IELTSNetwork.com

Hi
I am Dev. I have recently decided to go for the IELTS. But am not being able to understand where to start preparing from. Reading?? Writing?? Speaking?? Listening??
Please advise.

Hi Dev,

Nice to meet you. The IELTS is a tool used to assess a person's proficiency in the English language. Thus, there really isn't any clearly defined "starting point" when it comes to preparing for it. I guess a good first step would be for you to decide upon a goal. What overall band do you need to achieve?

Step two is to take a mock examination and establish your current level. The Cambridge former test paper booklets can help you get a feeling for your band in reading and listening. For speaking and writing, consider posting a few samples to this site.

After you decide upon a target and have a rough feeling of what your current band is, you'll have a direction and can work from there. My suggestion is to then listen to the successful candidate interviews I have done at IELTSCast.com. These students have travelled your path before and share some incredible advice regarding how they achieved success on the examination. I think you'll find the need to experiment with study strategies to establish what works best for you. Most students that go on to achieve success engage practice IELTS tests regularly. They commit themselves to consuming lots and lots of information in English (i.e. the news programs they watch, the things they read for entertainment, the conversations they have with friends, etc.) They arrange speaking partners for either in person practice or online. And they get feedback on their writing from native English users every so often.

That should get you going. Why don't you start now by sharing with the forum what your IELTS goal is?

Thanks Ryan. I have gone through some of your videos and tips. I have already started implementing your suggestions and advice in day to day life. And now I think this suggestion too will be helpful for me.

I am Debobrata Majumdar. You can call be Dev. I am from India. I am currently serving in a Ferro Alloys company as Deputy Manager (Materials). My uncle's family is settled in Montreal, Canada. My aunt wants me to go for an international business program. You must be aware that these international programs are really expensive. So she asked me to prepare for IELTS. In the mean time, she will be trying to arrange the things required. If she succeeds in the arrangements, then I will be going. Otherwise IELTS will only be a test for me. So, I have decided to go ahead with my IELTS exam and leave the other factors on time to make a way for me. Therefore, my goal is to get admitted in an international business program.

In IELTS, I think writing portion is the hardest. So after taking a mock test, I will share my experience and my writing here so that I can get a feedback from you.

Apart from that, I would like to know in what other ways you can help me online prepare for IELTS.

Hi Dev,

Thank you for the background on your situation.

Regarding other ways to prepare, I suggest you get started working through the plan I outlined above. I really think your online progression will accelerate in surprising ways after you listen to how other candidates achieved their marks.

Looking forward to hearing about your progress.