How do I score 7 or 8 out of 9 in the IELTS exam?

When you register for the IELTS exam, you get a textbook to prepare from, which includes a CD with the audio files for the listening part. I believe that completing this book diligently over a period of 1-2 weeks is enough preparation to score an 8 or 9 in the exam. There are four sections in the IELTS exam: Speaking: This is generally held on a separate date, face to face with an interviewer, since you mentioned that you have been conversing with your colleagues in English for a while, this shouldn't be a problem. There is a basic format for the section which you can look up in the book you get after registration. The questions asked are personal and not technical at all, so you can have enough material to speak. Reading: All you need to do to ace this section is practice. There are 4-5 practice tests in the textbook with 3 passages each, once you complete all of them, you will get a hang of how to look for answers in the passages. The difficulty rises with each passage but it is still not rocket science. Writing: Again, go through the different topics given in the textbook and write. Don't just think and move on, actually write your answers. This is a paper based examination so you will have to write down your response on paper, so you would want to practice writing long essays in time. Try to get your responses checked by someone you feel is good at english, so that they can suggest improvements, tell you about your grammatical mistakes if any. Listening: You do not need any english-speaking skills for this section. All you need is concentration and understanding. Once you go through the textbook, you will notice that as the audio progresses, the questions progress (the answers are revealed in the order of the questions in the paper). Example: There are __ alphabets in the English language, the first one is __. When the audio runs, first you will hear the answer '26' and then 'A', so listen for words like 'number of alphabets', etc so you know the first answer is coming up and once it does, move to the next blank and repeat this process. I would suggest against any coaching because the textbook is more than enough preparation. Those coaching centers won't be improving your english by teaching you basic grammar anyway. To improve your reading and writing skills, I would suggest you read the newspaper daily for atleast an hour, till the day of your exam. Keep writing 2 essays/day and get them checked by someone. 1-2 hours study for 10-15 days is more than enough to score 8-9. All the best!

IELTS is an exam to check your Listening, Writing , Speaking and Reading skills. Looking at your experience I don't feel that you need to take any classes for the same.  Instead of going for classes try to get hold of previous edition books of IELTS and solve them, they are more than sufficient for the exams.  I just had a week's time to prepare for the exam and still managed to scored 7.5. Just believe in yourself and be confident when you give your speaking test. British council conducts the exams in a hotel or hall with good ambiance and even the staff are very supportive.

Suggested for coaching coz they can help you with the tactics and methods of using your English in the right and appropriate way. Suggest you Reknown Edu Services (http://www.reknownedu.com/) for best quality.

The chance of getting the score you want in one month is pretty unpredictable. It depends on your current level of English proficiency, your hard work, focus anddedication. If you currently have a high level of English proficiency (Band 6.0 - 6.5), you just need to accumulate and learn some proper techniques, tips and apply to practicing tests daily  to get the score you need (Band 7.0 - 7.5). You can download or buy http://ieltsmaterial.com/cambridge-practice-tests-ielts-series-self-study-students-book-cd/ to practice at home. You can also learnhttp://ieltsmaterial.com/exam-tips/, using http://ieltsmaterial.com/target-band-7-maximize-score/, http://ieltsmaterial.com/offical-cambridge-guide-ielts/. If you are worse at one IELTS skill than others, you should focus more on it. For example, your IELTS Reading score is 5.5 while other skills are over 6.0, you should get down to improving your reading skills by using this excellent book by Sam McCarter: http://ieltsmaterial.com/improving-ielts-reading-skills-sam-mccarter/. (This famous IELTS author published an "Improve your IELTS skills" series including the above mentioned book,http://ieltsmaterial.com/improving-ielts-writing-skills-sam-mccarter/and http://ieltsmaterial.com/improve-ielts-listening-speaking-skills-ebook-cds/, you can check out for these great books). Each day, you should learn around 10 http://ieltsmaterial.com/english-collocation-in-use-advanced/ and http://ieltsmaterial.com/vocabulary-top-9-common-topics-ielts-exam/ (crime, education, health, media, work, energy and environment, traffic, people, home). However, if your English level is quite low (like current band is 5.0 - 5.5 and you want to get Band 7.0+) you are less likely to get the score you need. In fact, IELTS learners with just one month left for the IELTS exam will get panic and work their socks off to improve their Vocabulary, Speaking, Listening, Reading, Writing, and Grammar. They just digest tons of books without any study strategy. My suggestion is that you need to draw up an effective and coherent strategy (like Week 1, Week 2, Week 3, Week 4) to improve your general level of English and learn exam technique. For improving your general level of English proficiency: You should immerse yourself into English at least 6 hours per day. It means you will be a full-time IELTS learner and you need to listen to English and read English daily. You should also be writing and speaking in English as much as possible. I suggest that you should get access to top most popular magazine http://economist.com/, http://www.bbc.co.uk/learningenglishto improve yourhttp://ieltsmaterial.com/reading/and Listening skills and learn http://ieltsmaterial.com/vocabulary/ and useful structures forhttp://ieltsmaterial.com/writing/writing-task-2/. For http://ieltsmaterial.com/speaking/, you just need this site: http://ieltsspeaking.co.uk/ You can also study from these great Youtube Channels: https://www.youtube.com/user/EnglishTeacherEmma | https://www.youtube.com/user/AcademicEnglishHelp | https://www.youtube.com/user/EnglishRyan https://www.youtube.com/user/EnglishRyan To learn http://ieltsmaterial.com/exam-tips/: - You must also learn about all of the different types of questions and how to approach them for Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking. The great thing about IELTS is that it is fairly predictable. For example, if you are doing Academic Writing Task 1, you just need to learn how to write a summary of at least 150 words in response to a particular graph (bar, line or pie graph), table, chart, or process to get a decent score. - You can also make use of the following books to learn more exam tips, techniques:http://ieltsmaterial.com/target-band-7-maximize-score/, http://ieltsmaterial.com/offical-cambridge-guide-ielts/. You can also look at the pages below that will show you exam technique for the four main areas: http://%2A%20ielts%20materials%2C%20get%20ielts%20tips%2C%20tricks%20%26%20practice%20test%20%28http//ieltsmaterial.com/exam-tips/) http://ieltsmaterial.com/listening/ http://ieltsmaterial.com/speaking/ http://ieltsmaterial.com/writing/ http://ieltsmaterial.com/reading/ http://ieltsmaterial.com/free-ielts-practice-tests/ You have accepted a big challenge in your life. Follow these suggestions to maximize your limited time to score your highest in IELTS!

Dear All,It was in the late of May 2015, I contemplated to take IELTS, I looked for the slots in August & after, with no luck I was forced to opt for only available slot in July 3(if I have to take this exam only in hyderabad).Back home I'm tossed with one question..How to score decently(7bands) in month's time?I looked for many tips and forums to find the ultimate strategy that worked for many..and I'm lucky enough to find one. My attainment of good score is dedicated to one such exam taking strategyGolden Rules:-1. Put 85% of practice effort in listening2. Remaining in Other sectionsListening:-This is the area most of the candidates topple because of the accent involved in it. Most of us are habituated to listening US accent and this test is about comprehending the European Accent. This can be cracked if you flood yourself with all sorts of possible listening exposure you can get yourself in month's timeHow can I get enough exposure:Complete the following tests atleast 3 days before your test day.Daily Tasks:Hobby Listening:-This is to voluntarily get your self habituated to the nuances involved in understanding European english accent(Don't try to meditate on the voice, even if you don't understand what the speaker is saying initially still just listen, but I assure you that there will be a time, may be after 4 days of listening you will find yourself able to understand each bit of what speaker is saying)There are torrents available under " Lectures about various topics in European accent"..get them and listen to them daily for 30mins.IELTS Test Booklet Tests(6 Tests)http://www.ieltsbuddy.com/ielts-listening-test.htmlhttp://www.ieltsbuddy.com/ielts-listening-test.htmlhttp://www.ielts-exam.net/practice_tests/http://www.ielts-exam.net/practice_tests/http://www.testden.com/challenge/free-ielts.asphttp://www.testden.com/challenge/free-ielts.asphttp://ieltsforfree.com/free-ielts-practice-tests/http://ieltsforfree.com/free-ielts-practice-tests/This makes atleast one test a day. If you really want to get 7 or more bands You have to take atleast one listening test a day.Reading:-Simply complete IELTS booklet and upto ten reading tests from the above websites before your final test.Writing:-This is the area it requires a lot of discipline. Start this section once you are done with atleast 10 listening tests(this is because unless you attain the sense of confidence (that you will get from your first 10 listening tests ,practicing this section looks very boring))Basic Structure of the letter:1. Line referring to the advertisement/position or any topic of the letter.2.Paragraph about your context of the topic(for example if the letter about a job, in the 2nd para you will explain why your current experience makes you the most suitable candidate,or if the letter is about betterment suggestion of a colony, you will have to explain why your suggestion can significantly improve the conditions of the colony)3.Ending the letter with a conclusion(for the nature of the sentences look for examples in the booklet)Basic Structure of the Writing Task:1. Opener2. Your stand on the topic3. Why4. Conditions of your support5.ConclusionSpeaking:Golden Rule:1. Never Stammer2. Don't use phrases like "I mean or other filler"3. Don't make sounds like :UUhh!!Uhhh!! etc)4. You just have to speak in simple english which can be comprehended easilyAs they say"It is not done untill it is done", this applies for the reading test. Since reading test may happen before or after your other section's exam there will definetely two things that could effect your performance in this section they are1. A good stint at the LRW section exam giving you overconfidence in reading exam or2. An average stint at LRW section exam draining your confidence in reading sectionBoth can badly effect your performance in this section. If only you treat this section in isolation of others you can perform well in this section and treat this section as the last over in a 20-20 chasing match, you can neither be aggressive nor servile..you have to have temperament and go for big when you have the call.The reason for this being a one on one section(Interview-Candidate)Finally if you are targeting 7 - 8, Track your marks as below 7 8L- 30-34 35-39R- 30-34 35-39Hope this was helpful. All the best for your exam.With Best Regards,Sudeep Kumar Batha

Trust me, scoring an 8/8.5 in the IELTS is not such a huge task provided you religiously follow a proper method. Here are a few tips to help you out: In Listening, use the example at the beginning of the first section to familiarize yourself with the sound, the situation, and the speakers. Answer Listening questions in the order they appear on the Question Paper. Remember that they normally follow the order of the information in the recording. In Academic Reading, begin by going quickly through each passage to identify features such as the topic, the style, the likely source, the writer’s purpose and the intended reader. In Academic Writing, you must always keep to the topic set. Never try to prepare sections of text before the exam. In Speaking, don’t try to give a prepared speech, or talk about a different topic from the one you are asked to discuss. Here is a blog with 20 Useful tips that can go a long way in helping you ace the IELTS with a 8 or even an 8.5, written by a student who scored an 8.5: http://bit.ly/1ViMA0F

It’s great you would like to get a 7 or 8 band. But, what is your average score when you take the practice tests online. Here is a link so you can check,http://ieltsmaterial.com/cambridge-practice-tests-ielts-series-self-study-students-book-cd/.Say it is a 6 band. You would like to score 7.5 or 8 band.How would you bridge this gap?Well, you need to follow a few tips and techniques for each section.Listening and Reading, Practice is the key. But what kind of practice? It would be a lot of fun to watch movies all day, but not very effective. Instead, try listening to BBC talk Radio and reading editorials instead of Fiction Novels.In the Writing and Speaking sections, however, your insecurities in Grammar and Vocabulary would show.To ensure a great score, your essay must have a concrete beginning, middle and end, while being grammatically accurate.While speaking, you must try not to hesitate and speak clearly, to the point. Grammar and vocabulary play an important role here as well.Practice makes one perfect in these sections, but how do you get an opinion on your work?How do you know your essay is of the best quality and what you are speaking makes sense and is completely accurate?It would be wise to enlist some help, in the form of a friend or family member. Neither an option?Then maybe, coaching classes like these http://studyabroad.shiksha.com/exams/ielts/top-10-coaching-centers-in-india If you do not have a flexible schedule, then you could opt for a home tutor https://www.urbanpro.com/ These could be expensive and you may not get the kind of teacher you are looking for.As for as other ways to practice, If you prefer a private classroom at a reasonable price, then companies like uFaber https://www.ufaber.com/course/ielts/ have IELTS experts that will conduct online classes, at your convenience.Hope this helps! Best of luck!

Thanks for A2A.Sorry for late reply.I don't know much about this but i assure you some steps which you can take to proceed your preparation.Check out this http://www.ielts-blog.com/ielts-test-results-competition/ielts-preparation-tips-from-winners/ielts-tips-from-srishma-who-scored-band-8-after-3-weeks-of-preparation/

Its a good question, but there are many posts in this forum about how to do so, including some quite long and detailed ones. I suggest you read them first then consider your specific situation and ask a more detailed question about overcoming your specific limitations.