My IELTS Experience Part 2 : The Advices

Αfter a rigorous efforts and preparations, I was 90% ready. Hey, wait.. where goes another 10%? Well, that 10% constitutes my nervousness and insecurity when thinking of what I will have to confront on the test date. So, I would say that’s normal. It’s good though to be quite fret as you will keep revising when you realized that your preparation is not adequate enough.

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As already scheduled over a month before, I came to UniKL on 19th February to sit for IELTS test. Though it was supposed to start on 9.00 am., but I came way earlier as I don’t want to be stuck in any traffic jam on my way to test venue. Pheww….., that would be the worst-case scenario ever that I’m trying to get rid of.

Advice #1 : Do come early to your test venue.

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At 9.00 a.m the exam started with Listening Test.

There are 4 conversations in total with diverse accent, from Australian, British, Canadian and American as well. The first 2 conversations was clear and comprehensible for me. But in the middle of the 3rd conversation, suddenly the tsunami of my IELTS strike! =( .

The conversation is actually about travelling at several Australian mountains and activities that you can do over there. What makes it harder is that, the speakers talk rather rapid, despite the fact that I’m not familiar with strong Australian accent which makes it even worst.

I was astounding with such situation and loss for about 10 seconds I believe. But that 10 seconds cause me to miss 3 questions already (that means a farewell to Band 8 and Band 9 of course). I suddenly realize most listening tests that I have done were British accent, which was much understandable. I should have acknowledge before that Australian accent is much harder.

It was demoralizing, but at the same time I realized there is no room for mistakes anymore. I quickly reaffirm my mind and become extra-focus for the 4th conversation which I think I have done it fairly well.

Advice #2 : Do practice your listening with diverse accent, particularly Australian and American accent.

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Reading Test next.

Reading Test I think is the easiest task among the 4 modules (Listening, Reading, Writing, Speaking). Most candidates obtained high marks here, which helps to increase their overall band. The questions are rather straight forward. The answers are all hidden inside the passages . However, those three articles are very very long. Like I had said in Part 1 of this series, in Reading Test, efficient time management is absolutely crucial. If you do not manage your time well, you won’t have enough time to answer all 40 questions in an hour.

You may divide your time to 20 minutes for each articles, ie. using 20-20-20 rule. Meanwhile, since the articles are getting harder, it is advisable to use 15-20-25 rule. which indicates that you can allocate 15 minutes for 1st articles , 20 minutes for 2nd articles and 25 minutes for the last one. If you do this, trust me, you would have sufficient time, enough to answer all questions.

Advice #3: Manage your time well. Use 15-20-25 rule.

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Afterwards, it’s time for Writing Test.

To be honest, the day I’m going to sit for this Writing Test, is the first day I’m going to write! Haha, my mum surely be surprised if I told her earlier . Nevertheless, I do read a bunch of IELTS reports and essays, as well as enriching my vocabulary. But that woul’nt be the same if you have done some writing, right? So do it. Perhaps at that time, since I was studying all by myself, I was just thinking “Who gonna check my grammar and essays structure if I write one?” . Well, previously I have no idea that I can indeed post it to my blog and request for anyone to review my essays.

Accordingly, here I share with you my Writing test questions.

Writing Task 1 (Report)
You should spend about 20 minutes on this task.
You are given a line graph that shows the number of CDs that were purchased from three different locations which are supermarket, music store and internet. Write a report that describes the trend of CDs purchases based on the graph provided. You should write at least 150 words.

Writing Task 2 (Essay)
You should spend about 40 minutes on this task.
Write about the following topic:
Some people thought that the role of women in army or police organizations are very relevant and becoming more significant. However, there are people who argue that women are not suit for this kind of job. Do you agree or disagree? Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge or experience. You should write at least 250 words.

Advice #4 : Please, do write!

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Finally, it’s time for Speaking test.

My speaking test was actually conducted two days after,  in British Council, KL. As usual, I arrived much earlier. As I approached the entrance door, I can see a group of Indonesian students practicing their English conversation with each other. I’m not sure from which institution they came from, but obviously it was a fascinating sight to see more Indonesian speak English very well =).

After registering myself, I wait in a waiting room where candidates have to wait for their name to call upon. I wait patiently and about half an hour later, a Chinese lady called  upon my name,  and consecutively I know it’s my time. She then give me a card with “Room 2″ written on it.

For your information, for speaking test, each candidates will have a one-to-one conversation with an examiner in a semi-transparent room. So, you can see other candidates undergoing their speaking test, as you are doing yours, which makes you even nervous.

As I continue searching for Room 2, I passed through a room with an examiner with sheer serious furious face. There was no a single sight of smile on her lips and I was like..”pheww.., fortunately she was’nt my examiner”. =D Then, I passed through another room with ‘Mat Saleh’ inside, and he was busily having a conversation with a candidate. Well, to be honest at that time, I was quite fret of having a conversation with native speakers. Remember about Australian accent that I have to deal with during speaking test?  Wuwu, I just thought that -  if it was hard enough to hear them speak, what’s more to have a conversation with them hehe… So, again I feel lucky that I’m not going to do my speaking test with any ‘Mat Saleh’.  

Only later, I was told by one of my friend who takes IELTS test earlier, “Hey, you should be grateful if you got native speaker, they usually give you higher marks, you know”. Is that so? OMG..if I knew it earlier, I may request that Chinese lady to change my room ..^^

Nevertheless, finally I found my room. As I open the door, I was really delighted to see my examiner giving a pleasant bright smile for me. She even greeted me cordially and try to make myself comfortable with the test scene. My heart which was palpitating vigorously turn ease as I was relieved knowing how professional my examiner is. We introduced each other briefly and the speaking test started then.

Here I share with you my Speaking  test questions.

Since English is not our first language, sometimes we do need several seconds to seek  for the exact words to use which eventually cause a short or long gaps which most people filled with  “uhm, aaa…., errr…., ” or just saying “you know” too much.

For example “Umm, i saw this really huge building.. you know in the middle of aaaa… aaa the street near Wilson’s garden..aaaaa …you know that street that’s like.. ..like… really deserted” or another example , “It was like, amazing, I mean they were just, like, so gorgeous, and like, I dunno, everyone was like, just really excited, and like, screaming and yelling…”

Pheww..that was terrific. So, instead of saying those meaningless fillers, we can use more effective gap fillers like this.

I’m trying to remember  : “Let me see”, “as far as I remember”
I’m not sure                       : “I think”, “… or something like that”
I’m telling you the truth : “the fact is”, “to be honest”, “as a matter of fact”
I don’t want to force it on you : “I was just thinking”.

It’s much better is it? =)..Find more “gap fillers” here.

Advice #5: Avoid short/long gaps by using “gap fillers” that do actually serve some purpose and add a degree of meaning.

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The result finally came out 13 days later. It was a hectic Friday morning in KL as I passionately went to British Council once again to collect my result. After giving my ID to an officer and he handed to me an envelope with the result inside, my heart was like to fell off. Wuwu, I was damn nervous.  I recite “Bismillah”, inhaling a very deep breath, and taking the result transcript out…..and this is what I had accomplished.

Well, it was’nt that excellent. But,  it’s sufficient enough to meet the university’s requirement. As I expected, my writing marks is the least, hehe…so don’t forget to practice your writing skills okay.  Provided that you do so, you will surely get better outcome than mine.

In the end, to those who are going to take IELTS soon, I wish you all the best.  It’s your chance to be successful next time!

 

Best wishes from me,