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First of all, I would like to thank Ryan for his YouTube Videos. They really changed the way I approached the IELTS exam.

I had taken the exam for the first time in 2009 and I only scored 6 which totally put me off the whole thing. Now and after 5 years I took the exam for the second time. I took more time to prepare for the exam than the last time which is very important. Here is how I changed my score:

• Timing is everything. I practiced many of Cambridge IELTS exams using stop watch.
• Professional Help. I watched a lot of YouTube videos on how to improve myself.
• I installed the BBC news application on my phone and I have read news articles on a daily basis.
• Movies are fun. I watched a lot of movies to improve my listening skills. I started with subtitles and then moved on to watch movies without them.
• Speaking is a mental process. I trained myself to have English thoughts. Translating your thoughts from your native language to English would only hinder your speaking capability.
• I trained myself to imitate an American accent. YouTube is rich with accent training videos.

I did not train myself enough on the writing part of the exam and I think I would have scored much better if I took the time to improve my writing . Anyway, here is my detailed score:

Listening 8
Reading 8.5
Writing 6.5
Speaking 7.5

I wish you all the best of luck in your upcoming exam!

Congratulations, Sherief! Hard work + discipline + a goal = success! Well done.

Thank you for sharing a bit about your strategy. Those tips are great advice. I'll amplify one of them:

Sherief wrote: Translating your thoughts from your native language to English would only hinder your speaking capability.

Yes, I feel this is something that holds lots of candidates back. I remember when I worked in China, many of the IELTS students I encountered were practicing for their exam by reading IELTS books written in Chinese. In my experience, I find these sorts of strategies ineffective and sometimes even counterproductive.

Thanks again for posting your experience. If you get a chance, please let use know the questions you faced on the exam.

All the best!
Ryan

Sherief wrote:First of all, I would like to thank Ryan for his YouTube Videos. They really changed the way I approached the IELTS exam.

I had taken the exam for the first time in 2009 and I only scored 6 which totally put me off the whole thing. Now and after 5 years I took the exam for the second time. I took more time to prepare for the exam than the last time which is very important. Here is how I changed my score:

• Timing is everything. I practiced many of Cambridge IELTS exams using stop watch.
• Professional Help. I watched a lot of YouTube videos on how to improve myself.
• I installed the BBC news application on my phone and I have read news articles on a daily basis.
• Movies are fun. I watched a lot of movies to improve my listening skills. I started with subtitles and then moved on to watch movies without them.
• Speaking is a mental process. I trained myself to have English thoughts. Translating your thoughts from your native language to English would only hinder your speaking capability.
• I trained myself to imitate an American accent. YouTube is rich with accent training videos.

I did not train myself enough on the writing part of the exam and I think I would have scored much better if I took the time to improve my writing . Anyway, here is my detailed score:

Listening 8
Reading 8.5
Writing 6.5
Speaking 7.5

I wish you all the best of luck in your upcoming exam!

Congratulations on your success.

Great! It's really tough to think in English, not my native language.
However, your comment on this issue gives me certain stunning impression.
Thanks for your sharing.

It is so true that trying to convert what you wanna say in your native language into English makes you less spontaneous. Furthermore, each language has its own logic, so the process of converting one to another will likely generate some awkwardness. But this is a very common problem when learning a foreign language. I think the solution is practice and practice. The more you are exposed to the language, the more you become natural at it, as simple as that.

Chi wrote:It is so true that trying to convert what you wanna say in your native language into English makes you less spontaneous. Furthermore, each language has its own logic, so the process of converting one to another will likely generate some awkwardness. But this is a very common problem when learning a foreign language. I think the solution is practice and practice. The more you are exposed to the language, the more you become natural at it, as simple as that.

As a native teacher, who does not speak other languages much, this is an issue that is interesting to learn more about.

OnlineEnglishTeacher wrote:
As a native teacher, who does not speak other languages much, this is an issue that is interesting to learn more about.

How are you going to learn about it? Are you going to learn a second language?

Chi wrote:

OnlineEnglishTeacher wrote:
As a native teacher, who does not speak other languages much, this is an issue that is interesting to learn more about.

How are you going to learn about it? Are you going to learn a second language?

I meant by advice from English learners .

it's amazing. I think I could get 6 by now, but I want 7.5 in ielts. I hope that I can do something like you did