickly with one or two sentences per
question. You also do not want to write a lot of notes for these questions. Notice
in my notes above that I dont have many words written for these notes. You
wont have enough time to write more than that.

Question 4 asks you to explain or describe. This means that you need to
give a longer answer here with a lot of detail. It is also the hardest question on
the card. This is where you should spend a lot of time writing notes as you can
see in my notes above, and you should spend most of the time talking about
this.

Also notice that the first question actually has 2 questions in it: Who and
Where. Be careful about this when you take the test, because you dont want to
accidentally skip a question. So thats it for the note taking strategy.

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You will have to talk for a minimum of 1 minute and a maximum of 2 minutes.
An ideal time is 1 minute and 45 seconds, because that means you were fluent
enough to give a long answer, but you also did not run out of time. Much like
the writing part of the test, you need to be organized or coherent. This means
you need to start with an introduction, presents your main ideas, and give a
conclusion. In your conclusion, you want to sound like that is the end of what
youre saying.

In addition, make sure that you practice timing and record yourself. I have
noticed that even recording a video of yourself using free software and your
Webcam or your smartphone can show you a lot of mistakes that youre
making, and it can be much more interesting to watch than listening to a
recording of your voice.

When teaching the IELTS test, I notice that a lot of students lose their
intonation and a sound completely monotone in their recording, and you dont
want to practice this way. You want to make sure that every time you practice
you are improving and giving it everything youve got. Its up to you if you
want to record your voice or not, but I suggest
An Eye Opener -
trying it out a few times. It can be a real eye
opener to the mistakes you are making and how An idiom that means to
you need to improve. You can also try learn surprising new facts
transcribing and fixing your mistakes. about life.

If at any point in the test the examiner interrupts you, dont try to continue
talking over the examiner. The examiner might have to ask you a question as a
way to move on to the next part of the speaking test. They have a limited
amount of time, and it is their job to manage that time. So if the examiner starts
talking, stop and listen carefully.

Part 3

Whew! We are almost to the end. I feel like my brain is going to fry thinking so
much about tests. Well, not really, but we have finally made it to the last part of
the test is Part 3. This is the most formal part of the speaking test, and it will be
related to what you talked about in Part 2. These are the kinds of things that you

25
might talk about in a university setting, as they are more abstract topics. You
want to practice answering these types of questions, because many times a lot of
people dont even talk about these things in their first language. This is
especially true if they have never been to a university before where these kinds
of topics are discussed.

In Part 3 you want to use more formal language in your answer. Parts 1 and 2
are more informal, so you should be a bit more casual in your answer. Try to
stick with that style when youre giving your answers if possible. If you are not
quite sure what this means, it is quite advanced to have a clear understanding of
the difference between formal and informal English. Just do your best.

Part three is more like a conversation than the other two parts of the test, but
make sure that you speak more than the examiner. It is incredibly important to
stay very coherent in this part of the test in order to get a high score.

The AREA strategy is one way that you can give very coherent answers that are
longer and have more tenses. AREA stands for Answer, Reason, Example,
Answer. Here is how you apply this strategy.

1. Answer - Give your answer to the question. Consider it to be like

an introduction, and try not to use the same words that the
examiner used.

2. Reason - Why? because.

3. Example - For example,.... Try to give examples of your past

experience so that you have a chance to use past tense in your
answers. You can also give examples from your knowledge.

4. Answer - Paraphrase the answer that you gave at the start. It is

important to always do this at the end of every answer to get more
points on coherency. You have to remember what the question was
too, and this can sometimes be difficult.

For example, if the examiner asks, Do you like to do the same thing every
weekend? you could say

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 Answer: Yes, I do. Most of my weekends are usually quite the same,

Reason: because I really like spending a lot of time with my

family. I normally go out to the park with them every weekend, and we play
outdoor games. It is very refreshing, but I dont always do the same thing.

Example: For example, last weekend an old friend of mine was

visiting me from out of town, and we had coffee together at the cafe near my
house. It was really nice to catch up with him. That was a nice way to break
out of my usual weekend routine.

Answer: So I dont always do the same thing every weekend.

Of course, this is not the type of topic that the Catch up with (someone)-
examiner would ask you about in Part 3, but I did
this to make my example of how to use this An idiom that means to
talk to someone that you
strategy clear and easy to understand. It also gave
have not seen in a long
me the chance to show you some common idioms
time and share your news
that can help you get a higher score in vocabulary.
with them

Another question a lot of people have is what to

Break out of a routine -
do if you dont understand the examiner. If you
An idiom that means dont understand what the examiner is asking
escape from your normal you, then you can ask the examiner, Could you
routine rephrase the question? The examiner can
rephrase the question in Part 3, but this is the
only part of the test that the examiner can do this. In Part 1 and Part 2 of the
speaking test you can ask the examiner, Can you repeat the question? If the
examiner refuses to repeat the question and moves on to the next question, dont
worry about this. Its just that the examiner needs to manage the time. Try not
to ask the examiner to repeat or rephrase too often.

In Part 3 of the speaking test examiners can ask their own questions. This is the
only part of the test where the examiner is free to ask questions that are not
written on their paper. If you feel like the examiner has asked you the same
question twice, this is because they want to see if you can go into more detail on

27
this topic. They want to see where the limit of your English is, so you need to be
comfortable with giving more detail into what youre talking about. Dont just
try to say what you have already said. Try to add more to what you are saying
and go into more detail or talk about another aspect of the topic. Just make sure
that your answer still relates to the question.

For instance, I was testing a student in Part 3, and the topic was education. He
mentioned three times that English education in his country is very important,
but each time he did not add any new details to this idea. Then I asked, What
do you think education will be like in the future? and he responded, I think we
will need to focus more on English education in the future, because it will be
even more important. He continued to repeat the same idea that he mentioned
before. I told him about this mistake that he was making and how it could lower
his score, and I gave some examples of what else he could talk about on this
topic. You could talk about how advances in technology could change
education in the future and how that might impact teaching, learning, and
schools, I explained.

Wrapping Things Up

So that is everything you need to know to get started in preparing for the test.
You may have more questions, and in most cases you can find answers with a
quick Google search.

With anything that I have said in this book, just to be Hard On (someone)-
do your best. At the end of the day, your best is
An idiom that means to be
all that you can do, so as long as youre doing
critical of a person
your best, dont be too hard on yourself. A
something
positive mindset will get you a much better
score and will also get you much further in life.

I just want to wish you good luck on a test. I really hope you get the high score
that you need. I know the IELTS test is a really important step that is often life-
changing. Its getting the job that you want in the place that you want to go or
getting into the university that you really want to attend.

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Either way, I hope that this has helped you in your journey to reach your goals.
If you would like to join my effective system for quick success to getting a high
score in the IELTS speaking or writing test by taking classes with me through
video chat, go to my website at Utalkly.com and book a class.

Good luck!

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