Jess Gets 7.5 and Goes to Australia!
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You are now listening to the IELTS podcast. Learn from tutors and ex-examiners who are masters of IELTS preparation. Your host, Ben Worthington. Hello there, IELTS podcast listeners. In this tutorial, we have got a very special guest called Jess.

from Indonesia and she's going to tell us about her amazing journey, how she got exceptionally high scores and her plans now that she has done with IELTS and moving forward. So welcome to the tutorial Jess, how are we doing today and can you just tell us a bit about yourself and why you were taking the IELTS exam please?

Of course. So my name is Jess. I'm from Indonesia and I'm taking the IELTS because I need a high score to qualify for a scholarship to study abroad. It has been a dream of mine to continue my education overseas.

And to make that happen, I had to meet the language requirements set by the scholarship program. Well, so far, I would say I struggled a lot with writing and speaking. Yeah, they have been the trickiest parts for me, I guess. And I just knew that I focused on improving those areas.

Yeah. Yeah, Jess, you're not alone there. I think most of the students struggle with the writing and speaking. And I think the main reason is because with the listening and reading, it's usually a question of doing mock tests and you can work on that relentlessly.

on your own but up until recently it was hard to work relentlessly on the writing and the speaking on your own which I'll speak to more about that point I'll speak more about that point in a minute but Jess where was your scholarship where did you want to go to well I wanted to study in Australia Australia wow what drew you to Australia why Australia

Well, the main reason is because I just love Australia. Is it the kangaroo meat? Is it the kangaroo meat?

Yeah. Really? Okay. Yeah, but Australia is a beautiful country. I can totally understand why you were attracted to go there. Okay, so you said you were having issues with the writing and the speaking. Yeah. What kind of issues were you facing with the writing? Oh, well, I think because I was practicing alone, so I couldn't...

really get that like the real feedback so I just couldn't tell where I'm wrong you know and practicing using those online resources there it's hard to find the most reliable ones out there so I was a little bit confused yeah what us because there are a lot of like trips

tips and tricks out there so yeah i think it was one of the hardest things yeah what did you feel with the tips and tricks did you feel they were valuable or time consuming or impractical or practical what's your opinion about those tips and tricks that you found

I think they were time consuming because I had to spend a lot of time reading all of them but then at the end I was just very confused on what yeah you know like the direction where I was going I was like

Yeah, very confused. Yeah, just because there are a lot of things there. Yeah, absolutely. I find that there's loads of information out there. But I mean, from personal experience, it's usually action rather than the information that makes the difference. Would you agree?

Yes, that's true. So that was with the writing. Was it a similar story with the speaking? Well, for the speaking, I think I needed real feedback the most. And it was hard when you study alone and you don't have somebody to talk to or you don't have a tutor or like somebody that can review your speaking. It was hard.

very confusing like i just didn't know what i did wrong you know yeah so i just kept of course i kept like um speaking by myself you know trying to get used to getting those ielts questions which i can get easily online it's just i didn't know

how my performance was. Gotcha, gotcha, okay. So you were struggling, you didn't know if the mistakes you were making, you didn't know how your performance was. Okay, and was it the same with the writing?

Yes, it's pretty much safe. Yeah, yeah. It's like that lack of feedback to move forward and improve. Is that right? Yeah. Gotcha, gotcha. And you also scored really well for the listening and for the reading. Could you tell us a bit about your preparation for those areas? Well, I mainly just practiced a lot. Like every single day, I would practice reading and listening sections.

so that I could just get used to the types of questions in IELTS. I think that that is the point of the IELTS and reading test, IELTS listening and reading test. So I just kept practicing. So you were doing just relentlessly doing practice tests for reading and listening. Amazing. What results did you get for the speaking, for the listening and for the reading?

I got eight for both reading and listening and for writing and speaking, I got seven. No, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. Tell us later. Sorry. No worries. Okay, so you got seven for the writing, seven for the speaking and eight for the reading and listening.

Okay, sorry. I wanted to tease my audience and just draw that out later, but it's okay. No worries. No problem, Jess. So before you got those exceptional results for the...

speaking and for the writing, what were you doing? Because I know because we were working and you were using our online tools, but what did you use before that? It was like tips and tricks and information or anything else? Well, I pretty much realized...

on those online resources that I could get because again I did not take any course before whether online or offline so I just like look up for some information about IELTS on YouTube or just google it down and I just practice by myself yeah I see

Okay. All right. And then, if I understand correctly, you were practicing by yourself. You couldn't really feel the improvement. It was a bit of an information overload. And then you started using the AI Essay Checker and the AI Speaking Feedback Tool and doing mock tests. Is that correct? Yes. Yeah. Okay, good. And you were using the courses as well from IELTSpodcast.com. Is that right?

Yes, yes. Gotcha, gotcha. Okay. And like, what happened after you started using the tools and the courses from ieltspodcast.com?

I think it was a game changer personally. After a few sessions, I think I started to see a difference, especially in my reading and listening scores. I noticed that I could finish the reading section faster and as for the listening, it went pretty smooth. Yeah, yeah, that's amazing. Yeah. Sorry, carry on.

As for the writing, I think I got very detailed and specific feedback. So it helped me to fix my problems like with my essay structure, you know, and just the overall flow of my essay.

Yeah. Yeah. Oh, that's super, super. And then for the speaking, how so did you do lots of mock tests or did you just do one a week and then focus on your errors? What is what approach did you take when you were using that speaking exam simulator?

oh no i do the mock test like every single day i wanted to get used to getting some random questions because before i i i got really nervous easily when i got some pretty random questions or those things that i've never experienced before so i

went to the simulator and in the simulator we can choose a lot of topics right but I prefer to get random questions so I choose that every time I practice in the simulator and I just got more comfortable I guess talking about a wide range of topics yes so it really boosted my confidence

doing the test. That's super, wow! So you got a massive confidence boost and would you say that that confidence boost came because you are now supremely prepared? There wasn't a topic that could get you off balance or that you weren't prepared to speak about, is that right?

Yes, that's correct. Beautiful, beautiful. Alright then. So was there any moment when you started doing the tests or submitting your writing for feedback? Was there any moment where you realized, oh, this is actually working well for me? Yeah.

Since I got like a very detailed feedback, like I said, like in terms of my grammar, my essay structure, you know, I struggle a lot with my grammar. There were like minor mistakes that I kept doing every single time.

So whenever I practice using the simulator, it's like I got reminded of I shouldn't do the same mistakes over and over again. And also as for like the my idea when I write my essay. So I finally got to know how to structure my essay so it could be more coherent.

like the IELTS won it. So, yeah. That's excellent. That's excellent, Jess. And just to drill down with the speaking, so you did like a mock exam

and then you would pick out or the simulator would pick out your errors. Did you focus on one specific error at a time or did you just say, okay, I've got these three errors, I'm going to focus on all three for the next speaking simulation exam that I do. How did you approach this? I just focused like one by one. I couldn't like...

I mean, it's generally hard to keep up with everything all at once. So I try to focus one by one. And I think mistakes that I did a lot whenever I practice is vocabulary. Really? Yeah. Yes. It's like...

I just suddenly didn't know what to say. So I couldn't find the right vocabulary for the right context. So I struggled a lot with that. So what I did was that first I prepared like an answer, I wrote it down on my notes.

and then I try to read it and then try to answer it, not by reading it. So I just look at my notes and then I talk. Amazing. But I try to remember the vocabulary that I just wrote down, especially the ones that I just discovered. Okay, and this is vocabulary, new vocabulary you discovered. How did you discover it? From the simulator?

Oh well, the simulator gave me questions right and I just tried to, what is it, like make a sentence that I would usually not make and also the vocabulary too. I tried to look for the uncommon vocabulary I usually did not use. I looked on like

Translator. Yeah. Interesting. Okay, that's a useful tip. So now you took the test and you got your band seven in the writing, which is amazing. Well done. Band seven in the speaking. Is that right?

Yes. Yeah. And eight in the listening and the reading. That is amazing. So what would you say to somebody who might be thinking about joining IELTS podcast program?

Oh my goodness, I think just don't hesitate, go for it. The course made a huge difference for me, especially the test simulator. It was incredibly useful and you know the detailed feedback I received on my writing and also my speaking, it really helped me improve in areas I struggled before like I said.

And I think you don't need a private tutor because the course just gives you everything you need from structure to practice. Yeah. And it gave me the confidence that I needed to succeed and the score that I needed. So I'm overall very thrilled and happy about my results. Fantastic. Fantastic. Well done you. Well done. Wow. And are you excited about Australia?

Yes, I just got the LOA, yeah, so I was really happy. Wow, that's super. You just got the what, sorry? The letter of acceptance from the university that I go to, yeah. Yeah, which city are you going to? Queensland University of Technology. Right, gotcha, that's in Sydney, is that right?

Yeah, no, it's in Queensland, Brisbane. Oh, sorry, Brisbane. Yeah, it's New South Wales, isn't it? It's Sydney. Yeah, you're right. Amazing. Well, well done, Jess. That is absolutely amazing story there. And well done you for getting to Australia. It's fantastic. And thanks for joining us to inspire all the students. Anything else that you'd like to mention before we wrap this up?

Thank you so much for having me. I'm just happy that I got to share my story and my experience using the IELTS podcast simulator. Yeah. That's amazing. Well, thank you very much, Jess. Wishing you a super day. And just for all the listeners out

If you go to ieltspodcast.com, you'll find links there to join our course, to join the AISA feedback groups we've got, to join the speaking simulator. You get a ton of value. There's a free tier and it's just a very straightforward, practical way to move forward and improve your scores. So that's at ieltspodcast.com. So let's wrap it up. Thank you very much, Jess. Wishing you a beautiful day and

All the best in Australia. Thank you very much. Yeah, thank you very much.