IDP, one of the two IELTS test organizers in Vietnam, announced that for the first time, the organization has recorded a candidate achieving 9.0 in all skills: Listening, Speaking, Reading, and Writing. The person who achieved this impressive result is Mr. Luyen Quang Kien, 31 years old, in Hanoi.
Mr. Kien started taking the IELTS test in 2014 and achieved 7.5 on his first attempt. In 2022, he took the IELTS test 8 times, of which he achieved 9.0 overall twice, but he never achieved 9.0 in the Writing test for any individual skill.
In 2023, Mr. Kien scored 9.0 in Writing in the last exam in May, with 2 skills scoring 8.5. It was not until the exam on June 3 that he achieved the perfect score as desired, conquering the "ceiling" score of 9.0 in all 4 skills.
Mr. Luyen Quang Kien is a former student of Electronic Equipment, Hanoi University of Science and Technology.
Although he is an English teacher, Mr. Kien has not undergone any specialized foreign language training. He is a former student of the Electronic Equipment Department at Hanoi University of Science and Technology.
Although he was quite good at Math, Physics, and Chemistry, he once thought that he was "only suited for engineering majors". When he entered university, he found that he was more passionate about learning foreign languages than his major subjects at school. He joined the English club at the end of his first year and started working as a teaching assistant at a communication center. After that, he was determined to study, take the IELTS test, and teach it.
He regularly takes the IELTS test 5-7 times a year to verify the effectiveness of his teaching and test preparation methods. " Registering for the test gives me the motivation to improve my language skills. When I learn new knowledge, I am more inspired to develop my lessons. In addition, despite my efforts, I have never achieved a 9.0 score in Writing before. This made me doubt myself. When I knew I had achieved my goal for many years, I was so happy that I cried," said Mr. Kien.
The secret to helping Mr. Kien improve his English is "living with the language". He creates an English environment and learns the language by watching movies and entertainment programs without Vietnamese subtitles. He always maintains listening for at least 2 hours a day and this has become his habit for over 10 years.
"I divide the time ratio for each skill. 80% of the time for Listening, 10% for Reading, the remaining 5% for Speaking and 5% for Writing. Of course, this ratio will change and be adjusted depending on each stage, but for me, Listening skill is the key to learning a foreign language," he emphasized.
To achieve optimal IELTS results, Mr. Kien advises candidates to master different skills for each section. Candidates also need to focus on simplicity but still sophistication instead of using sophisticated vocabulary or complex structures.
He explains that the IELTS test is designed to assess the ability to use English effectively. Candidates should focus on understanding the context in which certain vocabulary or grammar should be used, rather than showing off their vocabulary or “big” structures. Many students go into the Speaking test with the mentality of having to impress the examiner and force phrases they have memorized at home into their speech. This is often counterproductive as it will lose fluency and coherence.
"My advice is always to let your opinion dictate your vocabulary and grammar, not the other way around. This will help test takers feel more confident and return the test to its true value as a test of effective language use. If you give your opinion and develop it convincingly with a sophisticated use of vocabulary, you will definitely get a high score," he shared.
Mr. Kien also expressed that because IELTS has quite academic topics, requiring a certain amount of social knowledge to get good scores in all 4 parts of the test, students under grade 8 are not the group that should practice IELTS.
"Learning IELTS is highly applicable in life, work and study. It also helps learners have clear motivation and goals in the learning process. Foreign language certificates such as IELTS also help schools and educational institutions reduce the effort in recruiting. However, IELTS has quite academic topics that require certain social knowledge, so it is often suitable for students from grade 8 and above ," Mr. Kien concluded.
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