How can I get 8.5 in IELTS writing?

Got my ielts academic result a few days back. Thought I’d share my short preparation journey.

Background: Average working male from engineering background in mid 20s. Educated in English and can speak decently. Not a reader, nor into writing or debating.

In order to keep the confidence high when in shortage of time start preparing for the section you are most comfortable with. But get done with it quickly so you can move on to the other sections asap. I started with Listening and Reading by directly attempting the questions from IELTS practice test book with the timer on. As a thumb rule, I attempted a section at a time with the timer always on. This way I got in the groove of the exam while figuring out the areas where I’m lacking. Then going forward, I made sure to practice more of those questions and formulate my own strategies around them. I mainly studied from IELTS practice test book 14.

Tips for reading:

• since each question carries the same amount of marks, solve passages in ascending order as the toughness of the passages increases as you go higher. Read each instruction carefully before attempting. If the question says no more than two words then for sure there will be at least one answer with two words. In your approach try to answer each blank using two words

• aim to solve passage 1 in 10min, 2 in 20min and 3 in 25min. Leave 5 min for revision of each answer. Revision is very important, never skip it if you have time. Highlighting keywords in passage while answering will help fast track this process

• wouldn’t recommend reading passage 1. You can glance through passage 2 and 3 while attempting the questions. Though, make sure you read each line at least once. It helps in answering opinion (Yes/No/Not given) type questions

• always start with the questions directly. Go for questions like para heading, table match or fill in the blanks first so that you get an idea of the passage while solving the questions. In case these questions are not there then you can start by reading the passage

• for t,f,ng or y,n,ng the distribution of answers is more or less symmetric so if there are 5 questions and the answers you’ve found for first four questions are t,t,f,f then the last one will be ng. I analysed the trend of answers of such questions in two official test book editions and never found an exception to this. Use this rule while reviewing answers or while guessing

Tips for listening:

• read each question carefully and try to remember the next 2/3 questions and their answers. Try to grasp the meaning of the lines rather than just eyeballing it as the options are paraphrased by the examiners in most cases

• go through questions that are yet to come during the time allotted to revise answers

• move on asap if you miss a question. Focus on what’s coming next

• practice the questions you are weak at extensively. I practised the mcq and table match questions as I would always end up making a mistake in them. There are plenty of YT channels with sample questions

Tips for writing:

• attempt task 2 first as it has twice the weightage. Give good 5-10 min to ideate your arguments and structure the essay. Once that is done, put it into paragraphs. Finish task 2 in 40 min

• complete task 1 in 15 min. Give 3 min to structure the answer and aim to write the essay in 12 min. Proof read both essays in the last 5 min

• Practice each type of question for each task. Keep the formats of each of these in your head so that you don’t need to think of that during the exam. Found Ieltsjacky.com to be very useful for this

• do not state any opinions in task 1. Stick to facts as per the figure

Tips for speaking

• be yourself. Don’t think too much about what to say or how to say as then you won’t be able to speak fluently at the same time (at least that’s what I found effective for myself)

• make yourself comfortable by greeting the interviewer and engaging in small talk if possible

• practice speaking section through the questions in the booklet, attempting to speak continuously for at least 1.5-2min on each question

• speak as much as you can but keep it logical

• don’t panic if you screw up any question, focus on questions that are to come. I actually screwed up my first few questions by having a mini panic attack and breaking conversation to have water. I took the interviewer’s permission by saying “Excuse me but do you mind if I take a sip of water?”. This helped me recover quickly and I could focus on the remainder of the interview

Finally, try to attempt as many papers as possible with at least one continuous 2.5 - 3 hrs attempt in the official IELTS interface that is available on their website. Put yourself in challenging situations during practice tests for eg. while holding your pee or in really hot/cold conditions or with noise in the background as you never know what to expect on the exam day.

Keep faith and all the best!

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