Prepare better for the 'Day'

Hello everyone, this is Mr.Ahmad, an owner of @IELTS_Journey channel and IELTS instructor. Before I will give you any tips on how to perform better on test day, let's be honest with ourselves, you cannot magically improve your result in one day. It is simply irrational and remember candidates usually get what they are worth it. I want to give two types of tips: first type of suggestions are designed to help a day before your main test and second type of recommendations are far more useful if done 8-12 weeks in advance before your test.

Tips before the main test day.

1) Prepare mentally, stop studying - Imagine you have test tomorrow, and you are probably getting more anxious or feeling a bit nervous. You want to go to sleep, but keep tossing in bed as it is harder to fall into sleep. This is absolutely normal, you should not worry too much. I recommend that you stop studying actively 2 or 3 days before the main test, the new words you learn, or things you do in the last day are most likely to be useless during the test. Instead, spend these days to revise all the test tips and strategies you have learnt, spend time to recall the most important tips and advice from your teacher. You can still communicate with your friends in English, watch useful and interesting content on YouTube.

2) Before the test day talk to people who encourages you, someone who is a real friend to be there for you. Spending time with your friends or family members is a great idea too. Go for a walk in the nature, just rest your mind and body, listen to something soothing.

3) Do not surf the web, try to sleep earlier the last 3-4 days, sleep is crucial and if you also workout on a regular basis, this is even more helpful. Remember a sound body keeps a sound mind.

4) Find out the exam venue, go there to have an idea of how long does it take to go, check your passport or ID card, things you need to bring on your test day.

During the test day

1. Start your day with positive energy, drink water for empty stomach, then do mini-workout, then go onto have a hearty and healthy breakfast.
2. Take a deep breath, pray for God to perform at your best, and ask the Dua of your parents, visualize your success while closing your eyes for 2-3 minutes.
3. Check one final time your ID, money and everything you need before you leave home.
4. When you reach the exam venue, listen to the invigilators and follow their instructions, in the meantime be brave and talk to someone in English, revise final tips before the test.

When the test starts

Listening - concentration is really important in this part of the test, so make sure you listen carefully, do not rush when it comes to write the answers as sometimes may change their opinion, so make sure you listen well and write correct answers. Analyze the questions, underline key words before each listening part starts, during the middle-break, and use break at the end of each section to prepare for next part better. When transferring your answers, pay attention to spelling and grammar mistakes, always follow instructions. If it says "No more than two words", you can write one or two, but not 3 words. If you miss any answers, just ignore it, never try to remember that answer, or you will miss answers for another 2-3 questions.

Reading - start with passage one, follow the time limits, do not spend more than 40-seconds on any question if you feel it is difficult to find the answer. In my opinion, it is much better to leave 5-10 most difficult questions till the end and secure 30 correct answers for a band 7.0. Remember, each question receives one mark, so answer first questions that you can, if you have not prepared well, you will not be able to answer so-called band 8,9 questions anyway. Use skimming, scanning skills to find the relevant part of the text, analyze questions well. Underline the key words both in question statements and in the passage. If the key words in question and in the passage match with each other, you probably found the correct answer, pay attention to the meaning, not individual words, understand that text questions can paraphrase of what is written in the text, so pay attention to meaning. Transfer your answers immediately to the answer sheet if you feel you got them right because there is no extra time to transfer your answers in Reading test.

Writing - whatever the type of graph or essay is in the test day, feel confident in yourself, do not give up before the writing process starts. Just revise what you have learnt, it is much better to finish task 1 and task 2 then to leave it 'unfinished'. Do not start writing immediately, plan thoroughly before writing both tasks. Before writing task 1, understand the graph, find out the main features such as trends, differences or stages. Then simply paraphrase introduction, write a short overview, then write detail paragraphs with accurate data. Do not try to write in a complex language, keep it simple. When it comes to Task 2, plan the whole essay for 8-10 minutes, think about question, generate ideas, then sort out them. You do not need many ideas as you think, instead one main idea per paragraph is enough, instead extend, support and develop these ideas before reaching a clear conclusion. Do not use uncommon vocabulary if you don't know 100% how to use them, same with grammar. Keep it concise, work for quality, not quantity, do not forget to check your writing tasks at the end for minor mistakes such as spelling, subject-verb agreement, punctuation, and slips.

You have made it, congratulations. Now instead of bragging about how well you have done in the test day, stay calm, let the result speak for itself.

If you are still reading this article, let me talk about another types of tips which will be far more effective if you follow them. As I have said before, there is no shortcut to success nor magic formula to increase your band score in couple of days. For example: say you want to get 35+ correct answers in Listening and Reading tests, if you have never got these results when you did practice, do not expect to get such results on the test day. You do not magically outperform, candidates usually get what they have got in the last 4-5 tests. To be able to get 35 correct answers, you must learn from mistakes, improve your general English constantly and revise test tips for IELTS. Progress happens over a long time when you take action on a regular basis with effective study methods, so train with a qualified teacher. The same advice goes to Writing, if you don't practice writing consistently, do not expect a wonderful result, you will feel lost or anxious when you write only few essays before the test. If you practice writing and receive feedback from a teacher, work on your mistakes and get better from one essay to another. Finally, to be ready for Speaking test, you must speak in English a lot on a daily basis, do speaking practice under exam conditions. You should also not forget about improving your language skills and revise tips for Speaking part.

Last but not least, invest in yourself, do not be greedy, take a MOCK IELTS test in a place where teachers are professional and where atmosphere replicates the real exam conditions. The obvious benefits of MOCK IELTS are that you experience what a 3-hour exam feels like under real exam conditions and these tests can help you to find out your current band score. If you get a low band score and act on the feedback instead of blaming the test, you will be on your way to succeed in the real test. Remember "Hard in training, easy in battle.

I will be happy if this article helped you somehow to prepare for the test day better, remember The Key to Success in anything is achieved when you make efforts using effective methods CONSISTENTLY. Embrace your mistakes and learn from them. Best of luck from @IELTS_Journey team