Introduction to IELTS Exams
IELTS stands for International English Language Testing System and is an English proficiency exam. This is a mandatory exam that you have to take if you wish to study or work in English speaking countries.
The exam score ranges from 1 to 9, where 1 stands for non-user and 9 for experts. The IELTS exam is of two types – Academic and General Training.
The Academic IELTS is taken by the candidates that wish to study abroad and the General Training exam is for those that are migrating to the UK, the USA, and Canada, or applying for training programs or work experience.
The exam does an assessment of all the language skills – listening, speaking, reading, and writing. Expert teachers at the reputed coaching centers offering coaching or IELTS training in Kuwait, UK, USA, Canada, etc can help you identify your strengths and weaknesses
IELTS is a tough exam and every year millions of people prepare for it. However, even after taking coaching, many people find it hard to pass the exam. Many times, it is because of the common mistakes that they make in the exam.
In the following sections, we are going to discuss the common mistakes that you must avoid while taking the IELTS exam. Read them carefully and make sure you avoid them while taking the exam.
Common Mistakes to avoid in IELTS Exam:
Read the instructions thoroughly.
Before you start the exam, it is important to read the instructions carefully. Sometimes the students overlook the written instructions while attempting the questions.
This can lead to wrong attempts, misunderstood question statements. Many times students confuse the meaning of the instructions and attempt wrong answers.
Attempting the exam in a rush is one of the major reasons behind this, and it can seriously affect your performance.
Not having an exam strategy.
One of the most common mistakes is not having a proper exam strategy. Without any exam strategy, it is impossible to crack the exam with a good score. These experts can also help you form an exam strategy and help you prepare in a guided manner.
Take a moment to understand the questions.
When you have to answer a question in less than 40 seconds, your mind is under constant pressure to perform. You cannot afford to spend a lot of time understanding the questions.
So, most of the students develop a habit of answering at a rapid pace. This can lead to poor performance if they fail to understand the questions properly.
Hence, train your mind to focus on the main words in the questions so that you can understand their meaning in one glance.
When you start answering the essay, take a moment, and try to understand the gist of the topic. This way you can develop an understanding of the expectations of that question.
Targeted and comprehensive revision.
Revision is the most critical phase before the exam. It must be done such that you practice in an exam-oriented manner.
Instead of falling prey to solving many reference books, you must solve 2 or 3 good quality books to prepare for the exam.
Study and solve the previous year’s exams and make sure to take the online mock tests to test your problem-solving skills.
Preparing under the guidance.
IELTS is an exam that is detrimental to your aim of earning education abroad or migration. Hence, instead of being overconfident, you must be wise and study under the guidance of the experts.
You must take professional help for exam preparation. The experts have vast experience and a deep understanding of the exam and its trends. They can hone your skills and help you achieve even better results in a small frame of time.
Vocabulary.
Every person has a different affinity for learning methodologies. Some people find reading dictionaries amazing, while others find it boring.
Some people feel that reading stuff of their interest can help them improve their vocabulary, while others feel that newspapers and online journals are a better option. Hence, go for the way that suits you the best; but make sure you work on your vocabulary.
Memorizing the answers.
Many people have this habit of mugging-up things, be it facts, formulas, or derivations. But, this can be a deadly habit when you have to prepare for a competitive exam such as IELTS.
You can come up with some acronyms and shortcuts, but problem-solving must always be systematic. This is because even a minor variation in the questions can lead to a huge difference in the answers. Hence, solve the questions and then mark the answers.
This brings our list to an end. We hope this write-up helps our readers in understanding the IELTS exam in a better manner and they prepare to keep these pointers in mind.
For more information and expert guidance, please reach out to us in the comment section.