IELTS Monkey

One of my students used this great phrasal verb the other day to discuss something he came across by accident.

Remember! Not just idioms count as idiomatic vocabulary on the test, but practicing your phrasal verbs is also important!

𝐖𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐢𝐬 𝐲𝐨𝐮𝐫 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐝? 𝐂𝐚𝐧 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐝𝐞𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐢𝐛𝐞 𝐢𝐭 𝐟𝐨𝐫 𝐦𝐞?

This is one of the last questions I always ask during a speaking test to assess my students levels.

I especially like to ask this when I notice that my students are relying on over-used and unnatural idioms instead of speaking naturally and giving real details and examples.

For those students who rely on memorized lists of words and idioms, this question is very difficult for them.

Why?

Because they have a wrong understanding of what words to use when taking the speaking test.

Most students are under the impression that getting a high score in Vocab requires you to use all the LEAST commonly used vocab.

It's like you're thinking "Hey! I'm taking the IELTS, in order to impress my examiner, I'm going to use vocab that real native speakers never actually use!!!!"

It may seem extreme, but this happens with my students every day.

But food is a core part of humanity. It's central to our culture, a lot of our jobs and of course to our lives.

And given that food is such an important aspect of our lives, it amazes me how little vocab students usually know about it.

So much so, that they can't describe their favorite dish to me. The meal that they have been eating all their lives. The meal that they dream about eating when they come home from a long journey.

In many ways, food is how we understand a culture and its people. So, I think that this vocab is important to learn.

And on the IELTS, you may very well get asked topics about food.

So, my advice, is to practice describing something that is real every day.

Describe your breakfast.

Describe your outfit (the cloths you're wearing).

Describe the weather outside.

Describe what you see through your window.

Start re-learning the basic vocab so that you can speak more like a human instead of an IELTS-Robot.

By they way...

My favorite food is lasagna. It has been ever since I was a kid, especially my Grandma's. It's a pasta dish which consists of layers of noodles and filling in between each layer. However, these noodles are very flat and wide. Not long and thin like most noodles are.

The filling in between each of the layers is a combination of cheese, tomato sauce and beef. On the very top of the dish is another layer of delicious, hot and bubbly cheese.

You put all of these ingredients together and you bake it in the oven for awhile. Afterwards, it's ready to eat!

Your turn!

Have you ever had that moment where you just can't seem to remember something?

But then, someone gives you some small detail that helps you remember and it's like DING DING DING!!! I remember now!

This is a great idiom to use and I don't hear it enough.

Give it a try, and maybe the next time you practice speaking, it will 'Ring a Bell' and you will remember to say it.

Happy studying!

𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐓𝐎 𝐀𝐍𝐒𝐖𝐄𝐑 𝐏𝐀𝐑𝐓 𝟑 - 𝐈𝐄𝐋𝐓𝐒 𝐒𝐏𝐄𝐀𝐊𝐈𝐍𝐆

One of my favorite quotes from the movie 'Almost Famous', which is about an aspiring rock and roll journalist, goes like this:

"Do you have to be depressed to write a sad song?"

"Do you have to be in love to write a love song?"

And, personally, I think the answer to these questions is no. I don't think you need to be sad to write a sad song, or be happy to write a happy song.

But that doesn't mean we can't use our personal experience from the past to do so or to provide us with inspiration.

And the reason I think this is so powerful is because when it comes to Speaking Task Part 3. Everyone thinks that they have to have some sort of academic knowledge about the subject before they can answer.

So lets' ask the same questions but in terms of IELTS.

Do you have to be a police officer to have an opinion about crime in your city?

Do you have to be a teacher to answer a part 3 question about education?

Do you have to know ANYTHING about history to give your opinion about whether it is an important subject?

Do you need to be an astronaut to talk about science and space?

Do you have to be a climate scientist to talk about pollution in your country?

Do you have to be an older person to talk about the habits of older people versus younger people?

And the answer to all these questions is NO!!!!!

You just need to look around you. Use the experiences and personal knowledge you have gained from your life on earth when answering these questions.

There is no right answer.

There is no deep answer.

You don't have to sit there and think critically for hours.

Either you have an answer, or you have a guess.

That's right! A GUESS!

One question in part 3 that I often teach asks the following question:

'Why do children in some countries where a school uniform?'

Now, I come from America where we didn't wear school uniforms, and none of my friends did either.

So, does that mean I can't answer this question? Because I have no personal experience?

Do I just sit there silently and awkwardly and get a bad Fluency score because of it?

Of course not. Because, even if I don't know, I can always make a guess.

I can just use common sense. Just like looking both ways before crossing the street.

Could I say that children wear a school uniform for safety reasons, cost, conformity, organization, advertising the school, team-building, prestige?

Of course!

Can they all be correct? Yes

Can they all be wrong? Yes

Does it matter to your examiner? No

What matters is that you get out a reasonable answer using ONLY your knowledge and experience.

And if you don't know, just make a normal guess.

Remember, the harder we make it, the harder it gets. But the more we realize that these are nothing but questions to help show the examiner that we can do one of the following:

Explain
Compare
Predict
Guess
Advantages / Disadvantages
Give your opinion
Make List
Suggest

...then the easier everything will become.

As I tell every student. The answer to every part 3 question that ever has been and ever will be, you already have the answer for it.

You just need to look inside.

Good luck out there!

Have you ever been so focused on something that you absolutely couldn't look away?

Have you every spent hours on Tik-Tok scrolling endlessly and you have no idea how much time has passed?

Have you ever been so interested in something on tv or a movie that you just couldn't stop watching?

If so, give this phrasal verb a try. It's very common and a great example of some less common vocab for your upcoming IELTS exam.

𝐂𝐎𝐋𝐋𝐎𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍𝐒 𝐖𝐇𝐄𝐍 𝐃𝐄𝐀𝐋𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐖𝐈𝐓𝐇 𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐁𝐋𝐄𝐌𝐒 𝐎𝐑 𝐃𝐈𝐅𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐔𝐋𝐓𝐈𝐄𝐒

Learning collocations (two words that often go together) is a key aspect of becoming proficient in any language.

It's also a key way to boost your Vocabulary score.

Unfortunately, many students make mistakes with collocations in English because in English, the collocations are much more varied.

However, in your first language, chances are, you use the same word in many collocations.

For example, in many Asian languages, the verb 'to do' or 'to make' goes with many different versions of words to make a collocation.

But in English, these words change often and there is a larger variety. So, it's easy to get into a habit of using the wrong collocation.

Some typical mistakes in collocations that I hear from my students regarding problems include:

"Whenever I meet a problem, I ask my dad for advice"

"I did a mistake on my IELTS exam yesterday."

"I got a problem with my motorbike yesterday."

"I gave my friend a solution to her problem, but she still won't listen to me!"

"I had so many problems happen to me today that I can't wait to just go to bed and forget them all!"

To help solve some of these common issues, it will be important to study and practicing the following rules:

- Remember that we make mistakes, 𝐍𝐎𝐓 do mistakes.

- We usually 'have' problems or experience problems, just as we usually also 'have/experience' difficulties, 𝐍𝐎𝐓 get/meet problems/difficulties.

- We attempt to find a solution, 𝐍𝐎𝐓 give a solution.

- Problems arise or occur, 𝐍𝐎𝐓 happen, and difficulties arise, NOT appear.

- We can deal with / fix / find a solution to / figure out / overcome / tackle a problem.

Try practicing some of these new collocations to talk about the problems in your life and it will help you practice using new vocab!

𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐓𝐎 𝐀𝐒𝐊 𝐅𝐎𝐑 𝐂𝐋𝐀𝐑𝐈𝐅𝐈𝐂𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐎𝐍 𝐎𝐍 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐈𝐄𝐋𝐓𝐒 𝐄𝐗𝐀𝐌!

Did you know that you can ask the examiner questions to help clarify your understanding of the IELTS questions?

Because, in reality, many students don't know this, and even worse, they are under the misguided idea that it will somehow affect their score negatively.

But when students tell me this, I always ask them the same questions:

"In your language, do you always understand what someone is saying to you?"

"Aren't you ever confused sometimes and need to ask for clarification?"

"Don't you ever find yourself saying 'huh, what did you say grandpa? I didn't catch that."

Hopefully the answer is a resounding yes!

My wife and I like to talk to each other when we're in different rooms sometimes and obviously we don't always hear each other clearly.

So, we ask each other for clarifiation.

So, my point is this. It's completely natural to need to ask the examiner to clarify something on the exam.

And even better, it 𝐖𝐈𝐋𝐋 𝐍𝐎𝐓 𝐀𝐅𝐅𝐄𝐂𝐓 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐅𝐈𝐍𝐀𝐋 𝐒𝐂𝐎𝐑𝐄!

You have EVERY RIGHT to understand the question you're trying to answer.

However, there ARE limitations, so just make sure not to go overboard.

See below for the approved ways you can ask for clarification in each part of the IELTS Exam.

Part 1:

• You can ask the examiner to repeat a question one time.

• You can ask the examiner to give you the meaning/definition of a word.

Part 2:

• You can ask the examiner for a definition of the word.

• You can ask the examiner to talk about a slightly different situation that is more relatable to you, as long as you are still on topic.

Part 3:

• You can ask the examiner to repeat a question one time.

• You can ask the examiner to give you the meaning/definition of a word.

• You can ask the examiner to paraphrase the question.

In the picture below, you will see some natural ways to ask for clarification. Above each method are the numbers which show which sections you can do these in.

IDIOM DOUBLE HEADER

Today we get two idioms for the price of one.

MOVE THE NEEDLE

Most students typically think of a needle as the sharp, pointy object that we use when we sew clothes or need to get a shot at the doctor.

But keep in mind that many scales used to measure produce and meat use an internal needle to show the weight. You even have a needle on your car or motorbike to say how fast you are going.

So this idiom is great for showing that we need to have some noticeable change.

BEAR WITH ME

I say this all the time! It is a great way to politely ask someone to be patient while you do or finish something else up.

I've said both of these idioms many times in the past week with students and I think you should try to use them too!

𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐎𝐍𝐄-𝐌𝐈𝐍𝐔𝐓𝐄-𝐍𝐎𝐍𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐒𝐄-𝐒𝐄𝐍𝐓𝐄𝐍𝐂𝐄 - 𝐓𝐇𝐄 𝐒𝐄𝐂𝐑𝐄𝐓 𝐓𝐎 𝐏𝐑𝐀𝐂𝐓𝐈𝐂𝐈𝐍𝐆 𝐃𝐈𝐒𝐂𝐎𝐔𝐑𝐒𝐄 𝐌𝐀𝐑𝐊𝐄𝐑𝐒.

If there is one practice exercise that my students find the most useful, it would be the one I'm about to share with you today.

And the best part! It only takes 5 MINUTES A DAY to practice.

One of the big problems of taking the IELTS exam is that we spend too much time thinking about what to say.

We think about our answer.

We think about our logic.

We think about our vocab and grammar.

We worry about what the examiner is thinking.

Just too much thinking!

In fact, most students spend some much time thinking about what to say instead of just 'saying what they think'.

However, one way to help you improve in this area of fluency is to improve your ability to use discourse markers.

Discourse markers, when practiced and used naturally, give you so many options and a ton of flexibility in your answers.

Also, they allow you to speak without thinking because they naturally give you ideas about things to say as we use them.

But most students don't practice their discourse markers!

And most students don't use enough in the exam to see their full potential.

Or, even worse, they try to practice, but they do it in the context of answering other IELTS questions.

But that's a terrible strategy.

When you practice IELTS questions, you should be practicing your strategy for answering the question appropriately, and not focusing on discourse markers.

When you practice pronunciation, you should be focused on pronunciation, and not answering IELTS questions.

And when you are focusing on improving your discourse markers, you NEEED to ISOLATE AND FOCUS on your discourse markers.

That is because, if you constantly repeat and practicing using your discourse markers in a practice session especially devoted to improving your use of linking words, then you will automatically start using them naturally in your regular conversations.

But first, we have to learn how to stop thinking.

Thinking is the enemy of discourse marker practice.

So, with this practice activity, you don't have to think about anything.

You don't have to worry about your logic.

You don't need to care about your grammar or vocabulary.

You don't need to worry about your pronunciation.

You just need to practice using your discourse markers.

HERE'S HOW - THE RULES ARE AS FOLLOWS

ACTIVITY: THE ONE MINUTE NONSENSE SENTENCE

• 5 times a day, stop what you are doing, wherever you are, and just start to speak about your current situation or a topic. You can even set an alarm for yourself.

• Your goal is to speak for only 1 minute and use 10 discourse markers.

• Print out the list of connectives and discourse markers in the comments and look at them while you are speaking.

• Your sentence doesn’t have to make any sense - hence the nonsense part.

• We aren’t overly concerned about grammar, vocab or pronunciation either.

• The focus is on developing new habits, with new connecting words that you will be able to use fluently on the exam.

• Again, the ONLY goal in this activity is to use 10 unique discourse markers in 1 Minute.

That's it!

FOR EXAMPLE:

Maybe you're sitting at the restaurant waiting for a friend to come and meet you.

You could pull out your list of discourse markers and say the following:

𝐀𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐦𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭 I am eating at this restaurant 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 I’m super hungry, 𝐬𝐢𝐧𝐜𝐞 𝐮𝐧𝐟𝐨𝐫𝐭𝐮𝐧𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐥𝐲, I didn’t have any time to eat breakfast. 𝐀𝐬 𝐚 𝐫𝐞𝐬𝐮𝐥𝐭, I hope this food is really good 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐟𝐢𝐫𝐬𝐭 𝐨𝐟 𝐚𝐥𝐥, this restaurant has great reviews, 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐬𝐞𝐜𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐥𝐲, my friend recommended it to me. 𝐇𝐨𝐰𝐞𝐯𝐞𝐫, I don’t have a lot of money, 𝐬𝐨 I’ll have to be careful with how much I spend. 𝐁𝐮𝐭 𝐭𝐡𝐚𝐧𝐤𝐟𝐮𝐥𝐥𝐲, I will get paid from my job later, 𝐬𝐨 I can spend a little bit of money today. 𝐀𝐧𝐝 𝐥𝐚𝐭𝐞𝐫, I will tell my friends what I think 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞 they will be interested. 𝐅𝐨𝐫 𝐞𝐱𝐚𝐦𝐩𝐥𝐞, one of my best friends is a big foodie 𝐚𝐧𝐝 loves trying new restaurants, 𝐬𝐨 she will be really keen to hear all about it. But right now, I’m going to really enjoy this meal!

That's it! It's that easy.

Most importantly, don't worry about whether you are using your discourse markers correctly!

𝐘𝐨𝐮 𝐣𝐮𝐬𝐭 𝐠𝐨𝐭𝐭𝐚 𝐮𝐬𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞𝐦. 𝐌𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐦𝐢𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞𝐬. 𝐄𝐱𝐩𝐞𝐫𝐢𝐦𝐞𝐧𝐭. 𝐒𝐞𝐞 𝐰𝐡𝐚𝐭 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞.

You'll start to develop new patterns of speaking.

You'll start hearing these new words when other people speak as well.

It truly is a magical exercise. But you just have to be consistent and do it every day.

So, do you have 5 minutes today to start practicing your discourse markers?

Here are some more prompts to get you started.

𝐈𝐟 𝐈 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐠𝐨 𝐚𝐧𝐲𝐰𝐡𝐞𝐫𝐞 𝐢𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐰𝐨𝐫𝐥𝐝, 𝐈’𝐝 𝐭𝐫𝐚𝐯𝐞𝐥 𝐭𝐨…

𝐌𝐲 𝐢𝐝𝐞𝐚𝐥 𝐣𝐨𝐛 𝐰𝐨𝐮𝐥𝐝 𝐛𝐞…

𝐌𝐲 𝐟𝐚𝐯𝐨𝐫𝐢𝐭𝐞 𝐟𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐢𝐬….

𝐓𝐨𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐫𝐨𝐰, 𝐈 𝐩𝐫𝐨𝐛𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐲 𝐰𝐢𝐥𝐥…

𝐈 𝐥𝐢𝐤𝐞 𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠/𝐧𝐨𝐭 𝐜𝐞𝐥𝐞𝐛𝐫𝐚𝐭𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐦𝐲 𝐛𝐢𝐫𝐭𝐡𝐝𝐚𝐲 𝐛𝐞𝐜𝐚𝐮𝐬𝐞…

𝐇𝐎𝐖 𝐓𝐎 𝐔𝐒𝐄 𝐄𝐍𝐆𝐋𝐈𝐒𝐇 𝐓𝐕 𝐒𝐇𝐎𝐖𝐒 𝐓𝐎 𝐈𝐌𝐏𝐑𝐎𝐕𝐄 𝐘𝐎𝐔𝐑 𝐋𝐄𝐒𝐒 𝐂𝐎𝐌𝐌𝐎𝐍 & 𝐈𝐃𝐈𝐎𝐌𝐀𝐓𝐈𝐂 𝐕𝐎𝐂𝐀𝐁𝐔𝐋𝐀𝐑𝐘

Learning new vocabulary is already difficult.

Learning new vocabulary and how to use it fluently for your IELTS exam is even more difficult.

And many times, students have an incorrect impression about what counts as 'good vocab'

Students often tell me that they have been advised to use 'academic words' or 'advanced words', but as a teacher, I don't really like to categorize them like that.

At the end of the day, there are just words.

Some words you use in certain situations and contexts while different words are used elsewhere.

What really matters is that you have a range of all different types of words so that you can express your true meaning regardless of the context or situation.

It's about flexibility and speed of recall. Not what you have memorized.

Additionally, while you need to use idiomatic language and 'less common vocab' you don't want to just say as many idioms as possible on the test because that won't fit the context.

It will sound unnatural.

In my opinion, one of the best ways to learn new vocab is to watch the TV show friends. (Or any other western comedy)

In fact, I have some students who have lessons with me where all we do is discuss the show friends.

We discuss the vocab they learned and want to know more about.

We discuss what happened in the story.

We discuss the characters.

And guess what!? It's a really fun class because the student is motivated and entertained.

They learn how to describe characters and scenes.

We talk about their feelings.

And we can learn A LOT of great language!

Just look at this list of words one of my students learned from ONE Episode!:

• 𝐝𝐫𝐢𝐟𝐭 𝐚𝐩𝐚𝐫𝐭
• 𝐞𝐬𝐭𝐚𝐛𝐥𝐢𝐬𝐡
• 𝐭𝐚𝐤𝐞 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐚𝐛𝐮𝐬𝐞
• 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐚𝐫𝐞 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐰𝐞𝐝
• 𝐭𝐨 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐰 𝐮𝐩 / 𝐬𝐜𝐫𝐞𝐰 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐭𝐡𝐢𝐧𝐠 𝐮𝐩*
• 𝐲𝐨𝐮 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐤, 𝐢𝐭 𝐬𝐮𝐜𝐤𝐬
• 𝐝𝐮𝐦𝐩 𝐬𝐨𝐦𝐞𝐛𝐨𝐝𝐲
• 𝐮𝐩 𝐛𝐞𝐚𝐭
• 𝐬𝐦𝐚𝐬𝐡
• 𝐜𝐫𝐚𝐬𝐡 𝐨𝐧 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐜𝐨𝐮𝐜𝐡
• 𝐚𝐮𝐫𝐚

𝐷𝑜 𝑦𝑜𝑢 𝑘𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑚𝑒𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑜𝑓 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑠𝑒 𝑤𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑠 𝑜𝑟 ℎ𝑜𝑤 𝑡𝑜 𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑚?

Now, she has a list of authentic and natural vocabulary that she can hear used in a specific context (Friends). Now, she can understand how they are used and begin to practice them herself.

So, do yourself a favor. Start listening to authentic and real vocab and idiomatic language.

Then, bring all the words you find interesting to your teacher and ask them which ones are good to know and which ones you should absolutely learn.

Then during a period of a week, practice only a set of 10 - 15 words before moving onto the next set the following week.

It will be slow progress, but there WILL be progress, and you'll be entertained!

BTW - Friends is currently streaming on Netflix in VN.

Remember, it's not just idioms that count as 'idiomatic vocabulary' on the IELTS test. Using lots of great phrasal verbs will also help you achieve a Band Score of 7 or higher on your IELTS exam.

While today's word may have a more negative or sad meaning, it's important that we have these words to express these types of real, human situations.

Here is one phrasal verb that will help you describe the often sad state of losing a friendship with someone over a period of time.

This word is full of emotion and vivid imagery to help the speaker give precise meaning.

Give it a try!

Studying for IELTS is much like learning a sport or learning how to play an instrument like the piano or guitar.

It requires consistent practice and repetition of the same basic concepts over and over and over again until they become a part of your muscle memory.

𝐌𝐮𝐬𝐜𝐥𝐞 𝐌𝐞𝐦𝐨𝐫𝐲: 𝘵𝘩𝘦 𝘢𝘣𝘪𝘭𝘪𝘵𝘺 𝘵𝘰 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘳𝘰𝘥𝘶𝘤𝘦 𝘢 𝘱𝘢𝘳𝘵𝘪𝘤𝘶𝘭𝘢𝘳 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘸𝘪𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘵 𝘤𝘰𝘯𝘴𝘤𝘪𝘰𝘶𝘴 𝘵𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘨𝘩𝘵, 𝘢𝘤𝘲𝘶𝘪𝘳𝘦𝘥 𝘢𝘴 𝘢 𝘳𝘦𝘴𝘶𝘭𝘵 𝘰𝘧 𝘧𝘳𝘦𝘲𝘶𝘦𝘯𝘵 𝘳𝘦𝘱𝘦𝘵𝘪𝘵𝘪𝘰𝘯 𝘰𝘧 𝘵𝘩𝘢𝘵 𝘮𝘰𝘷𝘦𝘮𝘦𝘯𝘵.

But this doesn't happen by accident. It is deliberate, organized and disciplined.

However, this type of learning is unnatural for many students in Asia who are used to memorizing information for hours on end.

So, you need to prepare differently for IELTS.

You need to make a strong effort to realize where your mistakes are, pinpoint them, and then find the effort to focus every day until they are better.

Think about it like going to the gym to exercise.

Everyone knows that it takes a long time and a lot of hard work to achieve a fitness goal.

Everyone knows that it requires repetition of the same exercises over and over again to strengthen a muscle group.

But we also know that so many people quit going to the gym after a short period of time because they don't get the results they want right away. They quit because they can't commit to the time and repetition that it takes.

They don't follow through with the work. There is no repetition or consistency, and therefore, there is no progress.

So, before you begin studying for IELTS, you need to make a plan.

You need to be specific about:

- When you will study (the exact times in your day)
- Where you will study (coffee shops, at home, at school)
- What exactly you will be studying during those times. (What is the focus)
- Who you will study with (it's incredibly hard to study for a speaking test without having someone to speak to.)

You also need to differentiate between General English learning and the skills or strategies you use to APPLY that general English during your IELTS exam.

Most of all, you need to hold YOURSELF accountable.

Are you being honest with yourself and staying consistent and doing the things that work?

Do you have a process and a system that works like a well-oiled machine?

So, before you begin.

Make a plan!

Make it easy to do in the beginning so that you can stick with it and finally, make sure you provide enough focus.

And always remember, memorizing list of words or answers to questions is not practicing.

Good luck!