Do practice tests improve your #IELTS? #longread The short an | Ozodbek Botiraliyev

Do practice tests improve your #IELTS? #longread

The short answer is yes and no. Cambridge tests are a great way to familiarize yourself with the format of IELTS, especially when it comes to questions types. However, their importance is clearly overblown.

There are many students who only focus on doing practice tests, which is not the best way to boost your IELTS score. I personally much prefer focusing on general English, by watching movies, reading books, etc.

When I sat the IELTS exam for the first time in 2016, my Reading section was 8.0 and it took me just 40 minutes to answer all the questions. Funnily enough, up to that point, I had only taken 5 MOCK tests in the span of almost 2 years. In fact, I still haven't finished all the Cambridge tests.

Instead, I would read a lot – around a book per week plus lots of daily articles. I clearly remember how two days before my main test I finished an entire magazine called The Economist in one sitting. All of this reading vastly expanded my vocabulary, in addition to drastically improving my grammar (my Writing section was 7.0).

As for the Speaking section, I would watch movies and lots of soap operas (Suits, Big Bang Theory, Apprentice, etc.) Unlike most of IELTS students today, for me, preparing for IELTS wasn't something dreadful or boring; rather it was tons of fun.

To be fair, though, looking back at my IELTS journey from 2014 to 2016, I do regret not spending more time with Cambridge tests. While I was completely satisfied with the 7.5 I got on my first attempt, I feel like this score could have been better had I done more practice tests. I'm saying this because the main reason my overall band went up to 8.5 is due to improvements in my Listening and Reading sections, which indicates lack of practice on my part.

In any case, this post is getting too long. To summarize my thoughts, if you're really aiming for a high band, you can't limit your preparation just to practice tests. Yes, they should be part of your study plan, but make sure to focus on your general English also.

To be continued ...

P.S. This post was written by Ozodbek Botiraliev, 8.5 holder who sat the IELTS exam 3 times in years 2016, 2018, and 2022.

@ozodbek_SK