IELTS

A note about your grades

First and foremost, in UK universities applications, your grades are important. Regardless of how much they say they value the other aspects of your application, your grades are important. Its is the only benchmark that the universities ever get on your academic prowess and one of the conditions that they will set on your offer, hence, your grades are important.

Of course, the converse is true,
but at the pre-university stage, grades really matter

Hope the mantra works.

Regardless of what types of Pre-university programmes you take, be sure to do your best. I can only advise for A-Levels really so the rest of you doing SAM (South Australian Matriculation), MUFY (Monash University Foundation Year) or STPM etc., you guys will have to do your own homework, both in you studies and your universities applications. In your university applications, make sure that the universities that you are applying to accepts the pre-university programme you are doing (University application 101).

Now back to IELTS

As for IELTS or the International English Language Testing System, we take the academic version of it as a benchmark for English proficiency. As a person who is going to study in the UK, you are expected to have a mastery of English, and not to be someone who only understand the "rojak" (mixed fruits salad) version of it.The IELTS test does not have a passing grade, but is graded from band 1-9 with 0.5 unit increments. It consists of four parts - speaking, reading, writing and listening. The normal score that a university requests is usually around 6.5 - 7.5, with some universities having a passing grade for each specific part. The test costs RM 750 and is administered by either the British Council or IDP education. It is valid for 2 years so don't take it too early, especially you "kiasu" (afraid of losing out) people!

IELTS and your grades,
your dream ride to the dream university

My personal experience: I took the IELTS on 26th and 29th August 2015 which is just a week before my mocks for the A-Levels. As a result, I did not study quite hard both on my exam and IELTS, which resulted in me only getting moderately good  (but passable) grades in both tests. Usually the test will be done in 2 sittings, one done on a Saturday (reading, writing and listening) and the other done up to 3 days before the test (speaking).

For me, I wasn't that nervous of the listening and reading test, but rather the speaking and the writing part. At the time of taking the test, I already took my SAT: Reasoning test and had warmed up sufficiently on my speed-reading comprehension skills. As for listening, there is nothing much to it except listening carefully. Usually the audio recording will have a person speaking in the British and Australian slang so you must be do a few practice to get used to it, even if you are a super fluent English speaker. Also, we tend to drift away during the listening test (like we do all the time in class) so it is important to do some exercise to learn how to focus. As Jackie aptly puts it:

For the speaking test, I think that the best preparation is to find a speaking partner, ideally one who has done the IELTS recently. That way, they can actually drill you in the style that is similar to how the test is administered and time you properly. "This is the IELTS speaking test, I am Mr. blah and you are now under recording," my friend suggested this technique and it worked perfectly as I felt more at ease during the speaking test.

Also, most people stumbled in the second part where you have to give a 2 minute speech of a topic given to you. Be sure to know how to rant or monologue for two minutes without interjections in between (Trust me, that 2 minutes felt like a lifetime). Know how to use filler sentences as well such as "I think... that this is an interesting question", "Wow.. nobody asked me that before", "And.. that's all," the last one being super useful when your mouth talks faster than the brain can think and you just have to mention the word "and". Avoid words like "furthermore" and "moreover", words I'm sure you will never use in your daily conversation. Save that for the essays. Although the filler sentences may sound artificial, but trust me, its definitely better than errr.... arrr... orrr....

For the writing task in IELTS, there is definitely a way to score it. Task 1 is quite formulaic with the only thing that needs to be known are synonyms to words such as "increased" (grew by leaps and bounds, jumped, skyrocketed) and "decreased" (shrunk, dropped, plummeted). Reading a few samples and doing some practices is a must. For the second part, it usually tasks you to write a topic that is quite opinion based, something like "do you agree with blah blah blah?". The method I used is to discuss both sides of the topic UNFAIRLY, giving more weightage to the stand that I am about to take. That way during the conclusion I can say that it is clear that blah blah blah has more benefits than drawbacks, so we should definitely support it. In another way, Task 2 is actually quite formulaic too.

Of course, I am not going to thoroughly discuss about the IELTS, just putting a personal perspective to the whole English proficiency test business. Drawing from my own personal experience and of others, I can tell you that:

TIPS

1. Don't take the test too early, it is only valid for 2 years and I've seen a lot of people retaking it due to their own kiasu-ness.
2. Take the test seriously, I've seen many people who just wanted to "get it over with" and did not do adequate preparation. If you are good in English, prepare as to get the hang of the test, if you are not, prepare as to get a passable grade in the test. Even I only get a precarious 7.0 in both my speaking and writing. So do not rest on your laurels. Be prepared to be serious or fork up another RM750. Your choice.
3. Bring pencils to the test as mechanical pencils are not allowed (but pens are allowed for the essay).

I believe grades are important in the Pre-U levels, but do you think otherwise? Are you confused about IELTS and its American counterpart, TOEFL? Still don't know when is the best time to take the test? Do ask questions. I am here to help :)