Kriti’s Journey to an IELTS 9 Band with IDP

Every plan to study, work or immigrate abroad needs the aspirants to submit an English proficiency language test score. There are numerous students whose earnest ambition is to work in Canada and get a permanent residence. Now, getting a PR in Canada is pretty common these days especially among Indians. Canada is a diversified country and offers plentiful opportunities for budding professionals and students as well. But submitting a high IELTS score to secure the PR is definitely a mandate.

For securing a Canada PR, a candidate needs to have a minimum of CLB(Canadian Language Benchmark) of 7 which is equivalent to an IELTS score of 6. Scoring high in IELTS is even more necessary for candidates taking admission in top Canadian universities. Most of the Canadian universities have a requirement of around 6.5 and above.

IDP is one of the conducting bodies of the IELTS exam. It is a very promising preparation tool for the majority of IELTS aspirants. There are many candidates who opt for IDP for their preparation for IELTS. Recently, we came across a candidate who is working as a senior consultant at Ernst & Young named Kriti Agarwal. She was planning to move to Canada on a permanent resident visa. To successfully accomplish this, she needed to take an English proficiency test for which she trusted the IELTS exam. She further went to opt for IDP as her guide and also registration. Let us see how IDP has helped her thrive through the process.

Kriti scored an IELTS band score of 9. To break it down, she scored 9 in all the listening, speaking, and reading sections. It was only in the IELTS writing section that she scored an 8.5.

When asked about her source of such a high IELTS score, she replied a very simple yet convincing preparation tool - Practice Papers. IDP has provided bulks of practice papers that have helped Kriti to excel. She has stated how the practice papers were numerous in numbers, containing a wide range of sample questions found in the original exam. Furthermore, she has stated how the IELTS practice papers have helped her with time management. When practicing, noting the time of commencement and ending gives a real-time idea of how much time taking. Since IELTS is a time-bound exam, keeping a track of the time is necessary.

About the question types, she has stated how IDP’s sample questions have helped her during the preparation. For instance, IELTS general writing task 1 is a letter-writing task that is of three types: Formal, Informal, and Semi-formal. Practicing these three types of letters is necessary for the candidate. This is applicable for all the other three sections as it contains different types of questions.

A very helpful preparation tool that helped Kriti was the book received from IDP that contains answers of students who previously took the exam. These are answers that throw light on the types of answers, the development of answers, and the organization method required in IELTS. Sometimes, a candidate fails to score high because of the lack of knowledge of the concepts tested. This, according to Kriti was highly advantageous for the IELTS writing section and especially for the essays. She has asked to write coherent and concise answers. Now, after consulting the essays written by the previous students, Kriti got a complete idea of what the topic demands, what the relevant points are, and how the structure should be.

In terms of the IELS reading section, she got a comprehensive view of the question types. She has asked to first read the questions and then the passage. Also, the IELTS listening section was prepped by the CD provided by them that contained numerous recordings. She also asks to highlight the main points in the listening section along with the questions being asked from her.

Kriti followed the preparation tips and strategies given in the IDP guide. She practiced, followed the answer keys, and more. But one additional IELTS speaking tip that she followed was communicating with her friend or acquaintance. She would note down the suggested IELTS speaking topics and communicate with them based on that. This way she not only was able to increase her fluency but also receive real-time feedback on which she could work on. She also got to hear if she was being too fast or slow while speaking.

Some special tips shared by her before the IELTS test is taking enough rest and proper food as these are necessities. Another mandatory thing shared by her is gathering all the necessary documents you would need like the Passport.

Kriti’s experience with IDP was great. IDP kept on notifying her as the IELTS exam dates were approaching. The staffs were affable, and the test center was easily recognizable.