When should I start my IELTS preparation?
LikeYou've decided that you would like to move abroad for work. Maybe you are a doctor or a nurse and you want to work in the UK or Australia. Maybe you are a teacher and you'd like to move to New Zealand. Maybe you are trying to get Canadian Express Entry.
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Or you have decided that you want to apply for a Masters' degree or PhD in an English speaking university.
You hear that you need 'IELTS' to prove your English level.
What does that mean? What is IELTS and when do you need to start preparing for IELTS?
In answer to your first question, IELTS is an international exam which people take to prove their level of English. If you want to work as a doctor in the UK, you need to be able to communicate in English. If you want to study for a PhD in the USA, you need to be able to communicate in English etc. etc. IELTS tests whether you have the right level of English to be able to do this.
If you speak English well, you probably think this sounds like an easy task. However, IELTS is a specific test and some of the tasks can be quite complicated. If you haven't studied in English before, and/or you haven't learned how to write academic essays in English, listen to lectures, read academic papers or speak about topics other than your area of speciality, you will need to prepare.
Many IELTS candidates just book and take the exam, and then do not get the score they need because they did not properly prepare. We do not want you to be disappointed like this.
How long it takes to prepare for your IELTS exam depends on your current English level and what band score you need to achieve. However, let's assume that you can already communicate quite well in English.
You need to learn the best strategies for doing the reading and listening tests. Unlike many English exams, you can only listen to the audio once in IELTS. You need to prepare for this. You need to read three texts in one hour, so you need to learn the best reading strategies to use and how to manage your time.
You need to learn how to write an essay. For both academic and general IELTS, you need to write an essay. If you have not written essays in English before, you need to learn how to write paragraphs with clear topic sentences, how to use a range of linking words and phrases and how to construct a good introduction and conclusion. For IELTS, you need to understand the types of questions and the best ways to address them.
For academic IELTS, you need to learn to describe a diagram, such as a graph or chart. You may know how to do this from your research background, but IELTS Task 1 has specific requirements. You need to learn what these are.
For general IELTS, you need to learn how to write a letter. It could be a formal or an informal letter. The way that we write letters in English may be different in style and format to the ones you write in your language, so you need to know how to do this.
The IELTS speaking test is a 11-14 minute discussion with one speaking examiner. It has three parts, including a two minute monologue on a given topic and a discussion on the same topic. While you may be able to chat with your friends in English, can you offer the causes of climate change and suggest solutions, evaluate whether AI is a positive or negative development for education, predict how music will change in the future or justify why you agree that advertising to children should be restricted? Can you speak using a wide range of grammatical structures and natural idiomatic expressions?
As you can see, it is vital that you prepare properly to make sure you get the score you need in your IELTS test. How and when should you start preparing for IELTS?
The best place to start is with a diagnostic test to find out your current level and your strengths and weaknesses. After that, you can work alone or with a tutor (or ideally, both) to develop your weak areas. You can learn the best strategies for reading and listening, improve your vocabulary and grammar, practice the writing tasks and get feedback, and practice the speaking test so that you perform to the best of your ability.
It is best to give yourself enough time to be really successful. Do not leave it to the last minute. Once you have decided that you need to take the IELTS test, start to prepare.
