How to Improve IELTS | IELTS Learning Tips

10 Ways to be a Terrific Language Student

I have spent decades teaching students English. Over the years, I have learned just as much from them as they have from me. One thing that has always fascinated me is how they approach the process of language learning. Here are ten practices that I have noticed over the years from truly terrific language learners:Do make […]

Over-Confident and Under Prepared – IELTS Case Study

This IELTS student was a doctor, Karam, who was from Syria. He had been living in the UK for some time and was very fluent in spoken English. He had spent some time at school in the UK so his English skills were quite polished.When I first met Karam he was about to take the […]

Are you paying too much IELTS Tax?

I was speaking to 3 students earlier in the week who had all taken the IELTS more than 3 times and were feeling very frustrated about their situation. Two of them had had to defer their university place twice and the other was looking to relocate to Canada and had been trying to do this […]

What vocabulary do I need for IELTS Band 7 and 8?

I saw these sentences the other day from potential IELTS Band 7 students:It is disagreed that increasing the availability of public transport will reduce pollution significantly. Analysing both the views, the essay will delineate the reasons behind why governments ought to contribute more money to the problem of drug dealing. It is also predicted that […]

How to choose an Online IELTS Course?

They come in all kinds of shapes and sizes and generally you get what you pay for. Free courses – these will generally be more of a ‘taster’. Quite a few teachers offer free help (especially during any lockdown when they are not working) which is good of them but once they return to their jobs […]

How long are you prepared to wait to get your IELTS Band?

A teacher friend of mine told me about a student of his who had just passed her IELTS. She was very happy as you can imagine and can now process her papers to move to Canada. However, although she finally got her score (7), it took her 6 years to get it! Six whole years and […]

5 Reasons why you should get support from a teacher for your IELTS

1.Band 7 and 8 is not easy to achieve. Here are the statistics:Over 3.5 million people take IELTS in a yearThe average test score worldwide is Band 6 Most universities ask for 6.5 or 7Most professional bodies require Band 7.5Most immigration departments ask for 8Therefore a lot of people who want Band 7 and above […]

Thinking in English

At this point in your life you may be totally focused on just passing the IELTS that you will say, “Berni! How can I even think about thinking in English! It is too much!” But I wanted to tell you some of my experiences with learning a foreign language and give you something to aim for. […]

Nurturing your English language and IELTS skills

I’ve just been planting bulbs in the garden with my husband. We do this every year in October and November. Last year we planted a lot, almost 2,000 – daffodils, tulips, hyacinths, iris – so many different varieties. We planned where they would go, we even tried to coordinate the colours, flowering time and their heights […]

Short and Sweet – take a little positive IELTS action each day

I’m talking a lot about practice and the best way to prepare at the moment and I have been speaking to a few IELTS students recently who tell me that they are finding it hard to get motivated. Some of these are students who were previously working maybe 4 or 5 hours on their IELTS […]

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