How to Score Good Marks in IELTS Exam

If you want to know ” how to score in IELTS exam “ ie, Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking, first we need to understand IELTS marking criteria to achieve the target score.

IELTS, a joint venture of British Council, IDP and Cambridge University, tests an individual’s language skills in all the four modules like Speaking, Writing, Reading and Listening.

The overall  score is an average of all the four modules on a scale of 0 – 9. Most universities accept band score 6.5 with 6 in each modules whereas in General Training an overall band score of 7 or more is considered quite good and opens certain avenues for the applicants willing to work or settle abroad.

Since this test is for non-native speakers of English, we must know how to improve score in IELTS exam. Find the IELTS tips below for scoring good marks in IELTS Exam:

IELTS Listening Tips For Improving Your Score

• Most students fail to understand that this is a test of your LISTENING skills and not reading, while they are busy reading the text, they lose focus and subsequently, the answers. So, please listen carefully.
• In the first two sections, questions may be a little easier but they can also be tricky.
• The speaker may change the answers to confuse you, like first they would say ” Let’s meet on Wednesday” and then they may change the answer saying ” I think I have some other assignments that day so let’s make it the next day” and hence the answer would be Thursday.
• If you skip some listening, don’t panic, keep listening.
• It’s my observation that your IELTS listening score improves with practice. Try to do atleast one listening exercise everyday, understanding your wrong answers by listening them again and you’d see that after a couple of weeks your score would definitely improve by around 8-10 marks.
• Learn more about Ielts Listening Tips

Reading Tips for Scoring in IELTS Exam

• This is the best part in IELTS which can add to your score. Most of my students have scored 9 band in Ielts Reading. Just manage your time well.
• Read the questions before so that you have a fair idea what to look for in a passage.
• Try to understand the meaning of the passage, not to emphasise much on the keywords.
• Divide your question statements in parts and try to justify your answers by arguing with yourself in the examination, for example a True/False/Not Given question may read:
  • People from southern part of India/ are slightly different/ in appearance/ than those in Sri lanka.
  • Here words like Slightly, different, than, in appearance are quite important. Look for the similar information in the passage to finally mark your answer.
• Carefully understand the question and don’t waste too much time looking for one that seems difficult. Move on and come back later if you have some time at the end.
• Learn more about Ielts Reading Tips

How To Improve IELTS Writing Score

• Writing clearly is the key to a good band score in IELTS exam.
• Try to logically organise your writing well by sparing some time in the beginning planning for the Writing.
• State, expand and support your ideas by giving relevant examples.
• Use good range of sentence structures with appropriate and flexible use of vocabulary to convey precise meaning like a good mix of compound, complex and conditional sentences. Use punctuation appropriately.
• Understand the question statement well and answer each part sufficiently.
• Write and get it checked by an Ielts Expert or send us your Writing here
• Learn more about Ielts Writing Tips

IELTS Speaking Tips For Getting Higher Marks

• Your Ielts speaking is analysed on four criteria; Fluency and Coherence, Vocabulary, Grammar and Pronunciation.
• Understand what the question is. Sometimes, they ask your personal opinion about people and the other time it may be related to your own life.
• Good use of intonation, stress and right pronunciation definitely gives a good score in Ielts Speaking.
• In cue card, try to address all the bullet points in the first few seconds which completes your task response and you feel relaxed afterwards to develop your answer.
• If you could not hear/understand the question properly, ask the examiner to repeat/explain the answer.
• Learn more about Ielts Speaking Tips

I hope I covered all the key features on how to score better in your next IELTS exam. Leave your feedback/queries in the comment section below, I would surely address them at the earliest possible.

All the best!