Just got my IELTS results
I gave the IELTS General exam to test my English skills. I definitely did not expect coming to the test that I accidentally booked the writing section to be on paper. I haven't handwritten essays in years and it definitely took some getting used to. Finally, ended up in somewhat of a time scramble towards the end. But overall, still a decent result. If I were to take it again, I would definitely do some practice for the writing parts and a few practice tests in general. I only did a couple reading and listening mock tests before the exam. I know a lot of y'all are preparing for the test and some tips from my experience of the test:
Speaking:
Split into 3 parts. 1st part was fairly straightforward and you should treat it like a conversation. It doesn't matter if you hesitate or take some pauses as long as it's to formulate ideas and not for remembering vocab. I'm the 2nd part, you get a cue card about a topic. This is mainly a monologue for 1-2 mins. What's important is that you answer the 2-3 questions in the card. Make sure your response covers all of the questions. The 3rd part is about follow up questions and this turned into a very philosophical debate between me and the examiner. The important part is to gauge which questions are more open-ended as opposed to rapid fire and base your response accordingly. Overall was a nice refereshing conversation and didn't expect the time to pass by so quickly.
Listening:
For this, make sure you play with the volume to set at the right level. Initially I set it at max and this made it harder for me to focus on the audio. I would say a 70-75% volume was ideal but adjust based on your preference. Pay attention to the question wording. Some might be one word answers, some two words and some numbers. Don't confuse tenses in your responses. Listen to the end, they go a lot of back and forth before arriving at a final answer. The answers are typically straightforward and you don't have to infer anything.
Reading:
This was by far the easiest section. There are 3 sections. I finished all of them by the 35 min mark and had more than enough time to go over the test 2-3 times. The most ambiguous questions were the True/False/Not Given ones. I would say don't overthink it but also don't take it at face value. A general trend I noticed for these questions were " X is better for Y for Z reason" and the text only reads " X is better for Y". Thus we should choose Not Given. I felt for this section, relying on your gut feeling is the most important. You can highlight and annotate while you go through the texts to make it easier to review.
Writing:
Double check and definitely choose the computer writing if possible. The biggest advantage is you can plan as you go and it's possible to edit at any time. My biggest mistake was managing my time. I started the test, read the questions and then took a bathroom break to formulate some ideas in my head and stretch. I came back and started writing a general plan on scrap paper. It was about at the 10 min mark that I started writing the essay. I went ahead with task 2 first but I would recommend anyone to do task 1 first. I ended up rambling and wrote way more than the required word count to the point where I had to ask for an extra sheet. Then I realized at the 40 min mark that I had to wrap this up and started on the concluding paragraph. By the time I was done with task 2, it was 45 minutes and I had just 15 minutes for task 1. Task 1 was a simple letter. What's important is you address each and every point that the question asks you for and also the register that you use. In this section, I took 2 mins to do a quick plan/outline and started writing. I finished my salutations within a second left on the clock. So, threw proofreading out the window essentially. Therefore, I would definitely say start with task 1 and move on to task 2 at the 20-25 min mark. For task 2, remember not to go on a creative sprint and remember that you have a limited amount of time to finish the essay. I would definitely practice writing some topics for the task 2 before giving the exam if I had the second chance and choose the computerized writing test.
Hope this helped and good luck y'all! You got this!