This post is my endeavor to work out endless problems with the IELTS exam from my students. Though I’ve tried hard, it’ll be an arduous journey. So pardon my sometime ridiculousness.
The format of this wordy post is a bit different from others. I interviewed my students about the difficulties they encounter while preparing for the IELTS exam, so their responses are quoted here, and the solutions are in the form of my answers.
🐯There are countless problems, so this post is updated frequently.
READING
- I fail to locate the information in the passage → Maybe you don’t really understand what you read and what you are required to answer, so try to make out the content by asking yourself: “What/who do what?” or similar questions.
- I understand almost everything (both the questions and the passages), but I can’t get the correct answers → This is a tough question, so if possible, I’ll conduct research on this issue
- I have a limited vocabulary range, so it’s impossible for me to understand the content → The solution to this problem is simple: expand your vocabulary range. Moreover, if it’s “too late” – like when you’re in the test room – try figuring out the meaning of an important word in the text by guessing from the context or its prefix/suffix.
LISTENING
- I get distracted without any clear reason → Your mind wanders, so you’d better keep yourself focused by jabbing your hand with a pencil (this is from my personal experience).
- I missed the answer for the current question due to writing down the answer for the previous one → I think you need to practice more, speeding up your pace of processing information by listening passively at the speed of 1.5/1.75, thereby jotting down more quickly.
SPEAKING
- I lack the necessary vocabulary for my answers → If the questions are out of your scope, just be honest, admitting that you have little knowledge about it. Or you can divert from a topic in which you can hardly retrieve any crucial vocabulary into something you can handle better but remember that they must be quite similar, not like chalk and cheese. For instance, if you’re asked about your favorite jewelry and you have no idea what is the “ring” on your finger in English, you can shift it into a smartwatch with its countless functionality.
- I find it hard to generate some ideas → Perhaps you should begin with reality before moving on to the very content that answers the questions. For example, when being asked “What’s the color you never use in your house?”, instead of freezing for a while, you can say “Well, I haven’t thought about it. Lemme see. Hmmm, there are plenty of colors in different rooms and I don’t detest any specific color, so maybe, almost all basic colors could be seen in my house.”
WRITING
- Task 1: I don’t know how to group the information → The structure of an IELTS Writing Task 1 should be: 1 sentence for Introduction; 1-2 sentences for Overview; 3-4 sentences for each of the Body paragraphs; and if necessary (I mean when you think your writing would be under length – you’ll possibly end up with under 150 words in your writing), you’d better have 1 sentence for Conclusion – rephrasing what you’ve stated in the Overview. After limiting your body paragraphs to only 3-4 sentences, you’ll gradually get the hang of prioritizing key features/highlighted information in the given illustration.
- I often fall into the trap of translating Vietnamese into English → Despite striking resemblances between English and Vietnamese, there are a multitude of Vietnamese expressions that can be understood by only Vietnamese speakers. In other words, translating those phrases or concepts into English is quite bizarre and challenges native speakers of English to figure them out.
- I have extremely short memory: I often forget the ideas after 2s coming up with them → write them down as soon as any ideas pop into your head.
- My time management skill is poor → Practice with this formula: 20′ for task 1 (5′ outline + 10′ writing + 5′ editing); 40′ for task 2 (5′ outline + 30′ writing + 5′ editing)
- My writings are usually under length → You can use more “wordy” expressions/cleft sentences/complex structures. For example, instead of “Moreover, listening is quite tricky sometimes in the IELTS test.”, we can prolong the sentence by writing “What is more, it is evident that listening can be quite tricky at times in the IELTS test.” This sounds kinda “a cheap tactic”, yet it’s useful as the last resort.
OTHERS
- “How to upgrade my writing skills without practice?” → Cao Van Anh has left the chat.
- “I’m just lazy.” → Don’t be that lazy.
- “Studying is exhausting.” → We study for the IELTS as it’s an opportunity to gain more insights about life in several aspects and a challenge to conquer yourself =)))
Below is one of my students’ doodle about why we shouldn’t take the IELTS exam (sadly, he wrote in Vietnamese, but if possible, I’ll ask him to create an English version)
brillbro 