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I am too scared to practise my IELTS
IELTS phobia is not funny and it is a genuine fear for some people.
If you find that when you start a reading or listening that you can’t concentrate or you begin to panic as soon as you sit down and you easily get lost and the more you try the worse it seems to get the you may be too stressed about the exam. Or perhaps you are anxious about even opening the book and getting started – some of my students get this feeing. The key thing is that all of this is counter-productive and in this state you will not be able to perform well and the more you push yourself the worse it may get.
What can you do?
Firstly make sure you know what is causing this to happen. It’s likely that you have taken the exam a few times and not got the score you are looking for. It’s also generally the case that the exam is really important for you and you are stuck in some way until you get the score you need. This could be your career, it could be moving to another country to join loved ones or start a new life or it could be a scholarship that you have been awarded and cannot take up without a particular IELTS band. You will probably be looking for a very high score such as 7.5 overall or band 7 or 8 in each part. Be aware that these scores are difficult to attain and that you must perform well in all parts of the exam on one day. This is tough, acknowledge this. The fact that you have not managed to achieve this score yet has nothing to do with your ability to do your job, be a great asset to country you are moving too or get a fantastic degree. It simply means that you need more steps or more time to get everything to a level where you can achieve the band you are looking for.
Be aware also that learning a language to the level you need for your band 7 and 8 IELTS is no easy task. We spend the first 7 years of our lives learning our own language and that’s before we start to read and write well! This puts it into perspective. Learning a language really well takes time and dedication.
Get some space.
Try to have a ‘holiday’ from IELTS for a little while if you can. That doesn’t mean don’t study, just don’t do test practice. Read some articles, watch some TED talks or listen to some radio programmes – do English but not IELTS. This is all very important for your language level and this is why on my IELTS courses I give students lots of non IELTS listening and reading to do – this stretches your English even more and you may just find after doing this that IELTS will seem easier.
Getting some distance (but not too much or your skills will slip) from the exam will help you to put it in perspective.
Stop just going through tests and stop watching the clock. Take just one reading passage (the one you find the most challenging) and really focus on getting all the answers correct however long it takes you. Do the same with listening.
Do something practical
Taking stock of where you are and what is still causing problems is the best way of moving forward.
- Which part(s) of the test is causing problems? (reading, writing etc)
- Which part of this is making you lose marks (YNNG, maps, task 1 etc.)
- Go through your previous practice – are your scores higher where these types of exercise are not present? If you hate YNNG and get three of these in one test then your score will probably be lower and if there is only one you may find the score is higher
- Now review or find out the techniques for doing this type of exercise (there are lots of online sites where you can find this information). Unless you conquer this exercise you cannot move forward.
- Do this for every type of exercise that is causing a problem
Now, two things will happen to you if you do this:
- You will be so focused on your work that you will forget to panic
- You will improve your performance on this exercise type and this should improve your score
By taking control of your IELTS in this way you will boost your confidence and you should fine that IELTS phobia starts to go away.
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