Ryu Jiyul (Marsha)
I came to HELP to get IELTS score of overall 6.5 and each 6.0 for graduate school in Singapore. However, I didn’t have any background knowledge about IELTS at first, so I got very low score in placement test. As a result, it made me strive to get higher score.
In fact, I already studied other English tests such as TEPS, TOEIC, TOEFL before. It means that I have fundamental skills for that especially in Reading and Listening. Hence, I didn’t need to focus on it and I just solved some parts of the questions a day in a textbook for self-study, Cambridge 6-9 and I took group class to get some strategy which is different from other tests. I think that it is one of good ways to get higher score if the students already have some basic skills. If the students think that a group class per a day is not enough, we can take special class and it was also helpful.
Obviously, the urgent part for me was writing and speaking because I got less than 4.0 for that parts in placement test. Fortunately, my teachers are very good at writing, so I had enough chance to improve writing skill rapidly. For task 1, I tried a lot even though I was not confident with it and I made my own note modifying it continuously. For task 2, I also tried a lot. Frankly, I had a problem with coherence since I liked to make sentences which is very complex. Though, by doing that, my writing became better and better.
Perhaps, many students have serious problem in speaking I guess. I was scared as well. That’s because of the fact that we should speak without any preparation time but with paraphrasing. I got only 5.0 or 5.5 in speaking until 3 ~ 4 weeks ago even though all my teachers were so good. But through numerous efforts to be fluent as finding out materials for speaking and talking with friend in Longlong, I got 6.0 and 6.5 in mock tests recently. I was really surprised and pleased.
Now I’m waiting for the official test’s result will be out soon and I’m not certain that I got my target score. However, I can feel that my English skills have been improved a lot thanks to all the teachers of Longlong. Based on my experience, I think that the most significant way to improve your English skills regardless of the type of test you want to get score would be following instructions of academy or teachers and being diligent by yourself. I saw many students who are very lazy so cannot get scores which they really want. Consequently, I recommend students to do their best in Longlong using everything they can employ.