In recent years, the recognition of IELTS has continued to rise, and compared to TOEFL, its relatively lower difficulty has led more and more students wanting to study abroad to choose the IELTS exam. However, they are often troubled by various questions:
How can I improve my speaking?
Does IELTS have patterns in its questions?
Can't find answering techniques?
Can't reasonably allocate review time?
Guest today:
Zou Shasha (Amy)
● Studies in the Translation Department, School of Foreign Languages, Nankai University
● IELTS score 8.5 (Listening 9.0, Reading 8.5, Speaking 8.5, Writing 7.0)
1. How many times have you taken the IELTS, and how long did you review for this attempt?
I took it three times in total. The first was in the second semester of my sophomore year, the second in November. My condition wasn't great for the first two, and my performance wasn't particularly good; both times I got 7.5, and the sub-scores didn't meet the requirements. So I took it a third time, and I reviewed for about a month before the exam.
2. How did you arrange your review time reasonably? How did you balance a busy internship with IELTS preparation?
The third time I took the test in Beijing, and because of the internship, I was even busier than when attending classes. I worked six days a week, basically only having morning and evening time for review. In the first two exams, I focused mainly on listening and reading, so for the third, I leaned more towards speaking and writing.
As for review time, it's important not to stay up late. So I usually woke up at 7 a.m., arrived at the company one or two hours early to practice speaking. After work in the evening, I mainly looked at writing samples. A very important point during review is balancing work and rest. During workdays, I followed this review pattern, and on my day off on Sunday, I would spend some time reading a few English articles and watching two episodes of an American TV show to reinforce listening and reading while also relaxing.
3. Did you use any reference books during preparation? Or can you recommend some practical websites?
Actually, the most important reference books are the official practice tests. Doing these practice tests is extremely important. Before the last exam, I carefully worked through and understood every single question in each test book. Listening and reading can achieve a stable level by doing practice tests, once you adapt and grasp the exam's question patterns, so later you don't need to invest a lot of energy in these two parts.
For writing, I recommend a website: IELTS examiner Simon. It has many excellent sample essays to draw from; you can pick a few to memorize, which helps with the overall writing approach. But there's no fixed method for writing; the purpose of memorization is understanding and grasping the writing approach, not copying sentences verbatim in the exam—that won't earn high scores.
For speaking, I usually use a VPN to go on YouTube, watch experiences from people who have taken the test, and listen to high-scoring speaking videos that are like model answers. When watching, study how they express themselves, what their thought process is, and how you can learn from them to improve. You must engage deeply when watching; don't just watch for the sake of watching—really gain something and learn something.
4. You scored 8.5 in speaking—could you share some specific improvement methods for speaking?
● Go through the question bank, don't miss details:
I mentioned this briefly before; IELTS speaking has a question bank. In the first two exams, I hadn't finished preparing the speaking part; in the last one, I prepared completely, going through almost all the speaking exercises in the question bank, which gave me more confidence during the test.
Don't ever think there's nothing to prepare for speaking; on the contrary, speaking must be prepared, and the entire question bank should be prepared. For example, sometimes the examiner will ask about your favorite TV show, and then a follow-up small question will ask who the lead actor is. If you can't answer, you'll fluster yourself, affecting your subsequent performance. These details require thorough preparation. When preparing the question bank, circle unfamiliar words and key terms. Especially for Part 2, you need to remember all the points 1, 2, 3 that you want to say.
● Focus on logic; regular accumulation is important
Another point to pay attention to: don't memorize scripts! It comes off as very mechanical and won't earn high scores. Speaking is spontaneous; when speaking, you must have your own logic, and under no circumstances should that logic be disrupted. Maintaining clear thinking, having a clear structure, plus standard pronunciation are the guarantees for a high speaking score.
In addition, speaking is related to daily accumulation. Watching American TV series or continuously consuming English content, and reading a lot of English texts, preferably different types and genres like magazines, poetry, novels, etc., will help train the flexibility of your tongue. This is a very useful method.
● Learn to ask for advice, learn to practice
I enjoy the feeling of speaking English. At school, I don't have many opportunities to communicate with others in English, so I often read aloud in the teaching buildings, quite loudly. This way, I can identify sounds I don't pronounce well, then look up how others pronounce them. Learn to ask others, learn to seek help from foreign teachers. Practice repeatedly until you reach a level you're satisfied with.
Also, learn to talk to yourself in English. Although it sounds a bit strange, it's extremely practical. Not only does it free you from time constraints—you can practice anytime, anywhere—but as you speak and listen to yourself, you can spot problems and correct them, thereby improving.
5. Did you encounter any plateaus during preparation, and how did you overcome them?
Yes, I really did hit plateaus. Originally, I planned to take the test twice, so I could settle into my internship in Beijing with peace of mind, but the second time I still got 7.5. I felt very frustrated because for the past two months, I had done nothing but concentrate on preparing for the test, yet the result was still unsatisfactory.
At that time, I really felt like giving up. But I think a person can't always have smooth sailing on the journey forward; to succeed in any area, the first important thing is your mindset. You need to have a clear goal and know what you want. My advice is, when you hit a plateau, completely empty your mind for two days. Use those two days to think carefully about what you truly want and what score you need to achieve your goal. Reinforce your goal, and after two days, push yourself even harder toward it—then no plateau will be an issue.
6. Have you summarized any answering approaches or techniques that you can share?
The IELTS answer mode is different from Chinese English exams; they expect you to grasp the main points. The reading section is usually academic, and even people with good English sometimes can't finish reading the entire passage. I always read the first paragraph, then the first sentence of each subsequent paragraph. After reading the first paragraph, I understand the gist, so I don't dwell on details. To save time, I recommend knowing what each paragraph and section is about before answering questions. Learn to grasp the main points; don't read every single sentence and word—don't do useless work.
Another feature of IELTS questions is that many require extracting information. So besides grasping the main points, you need to know where each paragraph's content is located in the passage and learn to identify keywords. For instance, if the first question contains a certain keyword, you'll know it must be in the first or second paragraph, making it easy to find. Remember not to search blindly and aimlessly like a carpet search; don't panic, grasp the location, and answer calmly.
When doing listening, the most important thing is focus, focus, and more focus. Don't let your mind wander for even a second. The IELTS speaking speed isn't fast, but the information is very dense, making it extremely easy to miss information, especially in Part 3. I suggest that after finishing one blank, immediately fix your eyes on the next blank and think about what the speaker might say next—nothing else.
7. Any words you'd like to say to students currently preparing for the exam?
Mainly three points:
● Don't just look like you're working hard; be genuinely engaged.
Perhaps a common problem now is that we sometimes feel we've worked very hard, but actually we haven't. You read sample essays but just read them; you memorized them but just memorized them—you still can't write them in the exam. You waste a lot of time without significant gains. Scoring high on IELTS isn't about how many words you've memorized or how many questions you've done. As I mentioned before, the most important thing is grasping the test's question approach. You must learn to summarize and extract useful information from the materials and reference books you encounter. Simply put, don't just do superficial work; be down-to-earth.
● If you feel your scores aren't ideal, do more practice tests while summarizing.
If you feel your listening and reading are already decent, don't waste more time on them; learn to choose and let go appropriately. Focus on preparing for speaking and writing. Doing listening and reading once a week, a little bit, is enough.
● Health is the foundation of success.
Only by eating well and sleeping well can you test well. The IELTS is a morning exam; staying up late, having poor spirits, feeling groggy and wanting to sleep—that absolutely won't work. Rest well, nurture your energy and health, and face the exam with full vigor to achieve the best results and scores.
Finally, I wish everyone good scores.
Through the conversation between CheersYou（清柚教育） and the senior student, CheersYou（清柚教育） discovered that outstanding people share common traits. They are good at summarizing and reviewing what they've done. They identify their shortcomings and constantly correct them.
CheersYou（清柚教育） believes that you, reading this article, are also on the path to becoming better, and we will all meet the best version of ourselves.
