Marta Gets Band 7 in Writing and Speaking and Goes to the US!
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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 students. In this tutorial, we are talking with an exceptionally smart, bright student called Marta from Ukraine. Did I pronounce that correctly? Yep.

Yeah? Okay, super. And she's going to tell us how she scored some pretty impressive IELTS scores and how she overcame 6.5 in the writing and the speaking and got into a program in the US. So welcome to the podcast, Marta. Could you introduce yourself and tell us why you were taking the IELTS exam, please?

Sure, happy to see you. So my name is Marta, I'm from Ukraine and I needed to take IELTS exam to get a high score to enter for a US program at university. And I really struggled with writing and speaking and I was pretty much stressed about the scholarship deadlines and the level of competition it has.

Interesting, right. And like what issues were you facing when you were preparing for the IELTS exam? I think the main issue was the absence of feedback. I couldn't see my mistakes when I was practicing and preparing. And also I had constant fear of missing the required score. And also I would say that

I was having fear of wasted time on all the confusing online resources. Right, I see. So when you first decided to start your preparation, you were just like researching online and just looking around and did you consider getting a private tutor?

Well, yes, I considered, but local classes were too expensive and sometimes generic. And I was just looking for online materials available, but it was so many of them and it was difficult to choose which one to use.

Right. I see. I see. So this is how you were preparing before you found us, before you found us and our team at ieltspodcast.com. And then you decided to join. At what point did you decide to join? Or what doubts did you have before joining us?

Well, the doubts. I was unsure if the simulator covered complex writing tasks, but it actually did. I was also worried about, of course, being rigid, but it turned out flexible. And also I was skeptical if online practice would match in-person classes, but it worked great.

Yeah, why were you skeptical about the online, like using the AISA correction tool or the speaking simulator? Why were you skeptical about using those? I don't know, it's always a concern about online courses because you're never sure what actually you're going to get versus how product is advertised. That's why I had my concerns and doubts.

Right. I see. I see. And then what was there a specific moment you realized like the speaking simulator was going well for you? Well, I realized that my reading and listening scores improved quickly and like writing feedback fixed my structure and coherence. And also simulator mock test boosted my speaking confidence. I felt great doing speaking tasks.

Oh, super. How did you, was it from doing repeated simulation exams that boosted your confidence or was it the feedback that you got detailing like your mistakes or how to improve? Which one do you think was the most valuable? I think feedback when it's quite personalised, it helped me a lot to see my weak points and I seeing my weak points, I could improve it.

Right. Interesting. Just to dive into this a little bit deeper, were you making like notes on the feedback you got and then implementing it? Or what kind of approach did you have to implement the feedback?

Well, I used the course wordless for simulator and I focused on topic specific vocabulary it gave me and I was trying to integrate new words into my daily conversation.

I see, I see. That's pretty smart actually, Marta. You know, if you're learning the lists and then trying to implement them, that's fantastic. So did you do quite a few speaking tests or were you just limiting it to like one a day or were you doing more? I completed several mock tests and each was boosting my confidence, definitely.

Yeah? How was it using your confidence? Was it like familiarity with the questions or like the improved speed of responses? Could you tell us more how it did help your confidence? I think familiarity with the questions helped a lot. I was ready to... I knew for what to be prepared and also the vocabulary list that I practiced helped me also. Excellent. That's great. That's great. And then what happened on your test day?

So my test day, I would say that writing task was one I had practiced and I approached it with confidence. I used my new vocabulary during the speaking test and I had less hesitation and it was really nice and smooth. And also listening and reading.

I think it also was really smooth thanks to focussed practice and overall the test day was, I felt confident and I felt like I can do it. Excellent. And how was your exam? Was yours examiner? Were they friendly? Were they professional? Could you share some details there if you don't mind?

Yeah, sure. I think everyone was really professional and even though the atmosphere was like an exam atmosphere, still people around were kind to us and it helped a lot to quiet the stress inside and I think it was fine.

Excellent, that's great. I'm happy you had a productive exam day. And then what were your results? What did you get in the end? So I scored 8 in reading and listening and I scored 7 in writing and speaking.

Amazing! Yeah, and it actually helped to secure my scholarship and I'm really thrilled with the results. That's great! Well done, Marta, well done. And just for the listeners, you were stuck at 6.5 beforehand, is that right? For both the writing and the speaking? Yep.

Right. I see. Yeah, a lot of students do struggle with when they're at 6.5 with the writing. And just for the listeners, it's usually a lot easier to go from 6 to 6.5 than it is from 6.5 to 7. So even though it goes up in 0.5 increments and it looks like it's all equal,

What I found from over 12 years experience doing this is that the jump from 6.5 to 7 is considerably more difficult than 6 to 6.5. So well done you Marta, that's fantastic. And what would you say to somebody who's just maybe thinking about joining the course and using the new tools like the Essay Checker and the Speaking Simulator?

I would say just do it. The simulator and feedback were game changers for me. Next thing I would say is that you don't need a private tutor. Of course, feedback was enough to improve and to see the results. And also, it helped me achieve my dream score and boosted my confidence in taking the exam.

That is amazing. Well done. Well done. And how is the scholarship going in the US? Is it good fun? Yeah, it's amazing. I'm really happy that I managed to get to this program. Yeah, well done you. Well done. So massive thank you, Marta. You've been an absolute star. And just for the listeners,

You can find all these tools that Marta has been using and used to get to band seven and get her scholarship for the US. You can find them all at IELTSpodcast.com. And one...

admission lately because of all the users we've got using the speaking simulator it has crashed once or twice but the developer jumped on that and we got it solved within a couple of hours but hopefully these issues are sorted now so when we publish this you'll have a smooth experience uh marta did you experience any crashes when you were using the simulator or was it all plain sailing for you

For me, everything was fine. I didn't have any problems. Beautiful. All right. Well, it sounds like the developers fixed it already. Thank you very much again, Marta, and have a super day. And thank you for doing this. And just be ready for internet stardom when we publish this. Thank you. Thanks for listening to ieltspodcast.com.