My IELTS experience (overall band score 8.0)
Hello, sub! I passed my exam a month ago, on December 8, and just came home from winter holidays, so I’d like to share my experience with whomever might be interested or anxious about it. I’m not gonna try to fit the academic writing style of IELTS and will just express myself the way I find it easier, so bear with me if my language feels off here and there… I’m happy to be free of those worries at last!Here are my test results:Listening 8.5 Reading 8.5 Writing 7.5 Speaking 8.0Overall band score 8.0You can go ahead and scroll down to the Exam experience if thats your only point of interest.Starting pointI’ve always found learning languages fun and not very difficult, and my English has been decent for years, although it is not my first language, and my mother tongue is not similar by any stretch of imagination. Last time I learned anything academically was probably a decade ago, but I’ve had daily practice with friends and my SO, as well as entertainment in English for many years.I always knew that I would get the passing band, but I expected it to be 7.5 max as I’m a bit of a slow thinker and IELTS is all about time management.Preparation for IELTSI took evening lessons in a class of 8 people biweekly for 6 weeks with a teacher been studied aborad from the UK. In hindsight, the main gain was having somebody to check my essays, and if you don’t have a practice buddy for speaking, that could be useful, but otherwise they weren’t completely necessary, as there is plenty of material available online. At the end of the course I took a trial exam and got an overall band 8.0, however the commentary I was given by the examiner really surprised me. I’ve posted it before here, check out as I think it’s useful.After that, I booked my exam on December 8 and had about 2 weeks to prepare on my own, which is when I did 2 more practice exams at home with no breaks, which is extremely important. Don’t be fooled, it is difficult to sit through these 3 hours of permanent concentration, so make sure you’ve tried I out beforehand. Other than that I wrote essays everyday, last week especially (2-4 each evening on timer), and prepared short answers for every speaking topic I could find online.Now, let me recommend you the book I bought for the course, which we frustratingly barely used in class, but I read it all at home. It is called The Complete Guide to IELTS by National Geographic, it is structured really clear includes all the bare essentials you need to know about the exam plus lots of extra practice material on the DVD. It is available in PDF on the internet, but I’m not sure if posting such links is allowed here. If the mods are ok with it, I’ll edit it in. Keep in mind though that if you want score 8.0+, you need to dig deeper than just this book.EXAM EXPERIENCEI want to address a few things that I personally was anxious to find out about the exam before taking it, to hopefully help you relax a bit. Keep in mind each test centre probably has their own rules, so I’m only sharing my experience.I took the paper-based test mostly for financial reasons, as it was about 100$ cheaper than the computer-delivered version. It is a list of pros and cons that I came up with, where people commented there was no price difference where they lived, so make your own choice.My written part was taken in a large conference room in a hotel, where our fingerprints were scanned. There were at least 60 people, maybe more. I had my Speaking test later the same day in a different location, which is when the photo was taken.We couldn’t bring anything with us except a clear bottle of water with no labels. We were only given pencils, both regular and mechanical, and an eraser, but no pens in this test centre. If you had any issues with your supplies, you could always raise your hand and get them replaced. Before the beginning of each part we were given instructions and A4-sized booklets with the task, as well as the answer sheet. The reading passages were formatted in columns, like in a newspaper, and were easy to navigate. Yes, they do give you extra time to fill in the header of the answer sheet. Listening and reading are on either side of the same sheet so don’t mix that up!The speakers were in the ceiling, evenly spaced, with clear sound, and there was a countdown for each part projected on the board. Everyone was concentrated and kept quiet, so there were really no distractions from other people, don’t worry about it.The staff kept iterating the horrible consequences we would face if caught cheating before each part and patrolled the aisles. We weren’t allowed to leave to use the restroom during Listening, the instructions and the last 10 minutes of each part. To be able to leave you’d have to be accompanied by staff, that is if you’re genius enough to have spare time left. I’m not going to lie, the whole thing was kinda intimidating, which got to my confidence a bit, but in the end, it was very well organized and everyone was as polite.I think everyone got the same tasks that day so you probably know this, but I’ll still tell you what my Writing topics were (paraphrased):Pt.1: A bar chart with 5 most visited landmarks/attractions in a European City.Pt.2: Many parents nowadays let their young children play games on computers and tablets in order to keep them in touch with technological progress. To what extent the positives of such a practice outweigh the negative effects?Let me mention that I personally had not a spare second left to check my writing and barely made Reading on time, so that is a real concern and all I can recommend is practice tons!Next, the Speaking part was about 5 hours later, the waiting room was crammed and I was one of the last people that day, which honestly affected my concentration. I spent the last hour just chatting with others. All examiners that day were native speakers, although it is also possible for a certified local to test you. Mine seemed to be from the US who spoke annoyingly fast, and the whole time I felt like he was in a hurry, which wasn’t very nice, as I tried to give full answers. I got a boring topic for the monologue part: “describe a place where you liked to study and explain why you liked it”. I talked about a library in my Uni. In part 3 of the test we spoke more about studying and professions (I am not a student anymore so this is no longer relevant to my life). One question I remember is whether experience or academic qualification is more important in a profession, where we debated a bit. My friend got to talk about teenagers, which she wasn’t prepared for, so please visit and go though all the Speaking topics to familiarize yourself with them.I didn’t use all the grammar constructions I had planned and only squeezed in one idiom at the end, and I’m sure I sounded more monotonous than I would have liked due to being nervous. He was done with me as soon as the minimum time ran out. Nevertheless I still achieved an 8 which I didn’t expect.I’m not sure if you guys are interested in this kind of post at all, but I remember searching internet for this info, so I decided it doesn’t hurt to post if it helps another person. Next, I’m planning to post the tips I learned during my preparation, especially stuff from my lessons that I haven’t seen online. I’ll try to organize the info the best I can and link more useful material. I don’t have that much time so I’m not sure when that will be, but let me know if you’re interested and thanks for reading!
译文：我的雅思考试经历（总分8.0分）
大家好！一个多月前的12月8日，我刚从寒假回来的时候通过了雅思考试，所以我想和大家分享我的经历。我不会尝试去使用雅思的学术写作风格去写这篇文章，我只会用我觉得更简单直白的方式表达，所以如果我的语言在这里和那里听不懂的话，请多多包涵……最后~我很高兴终于和雅思分手了！
以下是我的测试结果：
听力8.5 阅读 8.5 写作 7.5 口语 8.0
总分 8.0分
如果这能让你感兴趣的话，你可以继续往下阅读到考试体验。
出发点
我一直觉得学习语言很有趣，也不是很难，而且我的英语已经好几年了，虽然它不是我的第一语言，而且我的母语在任何想象中都不相似。上一次学东西大概是十年前的事了，但是我已经和朋友们一起做了很多年的日常练习，还有很多年的英语娱乐。
我一直都相信我会拿到一个及格的分数，但我想最多就是7.5分，因为我有点反应迟钝而且雅思都基本是关于时间管理的东西。
雅思备考
我和一位英国留学回来的老师每两周在一个8人的班上上6周的课。事后看来，主要的收获是有人可以来检查我的作文和作业，如果你没有一个练习伙伴来说话，课程结束时，我参加了一次初试考试，总分为8.0分，但是考官给我的评语让我很惊讶。我以前晒过它的照片，看看它是否对你们有用。
在那之后，我在12月8日预约了考试，有大约2周的时间自己准备，也就是说，我在家里又做了2次练习考试，没有休息，这非常重要。别被愚弄了，很难在这3个小时内保持专注，所以要确保你事先已经试过我了。除此之外，我每天都写论文，尤其是上周（每天晚上2-4次，定时），并为我在网上能找到的每一个话题准备简短的答案。
现在，让我向你推荐我为这门课买的那本书，这本书我们在课堂上几乎没用过，但是我在家里读了。它被国家地理称为完整的雅思指南，它的结构非常清晰，包括了考试所需的所有基本知识，以及DVD上的大量额外练习材料。它在互联网上以PDF格式提供，但我不确定是否允许在这里发布此类链接。如果mods可以的话，我会在里面进行编辑。但请记住，如果你想得到8.0+，你需要比这本书更深入地挖掘。
考试经验
在参加考试之前，我想谈谈我个人很想知道的一些事情，希望能帮你放松一下。请记住，每个测试中心可能都有自己的规则，所以我只分享我的经验。
我参加纸质测试主要是出于经济原因，因为它比电脑提供的版本便宜100美元。这是我提出的一个利弊清单，人们认为他们住的地方没有价差，所以你可以自己选择。
我的笔迹是在一家旅馆的一间大会议室里被拍下来的，在那里我们的指纹被扫描过。至少有60人，也许更多。同一天晚些时候，我在另一个地方做了口语测试，也就是拍照的时候。
除了一瓶没有标签的干净的水，我们什么都带不了。我们只得到了铅笔，包括普通的和机械的，以及一个橡皮，但是这个测试中心没有钢笔。如果你的供应品有任何问题，你可以随时举手更换。在每一部分开始之前，我们都会收到作业指导书和A4大小的小册子，以及答题纸。阅读段落被编排成栏目，就像在报纸上一样，并且易于浏览。是的，他们会给你额外的时间来填写答题表的标题。听和读都在同一张纸的两边，所以不要混淆了！
扬声器放在天花板上，间隔均匀，声音清晰，板上每个部分都有倒计时。每个人都很集中，保持安静，所以没有任何干扰他人的事情，不用担心。
工作人员不断来回在走道上巡逻，如果我们在某一个环节前被发现作弊，我们将面临的可怕后果。在听录音的过程中，我们不允许离开洗手间，也不允许在每个部分的最后10分钟内离开。为了能够离开，你必须由工作人员陪同，也就是说，如果你有足够的天赋有空闲时间。我没有骗你，整个事情有点吓人，但最后，官方组织得很好，每个人都很有礼貌，这让我感到很自信。
我想那天每个人都有同样的任务，所以你可能知道这一点，但我还是会告诉你我的写作主题是什么（意译）：
pt.1：一个条形图，其中有5个欧洲城市最受欢迎的地标/景点。
pt.2：现在很多家长都让他们的孩子在电脑和平板电脑上玩游戏，以便与技术进步保持联系。这种做法的积极性在多大程度上超过了消极影响？
我要说的是，我个人没有多余的时间来检查我的写作，几乎没有按时阅读，所以这是一个真正的问题，我能推荐的就是练习吨！
接下来，口语部分大约5小时后，候诊室挤满了人，我是那天最后一批人，这确实影响了我的注意力。我花了最后一个小时和别人聊天。那天所有的考官都是以母语为母语的，不过也有可能由一个有资格的当地人来测试你。我的似乎来自美国，他说得快得让人恼火，我一直觉得他很匆忙，这不太好，因为我试图给出完整的答案。我的独白部分有一个无聊的话题：“描述一个你喜欢学习的地方，并解释你为什么喜欢它。”我在大学里谈过图书馆。在测试的第3部分中，我们更多地谈到了学习和职业（我不再是学生了，所以这与我的生活不再相关）。我记得的一个问题是，在一个职业中，经验或学历是更重要的，在这个职业中，我们进行了一些讨论。我的朋友谈到了她没有准备好的青少年，所以请访问雅思官网，浏览所有的口语主题，让自己熟悉他们。
我没有使用我计划的所有语法结构，只是在结尾处压缩了一个习语，而且我确信由于紧张，我听起来比我希望的更单调。最短时间一用完，他就和我分手了。尽管如此，我还是获得了我没想到的8分。
我不确定你们是否对这类帖子感兴趣，但我记得我在网上搜索过这类信息，所以我决定，如果这对其他人有帮助的话，发帖子也不差啊。接下来，我计划发布我在准备过程中学到的技巧，尤其是那些我在网上没有看到的经验教训。我将尽我所能有的信息，并分享出更多有用的材料。我没有那么多时间，所以我不确定什么时候会有，但是如果你感兴趣，记得告诉我，感谢您的阅读！
如果觉得《英文慎点丨一份银川雅思8分学霸小姐姐的全英文雅思考试经验分享》对你有帮助，请点赞、收藏，并留下你的观点哦！
