Hanoi teacher achieved 9.0 IELTS after 5 years of effort

Exam to improve knowledge

Having been exposed to English since childhood through several foreign language clubs, Nguyen Trung Duc (28 years old), a test preparation teacher in Hanoi, was admitted to the English specialized class at Hanoi - Amsterdam High School for the Gifted and the Foreign Language Specialized High School (University of Foreign Languages, Vietnam National University, Hanoi) at the same time.

In 2018, Duc graduated from Yonsei University (Korea) and returned to Vietnam to work at an IELTS test preparation center.

Continuously using English for a long time, even throughout the study abroad process, was the reason why the male teacher was shocked when he only achieved 7.5 IELTS in the test when he first returned to Vietnam in 2018, with 8.5 in listening, reading, 7.0 in writing and 6.5 in speaking. A few months later, he decided to retake the test and raised his total score to 8.0.

"But if I stop at this score, I think I will never be confident enough to stand on the podium, so I continue to focus on studying," said Duc.

On the test on May 3, Duc successfully achieved the absolute 9.0 IELTS Academic mark. Specifically, Duc achieved 9.0 in listening, reading, speaking and 8.0 in writing.

"I never intended to get a 9.0, but only took the exam with the mindset of improving my teaching knowledge and helping to teach my students better. This 'dream' score really surprised me and I still can't believe it," the Hanoi boy confided, adding that he had previously taken the exam 6 times, with the last 4 times all achieving 8.5 IELTS.

Mr. Nguyen Trung Duc, a teacher in Hanoi, just achieved a perfect score of 9.0 IELTS.

According to the owner of the 9.0 IELTS score, there are two main mistakes that candidates often make when they first start studying. The first is speaking too quickly, making it difficult to control the content of what they are saying, causing the speech to be disjointed, with incorrect grammar and pronunciation. "The second is trying to show off advanced, rare vocabulary instead of focusing on explaining ideas, making the use of vocabulary very haphazard and out of context. When I discovered this mistake, I had to change my focus to solving the question," Duc advised.

Mr. Trung Duc (right) at the graduation ceremony at Yonsei University (South Korea), the second largest university in Korea and ranked 56th in the world according to Times Higher Education 2023.

The male teacher also reminded students not to take English lightly in high school, but to focus on vocabulary, thematic ideas and some basic grammar points in textbooks. "They are all common not only in life but also in the IELTS test and are useful resources to improve English knowledge," Duc shared.

Write 160 articles to improve your skills

To achieve maximum scores in listening and reading, Mr. Duc believes that candidates first need to familiarize themselves with diverse English content that is suitable for their individual level. The first thing is that learners must put themselves in an environment where they constantly use this language. "Because IELTS is an English proficiency test, you need to improve your foundation before focusing on the test to achieve optimal results," said the male teacher.

"In the listening section, multiple choice questions are often the most challenging for candidates. To deal with them, you need to mentally prepare yourself for the test to talk about all three answers along with facts to help determine right or wrong. In the reading section, the difficult matching headings can be conquered by choosing the main point of the passage from analyzing the ideas in the paragraph, then linking the goals that the ideas aim for," Duc shared.

Teacher Trung Duc's IELTS score of 9.0 in listening, reading, speaking and 8.0 in writing, total score of 9.0

Regarding speaking skills, the male teacher advised that it is necessary to continuously improve knowledge on different topics to avoid running out of ideas, as well as to help apply vocabulary and grammar well in the context. "In part 1, remember that the examiner does not have much time and they are only interested in key words along with pronunciation and fluency characteristics. Therefore, the best way to handle this is to answer briefly, with connections and focus on pronunciation to create a good impression right from the start," Mr. Duc suggested.

As for writing skills, the Hanoian shared that the most important thing is to solve the problem, specifically, the argument must meet all the keywords in the essay in a subtle, appropriate and convincing way. This is also the guideline for other criteria, such as the use of vocabulary or grammar, Duc said. "From then on, I spent most of my time practicing solving and finding ideas for each topic instead of trying to cram vocabulary, thanks to which my score increased significantly after each exam," he said.

On his journey to improve his writing score, Duc said that every month before the exam, he would write 1-2 essays every day to send to his friend, who is also an IELTS teacher, for editing, a total of about 160 essays so far. "But quantity is not the decisive factor, what is important is what you learn to create a suitable writing method. For example, after each essay is edited, I rewrite it by hand to remember and take notes on sentence structure and effective argumentation," he said.

Mr. Trung Duc advises candidates not to "pour their heads" into practicing IELTS test questions but to draw their own experiences after each test.

As a friend who always corrects Duc's writings, Nguyen Chi Thanh, an IELTS teacher in Hanoi, expressed his admiration for his colleague's "completely worthy of his efforts" achievement. "At first, when Duc sent his writings, I had to make quite a few corrections for errors such as uncertain arguments and rigid expressions. But after receiving my comments and diligently rewriting his writings based on my suggestions, Duc improved a lot," Thanh shared.

After achieving 9.0 IELTS, the Hanoi boy added that he will participate in some IELTS projects, and also be a speaker at some talkshows and webinars on this topic so that more candidates can benefit for free.

Source link: https://thanhnien.vn/thay-giao-ha-noi-dat-90-ielts-sau-5-nam-no-luc-185230616135040066.htm