IE 1: How the Pros Prepare for the IELTS
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This is an IELTS Energy Podcast Episode 1, How the Pros Prepare for the IELTS.

You are listening to the IELTS Energy Podcast from All Ears English. We believe in connection, not perfection, and we are here to show you how to get the seven that you need on your next IELTS exam. Subscribe to our show and join Jessica Beck, the Examiner of Excellence, and Lindsay McMahon, the English Adventurer, coming to you from Portland,

Oregon, and Boston, Massachusetts, USA. In today's episode, you'll hear from Jessica Beck, the examiner of excellence, and she'll tell you what the one key is to passing the IELTS exam.

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Hey, Jessica, how's it going?

Fantastic. I'm having a really good day, actually. How are you? Are you? I'm glad to hear that. I'm having a great day. Very good day. Yeah. And I'm excited to be here today to talk with you about the IELTS exam. Yeah. There are so many questions about IELTS. It's not the easiest test to take. It's not the easiest test. Right. But a lot of people are taking it nowadays. Isn't that true? Yeah.

Tons. It's actually designed by Cambridge in England and IDP in Australia. And it's the most widely accepted test to get into universities that teach in English. So universities in any English-speaking country except IELTS now. Interesting. Interesting. That's good to know. And what about also professionals? Do some professionals end up taking it to get jobs in different parts of the world too? Oh.

Oh, for sure. Interestingly enough, immigration also requires people to take IELTS before they move to Australia or England. Like if you're going to be a nurse in another country, even if you already speak English, you have to take the IELTS test. And yeah, more and more employers, as they realize the level they need from their employees, like the English level has to be pretty...

Right. And does IELTS really test those spoken communication skills more even than TOEFL, would you say? Or is it about the same?

Oh, no, I'm on the IELTS side for sure. I think it's a more valid exam. I mean, how often in your life do you sit and talk to a computer and record yourself? Oh, good point. Yeah, definitely.

That doesn't happen. I mean you're not going to close a deal by staring at a computer and recording a voice memo or something. It's in person. It's face to face. That's a really good point. Yeah. Yeah. So I think the IELTS test is in that way. I think it's easier than TOEFL because it's more real. I mean you're talking to a real person. You're writing with pen and paper. Right.

So, yeah, I think actually it's a valid test of one's English level. Yeah, I mean, you're right. We don't talk to computers to make business deals or to make friends, you know, to establish, you know, any kind of exchange or relationship. So it doesn't make sense to test our ability to talk to a computer. It makes more sense to integrate the nonverbal skills and the eye contact and make it a real speaking situation in the exam. Yeah, exactly. And that's...

I think it helps. It helps students as well when they when they get to the test, if they meet the examiner and they realize that this is a real person and she or he is not is not here to, you know, make me nervous or ask me really tough questions. They're actually just there to have a conversation with you and see how well you speak.

Right. That was one of my questions for you. I mean, sometimes a lot of students that I work with, not for IELTS, but just for general English skills, say that they tend to freeze up when they're in front of a native speaker. So I was wondering which could be more nerve wracking, you know, the computer or just being in front of the real person, but I guess it's generally the computer.

Oh, for sure. I think maybe before they're taking the exam, they think it's going to be easier to talk to a computer. Maybe they won't, you know what I mean? Like they won't get nervous and they or they won't feel shy because they're not talking to a real person. But I think it's just so fascinating.

and so real and it's not something we ever do that that makes it a lot harder to be successful at. Yeah, yeah, absolutely. Yeah. And yeah, on the IELTS test, there's three parts of the speaking test. And the first part is the eagerness

the easiest question. So it really is just there to get the student relaxed, you know, and just have a conversation like, do you enjoy shopping? What mall do you go to? Oh, I like that. Yeah. So they kind of ease you into it then. Yeah. Yeah. It's not just tough scientific questions. It's mostly just a conversation. Good. Good. That's great. Well, we can definitely help our listeners with that in that case. Excellent. And so why do most people not get the score that they need?

I think it's because they don't have balanced practice, honestly. I think students tend to go in extreme directions. Either they're doing too much of the textbook, which I know that you've been talking about on the other podcast, right? And that's...

That's a really big mistake, actually, when you're doing test prep because in order to do well on IELTS or any test, for that matter, you, of course, have to study the test and use practice test books. But you also have to balance that practice with real-life English, talking to native speakers, watching movies, listening to music.

reading the newspaper, all of those things will help you score higher on the IELTS test. Okay. So balancing out your preparation and making sure you're kind of integrating all the skills. That makes sense. I like that. It's easy to get sucked into a textbook, right? I mean, it's kind of low pressure and we can stay home and we can just do it. And maybe it doesn't cause us to kind of face our fears, right? Because we know we all have these fears when it comes to speaking a new language. But in the end, yeah, right. Yeah.

Yeah, of course. And speaking as a textbook author, I think we make promises that the textbooks can't keep sometimes. So don't always trust the cover that says that this book is all you need because it's not true. It's good marketing. I think I just gave away a secret, but my books are good. Just kidding.

Oh, that's so funny. That's so funny. Hey, I mean, they have to sell textbooks, right? So interesting.

If you are taking the IELTS exam soon, you need to know what the examiner wants on the speaking section. So go right now to allearsenglish.com slash evaluation and find out the four things that the examiner is going to look for and grade you on in the speaking section of the IELTS. Go to allearsenglish.com slash E-V-A-L-U-A-T-I-O-N.

So what are some of the main issues that listeners should actually think about when they prep for IELTS? Let's get down to it. What should they think about doing when they prepare? Sure. So you should have an integrated practice like you just mentioned, but you also have to take the test part by part. So for listening, for example, you really just have to have a strong, strong

strong level of comprehension. So watching movies, listening to music, watching TV shows, that will really help. You also have to strengthen the ability to listen and write at the same time, which...

Which is really hard. The idea of note taking is really difficult for students and quite intimidating. So listening to a podcast and taking notes while you listen, just that is going to help improve your score on the listening test. And reading, same thing.

Read newspapers, read magazines. But you also have to strengthen your skills of skimming and scanning because the IELTS test is the reading is difficult. There is not enough time to read every word and answer the questions like that's impossible. Even a native speaker cannot read everything and answer the question. Oh, really? Yeah. Yeah. OK. So the skimming and scanning skills are really,

Really important. I see. One question. I have one question for you about listening. So when our listeners go and choose material for listening practice for IELTS or just for general learning, what do you think, Jessica? What percentage of the material should they aim to understand? Like...

Like, should they just what's your thought on that? That's a good question. I think the most important thing is to be honest with themselves that 100 percent is not going to happen. OK. You know, students get really discouraged when they can't understand every word.

But you know what? You're not a native speaker and understanding every word should not be your goal right now. You have to have an attainable goal, something that is honest that you can achieve in the near future. So depending on your level of study and how long you've been studying, maybe just start with understanding the general idea, you know, and if you can get the general idea of what they're talking about,

Awesome. Good job. And then, you know, two months from now, try and understand maybe half of

of what they're saying. Yeah. It's always a tough balance, isn't it? Because listeners, they want to, or learners, they need to find something that's going to stay motivating for them. So they want to understand just enough so that they stay motivated, but not too much so that it's too easy. Right? So it's tricky. I think, I think they really have to think about what type of material they're choosing to listen to as well. So if you're say, in

intermediate to upper intermediate and you're just beginning to try and strengthen your listening skills, don't download a TED Talk. Don't go for the most difficult thing. Try sitcoms. Try a sitcom where you can turn on the subtitles and read it in English as well. Try podcasts like All Ears English that are made for non-native speakers.

And I know one good podcast for more beginner or beginner to intermediate listeners is ESL pod. That's a nice one that a lot of listeners really like because it's quite slow.

Yeah, that's great. Yeah. Yeah. So there's lots of stuff out there. Yeah. Yeah. I think there's another Breaking News English that uses real authentic news articles but reads it very slowly. I like that. I like that. Yeah. Sometimes it's good to balance with some more kind of high beginner intermediate level content and then stretch yourself to something harder. Yeah. Yeah. Let me ask you one more question about the test here, Jessica. Yeah.

So if our listeners want to maximize their time and if they only have a short time to prepare for the IELTS, what's the most effective thing they can do? Like how should they spend their time? Oh, well, that's that's a tough question. I think you first have to make a make an honest plan with yourself. So, for example, if you are taking the test in one month and

then sit down and every day plan one test practice and one general English activity to do. So for example, if Monday is your listening day, then you're going to watch two sitcoms

and take notes while you watch it. And then for the test practice, go ahead and do a section one test practice online and just do that every day. Balance the general English with test practice. And of course, give yourself a couple days off as well. Of course, right? I like that. I like that. So you're integrating the practice with the work.

You're not just saying we're going to work for a week and then we're going to take a test at the end of the week, a practice test at the end of the week. You're integrating the practice into the actual studying. Yeah, I think if you watch yourself get better as you go, then that helps to increase your confidence. And if you're faced all of a sudden with a test at the end and you don't know what to expect, then you're not going to do as well. So just get used to things slowly, I guess. Absolutely. Wow, this is...

been great. Thank you so much for this advice, Jessica. We're so excited. We're going to be focusing guys on IELTS for the next couple of episodes. And we're looking forward to having conversations with you guys, our listeners, about what your biggest challenges are with IELTS. Okay. So one thing that you guys can do right now, if you want to have a chance to win a 15 minute evaluation with Jessica, our examiner of excellence on Skype,

Which is such a cool opportunity, isn't it, Jessica? I'm super excited to be able to meet with a listener and hopefully we'll be able to do more prizes like this later. So I hope so. I mean, this sounds like a great opportunity. So, Jessica, you've also prepared a little cheat sheet. Isn't that right for the IELTS?

Yeah, this cheat sheet is focusing on the speaking test. So something to remember that even native speakers, when they go into the speaking test...

they don't get a perfect score because they don't know what the examiner wants. So I have prepared a cheat sheet that will tell you what the examiner wants in order to give you a seven or higher. That's what a lot of people are aiming for. So yeah, if you're trying to score up there, score a seven or above, this is going to tell you how to do it.

Excellent. That is the hot number, isn't it? So we're going to get you guys to the seven. So what you guys need to do to get all these awesome prizes is you need to go to allearsenglish.com slash evaluation. So that's allearsenglish.com slash E-V-A-L-U-A-T-I-O-N. Enter your email to get the cheat sheet and then you'll be redirected to a page where you can complete our survey. If you complete the survey,

you'll be entered automatically to win a chance to speak with Jessica and get evaluated. How does that sound, Jessica? It sounds great. I can't wait to meet one of you guys and to help you get the score you need on IELTS. All right. Very good. So we're on the right track here. Thanks for joining us today, Jessica. This has been fun. Thank you, Lindsay. Have a wonderful rest of the day. You too. Take care. Thanks. Bye. Bye.

Thanks so much for listening to the IELTS Energy podcast from All Ears English. And if you want to get tips from Lindsay and Jessica every week on how to get a seven on your next IELTS exam, be sure to subscribe to our podcast on your computer or on your smartphone. Thanks again and see you soon.

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