Rishabh Varma
Rishabh Varma, A Number's Person / Newbie @ Data Science
Answered Jan 23, 2017 · Author has 124 answers and 290k answer views
There are 2 Types of IELTS students who are concerned with the Examination process:
One who really struggles with the day-to-day usage of English.
One who wants to score Higher Bands for their very benefits in Work permits and college admissions.
Writing:
I cannot give much detail on how to prepare for the Writing part (I scored 7 Myself). Letter writing (General Module) or the Data Analysis (Academic module) carries less weightage, so concentrate more on the Essay Writing part. All I can say is that stick to the basic structure of Essay writing.
Para 1: Reinstate the topic and take your stand on it. For the rest of the Essay, you can either say FOR the topic or AGAINST the topic. This part is important as you should have enough Data to speak for in the remaining essay.
Para 2-3-4: Take 1 example in each Para and give details explanation of the same.
Para 5: Mention the counter side of the argument I.e If you have been saying FOR the topic up till now, give 1 example of AGAINST part. But make sure that you indirectly take your discussion to what you have been saying up till now. (Example: You have said that eating Tomatoes is good for health. NOW in the 5th Para you need to discuss one drawback of the consumption of tomatoes, but sway the discussion towards how the benefits outweigh the drawbacks.) This will give strong signal to the examiner that you are completely aware of what you are talking about and that you are Afraid to take the Counter Examples.
Para 6: Just summarize the entire discussion and give concluding sentence. DON'T add new details in the conclusion Para. It's a Red Cross.
GRAMMER: You need to polish your grammer skills. It need not be at a high level though. You should provide a fer Complex Structured sentences every now and then. One such complex structure should consist:
Verbs
Nouns-Pronouns
Subject-verb agreement
Modifiers
Idioms
Parallelism
Tenses
SAMPLE ESSAY: Do look at the sample essays but do not panic looking at the language. Try and structure the sample in your own way. Those samples are 8.5 Bands and Indians usually get the least in the Writing Section.
Speaking:
If you are planning to take Classes for improving your communication skills, Please don't. Fluency comes from Practice.
You need to work with the English language at least 3 months prior to your Exam date, if you are really struggling with the language. I will try and provide tips as I discuss the Different stages of this section.
Section 1: This is an intro section. The interviewer will ask you about yourself and few details of things that matter to you or are related to your life. You will find tons of sample question for this section in the Internet. Topics range from: Hobby to Family to Education to Job to Flowers. You need to speak on any given topic whether related to you or not.
Section 2: Cue Card. Again sample available. Make sure that you speak for at least 90 sec. Also you need to keep in mind that the Third Section is somehow related to what you say in this section. So do not exaggerate on things that you will find hard to explain in Third Section. Important thing here is speak for the complete length and make sense at the same time.
PRACTICE: It won't take more than 30 mins per day to practice a range of topics. So make sure that you practice enough questions to be Exam Ready.
I practiced a lot but on the exam day got topics that were completely different. The key for me way the fluency that I was able to achieve during practice and even though I was short of Ideas on the D-Day, it went well for me.
There is no Written rule as to what you need to get 7 as the Interviewer is different and questions are random.
Just practice and gain enough info on different topics and you will surely ace the Examination.
I hope I was of some help. I hate diplomatic answers myself, but cannot help you here with anything else.
Best of Luck!