- Hey everyone, Chris from IELTS Advantage.
and in today's lesson,
we're gonna look at IELTS preparation,
how to get the score that you need
in the fastest possible time.
Everybody wants a certain IELTS score
and nobody has time these days.
So what we're gonna show you in this video
is how to avoid spending a lotta time failing the
test over and over and over again,
and get the score that you need in the shortest possible
amount of time.
So if we look here,
this is most students, all right?
Most students doing the test are sad
because they try and do the test and fail,
then they fail again, then they fail again,
then they fail again, then they fail again.
And let's say that this is over like a six-month period
which takes an extremely long time
just failing over and over and over again.
But what we do with our students is we show them
exactly what to do
and then they get the score next time.
So why are our students getting a score that they need,
and most students are failing continuously?
That's what we're gonna show you in this lesson.
So we're gonna show you how to avoid these things
and get the score that you need in record time.
So let's have a little look
at number one.
So, most students why they fail the first time
is they rely on tips, and tricks and, shortcuts.
Now, if tips, and tricks, and shortcuts worked,
then I would just give you tips, and tricks, and shortcuts.
That's what I would give to my students.
Unfortunately, they don't work.
The students who get the score that they need first time,
they do something called deep learning.
They learn things properly.
They're not looking for shortcuts, and hacks, and tips.
They actually look at things in detail
and learn them properly.
'Cause you can't cheat the test with these tips and tricks.
Let me show you an example.
Let's say that somebody wants to improve their vocabulary.
If you go on to YouTube,
the most popular video on IELTS vocabulary
teaches you five words that will get you a band nine.
Now, this video is nonsense.
It is designed to get clicks.
It is designed to get subscribers.
It's to improve somebody's YouTube channel.
They don't care about your score.
There is no way that you can learn five words
and then get a band nine.
It's just nonsense.
What our students would do is we would learn 10 words
a day by reading every single day,
reading English everyday,
and then noting down new words and all the information
that they need to remember them and use them in the test,
and then reviewing them regularly.
So, this requires five minutes
and this requires probably 30 minutes a day
for a couple of months
but this works.
This is gonna get you the score that you need.
This is going to cause you to fail
and will end up taking a lot longer
because as we've seen before,
most students take months and months and months
because they fail over and over and over again.
The second reason is the students who fail
are the ones that do things like,
"I'm gonna follow a general course,"
or "I'm gonna learn some structures
"or read lots of band nine essays."
So, why are you going to a general course
when you are an individual?
You have individual strengths and weaknesses.
Why are you going to a course that is teaching
you about listening and reading when you've no
problems with listening and reading?
Learn some structures?
Structures are important;
we teach our students structures
but they are a tiny percentage of your overall mark
and just relying on structures doesn't teach you anything
about vocabulary which is 25%, grammar which is 25%,
coherence and cohesion, task achievement,
these things that actually matter,
doesn't teach you anything about those things,
or just reading lots of band nine essays.
I can't watch Ronaldo and Nessi play football
and then become a better footballer.
You can't read lots of band nine essays
and then magically be able to write
in the real test.
It's just not gonna happen.
Whereas our students, what they would do
is find out the exact reasons
why I'm not at my required level yet
and focus solely on those areas.
For most of you,
the reason why you are failing is just maybe a small
handful of areas, maybe three or four things
that you need to work on.
And until you fix those things,
by getting feedback on your work,
and understanding what those things are,
nothing else is gonna help you.
So getting the help that you need
and getting the feedback on your writing, on your speaking,
your reading, your listening,
and then just like taking your car to a mechanic,
or going to a doctor when you feel ill,
they are going to fix the exact thing
that's wrong with you.
Not give you a general course.
The next thing that these students don't do
or what they do is they rely
on the wrong sources of information.
So they ask other students to help them
with their work,
they look at YouTube,
and they look for the cheapest teachers
that they can find.
So other students, would you go into a hospital
and ask the sick people in the hospital
to treat you?
No.
So why are asking people who have got 5.5, six, 6.5
to tell you whether your essay
is a band eight or a band nine level?
That's just not going to work.
Or going on to YouTube,
look at the most popular YouTube videos for IELTS.
They're teaching you tips, and tricks, and hacks,
things that you want to hear,
things that are popular
but not things that actually get you the score
that you need.
And finding the cheapest teacher that you can find?
Try and buy the cheapest house you can find,
or the cheapest car you can find,
or the cheapest pair of shoes that you can find.
Is that going to be a good product or service?
You know that yourself what the answer is.
Students who get the score that they need
in the fastest possible time,
they're looking at the official marking criteria.
So we released a video recently,
where we were doing a mock speaking test with a student
and people were criticizing the student
based on things that they had heard from
other students and seen on YouTube channels
and my response was always,
"Well, where does it say anything about that
"in the official marking criteria?
"That is what the examiners are using to assess
"your speaking, to assess your writing."
So you need to know those inside out.
And a teacher with a long track record
of helping people get high scores,
you should be asking your teachers,
you should be asking your schools,
"What are your past results like?
"Can we see some success stories?"
If they give you a bad answer to that question,
then you shouldn't really go with them
because again, it's gonna cause you to fail.
These students, they rely on hope and luck.
"I hope that I get the score next time."
That's not gonna help you.
"Maybe I'll be lucky next time."
You won't.
Whereas students who don't believe in hope and luck
get the score that they need in the fastest possible time,
they get feedback on their work
to understand what their strengths and weaknesses are
and then they take action to turn those weaknesses
into strengths to get to the score that they need
and those are the students that get the score they need
in the fastest possible time.
So again, if you're trying tips, and tricks, and relying
on unreliable information and hoping
that you'll be lucky next time,
you're just gonna fail over and over and over again
and it's gonna take you an incredibly long time.
Whereas our students get the score
that they need the next time they do the test
because they prepare properly.
So by doing things properly,
you are accelerating your preparation time.
So just to summarize,
if you want to get the score that you need
in the fastest possible time,
avoid shortcuts, avoid tips, and tricks, and hacks,
and all of those things.
Ask yourself, "What is my current level?
"Where am I right now?
"What are the exact reasons why I'm at that level?"
So if you're at 6.5 for writing,
instead of doing the test over and over and over again,
or trying some you know, YouTube video that teaches
you the secrets to getting a band nine or some nonsense
like that, just show it to someone
who knows what they're talking about
and they will tell you the exact reasons
why you're not getting the score that you need.
Number three,
what do I need to do to move to the next level?
So somebody tells you,
"You need to work on A, B, and C."
Work on A, B, and C.
A good teacher should be able to teach you that.
It is not that complicated.
It's really, really simple once you know how.
Number four, make a plan of action.
Get your calendar out
or get it on your iPad or whatever it is
and just divide it into squares for each day
and put the things that you need to do
and do them, and that's it.
Point number five,
take action.
Actually do the things.
People who rely on things like shortcuts,
and hope, and luck,
the reason they fail is they take no action.
And number six,
do the test when you're ready.
Don't book the test until
you know you're ready to do the test.
You're not gonna get lucky next time.
But many of you will be thinking right now,
"But getting a good teacher is so expensive
"and I can't afford that."
I totally disagree with that
and not because I'm a teacher.
Not because I want your money.
Not getting a teacher is truly expensive.
It is really, really expensive.
Let me convince you of that.
So this student, let's say they spend $50 on a really,
really cheap teacher or cheap course
and their test fee is like $200 and travel fees.
Say they spend about $300 each time they fail the test.
This is not unusual for someone to spend over $1000.
Some students spend thousands and thousands of dollars
failing the test over and over and over again.
So going for that, you know, scam YouTube video
or scam school or cheap teacher
is costing you a huge amount of money.
Whereas, let's say this student instead
of wasting all of this money,
they invested it in a good teacher
or a good school and let's say they're down
$1000 dollars but they end up
going to Canada or Australia or America
and they get a job, like at $50,000 or something like that.
They are up $49,000.
That's the way you have to think about it
because the people who are thinking this way
and they don't understand the cost of free,
and the cost of cheap, and the cost of believing
in things that don't actually help them.
Whereas our students, they invest money.
Our course is way below a thousand dollars by the way
and then they get the score they need.
Then they move to the country of their dreams.
Get the job of their dreams.
And get the course, or get the salary that they deserve.
So, thank you very much for watching.
Hope that you enjoyed that.
To help you out a little bit,
what I'd like to do is give you a free course.
It's our fundamentals course which will teach you
the absolute essential principles of IELTS writing,
speaking, reading, and listening.
It's totally free.
Just click below to get that
and you can get instant access.
If you need anything,
feel free to get in touch with us
and my iPad is dropped so let's check
if that has broken or not.
'Cause that will cost me a lot of money.
Thank you very much guys.
See you soon.
Ba-bye.
(upbeat music)