A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO IELTS
HOW CAN I START STUDYING FOR IELTS?
The first step in studying for IELTS is to find out basic information about the test. There are many ways to do that. On my website, I have some information such as the following:
- An overview of IELTS
- An overview of IELTS General Training (GT)
- A guide to IELTS listening
- A guide to IELTS writing
However, you may find it more helpful to visit the official IELTS website and that of the British Council or IDP. These may be available in your own language, which can help you to understand it better. However, I do believe that IELTS candidates should do as much reading in English as possible because this will help their English skills improve.
Aside from that, you need to remember the most important thing about IELTS:
IELTS is a test of your English skills!
It seems obvious, but people often forget this. They tend to think of IELTS as a test that can be passed by learning certain techniques or patterns. In fact, the job of an IELTS examiner is to give an honest assessment of a candidate’s English abilities and they will not try to trick you. Likewise, you should not try to fool them. At the end of the test, your score will most likely reflect your abilities. Therefore, you should try to improve your English skills as much as possible.
That said, it is helpful to gain a good understanding of the IELTS test procedures. Although you cannot trick the examiners, it is important to know what will happen in the test. For example, you should be familiar with the types of questions you will get in the listening section, or the things you might have to describe for task 1 of the writing test.
As such, I strongly recommend that you take a two-pronged approach to IELTS preparation. This means doing about 50% regular English practice and 50% IELTS-focused practice. (Although that figure will vary depending on your abilities.)
PREPARING TO TAKE IELTS
I have hundreds of articles on this website all about preparing to take IELTS. It can be a little confusing finding a good place to start because there is just so much information. However, maybe this one is among the most helpful:
- 7 Easy Steps to IELTS Success
In this article, I have tried to outline a basic approach to preparing for IELTS. In it, I suggest that people make a plan, find a study partner, use authentic past papers, and practice IELTS skills in the real world. I have not included any tricks because I know that these won’t help.
It can also seem really frustrating when you take IELTS again and again and again, never quite reaching your target score. That’s why I wrote these articles, which I think are really important for all IELTS candidates to consider:
- Is IELTS Unfair?
- Why is Your IELTS Grade Lower Than Expected?
- Stop Taking IELTS!
The last one may seem like clickbait, but actually it contains a very important message. The main idea is that you should stop taking IELTS over and over. Lots of people think that they can just get a band 7 by repeatedly doing IELTS, when instead they should go home and study until they are ready. They end up wasting their time and money, and in the end they become really depressed about their results.
RESOURCES FOR IELTS WRITING
Next, I want to introduce you to some information about IELTS writing because this is probably the hardest part of the exam. I have written more than 100 articles about this topic, and here I will collect the best ones for you.
However, first I want to recommend something else. It’s my IELTS writing correction service, which I believe is the best way to improve your writing skills. By using this service, you can find out your strengths and weaknesses so that you can prepare accordingly.
Of course, that is not free. It is, however, affordable and it is probably the best way to prepare for IELTS writing. But if you prefer free stuff, then you can follow the advice in these articles:
- Why is your Writing Score so Low?
- How to Write a Task 2 Essay (a complete guide)
- How to Write a Conclusion
- Avoiding Common Mistakes
- Selecting Ideas and Structuring an Essay
- How to Describe Process Diagrams
- Answering Two-Part Questions
- How to Write an IELTS Letter
- Generating Ideas for IELTS Essays
- Which is best – 4 or 5 paragraphs?
- Analysing a Task 2 Question
- Punctuation for IELTS
That may seem like a lot of stuff to read, but it’s only the tip of the iceberg. These are just 12 articles out of many that I have written in the past 4 years. I think these ones will offer you the most help.
Remember that for IELTS writing, you are being marked according to strict criteria determined by the IELTS organisers. This is divided into 4 sections:
- Task Achievement
- Coherence and Cohesion
- Lexical Resource
- Grammatical Range and Accuracy
You can find all the details on the IELTS website. (That is a PDF file for task 2.)
Note that one of those sections was about grammar. This is obviously important for all aspects of English, but it’s perhaps the biggest problem in writing. Because of that, you may want to read some of these articles:
- The Importance of Grammar for IELTS
- How to Learn Prepositions
- A Guide to Using Commas
- Essential Grammar: Sentence Types
Again, there is much more to learn, but these are pretty important articles that will help you to overcome common problems. If you want to learn more about grammar and other issues for IELTS writing, then check out my books: