IELTS needed

jibbajabba · March 2009

Some IT company in Australia wants me to get the full visa rather than a working visa which is relatively easy to get if you have the necessary points.

Now I am not native so in order to get the 25 points I need I need to pass the IELTS language test with at least "7" on all bands.

Does anyone know what the best preparation software / books is for that ?

I have no holiday left in order to go on a course and we don't have any evening schools nearby so I depend on selfstudy

Any hints are appreciated ..

UnixGuy · March 2009

Gomjaba wrote: »

Some IT company in Australia wants me to get the full visa rather than a working visa which is relatively easy to get if you have the necessary points.

Now I am not native so in order to get the 25 points I need I need to pass the IELTS language test with at least "7" on all bands.

Does anyone know what the best preparation software / books is for that ?

I have no holiday left in order to go on a course and we don't have any evening schools nearby so I depend on selfstudy

Any hints are appreciated ..

I'm in the same boat ! After I finish Sec+ (next week hopefully) I will go for IELTS, for the same reasons

I have this free resource:

IELTS Free Practice Tests

Next week when I get started, I will PM you

jibbajabba · March 2009

UnixGuy wrote: »

I'm in the same boat ! After I finish Sec+ (next week hopefully) I will go for IELTS, for the same reasons

I have this free resource:

IELTS Free Practice Tests

Next week when I get started, I will PM you

Thanks - would appreciate it

kludge · March 2009

I've tutored IELTS in the past. I had past exams as practice materials but developed my own lessons rather than using a textbook.

Check the torrents before you spend loads of money on materials. Printed past exam materials should be quite easy to come by. Getting sound files for the listening might require more looking.

For the writing section, task 1 depends on whether you have the academic or general IELTS. I will assume you are doing the general one for immigration, so you will be asked to write a letter of at least 150 words. The letter doesn't need addresses, but will need a salutation (Dear Sir or Madam) and a complimentary close (Sincerely, Best regards, etc). Give all information asked for in the task (forgetting anything that's asked for can really hurt your score for the task). See if you can write such a letter in 15 minutes.

I recommend using good essay organisation for task 2. You'll want to have an introduction, body and conclusion, which typically split into 5 paragraphs (1 for intro, 3 for body(3 points to support your position) , 1 for conclusion). A clear thesis statement is also helpful for increasing your score. If you can knock out a solid (not perfect, i.e. minor grammar/spelling/punctuation errors) 5 paragraph essay in under 30 minutes, you are better off than most people I've seen attempting IELTS.

As a rule, a good attempt at a sentence with complex structure but some errors that don't obscure the meaning of the sentence will get you higher marks than a short, simple sentence with no errors. Keep your eye on the time so you don't get 3/4 through task 2 and not manage to finish. Having a complete essay with clear organisation and a variety of structure with some errors definitely trumps 3/4 of a grammatically perfect essay.

From the looks of your English the posts here, getting 7's should be quite reasonable. Good luck.

jibbajabba · March 2009

Thanks a lot, I really appreciate your input.
And yes, I will be going for the General English IELTS. I have checked some youtube talking examples too and it seems to be quite straight forward.

I went through quite a lot of youtube examples, simply to grab the questions asked and try to come up with my own answer.

Somehow IT exams seem easier than English ones

IELTS needed

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