International English Language Testing System IELTS is international standardised test of English language expertise for non-native English language speakers. It is mutually administered by Cambridge English Language Assessment, the British Council and IDP Education Pvt Ltd, and was established in 1989. IELTS major English-language tests in the world.
Practice Exam
At the starting of the course, start with a practice exam. This illustrates structure, timing suggestion and serious nature of study that student require accepting until the time of their exam. If student really wish to improve their score, then they actually require putting in effort. Students must also be provided honest feedback as to what their levels are.
Focus on their weak points
After practice test, you must have good idea of their weak points. IELTS test is divided into four parts: reading, speaking, listening and writing. While you must be teaching all aspects of test, focus on weak points. First go for the basics for if need, and practice of writing simple sentences if students make simple errors.
Structure
One of the big things about IELTS is that mainly questions are similar, and still they increase in level of difficulty throughout, they can all be written to structure. With writing tasks, make sure that students comprise all essential information in essay, like topic sentences, thesis statement, supporting ideas, well-constructed paragraphs and conclusion with no new information. For writing, one of our much-loved tasks is what we call Mini-Essay. Mini-Essay builds students skills by focusing on structure rather than overall content. Student should write the introduction, body paragraph and a conclusion.
Timing is everything!
After students have taught about structure of questions, it is significant that they learn to finish the tasks in set time limits. As questions in reading become more difficult, students must spend increasing length of time on questions. Such as IELTS reading task comprises three passages which become increasingly difficult. In place of spending 20 minutes on each, they must spend 15 minutes on first, 20 on second and 25 minutes on third.
PPP – Plan, Produce, Proof
Plan, Produce, Proof - these are the main part of writing section. By planning, student will reduce risk of writing any word which pops into their mind and stick to structure as set out in plan. Proof reading is also significant, as students will lose marks on grammar and spelling errors – one easy way to lose marks.
Listening tricks and tips
Apply some methods with listening. Students can look ahead at questions during the 1 minute and 30 second gap in listening exercises. This must give students a short sketch of what they are listening out for, like the topic and possible vocabulary involved. This must enable students to use their power of prediction. Also with listening, students must listen out very carefully to misspoken words. Example of this is where day, date or location is corrected by speaker. For instance, speaker might say ‘So, we will meet on Sunday, oh no.. Tuesday’. Students have to be cautious to put right information down, as sometimes they are sidetracked by first answer and do not hear correction.
Speaking
In speaking task one, students must give as much information as possible. This permits the student to illustrate their speaking skills by using wide amount of vocabulary. Even for closed questions, the student must provide as much information as possible.
Skim ‘n’ scan
When it comes to reading, timing plays a very important role. If student loses track of time, they can determine that they have five minutes to finish a whole reading exercise. The best method to keep timing to minimum is to skim and scan for reading. In skimming and scanning look for particular information, like dates, quotes, opinions, comparisons or anything which may be significant to article. Students must have quick look at questions, skim text for any significant information, then go back and scan for precise information as they reply questions. If student read passage word-for-word, they will never be able to complete reading task in time, so skimming and scanning are necessary for high score for reading section of test.
Practice
The final tip about IELTS test which the students should do to be successful is to practice as frequently as they can. Doing exercises and practice tests is helpful, but can lead to be exhausted over time. Students can also add strong understanding of grammatical structures, speaking and listening from broad range of media sources. Watching news must be able to aid students with vocabulary relating to science which might come up on reading test, while giving them with a range of various accents. Reading is a good method to improve speed of reading.