Vinh is an IELTS candidate from Hanoi, Vietnam that went from not speaking
English to scoring above band 7 in every examination!IELTS reading tips IELTSCast

And in today’s interview with Ryan from IELTSCast.com he shares his secrets on how everyone can achieve these results.

Tips on IELTS Reading and Writing exam

IELTS Reading and Writing exam is the most difficult part of examinations for many people. The big chunk of text can look intimidating and the questions can be confusing.

But don’t worry, because we have some excellent tips from Vinh who scored 7.5 on his Reading and Writing Exams! He tells us exactly how he achieved that score, and how you can do it too.

How to begin practising for IELTS Reading and Writing exam – tips from Vinh

Reading text in English

Vinh explains how important it is to begin with reading text in English. He started with easier books and then improved to reading newspapers and websites like BBC. The more you read, the easier reading becomes.

Learning new words

When Vinh found words he did not understand, he wrote down a list of at least 10 new words on a piece of paper, and their definitions in English on the other side.

The list would then accompany him everywhere he went until all of the words were learnt.

After this, Vinh would progress to writing contextual sentences with the words. This helped him gain better understanding of the words.

The best way to use IELTS Reading and Writing practice exams – tips from Vinh

When Vinh felt comfortable with the English language, he began doing IELTS Practice Exams.

Find your method

Vinh explains that there are two strategies to become better at the Reading Exams:
1. Read the text first and then answer the questions.
2. Look at the questions first, and then read the text with those questions in mind.

Vinh practised both of these methods until he found which one worked for him. Simply using the method that he preferred improved his results on the Practice Reading Exam.

Practice, practice, practice…

Vinh explains how important it is to continue practicing the examinations. In fact, he did 50 Practice Reading Exams! And he recommends for you to do the same.

He says that after you do the examination so many times, there will be no surprises in the actual exam.

Resources for IELTS Reading Exam Practice recommended by Vinh

These are the resources that Vinh used to practice for his Reading Exam and improve his score. He recommends this for all of the IELTS candidates.

Books:

  • IELTS Practise test plus Longman (Considered more difficult than normal!)
  • IELTS Cambridge Reading test

Websites:

  • IELTS-Simon.com
  • IELTS.org

How to improve your score for IELTS Writing exam – tips by Vinh

Vinh found that overly complicated sentences are not necessary, so keep it simple and aim for clear communication and expressing an argument.

It took him two months of writing every day when he eventually he reached his high score. So as always, practice makes perfection!

How to improve your score for IELTS Listening and Speaking Exam – tips by Vinh

Listening

Vinh advised to take a long term approach and start watching the news and even films in English. Then force yourself to remove the subtitles, and concentrate.

Before long you will start seeing how understanding English is getting easier and easier.

Speaking

On the cue card on his IELTS Speaking Exam with a cold British woman, Vinh had to describe the street where he lived.

IELTS reading tips British woman

To do this effectively he used examples, and followed this structure: WHAT? WHY? WHEN?

Having a structure to follow gave him more confidence when answering the examiner’s questions, and enabled him to give solid, full and interesting answers.

Key Things Every IELTS Candidate Should Do

Organise your time – not just in the exam, but in your life too. Set long-term goals and make time for studying.

Don’t leave it all for the last month because learning English doesn’t happen overnight. If you want to get great results like Vinh, you have to put in time and effort.

For more interviews like this one go over to IELTS Cast.com and download them all.

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