1.1 Meaning
IELTS: An abbreviation that has literally taken developing nations by storm in 21st century. It stands for International English Language Testing System. It is conducted worldwide to assess English language proficiency.
1.2 Origin
This test came into origin in late 1980s to evaluate English language proficiency and in subsequent years, it spread over almost 140 countries. An estimated number of test takers is around 3.5 million per annum.
1.3 Significance
The globalisation has enabled the entire human race to be acquainted with every inch of the planet. Since then the migration to grab the better opportunities has never ceased. In the developing countries like India, this test is basically taken for the purpose of migration to English speaking nations like Canada, Australia, UK, New Zealand and USA. In the current time this test is being conducted in collaboration by British Council and IDP. The purpose of this migration is mainly academic, Permanent Residency or work permit. Majority of the academic institutes of these nations approves the IELTS grading for the foreign students. Usually the minimum acceptable score is 6 bands in IELTS with only a few exceptions.
2. Components:
2.1 Listening
As any test taker aims at moving and residing among the native English speakers, it becomes necessary to be accustomed to their speaking. IELTS Listening assesses your grasp over the language while listening. This part is scheduled for 30 minutes containing 40 questions. It will provide you four audios of native English speakers. You will have to listen to these audios and answer the questions simultaneously.
The only trick in this module is lack of familiarity with the accent of native English speakers. To master this, it becomes important to constantly listening to practice audios, podcasts and English shows. Making it a part of your rigorous training helps you crack the code in the actual test.
2.2 Reading
Another basic requirement to survive in a foreign nation is reading. The primary layout for academic reading and general reading bears no difference. It carries three paragraphs and 40 questions to be answered based on these paragraphs. The duration of this test is sixty minutes.
2.2.1 What is the difference between academic and general reading?
Now the question arises that what is the difference between academic reading and general reading. The difference lies in the deep surface of these paragraphs. The paragraphs given in the academic reading are comparatively difficult pertaining to subjects like Science, Technology and Commerce etc. The major source of these paragraphs is books, journals, magazines and newspapers. On the other hand, general reading paragraphs adhere to more day to day life concerns derived from very common sources. Even the language used in those paragraphs bears a significant difference in the degree of difficulty as academic reading stays on a difficult side.
2.3 Writing
Writing of a person explains to what degree he gets hold of language’s structural base. It has further two components, Task 1 and Task 2. Task 1 has a structural difference explained in the next part. Task 2 for both types of training needs you to pan an essay of 250 words on a given situation. The situation roughly covers the fields like Art, Business and Money, Communication and Personality, Crime and Punishment, Economy, Education, Environment, Family, Food, Health, Language, Media and Advertising, Science and Technology, Travel and Transport, Society, Sports, Work and other general life topics. The time allowed for the entire writing module will be sixty minutes and the scores will be divided with the ratio of 3:6 for task one and task two respectively out of total 9 bands ascribed to the writing module.
2.3.1 What is the difference between academic writing and general training?
Task 2 is similar for both Academic writing and General Training, task 1 has different layout in each case. In academic writing, you need to compose a report on a given chart or graph or a diagram. On the other hand, general training demands you to write a formal, informal or a semi-formal letter, whereas, task 2 has no difference in both types of training.
2.4 Speaking
The most used faculty of a language is speaking from the very dawn of this communication system came into existence. It becomes unavoidable for you not to speak it when you go to a nation for any purpose. IELTS speaking trains you not only to express your thoughts through your phonetic organs but also conditions you to understand every complexity of the native usage of English language around you so that you can respond appropriately.
The speaking module testing of IELTS is designed three-dimensional usually lasting 11-14 minutes. It is a one to one interaction assessment done in the presence of an examiner. It starts with the personal introduction of both examiner and the examinee. Remember, it is you, the examinee who is being evaluated here. The introduction is then followed by the individual long run speech by the examinee on a topic given by the examiner. Lastly, the examiner will ask you a few questions based on your speech and the test concludes.
3. Training Methods:
3.1 Mentor
If we talk about IELTS training and it’s best coaching, you need to tick a few boxes before you select the best IELTS institute for yourself. The first and foremost part is to explore its tutors. You have every right to know the qualification of your mentor, his/her field of experience, the knowledge about English language and its components and teaching methodology of that mentor.
3.2 Vision and Mission
Second step to choose the best IELTS institute is to explore their website. It will help you to know about their vision and mission. When an institute has a constructive vision for its students, it will take your IELTS preparation to a next level producing the best results.
3.3 How to prepare different modules of IELTS
Now we will discuss about the individual methods for the various modules where you can achieve you required bands in IELTS.
3.3.1 How to prepare Listening
Listening is considered to be the easiest module of all and targeting a 9 band score in this will definitely give you an upper hand in your overall score. To master this, Listening to the maximum native English speakers in any form will familiarize you to every accent and over all to the flow of the language.
3.3.2 How to prepare Reading
Reading is another form of comprehension which we have been practicing from the school days. It is witnessed that IELTS aspirants are sometimes guided to adopt a shortcut and find the answers from the paragraph after screening the keyword from the questions beforehand. This practice leaves a number of loopholes in our comprehensive understanding of the written piece. Rather we can go with the traditional approach of comprehension where we read and comprehend the paragraph first at least 2-3 times and get a hold of thematic soul of it. This method will leave no scope for an error in answering the questions associated.
The challenge in the recommended practice is the time limit. You can easily overcome this fear by reading the maximum literature possible. Always mark the difficult words during your reading and never abstain from using the dictionary to understand these words. During your practice session with your mentor, enquire the meaning of complex sentences. It will give you newer ways to interpret the sentences. Gradually, the pace of comprehending the paragraph will definitely cope with the time limit.
3.3.3 How to prepare writing
Writing has always been a challenging, complex and low scoring module of all. There a few basic requirements to achieve maximum bands in writing module: variety of vocabulary, accuracy of grammatical structure and spellings of the words, coherence of entire expression and a wider range of thought. To enrich you with these necessities, the mentor you chose is the key. An expert mentor will assess your range in vocabulary, grammar and thought process. Based on this screening, you need to expand the required fuel for your writing. More reading of the quality content, understanding the basic grammatical rules and expanding your thought process with a proper observation will lead you to the success.
3.3.4 How to prepare Speaking
Lastly, Speaking is nothing but familiarization with English language. The more you surround yourself with this language, better you get at your expression. You need to shed a few complexes from your mind about being judged when your speaking skill is intermittent and you need to practice it to master. Next, never run after fancy words and unfamiliar articulation of sounds. Being natural to your capability in both the segments will do justice to your natural utterance.