7 ways to overcome the stress of IELTS exam.

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Introduction

If you are thinking about moving to an English speaking country, you will probably need Academic IELTS certificate to enter universities, schools, etc. I completely understand how hard it is to do all the skills in one go, been there done that. You may not believe but because of the writing module I had to retake my IELTS exam 4 times to enter my favourite course at university.

There are always advises about how get high bands in this test but as an international student I remember the stress that I went through which was not nice.

In this post I want to tell you about some tricks that you can use to overcome your stress and do more than just exam papers for preparation.

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1. Think in advance

If you will need your IELTS certificate in 3 years start to prepare yourself. By preparing I don’t mean spend your time in IELTS classes or online courses, just start listen to English music and write the lyrics, or even read an English novel. Just something that motivates you.

2. Make sure you even have to take IELTS

If you are below 18 years old, you are rarely required to take IELTS exam. So before stressing about it just send an Email to the school or University that you are going. Ask them if you have to provide an IELTS certificate, and if yes what score do they require.

I think it’s not only the case of IELTS!

If you are planning to study abroad you are usually confused and the best way to get out of this situation is to ask people who are familiar with the environment that you are going to, admin officers, students, etc. so send an Email to the organisation that you are going to and ask anything that you are not sure about, and remember none of your questions are silly and they are happy to answer any questions.

3. Always aim to do more than one exam

I remember when I attended my first IELTS exam I thought I will score so high. But I couldn’t achieve the criteria, so I had to do it again which was hard because I had limited time. I cannot forget that I took my last IELTS exam in the August just before my university started.

I went through so much stress so please aim to take more than one exam because usually at first IELTS exam you will be stressed and if you don’t reach your aim you need to make sure you have enough time to take another exam.

4. Watch English movies

Watching movies is the best way to learn English. However, don’t just watch it, try to use the new phrases and words in your daily conversations, that’s how you will remember it better.

If you cannot talk to others about it think in what situations would you use it, and write sentences with those new words.

5. Learn reading techniques before doing the exam

When I attempted my first exam I thought I have to read all the articles in the reading section to be able to answer the questions and that’s why I only scoured 7 in reading section in the first exam. Yet, after learning about some of the reading methods I managed to raise my score to 8.5.

One of the sources that can help you with your techniques is: https://www.e2language.com

6. Chat to your friends in English

That is what I personally tried and it didn’t only prepare me for my exam but also it made me to become more confident to talk in English when I moved to England. Just make a deal with your friends and chat in English once a while. You won’t regret it.

7. Use learning English apps

If you are stressed that you cannot revise because your timetable is packed, just download the BBC learning English app. You can just wear your earphones and learn new vocabularies and phrases.

I personally used this app and I think it had a huge impact on my listening and speaking.

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Summary

Please remember that it’s okay to be stressed for IELTS exam, it’s just the matter of how you control it. A huge good luck to those people that have an IELTS exam that is coming up soon. I hope you all found this post helpful, and let me know if you have any method that is useful for revising and overcoming stress for IELTS.

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