MISCONCEPTIONS

• It is a money making examination tailored to exploit hapless Nigerians-This is one of the opinions often expressed by candidates, especially those that have probably written the exams a couple of times or those that must cross the IELTS hurdle to achieve their career goals and aspirations. It may be one of the revenue avenues for the British Council, but profit is not the main motive.

• They deliberately mark Nigerians down-This is not exactly true, because the exam is a standardized one, from setting the questions and even its assessment. The quality control prescribed for the administering body; the British Council is top-notch. It is so high that the administering body has to be on its toes to ensure standard at all times. The exam does not have any intention of marking any Nigerian candidate down, because everything about it is transparent and standardized. The same examination set for Nigerian candidates is what is set for the Chinese, with the same marking standard.


• If you haven’t written IELTS many times, you won’t be able to make your desired band-This is also not true. I have met many candidates, especially those fresh from secondary schools that have made straight band 9 .Such students were definitely in a better academic mood, which most working class candidates may lack due to distractions and academic staleness . I have also met working class candidates that have written the exam, and came out with top bands. From experience however, it is always a challenge working with a candidate with a past history of low IELTS band, because most of these candidates are stuck in the mindset that passing IELTS requires building your ability on formulas (would explain this later) Another group of candidates I have met, have continuously repeated the same way of approaching the exam and what do you expect? You can’t be doing the same thing and expect a different result!

• You have to rely on formulas to answer all questions correctly-[/b]Sadly, many candidates have relied on foreign online tutors who themselves are just ordinary English teachers, with no intrinsic knowledge of IELTS assessment .Such tutors reduce everything to formulas, and one thing I always say is that an English test like IELTS is not Mathematics, that can be reduced to formula. I can bet, if you rely on formula to write, you can’t go beyond band 6! The reason is very simple, what is mass-produced is different from tailored made or a designer product! All your answers for every stream of the IELTS exams must be an offshoot of your personal creativity and effort.


• [b]The mark scheme doesn’t take cognizance of Nigerian environment-From my experience as an examiner, this is partially true, but really, what a candidate has to do is to ensure he or she uses examples or illustrations that have global appeal. If for example you are using a word like Ojuelegba and you don’t indicate that ,it is a street, in a city in Nigeria called Lagos,how do you expect a foreign examiner to comprehend this? What about an abbreviation like EFCC-How do you expect a foreign examiner to understand that this a crime fighting agency in your country?

• IELTS is a very tough examination-It was not until I started training IELTS candidates that I realized that many would have written the exam up to 4- 8 times! This is unlike the picture I had as an examiner. To me then, I saw from my estimation that 45% made band 6, 30% band 7,10% band 8 and above, while the remaining 15% fell below band 5.Frankly,it is one of the easiest exams to pass if you understand the expectations very well. The simple reason is that, you can accurately predict the format of questions to expect. For a skill like Listening most Nigerians may be disadvantaged because of our deficient English Language, which does not teach Listening effectively. (As people always say, we Nigerians tend to Hear, we do not Listen!)For Writing, an essay is made of components which one must understand. The knowledge of grammar needed is minimal, if you can manage an essay’s overall structure.

THE REALITY

• Your speed also being tested-For all the papers, your speed is directly and indirectly being tested. I often say that in all the papers except Speaking, the candidate is programmed not to complete the paper. So what is the way out? You must practise with speed in mind. If for example you are able to complete a 40 minute exercise in 37 minutes, then you know you are really ready for the examination.

• Your composure is being tested-[/b]Because of the limited time, if you are not able to psychologically calm down yourself to produce your best effort; you are already disadvantaged by over 30%.This also comes with having a winning technique to answer questions. It is composure for instance that would help you to follow instructions in even answering questions. Many candidates would have made a good grade in the Reading exercise, if not that they must have failed to present their answers correctly. Composure would also come handy in always having a structured plan for every task ,for instance in the Writing part.


• [b]Writing is the only part that could actually be taught and learnt. If you really want to make an appreciable impact in your overall band score, then work on your Writing, because it is actually the only part that can be taught and learnt. I will explain. With a basic knowledge of English, a willing candidate can actually be tutored through what I call a structured writing approach, with appreciable result. The same cannot be said of other sections such as Speaking, Reading and Listening. All these are based on techniques and practice.

• Reading and Listening are mostly technique based and not necessarily core knowledge based. For Reading, a candidate simply has to be taught the best techniques to use to glean the necessary information, process and present .If the candidate is very weak, then he or she has to spend more time reading across board to gain some reading weight.

• Speaking is the simplest part of the test. There are many reasons for this. First, the structure of the questions are pretty predictable. Second, with structured practice on how to speak ,a candidate can easily make band 7 and above.Lastly,most Nigerian candidates do more of speaking than others such as Writing,Listening and Reading. Speaking within a short time could be mastered- So with rigorous practice, with a good tutor, a candidate should be able to make band 7 at least, for an average user of English language


• The capacity of your ability determines your success rate-If you come from a background where you write often, especially in your work, then you are privileged and this would reflect on your performance, but if since you left school you have never had anything to do with reading and writing, then you have a lot of work to do. Now in the course of your practice and training, you should be able to honestly determine where you stand before the exam and be realistic about it! I only need to read your essay just once to know where you stand!

WHAT YOU SHOULD DO
• You don’t need to rely on any formula to pass-For most candidates that have relied on online tutors, I have observed that they mostly rely on certain formulas to write .It is not wise to rely on a particular formula especially in Writing, which is an art that gives much room for individual expression and creativity. What would stand you out is to do something different, especially in your opening paragraph (introduction).If for instance you start an essay with the normal definition kind of introduction, you are definitely programming yourself for a band 6 range. While not advocating a formula approach especially in Writing, you however need a structure or framework to work with ,which however still gives room for individual expression. There is a simple structure to writing that is not formula-based

• Leverage much on your Writing- The reason is because it is the only part of the paper that can actually be taught and learnt unlike other streams of the IELTS exams.

• You can work out Listening and Reading on your own-If you are the determined and self-motivated type, you can actually and definitely work your way round Listening and Reading and this comes with rigorous practice over and over again by familiarizing yourself with the patterns of how questions are set.

• Lastly, get a good tutor and work on your own too- It is not about being an English graduate only .Get a tutor with the following qualifications : An English graduate, somebody that had written the IELTS as a candidate and if possible a former IELTS examiner.

All the best!

Kunle Abrahams
(a certified former IELTS examiner lives in Lagos)
08178333447/kunleabrahams046@gmail.com

5 REASONS IELTS TEST IS VERY EASY TO PASS
1.You choose the time to write the exam
2.You have the option of handwritten and CBT
3.Many options to be coached-online,off line etc
4.Format of questioning pretty predictable.
5.Ample room for self study.

HOW TO GENERATE IDEAS FOR YOUR TASK 2 ESSAYS
Frankly,when I was asked the question- How can I generate ideas for my essay? I found it quite funny, because to me, it was just natural to be able to come up easily with your points in an essay. However on a deep reflection, I realized that as a candidate writing IELTS, you are confronted by two monster of time and the normal examination pressure which nobody is immune to. Now how can you easily generate ideas for your IELTS Task 2 essays?

1. From a month to the exam, take time to spend at least an hour everyday to read articles on current issues.

2. What are these current issues? You must realize that questions are often drawn from current realities and human interest topics especially those that confront humans in the 21st century.

3.Such questions are often drawn from technology,education,environment (pollution etc.),politics etc.

4. So where can you get these materials? They are readily available in publications such as Saturday or Sunday newspapers published in your country. These are basically human interest stories. For example there was an article in the Saturday Punch Newspaper of 10th August, 2019 on Internet and Students. A subject like this should interest anybody that is preparing for IELTS Writing exam. It is also important that such a student must begin to read purposively, especially around like issues for the purpose of the exam. Having enriched yourself with this kind of reading experience, you would obviously be in a better position to draw inspiration to write your essays.


5. Closely related to the above point is the need for such a candidate to realize that he or should be ready to transfer knowledge and be able to make logical inference. For instance, you may not read exactly what would be needed in the exam, so you should be able to draw a sort of inspiration to tackle a related question. A content for a topic or subject on Internet and Students for instance could be useful for a question on Computers and Students.

6.Apart from the source above, you must also realize that every essay expects you to draw from your personal experience and this comes from your past encounters with different situations-movies you have watched, bitter experience, travels, books read etc.It is all these that would form the bedrock of your inspiration. No one can claim not to have had an intimate experience. It is this individual peculiarity that makes your writing unique to you. Medical personnel could at times have undue advantage over others as I have seen a lot of them drawing from their medical background to write proficiently on questions from their field. It is therefore not coincidental that all essay questions have this tag-Give reasons for your answer and include any relevant examples from your own knowledge and experience.

7. When writing too, note that you are writing fictitiously and not necessarily a true life story, so don’t be afraid to concoct stories as far as it is logical and sensible. You are not assessed based on the truthfulness of your content, but its logicality.

Kunle Abrahams
(former IELTS examiner lives in Lagos)
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