I just wanted to share with you all that I took the IELTS academic test recently for the first time and I got my results today. Overall, I got band 9. 9998 (8 in writing).
I have to say that, even though I am an EFL teacher and a native speaker, I learnt a huge amount about IELTS as a student, both from the preparation and also taking the exam.
I had obtained scores of 9 for writing in practice tests from an ex-examiner but writing is much harder under exam conditions than in practice - something that every IELTS student knows well. I ignored a lot of my own advice during the writing test.
Native speakers obviously have a huge advantage in all of the tests but it is still necessary for us to train and apply skills learnt in order to achieve top grades. Many non-natives who have strong academic skills and a high level can outperform native speakers.
I have a lot more empathy for IELTS students than ever before. IELTS is a source of grief for many people.
If anyone has any Qs or experience to share, pls feel free.
Congratulations, Michael!
Even though you didn’t need to prove your qualification and you helped many of us to be ready for IELTS, it’s really important.
In my personal experience, IELTS teachers should either be ex-examiners, have own exam results and /or take lessons from ex-examiners. Otherwise, lessons might be less effective in terms of the exam preparation (as it was in my case when I did my IELTS for the first time).
For those who’s just going to take IELTS:if your English is great, it’s not a guarantee that you could have higher grades there. You need to be trained specifically for.
Thanks for the nice comments from Natalia and our Moroccan friend - I wish I could read Arabic to know your name.
In response to Achille, It's hard for teachers to give generic advice to candidates whom they don't know. However, there are some things we can say: IELTS is a test of specific strategies and skills. You need to know the level you want in each skill and know your current level. For reading and listening, you can do Cambridge practice tests and score yourself (and also make sure you work out why your answers were wrong after each test). For speaking and writing, you need personal feedback to know your level. Then you can focus your energies more precisely and you can get more specific guidance from IELTS teachers and also from experienced high-level students.
One piece of advice that is always true for candidates who are close to their desired level is to do a lot of official practice tests and get regular feedback on speaking and writing.
In response to Ali, I decided to take the test after starting the teacher newsletter course of IELTS Simon, an ex-examiner with a successful IELTS training school and website. He said that teachers should do the tasks as part of their training. I realised he was right and also thought that I would learn a lot once I signed up for the test. This was true - my determination to get a good grade pushed me to learn a huge amount about IELTS in a short space of time and do a lot of practice.
Doing the exam was also very instructive - I hadn't done an essay exam for 15 years and nerves affected my performance. IELTS exams are also tests of stamina. Feeling the pressure of the exam gives a useful focus when giving advice to students, especially in the last days before the exam. Doing the IELTS exam is obviously not enough if you want to teach for it but it helps a lot, in my opinion.
