Getting 9 in Listening IELTS: Is it possible?

The highest score in IELTS is 9. To achieve this score will not be so easy to do. But still, there is an opportunity for you to get it. There are some important things that you may not forget when you are dealing with this section.

IELTS Test Day Advices

You have to feel nervous on this day. If you don't, I guess you aren't really normal then :) So here we go. Nervousness will not ever ruin your IELTS score, as long as you can control it. Here are some advices that will make your test day a little bit - maybe much- better.

1. Breakfast. What?? You said you do not feel hungry even tough you haven't have your breakfast? Believe me that your nervousness has made you forget your stomach's sound. Make sure that you EAT YOUR BREAKFAST properly so you will have the strength you need to take almost-4-hours IELTS test. Remember that your test needs your focus and stamina so without eat a good food and drink, how could you do well on your test?

2. Arrive early, so you will have all the time you need. To prepare, and also to take a deep, long breath :) You should arrive early for your IELTS test in order to allow time for you to register and be seated for the test. Please refer to your booking confirmation for details. If you arrive late, you may not be allowed to take the test.

3. Bring your ID. It can be your passport or national ID according to identification that you provided in IELTS application form. If you do not have the correct identification document, you will not be able to take the test.

4. Bring stationery. Pens ? Pencils ? Eraser ? Take the stationery you need to stay comfort on test but not too much.

5. Check-in your personal items. No personal items to be taken into the test room. Test day staff will collect and safely store your personal belongings. Items which are forbidden from the test room include: mobile phones, hand-held computers, cameras, hats, scarves, wallets, books or notes.

6. Listen to test's supervisor carefully. If you have anything to ask, raise your hand.

7. If you have problems during your test, do not hesitate and raise your hand. Remember that your test's supervisor is there to support and assist you.

8. Stay calm. Everybody has their own way to keep calm, there are people that walking around and around to make themselves calm. Some may have to listen to the music for calming down. Do whatever make you calm, but do not disturb the others.

Reference: http://www.ieltsessentials.com 

Need an IELTS teacher? contact me 0813.1033.6583 / 0813.1818.6060 or see me here English Studio Indonesia

Guessing Strategy in IELTS

Unlike other standardized tests, in IELTS, there is no penalty given for getting a wrong answer. When you have no idea about the answer, you can keep trying to answer as it will give you 20 until 25% chance of getting right answer. So, guessing is a thing that could give positive contribution for you as well. However, it should be noted that guessing in IELTS may not be done carelessly. There should be some considerations that are taken to have a meaningful guessing. 

There are some specific guessing techniques that you can apply.

1. Slang

It is better for you to choose an answer which sounds scientific than slang ones. For example,

A. To evaluate the outcomes of the two different kinds of treatment.

B. Because some objects insisted on getting one or the other of the treatments.

As choice A sounds more scientific compared to B whenever you should guess, pick A as the answer.

2. Extreme statements

You should avoid choosing a controversial choice as your answer. Pick an answer which is calm and rational. For example,

A. Abortion should be banned completely.

B. Though it has a lot of benefit, many doctors have suggested their patients not to take abortion as a merely way out for the unwanted pregnancy.

Choice B is better to take than A because it is less controversial. There is another consideration stated in this option as well.

3. Similar answer choices

When you find two answers which are almost the same, there is a big tendency that one of those answers is the right one. For example,

A. Use polyunsaturated cooking oil instead of other cooking oil.

B. Use polyunsaturated cooking oil is not even better than other cooking oil.

These two choices are almost the same, so there is a big opportunity that one of it is the correct answer.

4. Hedging

If you are dealing with a question about the conclusion, you can look for critical ‘hedge’ phrases such as likely, may, can, will, often, generally, mostly sometimes, etc. You could pick the answer which uses one of the above phrases. It will be better for you to avoid answer with phrases such as exactly, and always.

Still, you need to remember that being sure for the answer is always better than putting your selves in a “grey area” by guessing for the answer. But if you really need to guess, then guess in a smart way of guessing.

What Lies Beyond the First Part of Speaking IELTS

The first part of speaking test is about introduction and interview. Introduction here means that examiner introduces his or herself to the test taker. Then, he or she asks about test taker’s full name and other general data of the test taker. Test taker needs to answer some basic questions about his or herself.

Face to Face with Writing IELTS

There are two tasks that test taker can find in writing test. In the first task, test taker has to write for about 150 words; meanwhile it takes about 250 words in the second task. So, what is the difference?

In the first task, test taker has to show his or her ability in describing some visual information. It can be in the form of graph, table, chart, or diagram. The time given to complete this task is 20 minutes.

A Big NO in Writing IELTS

In writing IELTS, there are some ‘other’ things that must be considered by the test taker. Test taker has to realize that those some small things has a great possibility in reducing IELTS score itself. Therefore, it is better for test taker to avoid things as follows.

The Importance of Text Analyzis in Reading IELTS

One form of questions in reading IELTS is multiple choice. The kinds of questions that are given can be various as well. Purpose of the text can also be the question in this part. Have a look at the following example: 

Question 1

Choose the appropriate letter (A-D) and write it in box 1 on your answer sheet.

Sharpen your skills on IELTS listening test | Part 2

This article is part of the “Sharpen your skills on IELTS listening test” series. In the previous series we have talked about teach yourself the words, instruction, and divide and concur. In this series we will talk about distraction, listen for specific, answer as you listen, and keep moving forward.

4.     Distractions. Some points you need to know is that: 

The audio selection uses several different voices and accents. 

The background noise also varies, start from airport, café shop, street, university, lecture hall.. you name it.   

Don't get confused by all the different voices you are going to hear. Ignore the noises and listen for the answers.

5.     Listen for specific things. The specific things we mean here are descriptions and details (dates, places, phone numbers, opening hours, years, transportation). When you are listening, look for them. If you hear them, but do not know where to place them yet – write them on anywhere on your paper. Later you will have some time to check your answers. Going over the questions that you could not answer during the Listening passage, you might see that what you have written about details and descriptions fits to be the answer.

6.     Answer as you listen ! Why? People tend to immediately forget the sentences after they have heard them due to constant flow of information. The best option is to answer as you listen. After hearing the last sentence, you will not have a chance to hear the first question. It means that when any part of Listening is over – you won‘t be able to remember any of the answers. So write them as you hear them, leave nothing for later.

7.     Keep moving forward ! If you miss one answer, you tend to miss the other answer as the audio listening is still playing. This “losing the sequence of answers” scenario can happen if you could not control your focus during listening test due to nervousness, stress, and other problems. Here are some tips to prevent it to happen:  

Always look one or two questions ahead. It may be hard, but with regular practice, it will be natural for you and can help a lot.  

If you miss one answer, admit it and keep moving forward.

Reference: Ace the IELTS (Simon Braverman)


- Read Sharpen your skills on IELTS listening test | Part 1 Here

How Popular IELTS Test Is

It cannot be denied that IELTS is one of the most popular English assessment test. Even TOEFL uses similar 4 section in its new test model, the TOEFL-iBT  that is also considering 4 important skills in English.

Sharpen your skills on IELTS listening test | Part 1

“Listening is a skill, not a gift”, said Simon Braverman on his book titled Ace the IELTS. Here are some tips to sharpen your skills on IELTS listening taken from the same book. You may find many tips about listening already; assume these as added value for your experience.  

1. Teach yourself the words. The main point of this is to train your ears to understand the words you hear in the flow of the sentences. You may hear flow of sentences that you could not follow, resulting in misunderstand of the sentences. Train your ears using recording or podcast or even the real audio selections. Use a mp3 player that is small and light so you can bring it wherever you go. Here are some tips while practicing with podcast: 
• Listen, and remember what you heard and stop the podcast after each phrase. Even if you did not understand, keep play it in your head. 
• Say it out loud. If you understand the phrase, this practice will improve your pronunciation. If not, break the sentence into words, look at the dictionary, and make sense out of them. You got new vocabularies and your skill to make sense of sentences sure is improving. 
2. Instruction will keep you safe. Every task in IELTS listening test has its instructions. FOLLOW THE INSTRUCTIONS. If the instruction states that you have to choose 3 words, choose exactly 3 words, because choose 4 or 2 words will get you 0 score. Moreover, when counting words, “a” or “the” count as a word. 
3. Divide and concur. The recording in audio selections IELTS divide questions into groups, so every time you are instructed to answer a group of 4-5 questions, there are 20-30 seconds to prepare before each group. 
• Understand which group of questions you need to answer. Example: “Look at questions 1 to 4”. Take your 20-30 seconds to pay attention and underline the keywords of those questions. Draw a line under the last question (question 4) to prevent your eyes from seeing the other questions. 
• Answer all the questions while listening to the passage. You can answer one questions while still listening to answer the next questions.   
• Repeat the process to the next group of questions. In the next article of this series, we will talk about 5 more tips to sharpen listening skill in IELTS. 

Do you need me to assist you passing through your study time? Do not hesitate to call me ^_^  English Studio Indonesia  0813.1033.6583 / 0813.1818.6060

Reference: Ace the IELTS (Simon Braverman)


- Read Sharpen your skills on IELTS listening test | Part 2 Here

IELTS Reading: Improving Reading Score | Part 3

What are other things that we can do to improve your reading score? One stimulant that you think about is soldier’s activity. When a soldier is going to be involved in a war, he or she will learn on the battle itself, including the place, the time, and the enemy. The same thing happened in IELTS. You have to learn on the types of questions that you deal with in this reading section. You need to do many exercises on these different types of questions as each type of questions need different treatment.

IELTS Speaking Test - Introduction (part 3)

From IELTS Speaking Test - Introduction (part 1 and part 2) we have learned about part one and part two of the speaking test. Now, lets continue to the next part.

Being Smart and Tricky in Writing IELTS Battle

Why does the test taker need to be tricky as well in facing a battle in this section? Yes, smart is not enough in achieving a high score in this section. That is why being tricky comes up as the best solution for getting the expected score.

IELTS Reading: Improving Reading Score | Part 2

In this article, we are going to discuss more on how to improve reading score in IELTS. Besides applying skimming and scanning as the strategies, you can do some actions such as:

IELTS Speaking Test - Introduction (part 1 and part 2)

There are 3 parts in speaking test, each part has some characteristic questions. The examiner (interviewer) will record the interview and score you based on what have you answered. This time we will explain you about part one and part two in the speaking test.

More about Timing Strategy in IELTS

Simple but important thing to do during IELTS test is wearing a watch. Yes, by wearing a watch, you can check the time regularly. This checking is important to make sure that you are “on schedule”. You can try to check the time after completing each passage.

IELTS Reading: Improving Reading Score | Part 1

When we talk about IELTS, it will be also about reading section. This section gives you a big opportunity to increase your overall band score as long as you can manage everything properly. One form of managements itself can be translated as using skimming and scanning techniques. If you have got the basic ideas of these two techniques pretty well, you can ask whether you have got the idea to improve your skimming and scanning ability or not.

Important Things in Listening IELTS Part 2

In the previous article, we discussed some important things that should be paid attention on listening IELTS such as main ideas, voice changes, and specific information. Now, we will discuss more about other important things such as interpretation toward the recording, hidden meaning of the sentences and memory enhancers.

Having a Smarter Practice of IELTS

Being closer to the test day, you might feel more worried on your test. Some of you might also take the chance to postpone the test itself. Well, IELTS does not only test on your academic skills in English but also your mentality towards the test. You might feel some series of fears starting from fear of the questions, the time, and also the strategy. This test stresses on test taker’s ability to cope these fears. A successful test taker will be able to manage his or her mentality in order to perform his or her best on the day of the test.

Important Things in Listening IELTS Part 1

In listening section, you will face 40 questions which are divided into four sections. The first and second section is about social needs. In the first section, you will listen to conversation between two speakers while in the second section you will hear speech by a speaker. The next two sessions will be about educational or training. It covers conversation between up to four speakers and speech by a speaker.

In order to answer forty questions in IELTS well, there are some things that you need to highlight. The first is main idea. Frequently, important words and main idea are ones that are come up again and again in the recording. You need to listen carefully then try to catch the main idea to get the big picture on the topic that is discussed in the recording. For example in a conversation about drama musical performance, the term of ‘drama musical performance’ will be mentioned several times.

The second thing is about voice changes. In this test, you should be able to recognize and interpret nuances of speech. Understanding the nuances means that you get a supportive idea on the thing which is mainly discussed in the listening. There will be some clues that you will get when you are able to analyze the intonation and pitch used in the recording. For example, when you hear someone who speaks in a normal monotone voice suddenly raises her voice in a high pitch, it means that there is something critical which is being stated. For example,

• Man: Let’s go to Riska house to see her condition.
• Woman: Is something bad happened to her?

The third thing that you should pay attention on is specific pieces of information. In IELTS, adjective is commonly asked. So, you can try to memorize main adjective mentioned in the recording. The adjective can be in form of number, color, or size. For example,

• Man: I am starving. Let’s buy some cakes in supermarket.
• Woman: I don’t have any money.
• Man: Don’t worry I am going to let you pick five cakes that you like and pay for it.

The question that follows this recording might ask about the number of cakes that the man gives to the woman.

Reference: IELTS Secrets, copyright 2002 by MO Media

A Good IELTS Essay

How test taker knows that he or she has written a good IELTS essay is a common come up-question after test taker finishes his or her essay. In order to anticipate this, test taker has to master the points that are used to score the essay.

The first point is “task response”. What is meant by task response here is the ability of test taker’s essay to show his or her understanding about the topic. It covers all aspects of the topic. The example is “Homework: helping students to study regularly or merely giving more burdens for students?” In this topic for example, test taker who explains about homework’s role in helping students to study regularly looses his or her score. Another test taker who explains only the point of view of homework in giving students’ additional burden losses his or her score as well. On the contrary, test taker who explains both sides, gains a score.

The next point is “coherence and cohesion”. In order to make a coherence and cohesive essay, test taker has to be able to relate paragraphs and sentences in the paragraphs itself. Whenever test taker needs to explain a discussion essay that requires two points of view about a topic, he or she should put the right connective to avoid the effect of jumping paragraph. The choice of some words such as “on the other hand, on the contrary, in spite of, and some other contradictory connectives” is a must item to use to begin a new paragraph. The same case must be applied in the sentences in the paragraph. Every sentence in a paragraph should lead to the next sentence so that all sentences are logic.

The third point is “lexical resource”. Lexical resource is vocabulary and different types of sentences, simple and complex. It is expected that test taker is able to use words and know their synonyms.

The last point is “grammatical range and accuracy”. This point covers spelling and grammar of sentences. Test taker has to keep constant in using the right spelling, punctuation, articles, part of speech, and other things related to grammar.

It should be remembered as well that these four points have the same weigh in the essay score. Therefore, none of these points is less important compared to others.

References: http://www.ielts-blog.com/ielts-preparation-tips/writing-tips/ielts-writing-2-task-explained/, http://ielts-simon.com/ielts-help-and-english-pr/ielts-writing-task-2/.

Easy to Apply Strategies for Getting Higher Writing Score in IELTS!

The key point of getting high score in writing IELTS is having more practices. Test taker may not forget to use time limitation for creating a test-like situation. It is okay if test taker gives more practices on one of the tasks which is more difficult for the test taker. However, it is important for the test taker to have both kinds of writing before taking the real test. Remember that practice makes perfect!

Reading IELTS: Is it True, False, or Not Given?

Another form of True/ False/ Not Given is Yes/ No/ Not Given. The difference is on the basic of these options. True/ False/ Not Given is based on fact. Meanwhile, Yes/ No/ Not Given is based on opinion.

In this kind of question, test taker has to pay attention on how to interpret the passage and the question. Usually, test taker finds it difficult to differentiate the use of ‘not given’ and ‘false’.

5 Common Myths in IELTS

There are much false information given about IELTS, or we simply called it myths. Here are some of them.

Artikel IELTS Kampung Inggris Pare: Discursive Writing

From Kampung Inggris Pare...

When dealing with the IELTS writing, I use the type of Discursive Writing, etymologically: "back and forth", to deal with. Here is the Importance of Discursive Writing:
· research and learn more about issues or subjects
· learn more about the different views that other people have on these issues and subjects
· learn why people hold the views and opinions they do
· discover our own view on these issues and subjects
· learn to distinguish between valid and false arguments
· learn to express our own views in a reasoned and reasonable way
· learn how to construct an argument that is well argued and which draws on appropriate and relevant evidence.


Although those bullets have covered organizations in your IELTS writing, there is more likely to take a closer look.
Good luck :)

IELTS is the Key to Unlock the World

IELTS, International English Language Testing System, consists of four modules: Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing and takes two hours and 45 minutes to complete. Here are IELTS details: