Hello CD members,

Just want to know did anyone appear for IELTS General exam in Canada, for Immigration.

If yes, than kindly I request you to share your experience for Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking. People, who appeared for Academic IELTS, feel free to share your experience also.

Your input will be really appreciated and will be helpful to others who are planning to appear for it. And Sukh, Good Luck for your exams.

Thanks!!

Hi,

I would add more and more, but at this time I wanna add few things regarding IELTS.

Reading

Give more and more practice to Reading. By and large, you will find it a bit tough compared to other things. Practice with ACADEMIC material, even if you are giving GENERAL category exam, and that too sit with a stop watch. I used to do this a lot. TIME-BOUND practice.

Listening

Please, watch BBC & CNN kind of channels more then anything else. Always practice with a HEAD-phone. After the CAMBRIDGE -3, the speed and ascent has changed, I mean its little faster. On my exam day, we were arround 40 guys in the room and almost every one had a problem in SECTION 3 of listening (Question 21 to 37). That was purely due to the un-expected increase in the speed. Although coaching is not required, but if you are a working professional, I would advise to get registered with a coaching class. This is to have a descipline. I am someone, who never had time to sit for preparations. I enrolled with a class, first of all I got tonnes fo practice material and secondly I got lot of tips.

Writting and Speaking are more to deal with one's own talent. I mean, how good you are at various subjects and topics to either write about or to speak about.

I suggest, wake up early in the morning, say from 4.00 Am to 7.00 Am to practice. It makes difference, you can concentrate more.

I had decided not to see the embassy and get the waiver for VISA and for which 16 points was a traget (maximum you can get through IELTS, 4 in each topic). For that , you gotta score 7 or more in all. I did the above practice and got 7.5 BANDS (8 bands in speaking & Writting).

I have tried my best to put, what I know. You may get some more views from this excellent treasure of information. Hence wait, just make a final remedy from that and start preparing.

Regards,

Vj

HI!

-1. Pls. be precise. We Indians tend to take the 'beating around the bush 'approach.

Be it writing or speaking..come to the point quickly and then expand the main theme-the body of the letter or essay or the topic for the interview.

We usually take a lot of space and time to get to the subject...pls. avoid that.

-2. Pls. do not underwrite but be careful not to over write on a subject too. Time flies and then many have to rush into the conclusion. It is the conclusion which should carry the punch line of what you are trying to get across....so give proper thought to that.

-3. For listening......JUST CONCENTRATE.......A MOMENT OF ALLOWING YOUR MIND TO WANDER AND IT WILL SPOIL EVERYTHING. Listen to the question-focus on the answer and write it down. Do not contemplate about the previous answer as to whether it is right of not. Believe me you, your ears will stop listening if you do not focus your attention and you will miss valuable info. How ever great the urge to check back on your answer, leave it till the end. Just concentrate on the one you are supposed to answer.

I would not advice to take coaching ....it is up to you but one does get the practise book as well as the CD. Do the test and then mark it. Find your mistakes and then again go over the CD to understand your mistakes.

Depend how much time you have before your IELTS and also whether you love to read English......read lots of Newspapers, magazines specially editorials.....it has the best of English also Business India, Time, Business week etc. which re-inforces your thinking.......BE ALERT AND SMART.

Just a few of my observations,

ALL THE BEST!

Worship

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It is so simple to be happy but so difficult to be simple

Hi Indianguy

Try the site www.ielts.org which would give you an idea about what the test is all about, it also has a few sample lessons.

Timing as VJ says is pretty important, meaning that you may not get time to read a passage over & over again or ponder over a question for TOO long, but there is PLENTY of time.

The most important thing is being able to understand what is required to be answered as long as you do that theres plenty of time. People tend to get a bit panicky just about the time part and not do as well as they would have done cause a lot of their attention is on their watches.

Though it is an \"important\" test, not by way of it being anything extremely difficult to face but it seems more so by the way of being linked to the issues of either immigration or academics, which actually are important and may at times make a person nervous. Dont let that get to you.

Opinions often vary about which module is more difficult than the others. All modules are set AT PAR, else how would they be able to judge candidates on a level platform.

For the writing part, be PRECISE. Try avoiding the use of slang like language.

I have seen some people often have a teeny weeny bit of trouble when they put a headphone for the listening module in which you would listen to a conversation played through the cordless headphone. They get a bit too consious of it. Even for that there is ample time to adjust the volme and set it to your preferences, they dont start till you are absolutely comfortable with the sound setting & clarity- the listening module as such is usually a conversation (played on a cassette) which may be between two or more persons in which they may be giving directions to reach a place, discussing what to shop for a friend's birthday or negotiating the rent of an apartment which they might be thinking of leasing- things which one is expected to do in everyday life.

Before the cassettee with the conversation is played, you get about 10 minutes to go through the questions, answers for which you have to find while listening to the conversation.

Just a tip, go through the Q's and list out what you want to \"catch\"/ find out in the conversation.

Listen to the conversation which is let me assure you VERY VERY VERY EASY TO FOLLOW (so dont get worried on that score at all- after all they are the IELTS guys - masters of the english language- how can their pronunciation or speech delivery be bad ), be on the lookout for the answers and just keep noting them down on the rough sheet. You get another 10 minutes of time after the test to transfer these answers to the actual answer sheet.

For the writing part, you would have to compose a letter , for example to an airline asking them if they have found certain items which you lost while flying their airline (thats what i got) or maybe something like writing to your land lady for refund of deposit as you have to leave the place for some reason. If you have the option of using either pencil or pen - i would suggest use a pencil, you can erase mistakes and write over those without spoling the presentation (or the eye appeal) which you wouldnt be able to do writing with a pen. One always gets second thoughts like \"hey i should have written it this way\".

Speaking part is usally on a different day than the other modules- when being interviewed, try and understand what is being asked - highlight that so that the interviewer understands that you have been able to grasp the point and then expand the issue but dont get into story telling. At the same time too curt short sentence answers also dont go well - s/he has to hear you speak a bit about the topic. Topics are not related to nuclear science or anything- often the zoo, park, what you think is a good career and why so?

Thats it. Nothing to get unduly perturbed about.

If there is time for the test, do try a practice session with a cassette or a CD and the IELTS book, they are more than sufficient. Dont get over engrossed with practice. Coaching centres make money making you do the same thing the book does.

Band 7 is what is required for an interview waiver.

Your english seems OK to me I am sure you will do just FINE. Let us know how you fare.

All the best.

Regards

SF

Hi VJ, worship, soberflier,


Thank you very much for your kind reply and lot of suggestions. I really appreciate it.

To be very honest, right now I am in Canada and did appeared for IELTS exam in India for my higher studies. I do have an experience dealing with it. Though concerned about it as it was before 2 years and this time I need 7 Bands (in individual modules) for my immigration otherwise I will not meet my 66 points (I know 67 points is to qualify for it)

Right now what I can say, there is a fire at my back and I am getting upset for 7 individual Bands. I also need to kick start myself once again which I am not worried and I tried to practice at my own, but couldn't do properly as i am bugged down coz I have one thing going in my mind that \"I need 7 Bands individually\" (something like a kind of pressure).

I don't know what to do and what not and that's the reason I haven't booked my IELTS date in Canada. If I screw myself up during the exam I'll no longer to put my Immigration file and will have to wait again to appear next time or something, i dunno know.

I did took coaching class when I was in India and at least I can say I am not toooo old that I can forget all the tips (might be some of them though)

Anyhow, thank you everyone for your suggestions and I will boost up my confidence and will try my best to do it once again.

Here r some of my tips pertaining to the test:

For listening : concentrate and try to remember the conversation/intricate minute details being spoken, so that u answer the questions correctly.In my case there was a conversation between two friends who were trying to meet at a particular station and there were questions based on it.
For writing: Write to the point and do not exceed the limit of the number of words.Also, write correct english,without grammatical mistakes(obviously!).In my test ,I was asked to write a letter to my friend requesting her to help me find an accomodation pertaining to my liking and convenience in a new place.
For reading: Read/or rather glance thro' the questions once (even if u don't understand much)and then read the para.This will help u answer the questions correctly and in less time,since u know what to look for.
For speaking: Whatever u speak,think ,organize your answer in your mind and then answer to the point .There were several topics /questions and there is one which I remember.I was asked to tell about any one of my achievements in life.
Hope this helps!
I got a grade of 8.5 in the test.I recall,I just had my plaster removed a few days back after which I took the test.Thank God! it went well.

Best of Luck to u!

I would suggest buying IELTS guide with CD from British Library. That would be enough for this test.


Cheers
Raj

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