I have been speaking to lots of IELTS students over the past two weeks and I have been very surprised by how many of them trust their IELTS result to fate.
They go into the exam hoping that this time it will be 'their turn' to get their band. As strategies go this is probably among the worst you can use as there is no strategy - just a blind hopefulness and hope is rarely a good strategy without at least some certainty. Furthermore, repeating the same thing over and over will yield the same results (and is, according to Einstein, the definition of madness!).
I spoke to Mohamed who has taken the test 4 times and always got the same result of Band 6. I asked him about his preparation and he told me that he had just been doing the same things for this test that he had done for the past 4 so, by the law of averages, he will most likely get the same result. I also spoke to Marie, she took the exam 2 months ago and got band 5.5. She needs at least Band 7 and would prefer Band 8 to achieve her dream of moving to Australia. To move from Band 5.5 to Band 8 will take much, much longer than 2 months yet she believes that this time will be her lucky chance. Words like 'hope' and 'luck' should not really be in your IELTS vocabulary. These beliefs will not get you to your band score. To get a high band like 7 or 8 what you need most is skill -skill in English language and skill in applying those language skills to the tasks in the exam.
In my discussions with these two students I discovered that Mohamed had really good skills in English but he was not applying these well to the IELTS test and so needed to understand exactly how to use his language correctly to fulfill all the requirements of the IELTS Test. In a nutshell, he needed to do more dedicated IELTS practice and learn some IELTS strategies.
Marie, on the other hand, was lacking basic language skills especially in speaking and writing. She made lots of grammar errors and her sentence structures were not wholly correct. She also had problems with pronunciation and speaking fluently. For her the remedy was to improve her general English skills through more speaking and general language practice before trying the exam again.
IELTS students don't like to hear this but it's tough love. To keep taking the exam using a strategy of 'hope' and 'crossed fingers' is a route to wasting money and despondency and I meet many students in this state. Money and time can both run out and I am certain that you don't want to lose your chance to get your IELTS Band and move on to your new life just because you rushed into the exam too fast and too often.
If you want to avoid this then I’d love to speak to you about your IELTS and how you can make sure that next time will be the last time.
Just tell me something about your IELTS here:
https://ieltslearningtips.com/breakthrough/
And book a time to speak to me on my timetable.
I’m taking new students in September and I’d love one of them to be YOU.