Lee Peterson's Blog: What you could learn from Thanh-Tam and Vindya (Band 8+ in IELTS)

Today we would like you to meet two lovely people who got truly enviable scores in IELTS – Band 8 or above. You may remember Thanh-Tam and Vindya as the winners of our IELTS results competition in April. Luckily they chose to share their secrets of success with everyone, and here is what you can learn from their experience.

Thanh-Tam is 36 years old, lives in Vietnam and speaks Vietnamese, he got Band 8 in IELTS. Thanh-Tam’s advice on getting a higher score is:

Listening

It is a good idea to have daily training, using materials with a British or Australian accent. The programmes with transcripts such as ABC News and BBC Learning English are precious.

Reading

Exam skills such as scanning and skimming may help you reach a certain level, but higher scores require a large enough vocabulary, so please spend time reading academic texts on a regular basis. National Geographic can also be an example.

Writing

Two principles are key: having a personal coach and knowing how to win the race against time. Forty minutes for Task 2 and 20 minutes for Task 1 are so short that unrehearsed candidates may embarrass themselves easily.

Speaking

Most of the questions are predictable, so preparation does make your answers more productive. And pronunciation training can be found on YouTube.

Vindya is a 35 years old lady from Sri Lanka, a native Singhalese speaker. She attributes her success (Band 8.5) to guided practicing:

“I’d like to mention I was greatly benefited by http://ift.tt/PpfNa0. I purchased ‘Ace the IELTS’ book first and understood the technique. Then I used the writing correction services twice and after that it was all about practicing. I couldn’t do it on a daily basis as I am a full-time working mum, so I had to manage my time. I practiced all exam parts at least twice to thrice a week and that’s how I achieved this score. I would recommend anyone to purchase the writing correction services as that came very handy. Then its all about practice.”