Being focused and doing regular practice is what will get you the score you want in your IELTS. If you are finding it difficult to keep focused, then read on as Iam going to share some simple steps that can help you to do just that.
I'm sure most of you heard about the death of Queen Elizabeth in September of this year. If you saw any of the footage, you would have seen that it was quite a huge national event. The reason I'm mentioning the Queen is because, as you also probably know, she was a queen for 70 years, which is one of the longest reigns ever in the world. Furthermore, for most people here, she was the only monarch we ever knew. When she was 21 years of age, she made a public pledge saying she would offer her service to all her people for as long as she lived. She lived to the age of 96 and she was still working just two days before her death. So, it was a pledge that she kept for a very long time and it showed a lot of dedication. She was not perfect, there were things during her reign that, she was criticised for, but she kept very focused on her role and on how she could best fulfil that role and that focus on dedication resulted in the love of her people.
I am not suggesting you spend 70 years doing your IELTS and this story is a bit of a leap to IELTS but her focus and dedication achieved success.
I do believe that you also need a good amount of dedication and focus if you want to succeed in your IELTS exam and this is borne out by my experience of working with IELTS students for over 25 years. I know that those who are successful, were also dedicated and focused so they achieved what they wanted.
Just this morning I was in a training session of my own and I learned something quite interesting, that focus stands for
Follow
One
Course
Until
Successful
I think that's really a good encapsulation of what focus means.
The course that you follow doesn't necessarily mean my course or a course at your local IELTS centre. It means a commitment to a way of study. It means sticking with the programme – doing it day in, day out to get to your success.
To help you do that, here are three simple little things that you can do to make sure that you stay on track for your IELTS exam.
Remember, IELTS is not a lottery. It isn’t going to be “your turn next”. In a conversation just this morning, a student planning to take the IELTS next month, told me that he had just taken it 2 weeks ago - achieved Band 5 but needed 7. To rush into another IELTS test when you are so far away from your goal would seem to me nothing but a waste of money.
You make IELTS happen through good preparation and practice.
Here are my 3 simple tips for good FOCUS
- Have a plan - a proper plan for your IELTS practice and preparation. More importantly, stick to the plan. So here are the simple things you can do.
- Create a plan that fits in with your lifestyle. If you have a busy work life and a family, you're not going to be able to do 5 hours a day - but you might be able to do half an hour or an hour a day.
- At the end of the week, evaluate what you've done, what was successful and what was not, then write down what you need to do the next week to improve and to move your scores on.
- If you want, I have a ready-made plan you can use, which I can let you have - just email me.
- Avoid distraction. I know that can be difficult - you get distracted by work or through family commitments. You might have family who keep dropping in on you, or children who keep disturbing you. I have four children myself and I'm one of six children, so I understand! However, if you want your score, if this is part of your plan for your future (and your family too), you must give yourself time to prepare properly.
- Make it known to those people that between 07:00 and 08:00 or 08:00 and 09:00 you are studying. Ask them not to disturb you at that time. I have plenty of students who send me work and when I ask them, how long it took they cannot tell me because they did it around cooking meals, playing with their children or being in the office. Timing is important in IELTS so you actually need to know hao long things are taking to complete.
- Another student told me that he always sat in his car to do his IELTS practice as a way of avoiding distraction and it really worked (his result was band 8.5 with 9 in reading). Find ways to do it that work for you.
- Write a note on the on the door, please do not disturb. Make it a rule that between this time and that time you are not available because you are preparing for your IELTS. Somebody else can deal with things.
- Don't go chasing shiny new objects. That means the latest website, the latest comment, the latest Facebook group. Yes, it's good to join lots of things if it helps, but the more you do that, the more distracted and perhaps confused you might become. Language changes but not to the extent that you need to keep chasing new ways of learning. Learning a new language is pretty much the same process as it always has been - remember, Follow One Course Until Successful.
- Find a course or a teacher or a group or a website that you feel that is good for you. You like it, you trust it, and you feel comfortable with the way it helps you to practise and stay with it.
- Don't just jump on another one because it promises the earth.
- Remember, teaching and learning is a two-way process, so don't be afraid to ask for what you need from your teachers. Most teachers are there to help and support you. If you don’t feel supported then find a teacher who will do this and stay with them. If you have found your ideal website or your ideal teacher or your ideal group, don't jump ship - stay with it.
In my experience, which is long, those students who kept going despite ups and downs were the ones who were successful. They just kept focused and in the end, they were all successful.