IELTS Tips

First attempt score was 7.5 7 7.5 8. Second was 8 9 8.5 9. Second time studied more focused and spent more time on practice.

Writing tips :

Structure your essay into following paragraphs:

1)Introduction
2)Agreement/Opinion with any personal or social examples
3)Disagrement/Opinion with any personal or social examples
4)Conclusion

1. The paragraphs between intro and conclusion must be elaborately written as in major paras. You can add more paragraphs between intro and conclusion if you have more ideas on the topic . 
2. Use different starting phrases for all these paragraphs appropriately. Try to use good English words which are neither too difficult to understand nor too easy .
3. If you’re practicing writing , try to have a friend or teacher evaluate your essay , so that they can point out improvements and give feedback . 
4. When you’re done writing an essay , check online about the same topic to compare/see how others have answered it and try to take good points from them . There are answers from people around the world on the internet . It really helps to read many perspectives and re-write our own essay to improve it.
5. The steps I wrote are for basic structure for the essay . Once this structure is formed , one can add up by including good English words, some proverbs , correct grammar and bigger paragraphs filling 2 papers of the answer sheet or more .

Most questions come under Government responsibilities, Parents/children/family/youth, moral values , wealth , environment , health , science and technology .

Listening tips:

practice is critical for this . Listen to British , American accent videos or documentaries or movies/shows if you find difficulty in understanding accents . Stay alert always and keep making notes while listening . Try to be prepared for different kinds of question categories that can be expected and how to handle them.

Reading tips:

Again be prepared for different type of question categories and understand how to handle them. Read books and newspapers a lot so that you can increase speed and also understand the summary of each paragraph.

Speaking tips:

Make a list of most repeated topics and write down all the points you can think of for that topic. It’s similar to writing but you have to speak for a shorter duration . So try to read and practice as many topics available online so that no topic looks new to you and you find yourself silent in front of the Examiner.

For preparation, you can first try some practice tests available online . That will help you understand your strengths and weakness . Then practice all the sections one by one daily. Give it atleast a month . If you feel confident and your English is good , you can even give exam in 2 weeks preparation . But it is important to score 8 in listening and 7 in other 3 sections ie reading , writing, speaking . For achieving this score , you need to prepare really focused and practicing regularly.

On the day of the exam:

Relaxing is very important. Take each section as it comes , don’t be overwhelmed thinking about all the sections. I was literally doing breathing exercises in breaks between different sections, to release the stress and feel good. Relax and focus on one thing at a time :)