I got my IELTS result today. I got
Listening 7.5
Reading 8.5
Writing 7.5
Speaking 7.5
Overall 8.0
This page (“IELTS practice group” on Facebook) helped me a lot. I want to thank everyone here that read my essays and commented on them with advises.
I started my prep on 16th April 2014. I took my test on 10th July 2014. I did listening and reading from Cambridge books.
Listening
The key for listening is practice. The more I practiced, the better I got. For listening, you have to be completely focused and gather all your concentration.
Reading
For reading, I preferred to read the passage first and the questions after that. While reading the passage, I used to underline all the nouns, all the dates and any other significant data. It helped when I had to search for answers.
Writing
I had trouble with writing. A friend advised me to read all the sample answers from the Cambridge books. That helped. After that, I started writing on a Facebook group. I wrote in my notebook too. I wrote around a dozen Task 1 and a dozen Task 2. That helped the most.
Speaking
For speaking, I didn’t practice much. Just go through the Speaking tests from Cambridge books. The questions in my speaking test were mostly from those practice tests.
Greetings. Please are the Cambridge series available for download?
I’m not sure if you can legally download them. But you can look for them.
I have already booked my Ielts academic
Should I also book a ukvi Ielts academic as I have to give it anyways?
Since you’ve already books IELTS Academic, don’t waste any time, money or energy. Go with IELTS Academic. You can take IELTS UKVI later on.
Hello Dr Naseer .i cleared academic ielts with band 8 and just gave plab1 .im planning to give plab 2 InshaAllah if i pass.i wanted to enquire that i will most probably apply for a short visit visa for plab 2.about 10 to 12 days .so for that short visit visa do they need UKVI or will i get it on the basis of Academic Ielts? As i plan to come back and after passing reapply for work visa?and another thing..is it mandatory now to pass UKVI for work tier 2 visa ?even if we have Academic ?
For your PLAB 2 visit, you do not need IELTS. You do need IELTS for GMC registration though. Both IELTS Academic and IELTS Academic UKVI will do for it.
IELTS UKVI Academic is indeed mandatory for work visa. But you only need 4.0 bands for that. Don’t worry about it for now. Take IELTS UKVI when you have to. Not before time.
Best of luck for your PLAB 1! I’m sure you will pass the exam! 🙂
Lastly, I would advise you to go through my post About IELTS and also all of my posts about PLAB 2 visa and PLAB 2 itself.
If you have any questions, I will be here. 🙂
I took UKVI few months ago but could not secure required band , 7.5 overall. I would like to know if this result will be valid even after taking simple academic exam? Thank you
Yes, it should be valid. But it would be best to email the UKVI to confirm with them if they would accept your IELTS UKVI Academic result after you’ve taken IELTS Academic test.
Sir, I’m planning for PLAB examination. Since IELTS is mandatory for GMC registration, therefore I am keeping my focus on this examination. I am not doing good in reading and writing skills. Although I am going through member’s posts in that Facebook group bit I would like a penny for your thoughts in this regard.
Practice as much as you can. And increase your exposure to English. You can do this by reading books, watching movies and shows and talking to people in English.
Hello Sir, Your articles are very helpful. I have a question Sir.
I want to give PLAB 1 in this year. Is it required to complete IELTS before make a book for PLAB 1?
Thank u Sir. 🙂
Yes, you need to clear IELTS before you can register yourself for PLAB 1.
Hello!
I read your personal journey and visa issues you faced. The way you sticked to the plan was really motivating but didn’t your ielts expired?
Do we need band 7 each and 7.5 overall criteria for Plab 1 alone, or for GMC registration too?
1. Yes, it did expire and I took a second IELTS in Feb 2016.
2. This might help: https://naseersjourney.wordpress.com/2017/02/10/about-ielts/
naseer bhai ! what is your opinion about lineant marking by aeo in ielts as compared to british council is it really so ?
No, this is not true. Kindly check what I have written here:
https://naseersjourney.com/2017/02/11/about-ielts/
Hello Nasser , so to apply for plab1 I need to set up a GMC account, is there fee for setting it up(200 pounds) and do we need to submit the documents with that ?I am super confused
There is no fee for setting it up and you don’t have to show any documents either. It’s easy, like making a Facebook account. Good luck! 🙂
Hello Dr Naseer,
God bless you for the tremendous help you are doing! Since I’ve been closely following your blog, I thought I should write my IELTS experience here, to help other aspirants.
I gave my first IELTS with just a week of preparation in 2013(for another purpose) and scored an overall 8 with more than 7 in each module.
Since I planned for PLAB only last year, I had to give IELTS again as my previous score had expired. I gave it again but scored a 6.5 in writing. I was disappointed because I believed my writing skills were better than that. So I applied for a revaluation and also gave another attempt, I scored a 9 in Reading and Listening but my Writing score was again 6.5. My revaluation results had no change either.
I was deeply disappointed as I was not ready to accept that my Writing skills were poor.
I took a short break, and applied for IELTS again this April. I decided to work better on my writing. I followed Liz and Jay on Youtube. That’s when I realized there is more to the writing tasks than just being good at English language. I followed the rules strictly(like proper paragraphing, using more vocabulary, non repetition of words, and a better format). My scores came out as follows: Listening 9, Reading 8.5, Writing 7.0 and Speaking 7.5. (Alhamdulillah)
So I have an advice to all those who are planning to give IELTS. Please follow the guidelines properly for both the writing tasks, and never give up hope! It is not a difficult exam to clear. Just do it the right way.
Thank you again Dr Naseer!