c W ri t i ng t i ps fro m IE L TS hi gh sc orer (B a nd 8.

0)

Some time ago I began publishing the tips I¶ve received from Vasco Medeiros, our previous IELTS
results competition winner, who got an Overall Band Score of 8.0. Thanks to those methods Vasco
was able to score as high as he did.

Even though I had to interrupt the sequence of his tips to deliver the most recent exam updates to
you, I hadn¶t forgotten about the rest of them ± his advice makes a lot of sense to me, and may
help you with your exam preparation. Today it¶s Writing tips, the previously published Reading tips
are here and the Listening tips are here.

Vasco says:

This was, by far, the most difficult and challenging task for me, since I haven¶t written anything in
English since high school, many years ago. I can recall the first essay I¶ve written: it took me 3 or
4 days to write it in my spare time with lots of thinking, planning, browsing the dictionary and
grabbing words to express my thoughts on paper.

The reason I say this is simply for you to persist and try again even if the first attempts seen
frustrating or greatly exceed the time limits. Don¶t let this hold you back! By browsing the
dictionary and writing down unfamiliar words, you will minimize spelling mistakes that cost you
points!

This was also the section where IELTS-blog was more helpful to me, with the writing
tips and essay examples. I read lots of them and even printed some band 7 and 8 essays in order
to study the structure and vocabulary more closely. Learn from the best. If you persevere, you will
write at their level.

Plan your report or essay before you actually start writing it. Those 2-4 initial minutes in planning
can save you a lot of time and frustration while writing because you don¶t have to worry about
structure and sequence of ideas later on. With practice you will be even able to produce texts
within the word limits without having to count the words every time.

If possible, have a teacher review your work and correct your mistakes. My own method was to
complete the writing tasks in exam conditions in pencil on paper. Then I would type my text and
mail it to my teacher for correction. This way I would immediately be aware of the number of
words I¶ve written (keep an eye on the ³word count´ functionality of your software) and got some
basic spelling mistakes corrected right there. Them my teacher would review and correct my texts
giving me valuable feedback both by e-mail and in the class.

After a few weeks of typing, I installed voice recognition software to speed things up. Instead of
typing I just had to read aloud my hand-written text. Since the accuracy of the voice recognition
software depends on how well you pronounce it, you can imagine how my speaking improved: I
had to pronounce the words/phrases correctly for my words appear on the screen. Feedback in
real-time! And it also saved me many hours of cumbersome typing in the process.
Today I have the second portion of Vasco¶s tips for you: this is the way he practiced to get Band
8.5 in the Reading test.

Reading tips

Timing is everything! Learn to scan. Look at blocks of text and scan for key words, people¶s names
and places that are relevant, instead of trying to read each word with equal attention. You simply
may not have enough time to read the whole text word-by-word and still answer the questions.

I strongly recommend that you quickly look at the questions first, and then scan through the text.
By doing this you will be reading with purpose and actually find the required information easier.
For instance, if you have to write something about ³John Smith¶s opinion´ you can scan for ³John
Smith´ and underline it. Then read that paragraph looking for the answer to that specific question.

Except for the first few times, always practice under exam conditions, forcing yourself to stop after
20 minutes per single passage or even after 60 minutes for 3 passages that you solve non-stop!
Use a stopwatch alarm for this, if you have to.´¶

Listening tips

Some time ago Vasco Medeiros, our previous IELTS results competition winner, had sent me his
best tips and methods he used in his preparation. In other words, these are the techniques
responsible for his Band 8.0 in IELTS, and you, too, can benefit from them.

Today I am publishing the first portion of Vasco¶s tips (the Listening part) and the other 3 parts
(Reading, Writing and Speaking) will follow.

Vasco says:

³I am happy to share some thoughts and advice with those of you preparing for IELTS. By taking
this exam you are investing in your future career/studies, which is why I want to personally
congratulate you. You want to succeed and are willing to pay for it. And this exam will open many
doors.

Please realize that your level of English is already good. It has to be. If you are reading this blog
and understanding our tips then you already have some background knowledge of English that you
can, therefore, develop further every day.

Listening tips

Remember: all the answers are given in the recording soconcentration is the key. Stay focused!
Don¶t allow your attention to wander for even a second! Practice a lot with the CD¶s / audio files
included with your IELTS book.

After you have completed a listening section and answered the questions, you can listen to it again
while reading the script, thus activating both your listening and visual senses simultaneously. Do
this not only to check whether you¶ve got those answers right (in the exam you only get to listen
to the recording once), but to become further aware of the pronunciation and rhythm of spoken
sentences, while looking at them printed. We learn best by activating many senses simultaneously
(visual and auditory in this case).

Listening to audio books in English, or other high-quality audio recorded by native speakers also
trains your listening skills. A good technique to develop concentration is to listen to a sentence or
so and then hit the µpause¶ button, then repeat aloud what the speaker just said. You don¶t have to
say exactly the same words, instead focus more on the meaning and pronunciation. Then
progressively increase the amount of sentences you can listen to and repeat aloud. This is a great
way to enhance your concentration that is vital for the Listening section in IELTS.´
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