Hey everyone! It's Reetu here!
Let's break it down into steps - there are 4 parts:
1) SPEAKING
2) LISTENING
3) READING
4) WRITING.
SPEAKING:
Speaking is best done with a partner. It consists of 2 parts, the first one is a conversation with the examiner and the second is a timed speaking part on a given topic for which you will be given 1 min to prepare and you must speak for 1-2 mins. The topic will be given on a printed paper followed by a few questions which MUST be covered when you talk. You will also be given a pen and paper to jot down what you want to say.
Often coaching classes tell students to speak slowly, but remember the examiners are very fluent in English and will be able to comprehend whatever speed you throw their way. STAY CALM! Speak CLEARLY! The best way to prepare is with a buddy. Everyday pick 5 topics each and take turns being the examiner and examinee. Time yourselves and you should be ready soon. Don't worry about your accent. You don't need to sound British, you just need to be understood. Finding a study buddy - search on facebook, message your college seniors who are working in English speaking countries, any friends you know who have good grammar or any relatives who live abroad. Please don't worry about using BIG, FANCY, ADVANCED vocabulary, it is NOT at all NECESSARY.
LISTENING:
Listening is something I found to be quite difficult, as I personally find British accents to be harder to understand than American ones. Best advice I would tell you is to go watch British TV shows or movies, or podcasts/ youtube videos. This will give you a break in between your studying, as well as get you used to the accent. The Cambridge book comes with a CD which has listening audio recordings, this also helps. If you miss something in the real exam, DO NOT PANIC, read the sentence before and after the missing word and GUESS what word would make sense. If you leave it blank you will 100% get it wrong, but if you guess you MIGHT get it CORRECT. It consists of 40 questions and you're given 1 hour to complete.
READING:
It is important to read the question carefully and understand what they are asking of you. I would try to skim / quickly look at the first 5 questions first then start reading the article. Once I found the answers to them, I would look at the next 5 questions and go back to reading the article. It's one of the more straightforward sections, but please do not avoid practicing the reading section, as you will have time constraints. It consists of 40 questions and you're given 1 hour to complete, you’ll have around 2-4 passages/stories to read.
DISCLAIMER: I know everyone is well read considering our profession requires a great deal of reading, but many topics are unrelated to medicine so be careful not to zone out or lose focus (:
WRITING:
This may be arguably the HARDEST part for most people. I have seen posts of countless numbers of people fail by just 0.5 in the writing. Both of us achieved scores of 7.5 on writing, while it's not amazing it was enough to pass. We both took the same approach and checked each other's essays. There two parts - one is a picture/diagram, that is usually a char of some type- like a bar chart, line graph, pie chart etc.table The second part is a longer (250words) and you’ll have to write about a given topic usually as an agree/disagree or advantages/disadvantages. First off, please go watch the IELTS videos on youtube, which we have recommended (https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCRSFsZwTpcm2IZKcWTOyyZg ). This was truly a life saving set of videos. Please take notes from them and use that before you attempt writing.
Now I am sure many people are great writers, but this is NOT the same as writing in college. More words DOES NOT= more marks! It's quite the opposite, the more you write, the more opportunities you are giving the examiner to find grammatical or spelling errors in your essay. If you are writing the 150 word short essay, please keep it to 200-210 words and similarly in the 200 word essay please keep it under 250 words. You do not need to use BIG words or ADVANCED vocabulary. Keep it simple and write what they are asking of you. Each paragraph should not be more than 3-6 sentences and don't make long sentences. Know how to write different types of essays. Each essay has a different format, learn that and the rest is easy. I would recommend practicing writing at least 4 essays a day (2 short answers and 2 long answers) TIMED for at least 10-14 days before you go for the exam. Please do it timed.
After you are done writing, please make sure you have enough time to DOUBLE CHECK what you have written. Many times we would have made silly spelling or grammar mistakes which could cost you marks. Get it corrected by others who have passed IELTS, you will know someone or as always you can ask on facebook for help! (: You’ll have 1 hour to complete both essays.
HERE ARE SOME KEY WORDS TO USE IN YOUR ESSAY AND HOW TO MAKE SURE YOU ARE NOT REPEATING THE SAME WORDS.
SHOWS = illustrates = demonstrates = depicts = represents = provides information regarding
FLUCTUATIONS= variabilities = variations= irregularities = lack of a pattern
INCREASING = upward trend = rising
DECREASING = downward trend= declining
To show CONTRAST= although = however = in contrast = oppositely
APPROXIMATELY= close to = around = estimated
TO CONCLUDE= Finally = in conclusion = Lastly = to summarize
