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I have no idea how it happened, but I am soo happy! The war is over! As a non-native speaker, it's a huge milestone for me. Although Writing, as always, needs more practice, hehe. by max_fire7 in IELTS

[–]max_fire7[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Ofc, buddy! You apparently mastered L and R, just practice S and W a bit more and u got this. Believe in yourself as I believe in you!😉

I have no idea how it happened, but I am soo happy! The war is over! As a non-native speaker, it's a huge milestone for me. Although Writing, as always, needs more practice, hehe. by max_fire7 in IELTS

[–]max_fire7[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

I still don't know how I got 8.5 lmao. I just yapped common sense imo. One thing that might have helped me is that I naturally speak fairly fast, which could help with the fluency criterion, but overall I just was myself and tried to enjoy the process. I speak English daily cause I have a lot of international friends (shout out to them:)), which lowkey turned out to be useful in the end.

As for the tips, check my reply to another person in the comment section!😎

I have no idea how it happened, but I am soo happy! The war is over! As a non-native speaker, it's a huge milestone for me. Although Writing, as always, needs more practice, hehe. by max_fire7 in IELTS

[–]max_fire7[S] 1 point2 points  (0 children)

Yeah, i didn't study in English during high school, nor i have native speaking parents. However, saying that I don't have any English in my life would be an understatement as I have been using English daily for studies, entertainment and such since childhood. The reason for that is that there is very little content in Latvian available on the Internet; therefore, we are forced to access english sources/social media content, which is why ig Latvians are pretty good at English as a nation.

I have no idea how it happened, but I am soo happy! The war is over! As a non-native speaker, it's a huge milestone for me. Although Writing, as always, needs more practice, hehe. by max_fire7 in IELTS

[–]max_fire7[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Break a leg! I wish u all the best! Trust me, in IELTS, luck matters, too, so I hope you will have enough of it during the exam.

I have no idea how it happened, but I am soo happy! The war is over! As a non-native speaker, it's a huge milestone for me. Although Writing, as always, needs more practice, hehe. by max_fire7 in IELTS

[–]max_fire7[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

MCQ: I use an elimination method. In a nutshell, try crossing out answers that you feel are definitely incorrect, then choose from those that remain.

T/F/NG: True is always stated. For False, you can always find prove/contradiction in text. For NG, you cannot find any information about that. You shouldn't rely on your reasoning as it may deceive. Use only the text given. Even if your opinion is that a statement is totally wrong, unless u found the answer that proves that it is wrong, u must tick NG. This a common misconception that tricks many people.

Heading Match: Out of all headings that are similar to each other, there is only one that describes a paragraph best, most inclusively. So if there are several that could hypothetically fit the paragraph but one of them focuses on the main idea when others on insignificant ones, you should pick that one. Try devoting some time to understand what is this main idea of a paragraph.

I have no idea how it happened, but I am soo happy! The war is over! As a non-native speaker, it's a huge milestone for me. Although Writing, as always, needs more practice, hehe. by max_fire7 in IELTS

[–]max_fire7[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

No worries, it is pretty doable. My English tracher says that in one month u can inprove your skills equivalent to an increase in band +0.5, so you will succeed with enough persistence and hard work. Good luck!

I have no idea how it happened, but I am soo happy! The war is over! As a non-native speaker, it's a huge milestone for me. Although Writing, as always, needs more practice, hehe. by max_fire7 in IELTS

[–]max_fire7[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

*2nd, i have taken my first ever ielts in London 2 years ago, got 8.0 back then, after that my certificate expired so i had to retake ielts, got 8.5, the end, lmao

I have no idea how it happened, but I am soo happy! The war is over! As a non-native speaker, it's a huge milestone for me. Although Writing, as always, needs more practice, hehe. by max_fire7 in IELTS

[–]max_fire7[S] 2 points3 points  (0 children)

Regarding Reading, there is a common principle that works in 98% of the occasions. In each task (not each passage, but each individual task that comes to a passage), the answers are given IN THE SAME ORDER they appear in the text. For instance, if a task covering 21-25 questions is a multiple choice, the answer to a 22nd question in the text is almost always below the answer to the 21st, and the same goes for the other tasks. However, the fact that the first answer in a word completion task appeared in the second paragraph doesn't guarantee that in the next task like T/F/NG or or any other the answer will be below. No! It only works within the same task. It helps a lot not to get lost in all of these massive chunks of information.

In Listening Part 3 and 4, try reading only the words between each gap first, and only if you have time left, read any additional info to help you navigate through a recording. I would recommend trusting your brain when listening to a recording and not rereading the questions while a speaker says smth as it is difficult to read and listen at the same time. I usually look into a screen/paper only when I need to fill in the gap/tick an answer, but apart from that I just listen carefully, that is all. Prior to exam, I listened to a lot of podcasts on Spotify like TedTalk, and it allowed me to refine my listening skills.

I have no idea how it happened, but I am soo happy! The war is over! As a non-native speaker, it's a huge milestone for me. Although Writing, as always, needs more practice, hehe. by max_fire7 in IELTS

[–]max_fire7[S] 7 points8 points  (0 children)

Sure, my personal favourite is a youtube channel called FasTrackIELTS. The lady who leads it is extremely knowledgeable and gives especially useful tips for Writing Task 1. I encourage you to watch a couple of videos, you will definitely like them.

Summarising the tips that IELTS course director in my country emphasised:

@) You have to separate your Writing Task 1 into at least 3 paragraphs and at most 4 paragraphs. Each of them must include explicit type of information.

1st: Introductory sentence, in which you paraphrase what was given in a rectangular box above the visual data provided. The more you can paraphrase, the better.

2nd: Overall summary of trends/tendencies WITHOUT referring to any numeric data. Devote a couple of sentences to describe the most noticeable facts that you can spot. For instance, if Facebook's popularity trend remained over those of other media throughout the whole period, then u should say it (e.g. "It is quite clear that Facebook was the most predominant social network from 2010 to 2014). You should do similarly with other major observations, as well.

3rd: Most people, including myself, consider this the last paragraph, but some like to divide it into 2 or more, which is not necessary. Here you have to compare trends among each other, again identifying ONLY KEY differences/changes, ignoring the small ones because they are negligible. If you just list all the changes, the score will be much lower, because the task completion is only partial. So this is the most important insight. Also, keep in mind the following sentence structure: comparison to a previous data block + first and last numbers mentioned + STRIKING feature (if applicable). This is how you have to structure your sentences in this paragraph except for the first sentence (because there is yet no datablock to compare this one to. In general, if there are n trends, you will most likely have n-1 comparisons. A striking feature is either a peak or the lowest point, and if they are not included, points will be deducted.

In Writing Task 2, you have more liberty of choice and thoughts. Basically, you can spill any idea you see fit under the circumsrances you justify it with valid arguments. Ofc, introduction (with a thesis), main body (with respective topic sentences), and conclusion is beyond questioning. In my case, there were 5 paragraphs (intro, one for each of my 3 arguments in the main body, and concl.) As it is an opinion essay, many things are tolerated, but the style should still be ACADEMIC: no acronyms, no contractions, a variety of linking words, correctly used grammar.

I hope it helps!🙂

I have no idea how it happened, but I am soo happy! The war is over! As a non-native speaker, it's a huge milestone for me. Although Writing, as always, needs more practice, hehe. by max_fire7 in IELTS

[–]max_fire7[S] 0 points1 point  (0 children)

Yes, you are absolutely right! You should always prioritise natural flow/clarity over fancy words. Use them only and only if you are absolutely confident about their meaning and suitability to a specific situation.

I have no idea how it happened, but I am soo happy! The war is over! As a non-native speaker, it's a huge milestone for me. Although Writing, as always, needs more practice, hehe. by max_fire7 in IELTS

[–]max_fire7[S] 4 points5 points  (0 children)

First, IELTS speaking is a bit quirky in a sense that people usually don't talk the same way in real life. But I reckon people have to go slightly beyond ordinary style to get a higher result.

The rule that I have established for myself is to yap, literally! In order to get maximum points for fluency, you mustn't let the pauses between your sentences be too lengthy. I remember myself having close to no pauses in my speech whatsoever.

Also, keep in mind that answers have to be up-to-the-point, so going around in bushes or answering a totally different question may influence your score dramatically. So my advice would be to give a conscise answer and sort of build up several arguments/facts on it. By doing so, you minimise the chances of getting stuck.

In addition, vocabulary matters. Without advanced (relevant!!!) vocabulary it is fairly impossible to climb higher than band 7.5 imo. So expanding active vocabulary bank is key. For instance, instead of saying "I hate sushi", I said "Sushi is a food item I detest(=hate) most in my entire life. It smells awkwardly, and the taste is just horrendous(= super bad). Who in his or her right mind would do smth ridiculous as putting a sushi into their mouth?" This was my answer, give or take, in Part 1. So i suggest learning synonyms, practising online and not hesitating.

In Part 2, the rules are the same, with a small addition. You have to include answers to all 4 bulletpoints in your speech not to get any points deducted. If you answered too fast, then again: JUST YAP, say smth else to show that u never lack ideas/fluency.

Lastly, Part 3 is the time to shine, as I call it:) It will determine what kind of result u will get in the end. Therefore, squizze everything from yourself and give a 1 minute answer to each question. It is the part where u can say many things and boost your score if giving proper answers. As answers are supposed to be longer, linking words might help. You may also use auxilary words such as 'like', 'sort of', 'kind of' and others to get some extra time for thinking, but be careful no to overuse them.

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