My STEM OPT EAD card was produced on March 18 but it’s been like that since then and I haven’t had received any update and now it’s May 9. What happened? Did they lose it? There is also no tracking number. My address did change but I updated it in the USCIS system more than a month before the card was produced. I checked the old address and they are saying nothing came there. What can I do?
Just got my result and I am very happy with it, especially Writing since I wasn’t sure if it would come back as 7.5 or 8.0. Reading and Listening went flawlessly and I had plenty of time to check my answers, especially in Reading (Had 15 mins left in the end). Speaking felt like it lasted only 10-12 minutes since the questions were coming in so fast, but I stayed open, confident and answered them as they rapidly came at me and tried to sound nuanced. I am a non-native speaker but have been studying and working in the US for a number of years and I grew up speaking English.
Here are my tips:
Writing: Write a good amount. In my practice I would write 550-600 words and someone in this sub said writing more is good. I type and think fast so my word count ended up around 600 words in the teat. I made sure to paragraph well, use linking words (Firstly, Furthermore, etc.) and show nuance. I agreed with the opinion in the prompt and explained why, while also acknowledging potential downsides and why others might disagree. Personal examples and general knowledge really do make a difference. I used good vocabulary where it fit naturally rather than forcing fancy words in. Most importantly I checked both tasks at the end and fixed any spelling errors before submitting.
Listening: Keep your cursor on the current question and focus on listening for the answer. If you miss something move on immediately to the next question. You do not want to lose more answers trying to recover one. In my practice I would miss something and then sometimes lose track of the audio. Come back at the end and make an educated guess based on context for anything you miss. Knowing the different question types through practice really helped here. And thankfully I felt like the actual test listening task was easier. I was actually expecting a 9 in this too but 8.5 is also great!
Reading: For one word answers I would copy directly from the passage and paste. You are able to copy, paste and highlight on the computer test and I recommend highlighting your answers while reading and when checking. I enjoy reading generally and read non-fiction like biographies, scientific articles and travel writing which is often similar to what comes up in IELTS Reading. Knowing the questions well and making sure your answers come directly from the text is key.
Speaking: I am strong in speaking and like debating. Im also extroverted so I don’t feel any nervousness when speaking or talking about myself. I stayed calm, confident and answered the questions clearly with plenty of examples from personal life and knowledge. I was asked about my work in Part 1 and then in Part 2 and 3 I was asked about my favorite cultural holiday and then asked some follow up questions. It felt like the whole thing was over in 10-12 minutes. I practiced with ChatGPT voice mode, understood the format and saw IELTS advantage and other YouTube videos.
For practice, I used Claude to rate my essays. It was giving me lower band scores initially hut after I showed it actual examiner comments and the rubric, it started scoring me 7.5-8 consistently. I did 2-3 practice tests from the Cambridge IELTS 17 book. Really happy with the result because I needed at least 8.0 in each band.
Good luck to everyone taking the test soon! Happy to answer questions.