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Thirty-seven — my experience of taking IELTS

Final Overall Score: 7
Listening: 8.0
Reading: 7.5
Writing: 6.5
Speaking: 6.0

Background

Following the convention of most Zhihu posts, let me first share my background:

The only international English test I had taken before was the KET in my first year of junior high, and I only got a "merit." I don't remember the exact score.

I scored 610 on CET-6 in my freshman year, which allowed me to skip English classes with a 95-point exemption. After that, I never attended another English class. My daily exposure to English mainly came from RTFM (Read the F*cking Manual), watching math popular-science videos on YouTube (similar to 3Blue1Brown but not limited to it), and memes. I hardly ever watched American TV shows.

In the second semester of my sophomore year, there was a "Young Seedlings Program" that I could directly qualify for based on my background. However, I thought it was too early to prepare for IELTS at that time (since IELTS scores are only valid for two years), so I didn't participate. I successfully joined the program in the first semester of my junior year after going through a competitive selection process.

Given my vocabulary, I initially thought taking the TOEFL would be manageable. However, the Young Seedlings Program wasn't offered at our Jiang'an campus, which meant I would have to wake up early and travel to Wangjiang every weekend (way too troublesome). So, I chose the IELTS Elite Class held at Jiang'an instead.

The listening assignments in the Young Seedlings Program were quite challenging. My average accuracy was only around 70%, and in Parts 3 and 4, it sometimes dropped below 50%. Reading assignments, on the other hand, were much easier—I rarely made mistakes when there was no time limit. In the midterm exam, I scored 6.0 in Listening, 8.0 in Reading, and 6.0 in Writing (Speaking wasn't tested). The final exam scores weren't disclosed, but I felt like I bombed Part 4 of the Listening section again—I was only sure about 3 out of 10 blanks. Reading still felt good. Our kind speaking teacher gave us a mock speaking test and estimated my score to be between 6.0 and 6.5.

Preparation

My official preparation started on December 11. After donating 2,170 RMB to the British Council to register for the computer-based test on January 13 (I type faster than I write), I immediately went to Zhihu to look for IELTS preparation guides. Some answers recommended TongZhuo English as a reliable platform that integrates all the past papers from Cambridge IELTS 4 to 18, with a 14-day free trial for new users. I thought, "Well, I have two phone numbers anyway, so I might as well take advantage of the free month," and signed up for TongZhuo English.

Figures

I started practicing listening and reading questions (timed) from Cambridge IELTS 4 and the Official Guide (OG). However, some test preparation guides suggested that tests before Cambridge IELTS 6 were too outdated, so I began selecting one test from each book starting from IELTS 7. I practiced more from IELTS 15 to 17 and used IELTS 18 for a full mock exam before the actual test. I maintained a frequency of roughly one to two days per reading test. Since listening takes less time, I could complete one listening test per day.

Specifically, my listening and reading scores relative to the test sets are shown in the figure below (I couldn't figure out how to connect discontinuous points with lines in matplotlib, so I got frustrated and decided to use Excel instead):

As can be seen, in the earlier Cambridge tests, my listening score remained around 7.5. However, the difficulty of listening increased after IELTS 15, and my average score dropped from 7.5 to 7. The average listening score was 7.35 with a standard deviation of 0.594. Meanwhile, the average reading score was 7.75 with a standard deviation of 0.559. This indicates that my listening performance was worse and more unstable compared to reading, making it an area that deserves more attention.

As for writing, I haven't specifically tracked it, but my scores on ielts9.me generally range from 6.0 to 6.5. Occasionally, with some luck, rounding might push it to a 7.

For speaking, due to budget constraints, I couldn't afford one-on-one mock tests. My scores from the previous Qingmiao Program were around 6.0 to 6.5.

Experiences

For listening, I personally believe that more practice is key. Forget about vague concepts like "training your ears"—at the very least, practicing more helps you get a better grasp of the pacing, so you avoid missing one question and then losing a string of points (Yes! This happened to me a lot when I first started doing Part 4—I could only confirm two or three blanks!!).

Additionally, my 20,000-word vocabulary only came in handy for less than half of the reading section. IELTS reading isn't particularly difficult in terms of vocabulary; rather, it's challenging due to some unusual question types (like T/F/NG) and multiple-choice questions that require guessing the examiner's implied meaning (especially in recent past papers). As for sequencing questions, they aren't too hard as long as you understand the passage.

When it comes to writing, I never memorized templates. Since my vocabulary was sufficient, I just wrote freely and then used ielts9.me to have GPT-4 correct my essays. After reviewing the feedback a bit, my scores were decent. This site doesn't require phone verification, so theoretically, you can use it infinitely for free—and in practice, that's exactly what happens (I won't go into details here).

For speaking, I found a partner who randomly selected topics from the speaking materials provided by the Qingmiao Plan teachers, and I responded impromptu. I realized that even with topics I had prepared for, I would sometimes stumble and didn't feel particularly confident. I spent three or four afternoons doing this, and each session ended with us just chatting in Chinese (laughs), but indeed, the more I spoke, the smoother my delivery became.

An interesting phenomenon during my preparation was that even though I reviewed my mistakes after each mock exam as suggested in many experience-sharing posts, I still couldn't avoid occasional score drops. Right before my final exams at school, my relatively strong reading score plummeted from 8.5 to 7, and my listening score even dropped to a 6. I was disheartened at the time and felt that my dream of a band 7 was far out of reach (scoring a 7 in writing and speaking is tough, at least in mainland China), so I shifted my focus to preparing for finals. After finals were over, I practiced listening and reading again, and my scores bounced back to 7.5 and 8.5, respectively. It seems that taking breaks is necessary during the review process.

Two days before the actual exam, I did a full mock test for listening, reading, and writing. That time, I scored 7.0 in listening, a full 9.0 in reading, and luckily hit 7.0 in writing as well. I was thrilled. With a day and a half left, I spent some time lightly preparing for speaking, found a quiet place to go through the speaking topics released in January this year out loud, and felt much more reassured.

Exam

I chose to take the exam at Wangjiang Campus. My speaking test was scheduled for 10:40 AM. I left my dormitory a little after 9 AM and arrived at the test center by 10. After storing my bag and using the restroom, I took a short break. At 10:25, I was called to have my fingerprints recorded. When I entered the test room, I saw a large crowd of people in the written exam hall. A big countdown timer was written on the blackboard. The scene reminded me of the CSP/NOIP exams from years ago, which made me a bit uncomfortable—fortunately, I hadn't chosen the written test for IELTS.

The speaking examiner was a middle-aged to elderly white man who seemed quite friendly, though his breathing was noticeably loud. In Part 1, he asked a series of questions related to gifts. I apologetically told him that I hadn't received many gifts in my life, except for a flash drive from my parents when I graduated from middle school. I also mentioned that I rarely gave gifts and had little experience in that regard.

Part 2 was about "a time when you felt proud of overcoming a difficulty"—a familiar topic that I was well-prepared for. I tried to explain the "minielf" challenge to the examiner. I started by describing what CTF is, then explained that the task was to submit the smallest executable program in the Linux operating system. I went on to describe why it was difficult (e.g., requiring some knowledge of assembly language, which is...), but before I could finish, the examiner interrupted me and directly asked whether such pride-inducing activities were common for me. I said, "not really," and he quickly moved on to Part 3.

Part 3 turned out to be quite basic. I can't remember the specific questions, but I answered them effortlessly and even referenced a story I heard on the subway about someone helping a lost elderly person, which supposedly boosted trade between China and South Africa. I left the exam feeling good, even thinking I had performed beyond expectations.

While strolling around Wangjiang Campus at noon, I recalled a statement from a YouTube IELTS tutor: "If Part 3 is very difficult, it means your score will likely be higher because the examiner is testing your limits." I wondered whether the inverse was true, but my positive mood overshadowed that doubt—why not carry this good vibe into the afternoon exam?

The listening section in the afternoon felt easier than the Cambridge IELTS practice tests I had done. I even thought I might have scored full marks in Part 4. For the reading section, the last passage had questions that required inferring implied meanings, which made me hesitate a bit. While reviewing, I noticed that I had missed a keyword in the first passage (slightly uncommon, but not too difficult for me) and corrected (I believe) one true/false question. For writing, since the computer screen was larger than my laptop's, the lines were longer, so I naturally wrote much more (400+ words vs. the required 250). During review, I fixed some typos.

After the exam, I realized I had mistaken "nevertheless" for "what's more," and I had used it at the beginning of a paragraph. I thought it might affect my Coherence and Cohesion (CC) score, but upon second thought, the logic still somewhat made sense, so I didn't dwell on it.

Enquiry on Results

Three days later, the results came out: L8.0, R7.5, W6.5, S5.5, overall 7.0. I was frustrated with the speaking score, especially since it was just below the required subsection score. How could I accept that? After carefully reading the description for a band 5.5 in speaking, I felt it didn't match my performance at all. My intuition was that the examiner thought I was reciting memorized answers. My reading score was also slightly lower than expected, so I decided to pay the 1,400 RMB fee for a remark, hoping to get luckier with the reading, writing, and speaking sections.

For the next couple of days, I felt a bit down and spent an hour each day reading posts from people who had successfully requested remarks. I looked for cases similar to mine, such as:

I hoped to absorb some of their luck. After those two days, I moved on to other tasks.

One month after applying for the remark (February 18), I thought the results should be out. Anxiously, I opened the official IELTS website and found that the remark was still in progress, so I decided to check again at the end of the month.

Then, today (February 22) at 3 PM, I noticed that a parcel from the remark team had been dispatched. I felt happy because this usually indicates a successful remark. I immediately checked the official website, but the updated scores weren't posted yet. At 6 PM, during dinner, I received an official email notifying me that the remark process was complete. After dinner, I checked the website again and saw:

Speaking score increased from 5.5 to 6.0.

Although my speaking score only improved by 0.5, I was satisfied since I got my 1,400 RMB back.

Summary