Study Methods for Scoring 8.5 in IELTS Academic Reading and Listening
Table of Contents
- Top
- Reading
- Reading during commutes
- Reading exercises in class
- Reading in games
- Listening
- Listening to anime
- Listening exercises in class
- Listening to Western music
- Prime Reading
- Grammar, Vocabulary
- School classes
- BBC Learning English
- Ultimate English Words
- Other Tips
- Try to read from the beginning
- It's good to learn English in English
- Don't narrow down too much, do everything
- What I was careful about during the IELTS test
- [R] Read all questions according to the questions
- Be interested in the topic
- Sometimes give up
- [L] Read the questions first
- Summary
In the last IELTS Academic test I took, I scored 8.5 in both Reading and Listening, which is almost perfect.
However, since I wasn't sure what exactly contributed to this, I decided to list and reflect on what I had been doing during my study in Australia.
As a bonus, I've also included what I was conscious of when solving test problems.
I'm not sure if this will be helpful, but I hope it provides some hints for your study methods.
Reading
Reading during commutes
For the first month, I lived about 40 minutes away by bus, and for the remaining five months, about 15 minutes away by train.
My mobile data plan was metered, so I couldn't browse Twitter, and instead, I read books on my tablet.
The books I read were HEAD STRONG (which I plan to review someday) and
No Game, No Life vol.1,2 recommended by Pink-haired Senpai (<a href="http://blog.hatena.ne.jp/necojackarc/" class="hatena-id-icon">
id:necojackarc</a>).
HEAD STRONG uses simple words but is voluminous, which helps train endurance.
On the other hand, No Game No Life has quite difficult vocabulary, which helps train inference skills.
When reading, I just highlighted unknown words and skipped them.
The idea was to understand the general meaning.
It's good to memorize the highlighted words separately, but I ended up not doing it. I'll do it someday.
Reading exercises in class
In class, we would read A4 1-2 page texts and answer questions.
After entering the IELTS course, it was just IELTS problems, so there wasn't anything particularly different.
Basically, if you can understand all the texts that match your level, you're fine.
If you're studying on your own, it might be difficult to choose the right difficulty level, but I think it's good to choose texts where you can understand 70% or more of the words and grammar.
It's important to eliminate areas you don't understand, especially it's good to train grammar early.
Although it's rare in IELTS, misunderstanding one part can sometimes make it difficult to understand the overall flow.
To read smoothly, eliminate any grammar gaps as soon as you discover them.
Very rarely, there were speed reading classes where we would read at our limit speed and answer questions.
Since the questions could only be answered if you had read the text, I think it was helpful in training the balance between speed and accuracy.
According to the teacher, it's important to keep a record and exceed your limit each time.
Reading in games
Although there's a strong image (?) that ADV (novel games) are Japanese-made, there are many good works in English these days, and there will surely be more in the future.
I especially recommend "To the Moon" and "Finding Paradise" mentioned below.
They contain a lot of medical terms, so the difficulty level is somewhat high.
The Witch's Isle had a low English difficulty, so it might be good for those who want to try reading in English.
Listening
Listening to anime
After reading the blog below, I watched all episodes of Steven Universe (S1-S4).
The American accent and fast speed might make it quite challenging at first.
But you get used to it by the end, and I was able to roughly understand (the main 4 characters) without subtitles.
I would rewind parts I didn't understand, and if I still couldn't understand, I would turn on subtitles.
Be prepared that it will take about twice the time.
The story itself was very interesting, so I recommend it even if not for English learning.
Also, I was already watching RWBY, so I would occasionally rewatch it.
RWBY Chibi seems to be still updating recently.
It's similar in difficulty to Steven Universe, so it might be good to move to the other after finishing one.
Also, Japanese dubbed works are famous for not being able to guarantee quality, but there are many on Netflix, so it's easy to find them.
I watched "In This Corner of the World", "Violet Evergarden", and "Fate/Extra".
I'm not sure if English dubs are available on Japanese Netflix.
As a note, Netflix subtitles are quite inaccurate (probably machine-translated), so they're not suitable for studying.
Use them at the extensive listening stage.
Listening exercises in class
This is similar to reading.
At first, there were short listenings within 1 minute, and in the IELTS course, we used past questions.
Listening to Western music
There was a class where we filled in the blanks in lyrics, which was difficult, so I chose a few songs to do on my own.
At first, choose slow-tempo songs that you're familiar with.
For recent songs, Ed Sheeran,
Pharrell Williams,
or Maroon 5. Sia or Katy Perry might also be easy to understand.
For older songs,
Billy Joel,
The Cure,
or Eagles. Cindy Lauper might also be good. Choose what you like.
Filling in the blanks in lyrics can be quite challenging, depending on the song.
It's good training for listening to raw sounds, and if it's a song you like, there's less mental burden, so I think it's a good learning method.
Prime Reading
Prime Reading is a system where selected titles are available for free each month.
Some English learning books are also provided, and "英語で泣ける ちょっといい話 ちょっといい話シリーズ" with free downloadable audio is one of them.
This book has good pronunciation, but it was too slow and the words were too simple, so it wasn't useful for IELTS listening practice.
There were various other titles, so I feel like you could study efficiently if you utilize them.
Grammar, Vocabulary
School classes
Of course, this is significant.
The classes progressed by topics such as movies and transportation, so we could intensively learn vocabulary.
Also, there were weekly tests which helped with retention.
BBC Learning English
This is online material provided by the BBC for English education.
It's free and of very high quality, so you'd be missing out if you don't use it.
The course feature is particularly well-made, and you can learn quite a bit just by filling in from the beginning in order.
The link below is for the Upper-Intermediate course, but it's good to find a course that suits you and progress daily.
The listening videos are quite challenging, so get used to British-like sounds by looking at the scripts.
Ultimate English Words
I bought an app to memorize ALC's SVL Vol.3.
At first, I tried to memorize using the card format, but it was tough, so I just kept listening to example sentences while moving around.
I'm not sure if this was effective, but it's easy to imprint on the brain, so I recommend it for people who are not good at memorization.
The key is to listen as concentratedly as possible.
By the way, the Android version of this app is surprisingly weak and crashes with slight operations.
Also, you can't play from the middle of the example sentence category, so it's not user-friendly at all.
It's a shame given the excellent example sentences and reading.
Other Tips
Try to read from the beginning
If you read by looking back, you won't be able to take in the content and your speed will be slow.
During Reading, always try to read from the beginning of the text.
It's good to learn English in English
If you learn English grammar by translating it into Japanese, you'll be limited in the resources you can access, and context switching will occur, making it inefficient.
Utilize BBC Learning English and learn grammar terms in English as well.
Of course, this is not limited to grammar.
If you have a certain level of skill, eliminate Japanese as much as possible.
Don't narrow down too much, do everything
There are individual strategies for Reading, Listening, etc., but in the end, you won't improve unless you train Speaking and Writing as well.
I think doing everything in a balanced way is the shortest path.
What I was careful about during the IELTS test
Here are a few things I kept in mind during the test.
[R] Read all questions according to the questions
In IELTS, questions are almost always in order of the problems.
First, read the question including one before and after, and when you find the answer, read the next question... repeating this allows you to solve efficiently.
Also, there's surprisingly enough time, so if you read at about 100-150 WPM, you can read everything.
Read calmly while understanding the content.
Be interested in the topic
If you read or listen thinking it's someone else's business, your inference skills won't work well.
I think reading and listening while enjoying it increases concentration and contributes to the score.
Fortunately, IELTS has many academically interesting topics, so you should be able to enjoy it without much effort.
Sometimes give up
Sometimes problems appear that are very ambiguous or extremely fast.
Give up on such parts to prevent secondary damage.
Especially in Listening Part 3, once you lose track, you tend to lose a lot of points.
Grasp the big picture and go with the flow.
[L] Read the questions first
There's a big difference in the accuracy of answers between knowing the questions before listening and not.
Read ahead as much as possible while the listening instructions are being given, and try to predict the answers.
Summary
I listed study methods focusing on Reading and Listening.
I also included some tips that might be useful during the test.
As I wrote in the tips in the middle, practicing Speaking / Writing often contributes to Reading / Listening.
I think it's best to study in a balanced way as much as possible.
If you have any impressions, questions, or requests, please let me know in the comments or on Twitter!
