Are exam practice and exam preparation the same thing? I'd say they are not. Preparation for any test should involve more than just exam practice. What else do you do, apart from test practice, to prepare for the IELTS exam?
Comments
You can follow this conversation by subscribing to the comment feed for this post.
For improving my listening and speaking, i usually listen english talks. I found Www.ted.com really a good source for preparing for these 2 tasks of ielts.
For me , I'm trying to cover all common topics.so I'm basically focusing on the writing section , in fact it's the only section that I'm working on and my exam is set for the next July.
I tried to watch English TV series, YouTube and listened to English songs. Basically I let myself expose to English in a more interesting way. Doing some physical exercise helps to maintain my energy level and increase my enthusiasm too.
for my IELTS preparation I tend to listening to BBC and TED as much as I can, for reading I tend to read newspapers or other topics which are interest me. but i don't know how to prepare my speaking test actually.
Hi,
Spending the time to Prepare a big test as a ielts is a essential stage in a period to practice test. I usually spent about 30 minutes every day to knowledge english.This is followed by some website to learn english
- http://www.ted.com/talks (for litening and speaking)
- http://www.bbc.com/news (for reading)
Hi, I want to practice and improve my speaking skills. Kindly add me, if anyone is interested in spending 30 minutes everyday for practicing speaking module on Skype.
My skype id: sriam255
Hi, I listen TED too ,read newspaper ,watch series, but I don't know how work with the new vocabulary in these, sometime it is too precise and some are not even in the dictionary. Any advice?
Hi,
My way to learn a new word,i will note with a phrase including this word make me easy to remember
for example: "preicse"==>"a precise detail"
As other way, you can replace the familiar synonym word.^^
in my point of view, the preparation is one who are studying English in general, such as listen to BBC , watching the TV, and reading the Newspaper. while, one who are registed the date for IELTS. so that one are foced on his or her weakend section to practiced a lot as much as he/she can because of under the time presssure.
I personally believes that preparation and practice both are totally different ways to approach exam. Preparation is something you teach yourself how to correct your mistakes, like in writing preparation would be how to write an Introduction or Conclusion, while practice would be writing the whole task1 or 2 in an allocated time limit. Similarly, reading preparation could be reading articles, newspapers or blogs, while practice would be to solve real tests papers. Another example of preparation in writing could be reading vocabulary or grammar books to overcome these issues in real test.
In conclusion, although both are essential skills, preparation is more important because it's the only way to significantly improve the band score.
Thanks for your ebook and extra materials! I have a problem playing the videos on your website, I can open them and even see the video pages, but they just can not play. I am living in China. What do you think the problem would be?
One advice I would like to give for reading passages. It's really important to read a lot. When you are not used to reading your brain gets exhausted after reading just one paragraph and after that you will be reading but not actually grasping the knowledge or the concept. But once you start getting tuned up, your speed increases and you are absorbing more information each time than before. Here in this scenario I think practice is the key. Read anything you get your hands on. When you can read quickly with understanding then you can have more time to go through the questions and find the answers. I have found that all the questions are not just paraphrased sentences from the paragraphs. Some questions need your understanding and grasping the essence of it which can only be done if you can read, understand and absorb quickly. Like giving a heading e.g., you can't if you don't understand the point conveyed in each paragraphs and also the true/false/NG questions can be quite tricky at times.
It's been a long time for me not study English. I think that the appropriate way for me is to improve my foundation of English, that is, to do a lot practice. Everyday, I am going to read newspapers, novels, listen to Ted talks and memorize the words. I will rotate all sorts of thing day to day so that I can improve my foundation of English.
For improving my listening and speaking, i usually listen english talks. I found Www.ted.com really a good source for preparing for these 2 tasks of ielts.
Posted by: sm usman | May 10, 2015 at 09:59
Hello everyone,
For me , I'm trying to cover all common topics.so I'm basically focusing on the writing section , in fact it's the only section that I'm working on and my exam is set for the next July.
Posted by: Malek harrachi | May 10, 2015 at 11:06
Dear Simon,
I thought that it's good to do practice and preparation in the same time, you will notice massive progress in your skills .
Posted by: Bishoy | May 10, 2015 at 11:16
Anybody before practice should be preparation something to do
Posted by: majid | May 10, 2015 at 11:41
Sir,please advice something about ielts exam.
Posted by: choity mondal | May 10, 2015 at 15:00
I tried to watch English TV series, YouTube and listened to English songs. Basically I let myself expose to English in a more interesting way. Doing some physical exercise helps to maintain my energy level and increase my enthusiasm too.
Posted by: Carmen Tam | May 10, 2015 at 16:08
Without practice preparation is nothing.
Posted by: monir | May 10, 2015 at 17:55
for my IELTS preparation I tend to listening to BBC and TED as much as I can, for reading I tend to read newspapers or other topics which are interest me. but i don't know how to prepare my speaking test actually.
Posted by: tian | May 11, 2015 at 05:47
Hi.,
I'm prepare IELTS How plan and prepare of exams so please say some tips
Posted by: peraiah | May 11, 2015 at 08:01
In preparation, you should prepare let say a hundred topics, but in the test you are just asked let say ten topics.
Posted by: herry | May 11, 2015 at 08:38
Hi,
Spending the time to Prepare a big test as a ielts is a essential stage in a period to practice test. I usually spent about 30 minutes every day to knowledge english.This is followed by some website to learn english
- http://www.ted.com/talks (for litening and speaking)
- http://www.bbc.com/news (for reading)
Posted by: abc | May 11, 2015 at 10:10
Hi, I want to practice and improve my speaking skills. Kindly add me, if anyone is interested in spending 30 minutes everyday for practicing speaking module on Skype.
My skype id: sriam255
Posted by: Amit | May 11, 2015 at 16:10
hii abc, this websites are very useful. Thanks for the information.
Posted by: SB | May 11, 2015 at 17:57
Hi amit I am interested in speaking as my test is in june my Skype is :Najlae Boukbir
Posted by: nina | May 11, 2015 at 21:55
Hi, I listen TED too ,read newspaper ,watch series, but I don't know how work with the new vocabulary in these, sometime it is too precise and some are not even in the dictionary. Any advice?
Posted by: Sandy | May 12, 2015 at 08:27
Hi,
My way to learn a new word,i will note with a phrase including this word make me easy to remember
for example: "preicse"==>"a precise detail"
As other way, you can replace the familiar synonym word.^^
Posted by: abc | May 12, 2015 at 09:35
in my point of view, the preparation is one who are studying English in general, such as listen to BBC , watching the TV, and reading the Newspaper. while, one who are registed the date for IELTS. so that one are foced on his or her weakend section to practiced a lot as much as he/she can because of under the time presssure.
Posted by: good | May 13, 2015 at 05:24
I personally believes that preparation and practice both are totally different ways to approach exam. Preparation is something you teach yourself how to correct your mistakes, like in writing preparation would be how to write an Introduction or Conclusion, while practice would be writing the whole task1 or 2 in an allocated time limit. Similarly, reading preparation could be reading articles, newspapers or blogs, while practice would be to solve real tests papers. Another example of preparation in writing could be reading vocabulary or grammar books to overcome these issues in real test.
In conclusion, although both are essential skills, preparation is more important because it's the only way to significantly improve the band score.
Posted by: Toxic | May 14, 2015 at 10:38
Thanks for sharing your preparation ideas guys!
Posted by: Simon | May 15, 2015 at 10:45
Hi Simon,
Thanks for your ebook and extra materials! I have a problem playing the videos on your website, I can open them and even see the video pages, but they just can not play. I am living in China. What do you think the problem would be?
Casey
Posted by: Casey Wang | May 15, 2015 at 16:27
One advice I would like to give for reading passages. It's really important to read a lot. When you are not used to reading your brain gets exhausted after reading just one paragraph and after that you will be reading but not actually grasping the knowledge or the concept. But once you start getting tuned up, your speed increases and you are absorbing more information each time than before. Here in this scenario I think practice is the key. Read anything you get your hands on. When you can read quickly with understanding then you can have more time to go through the questions and find the answers. I have found that all the questions are not just paraphrased sentences from the paragraphs. Some questions need your understanding and grasping the essence of it which can only be done if you can read, understand and absorb quickly. Like giving a heading e.g., you can't if you don't understand the point conveyed in each paragraphs and also the true/false/NG questions can be quite tricky at times.
Posted by: Dr Sonya | September 10, 2015 at 09:10
Hi Simon,
It's been a long time for me not study English. I think that the appropriate way for me is to improve my foundation of English, that is, to do a lot practice. Everyday, I am going to read newspapers, novels, listen to Ted talks and memorize the words. I will rotate all sorts of thing day to day so that I can improve my foundation of English.
Posted by: Florella | May 21, 2017 at 02:40