The Key to IELTS

The myths and the real solutions to achieve the IELTS score you need

If you are reading this odds are you need an IELTS score for something: getting into the university of your dreams; moving to an English speaking country; or taking advantage of some other opportunity. You are not alone. More than 3.5 million people take IELTS every year worldwide. It is one of the most requested English tests and a reliable indicator of English level. However, despite the high number of people taking the test, the average score is 6, which is below what many universities require.

Different people have different reasons for not achieving the score they desire, but a common situation is lack of preparation. Being prepared for the test can be more complicated than many people expect. That is because what most people believe is necessary for them to achieve the IELTS score they need is not really that helpful. This is one of our biggest challenges as teachers: showing our students that what most people believe to be the solution is not really the answer.

Here is what most of my students seem to believe when they first start taking IELTS preparation classes:

Myth #1 – If I take a lot practice exams, my score will gradually improve.

One of my colleagues likes to say this is like “trying to fatten the chicken by weighting it”. She is right. Doing tests is good for one thing: testing. It will determine your level of English, but it will not improve your English. Granted, mock tests can be useful to get you familiar with the test format and types of questions, so it can be good to do it from time to time. However, this cannot be how you improve your level. There are much better ways to do that.

Myth #2 – I need to learn a formula for passing the IELTS.

Many of my students seem to be looking for a secret formula, almost like a magic pill that is going to make them achieve the score they need in the IELTS. This doesn’t exist. The IELTS will test you in 4 main skills: speaking, listening, reading and writing. If you don’t work on these skills your score will not improve.

Myth #3 – If I memorise essays and speaking answers, I can get a high score.

Please don’t do that. I have seem students trying to memorise dozens of speaking and writing answers. This is painful work and it rarely works. Firstly, there are too many possible questions in the IELTS, so you’d have to memorise thousands of answers to get them all right. Secondly, you’d sound very unnatural and robotic reciting answers like that. Also, it is way easier to improve your English skills instead, and this will be helpful not only for the IELTS but also to use English in daily situations.

What is, then, the key to IELTS? This may sound a bit obvious, but we are talking about an English test here. The only way to improve your score in the IELTS is by improving your English skills. I’m not talking about doing IELTS tasks, I’m talking about developing your language skills in general, and then using these in the IELTS test. You can do that by taking English classes and/or by immersing yourself in the language: travel to an English speaking country; watch films and series in English; listen to music in English; listen to the radio and podcasts in English; read books in English; read articles in English; write to a pen pal… There are countless ways to it. We will post some more detailed suggestions soon.

In the meantime, what do you do to practise your English? Share your ideas in the comments so that we can expand our list. 😊