7炸心得（14楼开始有文件共享）

halleybachelor

My Learning Experience Before I Got 7 in Each of the Four Modules of IELTS

I am presenting this thread in English despite the fact that I am bound to make grammar mistakes, misuse words and expressions or blurt out Chinglish. In addition, it will take me far more time than writing in Chinese. However, what I want to say is that, in order to improve our written and spoken English, it is necessary to walk ourselves into trouble.

Actually, I am far less qualified to give you advice on how to get a band 7 than many others on this forum. As you can see from the scores of my each test, it took me 20 months to improve from 6.5 to 7 in both writing and speaking, which pales in comparison with those who achieved this goal within half a year or even less time. Some candidates even improved their writing and speaking test scores from 5.5 to 7 within an amazingly short period of time.

However, I still want to share my experience with those who are also struggling with the nightmare of getting 6.5 over and over again or failing to get 7 in writing and speaking at the same time. As I have learned a lot from the threads posted on this forum by others who got 4 7s before me, I feel obliged to contribute something, valuable or not, to the forum in return.

My band scores of the 13 IELTS tests are as follows:
29/11/2013 L8 R8.5 W6.5 S6.5 (Band scores remained unchanged after remarking)
15/03/2014 L8 R9 W6.5 S6.5
21/06/2014 L7.5 R7.5 W7 S6
09/08/2014 L7.5 R9 W6 S6
21/11/2014 L8 R8.5 W7.5 S6.5 (Band scores remained unchanged after remarking)
07/02/2015 L8 R8.5 W6.5 S6
21/03/2015 L7.5 R8 W6.5 S6.5
11/04/2015 L8.5 R8 W6.5 S6.5 -> L8.5 R8 W6.5 S7.5
30/05/2015 L8.5 R9 W7 S6.5 -> L8.5 R9 W7.5 S6.5
13/06/2015 L7.5 R9 W6.5 S6.5 -> L7.5 R9 W7 S6.5
11/07/2015 L9 R8.5 W6.5 S6 -> L9 R8.5 W7.5 S6
25/07/2015 L8.5 R8 W6.5 S7.5 (Band scores remained unchanged after remarking)
08/08/2015 L8.5 R8.5 W7 S7

Never stopping reading

In my opinion, for adults learning English as a foreign language, reading is a skill on which each of the other English language skills are based. Without understanding words, expressions and sentences written on paper, we are unlikely to understand those spoken by people, not to mention writing and speaking ourselves. Therefore, whether you want to improve your band score in reading or other modules of IELTS, you should never stop reading, which is what I have been doing for more than 2 years.

I read the Economist almost every week. Every Friday I download the latest issue of this magazine using Calibre (http://calibre-ebook.com/) and send it to my Kindle. I do not want to talk too much about the benefits of reading with a Kindle, but it is a device that has helped me more than other things with my English learning. I have read more than 100 issues of the Economists and 10 English novels with it, all for free. In terms of the Economist, I do not read from cover to cover as I did the first time since it is a mission impossible to finish reading it within a week at my current reading speed. Moreover, I am only interested in 30% of the topics in this magazine. Therefore, I only choose 4-5 articles to read for each issue. During my reading, I highlight sentences I find useful so that I can review them and use the expressions in my writing. Please note that I highlight sentences rather than words and expressions because I am more likely to know how to use them when reviewing them in sentences. Sometimes I also export the highlights to Evernote so that I can review them on my smart phone at any time.

halleybachelor

Write as many essays as you can

Your writing level is unlikely to improve until you have written a sufficient number of essays. Don’t just read or memorize model answers to IELTS writing tasks because your writing will never be like those unless you actually write something yourself.

Writing even one more essay requires great determination. Most of us find it difficult to start writing an essay without being pressed to do so. I, for one, often stare at a piece of paper for half an hour with my brain completely blank. Also, it took me months to pluck up the courage to start writing this thread. Yet this kind of determination and courage is crucial to putting an end to our journey to band 7.

I had written about 150 essays, all of which are writing task 2, before my last IELTS test. In the first three months, I spent 2-3 hours on each essay and I was greatly concerned with my writing speed. After writing more than 30 essays, I was able to reduce the time spent on one essay to 45-55 minutes, which was still a bit too slow. It was not until I finished my 130th essay that I at last succeeded in writing every essay within 40 minutes with the best ideas, structures and word choices I could have. Before that, I just scribbled down anything that came to my mind in the real test in an attempt to finish the writing within the time limit.

The ideal length of time for writing an essay is 35-38 minutes. For one, you can leave 2-5 minutes to double check grammar and spelling errors. For another, that is how you make the best of your time working out ideas and structures and choosing words carefully, since you are unlikely to have time to rewrite even a sentence after finishing the essay.

If you lack ideas, please visit http://idebate.org/debatabase, where you can find loads of topics with pros and cons similar to IELTS essays. It is a place not only to get ideas, but also to learn expressions used by native speakers in essays. I also take advantage of this website to practice writing. Firstly, I find a topic which is very likely to be an IELTS writing task 2, read all the points through and highlight sentences I find useful. Then I rewrite the points I can remember with my own words. At last, I compare my essay with the original paragraphs and replace my low level expressions with high level ones. In this way I gradually upgrade my word choices in essays. But remember it takes quite a long period of time before you can use these expressions with ease.

halleybachelor

Have your essays proofread

Asking someone to proofread and mark your essays is an essential part of your writing practice. Writing without being marked only makes you more complacent with the increasing number of your essays.

Essays you write and take pride in are likely to be full of mistakes. Every Chinese student has gone through the dull and fruitless process of English grammar learning and thus holds the notion that native speakers do not give a damn about it. However, believe it or not, using correct grammar is the key to getting a high band score in writing. As I notice from the way the markers from IELTSBLOG give scores to my essays, the score of each essay is in reverse proportion to the number of grammar mistakes I make.

I once thought I had grasped every rule of grammar after the painstaking learning of it in my high school. Unfortunately, it is not the case when it comes to IELTS writing. With marked essays piling up in my hard drive, I found that I do not have the faintest notion of some simplest grammar rules. For example, I do not know when to put an article before a noun and which article I should use, and I do not know whether I should use the plural or single form of a noun. These are the most common mistakes I have made in my essays. I have asked a couple of native speakers for advice on these grammar rules, but it seems that these rules are too tricky for them to give a clear explanation, and the use of this kind of grammar rules are just their second nature. I believe nothing other than more reading and writing can be the solution to this.

Collocation is something I had never heard of before I started learning how to write an IELTS essay. And another common mistake for Chinese students is to ignore the importance of collocations. You must be very careful about the combination of words when writing because many combinations you figure out yourself are very likely to be incorrect. Some teachers recommend using a corpus, such as http://corpus.byu.edu/coca/ and http://www.webcorp.org.uk/live/, but I find them not so easy to use. Instead, I think a collocation dictionary is enough for us to write IELTS essays. Whenever you are using a collocation you have never used before, check it out in a collocation dictionary. Never use it until it is clearly stated in the dictionary. However, you are still likely to write incorrect collocations without being aware of them. That is another reason for which we use essay correction services.

When it comes to choosing correction services, I would like to say there are no perfect ones. I have more than 70 of my essays corrected and marked with IELTSBLOG. It is much cheaper compared with other service providers and it is helpful for those who are mostly concerned with grammar and collocation mistakes. Yet teachers there never give advice on ideas and essay structures. For those who know John, the independent Australian online tutor who sometimes appears on this forum, having him correct your essays is also a good idea, especially when you buy his speaking classes as well. He is kind enough to explain to you all the corrections in detail in his speaking classes.

For those who are pinched for money, http://lang-8.com/ is worth a try, where many native speakers are willing to correct your essays in return for your help improving their Chinese.

halleybachelor

Prepare for part 2 topics in speaking

Speaking is my weakest part in IELTS. Even after taking the test so many times, I cannot guarantee a band 7 if I take another one. The first time I got my score increased from 6.5 to 7.5 after remarking, I somewhat supposed it to be a fluke. Nevertheless, I did believe that my level of spoken English, after more than one year’s practice, had improved compared with the first time I took the test in 2013, so I was confused by the fact that most of my scores in speaking still lingered between 6 and 6.5.

I practiced my spoken English mainly by preparing for part 2 topics. I believe it is the most effective and productive way for candidates whose band scores are below 7. Unless you are particularly articulate, you are unlikely to continue talking for two minutes about a topic presented to you only one minute ago, especially for candidates like me, who are unable to continue talking for two minutes even in my native language. Believe it or not, the one-minute preparation is totally useless for me because my mind often goes completely blank.

I prepared for more than 50 part 2 topics before I took my first test. I wrote the answers down and memorized them according to the advice of an online tutor. Taken aback by the enormous number of them, I did not prepare any part 1 and part 3 questions. However, the part 2 topic I had in my first test was not among what I had prepared for. Fortunately, I was quick-minded enough to respond to it with an answer I prepared for another topic by revising it slightly. The band score of the test was 6.5 as expected, but I learned the strategy of combining topics as a result, putting an end to the struggle with the continually increasing number of topics after every three months.

As time moved on, I started to learn retelling my answers instead of reciting them. This made my answers sound more natural and narrowed the gap between my spoken English level in part 2 and part 3 as appeared to the examiner. Whatever topic I was given, I could begin talking without considering it for a second.

I admire those who practice speaking by themselves because I felt extremely awkward every time I was doing it. Even if I managed to talk to a mirror for a while, some stray thought quickly came to me, leaving me losing the drive to go on talking. I found it helpless to practice speaking without a pressing situation. Therefore, I had no choice but to ask someone to speak with me in English.

I have had speaking classes with online tutors, most of whom were Filipinos, for more than 200 hours. Some people may think that I have squandered a lot of money, but it is necessary for me to spend so much money on it since I am so slow to warm up when it comes to the progress in speaking. Apart from practicing IELTS topics, sometimes it is also an enjoyable experience to talk to someone so far away from you from a totally different cultural background.

http://livemocha.com/ is a language exchange website where you are able to find native speakers to speak with free of charge. I tried to use it, but could not get the hang of it. I hope some of you may find it helpful.

halleybachelor

Think twice before you believe in myths

I would like to dispel some myths although it will have a very small impact on your score. However, you may feel freer to write or speak without these restrictions created by amateur IELTS teachers other than the official providers of IELTS.

Here are some of the myths I have heard about writing:

NEVER USE I OR WE. You can find plenty of examples of using I or WE in Cambridge sample essays.

NEVER USE ADMITTEDLY. I have spotted this word in a couple of articles in the Economist and in a book written by L.G. Alexander, who is the author of New Concept English.

AVOID USING BIG WORDS. Advanced words can effectively enhance your writings. If you know exactly how to use these words correctly, please feel free to replace low level words in your writings with them.

To become less affected by these myths, please visit http://ielts-simon.com as often as you can, where you can find plenty of really valuable advice from this former IELTS examiner, such as this: http://ielts-simon.com/ielts-hel ... e-fluctuations.html

Apply for remarking

Many candidates believe that examiners tend to give a lower score when they could give a higher one in marking writing and speaking tests. I have the same feeling after taking the test so many times, especially when I got my scores improved for four times after remarking. The word goes that examiners are quite reserved in giving a score above 7 for a writing or speaking test, which will be re-examined by a senior examiner to see if they have given a higher score than the candidate deserves. I do not know if there is any truth to it, but senior examiners seemed more generous when they remarked my tests.

Therefore, applying for remarking is always worth a try when you feel that your tests are underrated. It is highly recommended particularly when you get a lower score than what you have got in your last test. I applied for remarking 7 times and had my 1000 yuan remarking fee back 4 times. It is not all about money, but when you are so close to your target, any attempt is likely to surprise you with the result you have been dreaming of.

wanshibugong

感谢分享！

oijen

You are extremely powerful 2 0.5s rising by 20 months

halleybachelor

oijen 发表于 7-1-2016 20:02
You are extremely powerful 2 0.5s rising by 20 months

I'll take it as a compliment.

halleybachelor

updated

halleybachelor

updated

无脚鸟

LZ, you really worked hard to get all 7s.  You are my model.
I believe that you could overcome any difficulties in Australia since you had such experience. Fighting and good luck!

halleybachelor

To 无脚鸟：

Thanks! But it is supposed that the life in Australia will be far more challenging than IELTS.

halleybachelor

Finished

halleybachelor

Time to share something I have collected during my preparation for IELTS:

1.Side by Side, books for improving spoken grammar, recommended by Chris Green, who created http://ielts-yasi.englishlab.net/.

链接：http://pan.baidu.com/s/1o75oK9G 密码：j7fl

halleybachelor

2.For and Against: An Oral Practice Book for Advanced Students of English, written by L.G. Alexander, the author of New Concept English. It is a book full of ideas and expressions that can be used for writing and speaking.
链接：http://pan.baidu.com/s/1nuiqjKt 密码：kkw0

wanshibugong

halleybachelor 发表于 26-1-2016 14:51
Time to share something I have collected during my preparation for IELTS:

1.Side by Side, books f ...

Thank you for your sharing file, however, Side by Side is empty.

halleybachelor

wanshibugong 发表于 29-1-2016 12:34
Thank you for your sharing file, however, Side by Side is empty.

What do you mean by empty? You can't see any file or you find that this book lacks content?

guopxbb

Thank you for your sharing ! very good suggestions !

halleybachelor

3. A compilation of topics from idebate.org, which is some ebooks I created myself for easier reading on a kindle or a smartphone.

链接：http://pan.baidu.com/s/1ntTzwRv 密码：s0ck

halleybachelor

4. Ted talks, high quality and low quality videos and audio, ideal materials for improving your listening skills. I put all the talks in my hard drive for the difficulty in accessing the website.

链接：http://pan.baidu.com/s/1sk45ixR 密码：wx58

recur

I`d love to take a mark. Thanks for sharing. You have vast vacabularies.

halleybachelor

recur 发表于 20-2-2016 21:21
I`d love to take a mark. Thanks for sharing. You have vast vacabularies.

You don't take a mark, but make or leave a mark.

You don't have vast vocabularies, but a large or wide vocabulary.

Please check your words in a collocation dictionay as I suggested before you use them.

Serin

TL;DR for me but thank you very much for sharing!

recur

halleybachelor 发表于 23-2-2016 12:56
You don't take a mark, but make or leave a mark.

You don't have vast vocabularies, but a larg ...

"Vast vocabularies" is a good one that I saw many times from my friend who is a native speaker with decent education background, although it might be a little exaggerated to be used to describe the vocabularies shown in the essays above.

Meanwhile, I do agree that "make a mark" is a more appropriate phrase matching.

Thanks for sharing.

halleybachelor

recur 发表于 27-2-2016 15:31
"Vast vocabularies" is a good one that I saw many times from my friend who is a native speaker wit ...

Thanks! I guess there are also collocations that are not included in dictionaries. But I would be very careful to use the plural form of the word vocabulary. Anyway, your writing skill is good as shown in your reply.

halleybachelor

recur 发表于 27-2-2016 15:31
"Vast vocabularies" is a good one that I saw many times from my friend who is a native speaker wit ...

Thanks! I guess there are also collocations that are not included in dictionaries. But I would be very careful to use the plural form of the word vocabulary. Anyway, your writing skill is good as shown in your reply.

lily211

很实用的建议，mark

guopxbb

Thanks for LZ's sharing ! very useful summary !

大马士革

you rocck! think you can write long essay freely. big congratulation.

amy0607

halleybachelor 发表于 1-2-2016 17:55
4. Ted talks, high quality and low quality videos and audio, ideal materials for improving your list ...

这个不能用了