Tips and Preparations for IELTS Exam – The Dos and Don’ts

IELTS, TOEFL or SAT exams well known and is world recognize such as universities, global companies, immigration authorities and governments.   Malaysian students need to sit for it before they can enter abroad such as Australia, UK or the US to continue their studies. Below is a list, listing the dos and don’ts for the benefit of the students who intending to sit of these exams.  Cambridge ESOL, British Council and IDP are the three global organizations who are managing IELTS, which is well known as the international English Language Testing System. This exam is set to test the candidate’s English proficiency and specially designed to set at a global standard of English skills assessments.

1. The IELTS exam is divided into two formats, academic and general. Students and professional workers who are planning to work and study abroad in a English speaking countries should sit for the academic exam format while the general format is specially  designed for the one who planning to migrate or joining the non-academic trainings abroad. We are looking at the point of student so let us talk about the academic format. There are four aspects that this format covers, listening, reading, writing and speaking.

Listening, reading and writing will be held on the same day while the speaking will be held within seven days after the first three. Below are the parts according to the time and questions:
a) Listening consist of 4 sections with 40 questions to be completed in 30 minutes
b) Reading consist of 3 section with 60 questions to be completed in 60 minutes
c) Writing consists of two essays where the first part with a minimum 150 words where else second part with a minimum 25o words.
d) Speaking will be 11 to 14 minutes a qualified examiner will be present in the face-to-face oral test, which consists of three sections.

Student who will be sitting for this IELTS exam should be aware of the dates, time and venue of the exams. This is very important, as this will help them in choosing the nearest exam centers to their convenient. There are many centers in Malaysia and all the centers will be in British Council halls in various states such as Kuala Lumpur, Selangor, Penang, Johor, Perak, Melaka,Terengganu, Kota Kinabalu and Kuching. This is because British Council is the sole organizer to handle his exam in Malaysia.

There are many website, which give you the opportunity to try to test out and feel how the exam will be and taste of the exam, format, which you can download free.  Besides this, you can enroll yourself to the online course on this IELTS that is known as “Road to IELTS”. There are more than 300 sample questions, video Tutorial and exam practices available in this online course, which you can practice and familiarize with the exam. IESLTS is a language exam, which means you need to learn memories many vocabulary and learn grammars yourself. Flash can be a benefit to broaden your memorization skills and try to intake at least 10 wards daily which can be added to your vocabulary. Besides this, in this modern technology world you can download the entire educational app into your smart phone such as 10 great, free apps that can help students in their studies.

The other very important thing you should remember and make sure registering and paying the exam fee is on time. This is because this exam is limited to numbers and it is first come first served. The registration should be followed with the fee payments as without payment there is not guaranteed on your seats.  The fee is RM610 for this exam if you taking in Malaysia and will be slightly more if you go through agents.

Next when you are going for the exam do not forget your examination ID, Identification Card (IC) or passport because verification process will take place before you enter the examination hall. You will be barred from entering the exam hall if you do not produce your IC. Besides this, stationeries such as pen, pencil and eraser only can be taken in. Hand phones are not allowed and you should switch off and place it in a designated area. If you are caught with your hand phones, you will be immediately disqualified from taking the exam.

Resting and having relaxed mind before entering the examination hall should be treated as main priority. You need the fresh mind and body as any other exams so you can be energized and concentrate to give full attention to the questions. Eating and having a good night sleep will help you to wake up early, be fresh, and be early to exam all this is to avoid any traffic jams and be late for the exam . Be calm during exam and always be alert of the time and try to complete all the questions if possible.

Hope all the dos and don’ts illustrated above will give some ideas and understanding about IELTS on how to prepare before and during an exam. Be sure that u have practices and tried all the samples and plan well before hand. As a saying says, ‘Failing to plan is planning to fail’!