Welcome to Myths busted blog. These myths come from our discussion with our students.
There are heaps of blogs, a number of youtube videos, lots of information available on the Internet today on IELTS. However, there is so much contradictory information that you tend to get confused. You don’t understand what is real anymore. So here we are to bust the myths related to various sections of IELTS:
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It’s easy to go from 6 to 8 with tips, tricks, and hacks.
Reality: It’s not a fairyland and there is no magic stick. Moving from 6 to 8 doesn’t require tips and tricks but a lot of practice, hard work, and of course backed up with proper guidance and feedback. You need to understand your problem areas and overcome them.
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The complex is your writing, the higher is the score.
Reality: It is important to use complex structures of sentences (that is not writing small sentences but actually joining them) but this should not make your writing complex. Remember, your writing should be easy to understand to score better.
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You cannot ask the examiner any questions during the speaking test.
Reality: You can ask the examiner to repeat the question, in case you do not understand any. Apart from this, you can even ask the meaning of a word from the question, in case you are doubtful about it. This is not going to impact your scores at all. However, do not do this more often.
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Body language matters in speaking.
Reality: Not at all. Do not focus on anything else but questions, your language, and clarity. Your gestures or eye contact will not create any impact on your scores. Remember, the examiner is doing his job by being formal and strict. However, it’s the opposite that is expected of you. So speak in clear and natural English language.
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You need to speak in a British or American accent to get a better score.
Reality: You do not have any particular or standard accent to get a good score. Be as natural as you can be. This would definitely give more clarity to your language and hence to your answers. Remember, clarity is the king here.
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You should have a high-level vocabulary to score better in writing and speaking.
Reality: As mentioned earlier, clarity is important. So all you need to have is the right words to express a specific idea so that the reader or the listener understands clearly what you mean to say. Avoid usage of idioms as at times you are not certain of their meaning. Moreover, you need to be natural while you speak and you don’t use idioms while talking naturally. More the mistakes, the lesser is your score. You have a huge vocabulary already. If you feel you need to learn more, then invest time in reading articles rather than building up a dictionary of your own.
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Don’t give your opinion or use ‘I’ in your essay.
Reality: Do what the question demands. If the question asks for your opinion, definitely do that. But if it doesn’t, then don’t need to. Make use of I while doing that. For example – I believe or I feel etc.
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You can answer Reading questions without going through the text.
Reality: You cannot answer the questions based on your knowledge and assumptions. In IELTS, careful reading is a must as the test is designed in such a manner. You need strategies but this doesn’t mean that you will not have to read the passage to give answers.
If you want to know more about the strategies to be followed to answer each type of question in IELTS, click here.
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The more the connectors, the better is the score in writing.
Reality: Words like therefore, apart from this, however, etc are termed as connectors. In the criteria of evaluation, it is clearly mentioned that you don’t overuse or underuse such linking words. Use them appropriately, only when required.
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Don’t use contractions at all.
Reality: This is true in the case of Academic writing. However, when it comes to Writing Task 1 of General, do use contractions (I’m instead of I am) while writing an informal letter. In speaking, feel free to use contractions.
If you have any more questions or more myths to be busted do leave them in the comments section and we would be more than happy to answer them for you.
Do share your suggestions and feedback either in the comments section or feel free to reach us at ieltsintellect@gmail.com
We would be happy to listen and share resources on topics that are posing a challenge for our readers. IELTS Intellect has various customized and specifically curated courses for both IELTS general online training and IELTS academic online courses. Feel free to check them here.