Hello, just want to share my experience. I took the IELTS last April 5, and now i got the results online. I reviewed for almost 2 months. Sometimes I would skip my review plan kasi tinatamad ako or because I was not motivated hehe. Here's my tip: PRACTICE! I am thankful that this forum guided me through my self-review days. I downloaded Cambridge, reviewed from 7-9 only 😃 The writing tips here also helped me to manage the flow of my essay during the exam.
Listening - during my review days, ito pinakafavorite ko kasi laging mataas score ko dito hihih. pero nung actual exam na, na-lost ako! natutulala ako tapos na-out of focus na ko sa words! so focus pagdating ng exam at relax lang. Set aside any kinds of personal problems you have. Balikan mo nlng after ng exam hehe
Reading - ayoko nito. inaantok ako pag nagrreview. pero kelangan pagdaanan. read read and read! sa exam, double check your answers, kasi ung akala kong sagot, pag binasa ko ulit iba pala ung dapat. kaya read and understand ng mabuti.
Writing - Practice writing! kahit na nakakatamad. Yes, super ito ung last sa review plan ko. most of the days i would skip this. what i did was to read essays for Band 8, which i downloaded from several ielts review sites. Read lang, then i would copy the essay as if ako nagcompose haha! Then I would write again in my own way. Helpful ung nagshare dito ng writing tips. 🙂 During the exam, ang topic ko was Sports, which is pinaka-ayaw ko! as in, di ko nga un napractice.. hehe
Speaking - I was intimidated by the recorder. Di ako sanay, once lang ako nagrecord ng sarili ko ng speaking during my review, di ko na inulit. parang ayoko marinig boses ko haha. Well, the exam...It was okay, but after my speaking test, I felt disappointed, a bit lang kasi I wasn't that confident with my answers, feeling ko marami akong mali tapos I tend to rephrase my statement to correct whatever I said. But it was okay. Buti nalang, ung topic ko for 2nd part of the test, nareview ko, or nabasa ko somewhere 🙂 whew! Baon kayo vocabulary words 🙂
Overall here's my score:
Listening: 7.5
Reading: 7.5
Writing: 7.0
Speaking: 7.5
Overall: 7.5
Actually, my requirement is 8 for each part. I need to retake soon. But I didn't feel that I failed. I felt that it's just a test, to challenge me. I doubted myself when I took the exam and even when I was reviewing. For me, 8 is quite high!! But now that I got the results, I feel more motivated and inspired to try again. Feeling ko kaya ko na next time! English is our second medium of language, kaya i believe na kayang kaya natin 'to! Lastly, don't forget to PRAY. 🙂