Hanh Ngan, 17 years old, increased her IELTS score from 7.5 to 8.5 thanks to improved writing style, more authentic and logical.
Nguyen Thi Hanh Ngan is currently a grade 11 student at Yen Hoa High School, Hanoi. Last August, Ngan took the IELTS test for the second time and achieved 8.5, up from 7.5 two months earlier. Ngan's scores for each component were Reading 9.0, Listening 8.5, Writing 8 and Speaking 7.5, with the most significant change being a one-point increase in Writing and half a point increase in the other skills.
According to statistics on the IELTS homepage, in 2022, only about 1% of IELTS test takers in Vietnam achieved a score of 8.5 or higher.
Ngan sees that at the 7.5 score level, candidates often score above 8 in Listening and Reading, but around 6.5-7 in Writing and Speaking. Increasing the score from 7.5 to higher becomes difficult, unlike the scores below.
"If the score increases from 5.5 to 6.5, students can focus more on Listening and Reading skills. However, at a score above 8, all skills must be really even," Ngan shared.
Nguyen Thi Hanh Ngan. Photo: Character provided
According to the female student, changing her mindset in Writing skills is the key factor to increasing her score.
"When I had low scores, I often wrote whatever came to mind. Although I still wrote complete essays, there were logical gaps, causing me to lose points for Coherence," Ngan said.
In the two months after the first exam, Ngan practiced writing 65 essays. The female student gave up the trick writing style of the essay and practiced logical thinking to write the true essence.
For example, in part 1 (task 1) of IELTS Writing, you are required to describe a graph. Previously, you handled the question in the form of line, column, circle and table graphs, but this time you approach the graph based on its nature of being static (static graph) and changing (dynamic graph).
"If a chart does not change over time, it is a Static chart, and if it does, it is Dynamic. The difference is that in a Static chart, we need to focus on comparing data, while Dynamic needs to talk more about the trend of data over time," Ngan shared.
In addition, the female student also changed some points in the layout of the essay. Normally, Ngan writes an essay with four paragraphs, including an introduction, an overview, and two development paragraphs. In the overview, in addition to stating the general trends of the data or chart, Ngan describes the most prominent data.
Ngan also realized that the biggest mistake in the previous exam was just listing the data. In the second exam, Ngan gathered data with similar characteristics into one paragraph, arranged them in order from largest to smallest, and compared and evaluated them. According to Ngan, this method helps candidates clearly see the fluctuations and correlations between the data. Ngan gave an example of a chart of the population in a country. If she simply listed it, she would only be able to exploit the percentage of the elderly and young population. But if she evaluated and compared the data, Ngan could generalize the trend of the population aging or getting younger.
"That's what the judges are looking for and will help you score points because you can demonstrate logical thinking," Ngan said, adding that memorizing specific vocabulary to use when describing data is also very important.
In part 2 (task 2), before writing, Ngan spent about 5 minutes finding ideas horizontally from economic, educational and cultural perspectives, then thinking vertically from individual, collective and social levels, and then arranging the ideas.
Ngan gave an example of her exam topic: "Land and water animals are in danger due to human activities. What are the reasons and what are the solutions?"
As for the reasons, Ngan approached from an economic and cultural perspective, mentioning poachers and loggers, which cause the loss of the number and habitat of terrestrial animals; the discharge of household and business waste that harms the environment. From there, Ngan proposed measures from small to large such as encouraging waste reduction by creating jobs for poachers and loggers; proposing a green tax policy by selling tickets-to-pollute to businesses and society.
"This shows that I have a diverse perspective. These are not just spontaneous ideas," Ngan said.
The female student commented that IELTS test takers often have many writing styles, but the important thing is to argue logically so that the examiner cannot find mistakes. Ngan also assessed that using the right vocabulary is more important than using difficult words and that high-scoring essays often have the writer's own writing style. During the process of reviewing Writing skills, Ngan often consulted sample essays from IELTS experts to learn how to argue.
Regarding speaking skills, Ngan determined that taking the exam is like communicating in English every day, so she did not focus on using sophisticated vocabulary and idioms. Ngan practiced pronunciation using the Shadowing method (mimicry), practicing speaking naturally, with the right tone like characters in movies and practicing singing her favorite English songs.
"Test takers tend to like big words, but in reality, when talking normally, they can't think of such words. Or if they just study by prediction and depend on the paper, their scores will still stagnate," Ngan said.
Ngan almost never encountered difficulties or had to review too much in Listening and Reading skills. According to the female student, she read books and watched movies in English since she was little, so she had an early foundation. Ngan's favorite movie is Marvel, which helps her get acquainted with many different English accents. The female student also read the entire Diary of a Wimpy Kid and Hot Topics with many hot topics in the world since middle school with a rich vocabulary.
Ngan believes that taking the IELTS test at this age has a disadvantage because she does not have much life experience. Therefore, when encountering macro topics, Ngan will try to relate them to the most familiar things around her to understand and do the test.
"For example, egalitarianism is a very vague topic. But I will limit it to students having equal access to education. What is important is what opinion I have and how I defend it," Ngan said.
Doan Hung (g hi )
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