Should I do my IELTS exam with the British Council or IDP?
This is a very common question and this may be one of our most important posts ever!! We had recommended the British Council 100% for a very important reason but it looks like IDP now do the same. You are able to get a breakdown of your IELTS writing and speaking scores from the British Council, and IDP. So, if you got 6.5 in your writing, you can email the British Council or IDP to get them to send the breakdown...
The 10 most common IELTS mistakes
We received this email from an IELTS preparation academy in India. It's nice to know we are being followed by teachers. They had this question. "What are some common mistakes students make during the IELTS test?" Some of the IELTS examiners here gave their ideas (The list was much longer but we though it would be good to focus on 10!) A few of the bigger ones They think that in the speaking test that they have to speak as much as they can. ...
Did you get 6 in speaking and writing and need 7? This is what you can do.
This is what happened to one of the members in our private Facebook group (Feel free to join!) This person got in touch and asked this question I really need IELTS help. I got 6 in speaking and writing and I need 7. What can I do? One of the IELTS examiners working here answered this one This happens a lot. At upmyielts, we can generally increase your speaking/writing score by 1 Band score. However, it depends on certain things. For some you, your...
IELTS EOR and jagged profiles explained
We were recently contacted by someone who had got L 8.5, S 7.5, R 7.5 and W 6 and they were asking about going for EOR (Enquiry of Results). What is EOR? This is where you think your score is too low and you can have your writing or speaking checked again. They were asking about getting their writing checked as they thought they had done much better than Band 6.0, and were asking for our advice. In this case, we recommended going...
Why do people do IELTS more than once?
So, we got this question from a member of our private Facebook group IELTS writing and speaking support (Feel free to join. You can talk to IELTS examiners there). Why is my IELTS Score the same as previous attempt after SO MUCH HARDWORK? First attempt overall 6.0, W-5.5, R-5.5, S-6.0, L-6.0. While my 2nd attempt overall 6.0, W-6.0, R-6.0, S-5.5 L-7.0. All the attempts were self study. We see so many repeat IELTS takers. Some have done the exam 4 or 5...
What book would you recommend for IELTS writing?
This is a question we get asked a lot. One of the IELTS examiners at upmyielts gave this answer. To be honest, most of them are pretty poor. They contradict each other and give some poor advice. 9 times out of 10, what stops people getting higher marks is accuracy and it is nearly always grammatical accuracy. It is surprising the number of people that write sentences like “Many people don’t buy mobile phone and use same phone for long time” When it should...
How can I get the score I need in IELTS?
This is a very common quesiton and one we get asked a lot by people in our private Facebook group Feel free to join. If you want to succeed in IELTS then you need to know what score you need in each of the skills. Let's say, for example, you need Band 7.0 for immigration points or university acceptance. So, now we know what you need. Now you need to see where you currently are. Do a full IELTS test. You can do...
Where should I get my IELTS writing questions from?
This question comes from a few questions that we have come to us recently from people using our writing service. We see a lot of people use IELTS questions that are not IELTS questions. But what does this mean? Well, it means that the questions are not up to IELTS standard. Let’s look at a couple of examples. This is one that someone who used our IELTS correction service used recently. Now, IELTS avoids issues like sex, religion, abortion etc because they are...