In our experience helping Nepalese students plan their study abroad journey, IELTS preparation has been the most challenging part. But of course, we only said it was challenging, not impossible. With the right kind of preparation and the right support in your preparation phase, you can crack it in no time.
So, let's start at the beginning. What exactly is IELTS?
Jointly owned by the British Council, IDP: Australia, and Cambridge English, IELTS is an International English Language Test designed for you to study, work, or migrate in countries where English is the native language.
It tests your ability to read, write, listen, and speak in the English System examination in 2 hours, 45 minutes. Let's learn about the IELTS test pattern.
Table of Contents
IELTS Exam Pattern:
| Listening | 40 Questions, 30 minutes |
| Academic Reading | 40 Questions, 60 minutes |
| General Training Reading | 40 Questions, 60 minutes |
| Academic Writing | 2 Tasks, 60 minutes |
| General Training Writing | 2 Tasks, 60 minutes |
| Speaking | 11-14 minutes oral interview with the examiner |
Want to know in detail about this? Head on to AECC's IELTS Syllabus: IELTS Reading, Writing & IELTS Listening page for a detailed discussion of IELTS pattern and syllabus only with AECC.
4 Easy Ways to Crack IELTS exam:
Now that you have a brief on IELTS test preparation, let's look at the best way to crack the IELTS exam.
Now, you have the IELTS format and strategy ready. Let's get down to each section, shall we?
But, before we go forward, here is an interesting fact about IELTS.
IELTS Exam format:
Listening:
Let's say you are in the UK, USA, or Australia—any one of your favourite study destinations on campus. You need good English listening skills to make it easy to understand your lectures, right?
So how do you do that?
The listening test is 30 minutes long and has four recordings. These recordings include
- A conversation between two individuals in a social context
- A monologue
- A conversation between a group of four people in an educational context, and a monologue on academic subjects.
Here are a few tips to crack the listening test:
- Start listening to English podcasts, news, and songs on a regular basis. Give 15-20 minutes of your time daily to this activity.
- Give attention to dialects and accents, as understanding them plays a major role in the IELTS test.
- Make notes when you're listening, to check whether you heard it correctly or not.
Here are some of the listening guides specifically for IELTS:
Reading:
"Read more books" is one of life's most important lessons for almost every adult. And rightly so, because once you start reading books and newspapers regularly, your command over a language gradually improves.
But what sort of reading should one do in particular when preparing for IELTS?
The academic and general reading tests include 40 questions and evaluate your ability to understand, identify information, the writer's view or claims, match headings, sentences, and a summary.
This can be a bit overwhelming at first. But, if you prepare strategically, there is a solid chance you can achieve your target score in IELTS.
Let's learn more about these tips:
- Combine academic and leisure reading with English imagery such as flow charts and maps.
- Dedicate 20 minutes of your day to reading a blog, newspaper, or book of your choice.
- Make notes of the reading material to analyse your understanding level.
- Make an IELTS vocabulary list. Do this by writing down new words with meaning while reading.
- Set a reminder to keep track of your reading pace.
- Read with your friends and exchange ideas and answers in English.
Need some reading material? Here are the reading guides specifically for IELTS:
- BBC News Magazine
- The Economist
- The Economist Technology Quarterly
- The Economist magazine
- Popular Science
- The New Scientist
- National Geographic
- BBC Focus magazine
- Science Daily
- American Scientist
- Australian Geographic
Speaking:
The Speaking section of IELTS is 11–14 minutes with an interviewer. It is a test of your fluency and coherence, grammatical range and accuracy, and vocabulary.
Let's see what tips can help you ace this part of the test:
- For the first part of the interview, keep your introduction ready. This can include your background, home, family, likes and dislikes, and academic background.
- Record your answers and listen to them for evaluation. This will give you a clear perspective on how your speaking proficiency is looking.
- Discuss social/academic topics in English with your group of friends or relatives. Make it a regular habit so you gain confidence with this practice.
- Make sure you imbibe this in your day-to-day lifestyle to attain maximum accuracy.
Writing:
The IELTS Writing Section consists of 2 tasks. In the first, you are given a diagram or label and asked to describe it with facts or figures. In the second task you will be asked to write an essay on a given topic. There is a word limit of 150–250 words on each task, and you are expected to write your answers to match the exact word count.
Here are our tips on how you can achieve that:
- Make it a habit to write your description of any advertisements or academic diagrams in those exact word counts.
- Start writing a journal. It can be very personal, but making it a habit will help when taking the IELTS exam.
- Pick up social topics and write about them on a weekly basis. This can be your thoughts on the scenario.
We hope these tips come in handy for you in IELTS. For an IELTS-specific test preparation course, get in touch with us. Our students get a top-notch result every time.