One thing I find when working with IELTS students – especially those who want band 7 and 8, is how often marks are lost because students just don’t read the instructions carefully or focus on the questions enough.
It’s quite tragic when I correct student’s listening and reading answers to find that they have lost marks NOT because they didn’t hear or they chose the wrong answer BUT simply because they didn’t pay attention to the instructions or the actual questions. The first rule in any exam is READ THE INSRUCTIONS CAREFULLY.
So how good are you at this. Here is a test – click the link and test yourself – you ONLY HAVE 3 MINUTES!
Can you follow directions?
How did you get on?
The point is that if you are looking for band 7 or 8 in IETS you cannot afford to make any silly mistakes and writing 3 words where the exercise asks for 1 or 2 is just throwing away points!!
Underline or circle the number of words you need and keep checking this to remind yourself.
Last time I spoke about key words – when you have chosen these then stay with them and keep checking back when you have found the place – over 90% of mistakes in reading in my experience are down to not using all the keywords that you have underlined.
In listening you simply haven’t got time for these mistakes – it all goes too fast so be prepared well use your time wisely and keep really focused on everything you have circled or underlined to help you. If these are the right choices then they WILL find you the correct answer. If they are NOT the right choices then you need to learn how to make sure you get the right keywords. Without these you are making life very hard for yourself.
Please don’t give away points senselessly – read carefully and check constantly.
