Improve your IELTS Test Score - Experience and Tips

 My students in Kazakhstan, Astana (Nursultan) often ask me how to improve their speaking and writing score in IELTS Test. This question is understandable as English is not the primary language of many of my students. People in Kazakhstan speak Russian primarily, and Kazakh as their secondary language.

My tips has been to read a lot and practice a lot. In my view, you can improve the general understanding of any language by reading a lot in that language. So, the knowledge of English can be improved by reading a lot in English. You can start reading first with simple short texts and go on reading complex thematic books, such as books on arts, literature, science, fiction and non-fiction.

Reading a lot of English text will help you to improve your English language skill, and will eventually help you in getting good IELTS Score (band) in your IELTS test

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To help expats in Kazakhstan, I regularly post on two sites: expat.com (https://www.expat.com/en/blog/asia/kazakhstan/astana/astana-almaty.blogspot.com). I post with a username Hyderabadgermany on expat.com forum, and on Caravanistan Forum. My user Name is IndianGuy there. You can read my posts, experiences there too. https://caravanistan.com/forum/memberlist.php?mode=viewprofile&u=1190

IELTS Academic Speaking Test - Sample Questions and Answers

I have seen that many people face difficulties while answering questions in IELTS Speaking Test in Astana, Kazakhstan. In IELTS, speaking is generally the same for both Academic IELTS and General IELTS takers. So, the nature of questions and the expectations of answers from you is the same irrespective of the fact that you are appearing for General or Academic IELTS.

In Astana, Kazakhstan, an attempt has been made by the Government to introduce English as the third language after Russian and Kazakh. So, there is a rise of English speakers especially in the big towns such as in Astana and in Almaty, but, still, there is much to be desired.

Many young people who manage to speak English suffer from being unable to maintain fluency, lack of words & vocabulary and above all, lack of practice. Many people who speak English resort to translation of words from Russian language (their first language) and their speech suffers. You can see it on sentence construction, words placement and order, choice of words etc.

In this background, it's always a challenge to Kazakhstani students to get a good band especially in the Speaking section of IELTS. They simply fumble during the test, making all kinds of mistakes. But, that does not mean they don't try, or should not try. I appreciate their efforts and this blogpost is to help them.

In this post, I have taken few sample Speaking Questions from Past Papers of IELTS Test published as Cambridge IELTS 6 with Answers published by University of Cambridge ESOL Examinations. If you search on Google as Cambridge Practice Set 6 Speaking Questions, you should find plenty of them.

So, let us look at Test 1, Speaking Part - I.

1. Do you enjoy Dancing? (Why?/Why not?)

It's an easy question. Anyone can answer it. If you like dancing, you should say, "Yes, I like it" and if you don't, then, No. But, IELTS speaking test is not a test only about saying yes or no. There is where the tricks lie. I mean you are expected to show your speaking ability. This is where I would help you.

So, what should be the ideal good answer? Any answer which uses a lot of English words on the topic of liking or disliking dancing. That's it.

Look at the Sample answer below.

   <<Maybe you should try first, I will come back with an ideal (and one of such examples) answer on this one in my next post>>

Until then, keep on practicing to enhance your ilets speaking practice.

Important language points in IELTS Exam, in IELTS Test

There was a question at FUTURELEARN Forum, and the question was:

What have you identified as the most important language points you need to work on to help improve your IELTS score?

First of all, FutureLearn is a Forum which conducts/organises many free courses in English Language. I was attending a course on IELTS. For example, the course on IELTS which I am attending at the moment is: INSIDE IELTS CAMBRIDGE ENGLISH LANGUAGE ASSESSMENT. You can get the more ideas about IELTS and this free course by visiting this link:

https://www.futurelearn.com/courses/cambridge-english-ielts/2/study-group

Now, let us talk about IELTS. IELTS is one of the toughest exams if you have not studied in English medium, or if you have not studied enough English. I have seen that many people in Kazakhstan and especially in Astana - the new capital of Kazakhstan - dream of "passing" IELTS though there is no such concepts as pass or fail in IELTS. What they mean is that they want to receive a good score in IELTS so that they can prove their English language skills, or apply to foreign Universities.

I am always ready to help you in case you need any help from me to crack IELTS examinations in Kazakhstan. I will be able to help you in reading, writing, listening and speaking part of IELTS. You can contact me through this blog to realise your dreams of getting good IELTS score. If you are based in Astana, Kazakhstan, we can meet face to face and talk about IELTS in Kazakhstan, and if you are located in other cities, you can learn via SKYPE.

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What have you identified as the most important language points you need to work on to help improve your IELTS score?

I think it is difficult to pinpoint to only one language skill to get good scores in IELTS. Vocabulary is very important in reading, writing and speaking. If you know a lot of multi-syllable words, good collocations and compound words, you can read the text easily, quickly and can understand it without much efforts. It will enhance your confidence and helps to save a lot of time.

In writing and speaking, vocabulary plays a good role but I think examiners are not only looking for your word lists. You need to be able to exhibit multiple skills when it comes to writing and speaking exams. In writing, a good grammar is very important and use of complex grammar without mistakes is highly desirable. Similarly, coherence in expression of ideas, use of suitable collocation is extremely important.

When it comes to speaking, you need to speak like a native speaker. That means we need to use correct grammar, varieties of colloquial expressions, diverse words but not necessarily complex ones.

Now, in listening, ability to understand different accents and dialects of English is important and it comes only through practice. So, the students start from reading different texts on variety of topics. 

IELTS Academic Speaking- Speaking Part Cue Card - Part II / Part - 2

This was one of the questions asked in IELTS ACADEMIC SPEAKING Part-2 question to my student in Astana, Kazakhstan. She had taken the test sometimes in June, 2016 in an IELTS TEST conducted by Inter press, Kazakhstan. The test was conducted in Miras International School, in Astana, Kazakhstan.

She was asked to prepare for a minute and she needed to speak for 1-2 minutes. The question was:

Tell about your most favourite dress.
When did you buy it?
When did you wear this cloth the last time?
Why was it so special to you?

My student said that she described about her dress which she wore in her brother's marriage. As per her, she described that the dress was a costly one and she especially bought it for the wedding party. The dress was especially designed by city's famous designer and looked very modern and classy. She wore it on the wedding night while welcoming guests and thereafter, she has not worn it. She thinks that the dress has become old now and has gone out of fashion but she does not want to sell it or dispose it off in anyway. It is lying in her wardrobe.

More or less, that was her response. What do you think? How did she do it? How would you have done it differently? Think about it and let me know in the comment section.

#IELTS #IELTSAstana #IELTSKazakhstan #IELTSAcademic #IELTSEnglishTest #IELTSTEST
Do visit our blog regularly. We will bring you more test questions and answer very soon.

Goodbye!

Подготовка к IELTS в Алматы, Астане, Актау, Атырау
сдавать экзамены IELTS. Сдача теста IELTS играет немаловажную роль в жизни человека, если он принял решение пройти обучение за границей

Полностью провалить экзамен IELTS невозможно. Минимальную оценку «0» тестируемый получает лишь не прибыв на сдачу экзамена. В остальных ситуациях сертификат выдается с полученными баллами от одного до девяти (1-9) – данные показатели и будут являться Вашей оценкой.

В основном, для иммиграции достаточно набрать 5-6 баллов, а для того, чтобы поступить в зарубежное учебное заведение уже необходимо получить 7-7,5 баллов.

Срок действительности сертификата IELTS составляет всего 2 года. По окончанию этого срока придется заново идти на подтверждение своих языковых знаний.

В ходе экзамена IELTS оценке подвергаются все языковые умения и навыки тестируемых. Так как в ходе тестирования оцениваются и чтение, и письмо, и разговорная речь, и аудирование, то каждая из этих оценок вносят равный вклад в конечный результат экзамена.


Существует два вида экзаменов IELTS:

Academic module – рассчитан на поступление в учебное заведение;

General module – рассчитан на уезжающих за рубеж на работу или постоянное место жительства.

 Статистика показывает, что большинство людей, которые сдали General module отправляются потом в Канаду, Новую Зеландию, Австралию.

А те, кто получил сертификат IELTS Academic module, выбирают пунктом назначения страны Европы.

Для того чтобы Вы могли успешно сдать экзамены по IELTS мы предлагаем Вам пройти специальные курсы «Подготовка к IELTS».

Курсы IELTS проводят квалифицированные специалисты. Подготовкой руководят как местные преподаватели, так и носители языка (иностранные преподаватели).

 Длительность курса составляет 45 академических часов (5 недель).

Занятия проходят как в группах, так и индивидуально.

 Программа курсов подготовки к IELTS включает в себя все направления тестов:

- ielts writing;

- ielts speaking;

- ielts listening;

- ielts reading.

С нами Вам всегда доступна подготовка к IELTS в Астане!