Ielts Test

[Guest Mark Builder]

hi can anyone give me any pointers about the IELTS test which i am nervous about and I am due to take it in a couple of weeks , any pointers would be good

[Guest jill wright]

hi can anyone give me any pointers about the IELTS test which i am nervous about and I am due to take it in a couple of weeks , any pointers would be good

 

Hi Mark my husband Phil was thinking of doing this as we are 5 points short of applying for the perm visa I think on another site someone said you could buy something from whsmiths to prepare yourself or if you google ielts on internet it may come up with something . They say if you can speak good english and aren't thick you should be ok but I think there's a pass mark to meet.

 

Good luck and don't forget to tell us how it goes.

 

By the way does anyone know if you can get your money back if you cancel a visa application we e lodged ours (sir 475) 17th April and haven't forwarded any supporting docs yet but as I've mentioned we're thinking of cancelling it and going for the extra points for the permanent one however when I've emailed them they say they can't guarantee a refund

 

Jill

[Guest Dantor3000]

hi - my husband sat the IELTS back in March, as we needed about 5 extra points for our Visa application. He was advised to revise for the test as we also thought the same ' we are english it will be a doddle!'...however the woman said most people who DONT revise dont pass!

(we bought a book from Waterstones with IELTS example papers to practice).

It was unbeliveable how heavy this exam was, but thankfully all the many hours of revising and practising paid off as he passed with flying colours!! (with weeks of Super hard revising!) so our advise would be - get yourself the book and revise. GOOD LUCK!!

[Guest Hansonhouse]

Hi, I sat the IELTS test in July and didn't do any revision. Basically it was split into 4 parts, can't remember the order exactly but it was exam conditions and one part was listening to some different english accents reading info and having to answer some questions about what they had said, another part was reading some articles and then answering some questions about them, the next bit you had to write two letters, one was a letter to a school teacher explaining why your child needed time off for a dental appointment and the other was where you had to write about 250 words about your views on a specific subject (can't remember what it was now! good job it wasn't a memory test!). When this was all done, you had to hang around until your turn for an 'interview' which consisted of 10 minutes alone in a room with a very friendly person who asked me about whyI was sitting the test, asked me to recall a special gift that I had received as a child and talk about my job.

It was weird to be 'tested' in this way again, reminded me of being at school. Most of the people around me were from abroad and were sitting the test so that they could get a visa for the UK! A lot of young students etc.

Basically the whole day was straightforward, I felt that I had the right amount of time allocated to each section and I checked, and double checked my answers especially the ones where you had to answer questions about the passage as there were a couple of times when the answers were quite similar.

Good luck

Roz

[Guest Dantor3000]

Hi Mark Builder

Re :The IELTS exam -approx £100 payable on booking -about 5 weeks wait for me, plenty of time to revise - you need to score at least 7 out of a possible 9 in each of the four sections of the exam to satisfy DIAC. You have -Reading - writing - listening - speaking - each section of the exam is approx - 1hour long except speaking which is about 20 mins -you need to have your passport with you - the examiner needs to see this or you will not be allowed to take the test and you wont get a refund - You get allocated your own desk with your name and details printed - you also have to display the stick on badge with your photo on it for ID purposes. The whole experience was a bit daunting as I have not been in an exam situation like that before. About 150 people sat the exam in various different classrooms -Once you have done the reading, listening and written test , you then break for lunch and are allocated a time for your spoken interview. That is sometime in the afternoon - between 1 pm and 5 pm - I requested an early appointment as I have 3 kids and needed to get back - I put this in my application letter and was advised that they may give me an early slot - I got 1.40 pm so it was worth the extra note.

I was quite worried as the exam got nearer - I was thinking 'what if I fail and i'm english'

I used the IELTS practice book - about £16 and found that some of the exams are in this book! but dont expect your exam to be in it - they have a load of variations so the best thing was getting to practice hand writing and spelling, generally working to the format that they like, when you write a letter (they tell you what to write about) you need to make sure you have a minimum number of words - there is also another written piece you have to complete , again they give you a subject and yes you have another minimum length 250 words I think. you loose marks for poor spelling and dodgy grammar - They also love para phrasing ! dont be put off ,

I practised a bit each day and also found my handwriting improved - usually looks like a doctors writing!

The spoken bit was ok - the lady who interviewed me told me after the test that it was quite difficult to interview native speakers as they were really used to immigrants and students etc..

You know the worst thing was waiting for the results -I was sure I had failed - I had to wait 2 weeks - that was the same for all people involved - you could have the results sent to your home after that or if you wanted to find out you could collect in person and save a day or 2 waiting - I never have to wait for anything so it was of to Manchester uni to collect -one friday morning - I got my results and was so relieved that I had very good scores in all areas - maybe I didnt need to worry as much as I did, maybe I didnt need to revise as much either - the thing is I passed first time & that was very important to me - I could not have waited another potential 7 weeks - and another £100 - needless to say - had a bottle that night !(or was it 3)

good luck with the test - - let us know how you get on !!