Hello ?My Name is Megha and I am sharing my (IELTS) examination experience. I believe my experience might help someone who is planning to appear for exam.

I appeared for my IELTS exam on 19th November, 2016 through IDP. After preparing for about a month, I finally decided to take the test.I used the material provided to me by SkillSelect, it had practice papers from the past 5 years which gave me an idea of how the pattern is. It was the best source of information.

For Listening — Practice as much as you can. Whenever you get any questions wrong, go back and listen that part again or read the manuscript available. This helps you to avoid mistakes in future. Mark questions/underline only on the basis of what you listen.

On the exam, I made a few mistakes in the first section and lost concentration in the middle of second section. This might have got me a few questions wrong. Though I still managed to score 7.5.

For Reading – Again practice is the key to success. Don’t analyse too much while practising, especially the first two sections. Infer very little. Try to complete all the first two passages in 30 minutes and spend more time on the last section as it is quite lengthy and tricky at times. During the practice sessions, emphasize on accuracy first, then improve on the timings.

For Writing – It has two parts and the second part has more weight (40 minutes allotted) than the first part (20 minutes). Keep it original and avoid repetition of words. You must paraphrase the question and try to stick to the topic. Make sure to provide an introduction, body and discussion and lastly, conclusion. I’ve got 7.5 here.

For Speaking – The best way to practice this section is to switch on the timer and record your answer responses to the questions from the IELTS book. Check for the timing as it is very crucial. Moreover, avoid grammatical mistakes while speaking and avoid stammering if possible. Speak slowly as it gives you enough time to frame sentences and think about ideas in your head. I scored 7.5 here.

My target score was 8 is reading and at least a 7 band in other sections.  When I saw my result, 7.5 overall, I was very excited. Reading band disappointed me as I was expecting a 7 or 7.5 after practising so much in this section. I decided to retake the test and improve my scores.

I took my test again on February 11, 2017 and scored the following

• Listening 8.00
• Reading  9.00
• Speaking 7.50
• Writing 7.00

The most significant thing everyone has to bear in mind is that websites- ieltsliz.com and ielts-blog.com has heaps of truly useful knowledge and experiences shared by IELTS-takers. Thereby, you have to utilize this site wisely. I thoroughly followed it along with the practice material provided by SkillSelect.

I would recommend Skill Select to everyone, for being so honest and unambiguous through out the process and helping me attain the best scores possible.

Thanks and Regards,

Megha.