A Venezuelan wacky guy living his Australian dream

As I said before, i had to take again the IELTS… I did and I got a solid 7.0.

I must confess to those thinking to take the IELTS, is a very tricky test. Those who haven’t take it yet here is a short description of the IELTS and a couple of tips.

First you are going to have the Speaking module (In some cases this test is the very last because this section of the examination is individual and usually in a separated date) which isn’t difficult. Don’t worry; you are not going to be asked to tell the entire theory of relativity, just the half of it… Ha ha, joking. First you are going to be asked to give a short description of yourself (your name, your age, if you are from around the area and stuff like that). Next you are going to be giving a situation, the first time I took the test was “globalization” and next time was mass transportation. The very last part of these module consist on chatting with the examiner about the previous topic taking out the most of your vocabulary out, this activity takes about 5 minutes. It was fun both times because the people are very nice and they try to get you calmed. The entire module examination takes 15 minutes the most.

All the other modules are taken at the same day (I took the speaking module the Wednesday and the other examination started the Saturday noon).

The first of these modules are the listening module, this is one of those tricky test which takes more speed as it goes by, so don’t take it for granted because you did it great at first. It requires concentration more than anything… I was having the test near someone which started to cough every 5 minutes… I wanted to kill him. Anyway, you will hear people calling to an info centre asking prices on items or subscriptions, a guide talking in the visit to a museum, infomercials or related stuffs. The listing module takes 30 minutes divided in 20 minutes listening the recording and 10 minutes (30 seconds after every dialog completing 6 dialogs, and several minutes at the end to check your answers). My advice, avoid people with a sick look… Another good advice would be try to read your questions before listening every dialog, this is vital, otherwise you will be lost in the context of the conversation and you will not catch the answers.

The second module is the Reading Module which is fun (if you are taking the general training) because you are given a bunch or articles telling you very specific things (such as a hall’s/building’s description, painting course’s description, newspaper articles, magazine spots, etc. If you are taking the Academic training it would be like reading manuals or book short chapters. Then you are asked to respond things such as which is the name of the hall with lots of parking lots or, do you have to take your own colors to the first class of painting? The module takes about 60 minutes. My advice, sum the article and then read the questions, if you find something familiar you would know where you read it, confirm your reading and set the answer. If you read the entire article you are screw, because you will be wasting time… the sick men next to me didn’t matter.

The third and last module is the writing module (which you might take after a nice break, so try to call the muses). Here you will be given two ideas which you have to develop. The first idea is to write a letter directed to a manager, friend or government because you had a defective item (or want to say something nice to the manager) or want to have a meeting with someone or want to serve to your community… The second idea is based on your opinion… when I took the test for the first time I was asked to give my opinion related to the education of kids with their parents and the second time was related to the importance of drama, art, music and languages for balanced minds. I pretty much recommend practice it because you’ll better be quick thinker in order to reduce the thinking and start writing something coherent and not just throwing lots of ideas into the paper. The first idea should take about 20 minutes and the other one 40 minutes, don’t count the words and just write till the paper is filled up. When the paper is full write a quick end and jump to the other idea till its paper ran out. If you think at this point you can add some thoughts to any of the reasoning ask another sheet and keep writing but keep in mind that at any moment the examination will be ended and you will have 30 seconds until the examiner tell you to avoid writing. So, any extra reasoning must sound like a closure. The sick person might help you with reasoning about how annoying are or to write the friend later and you just want to tell him how bastard he was coughing at the EILTS test…

Which was the reason?

Well, to begin with, the IELTS was taken by 200 people at once, in the very same hall at the Caracas place hotel. The idea of a huge room where everyone could make weird sounds avoiding you listen the tape in some modules or someone getting you out of focus in the huge room wasn’t a pleasure. The British Council wasn't prepared at all to handle this kind of situations. The test started at 1 PM and everything was done at 6 PM.

Isn’t necessary to remark, a 5 hour test is not a good test. I only enjoyed the first module (speaking module) where I stood open minded, speaking about everything I wanted to… When I got the results back I notice this module was the only one I was great.

This doesn’t means that I fail the test, I just got the pass mark in 1 module (5.5) and just a bit better in everything else (6.5 to 7.5). It wasn’t good enough for the Australian migration process.

If you think the IELTS is a hard and tricky test, don’t worry anymore. I think is a practice matter. Those who take the test without the concern of not practicing at all, must have a great confidence and concentration.

Easy, the EILTS general course is based on the common language you will be using day to day and a little more complex phrases.
First thing to do is getting the IELTS preparation guide. It gives you a better understanding of what to expect of the exam.
If you want to practice a little bit every exam’s module you can take a couple of times spaced some week between each or, you can search some papers, articles and posts all over the internet to practice your skills to sum up, quick searching and reading. For the speaking module all you have to practice is your pronunciation and consistent ideas over your speech.
The non speakers of English should prepare very well for the examination. For example my wife took a full year course (her preparation was two months before taking the test) not just for the examination, it was also getting ready for the big change when the time comes.