About Preparing for English Exams

Regardless of whether it is going abroad or self-improvement, we all hope to establish a benchmark to prove whether we have achieved our goals. In order to apply for further studies, I have taken the IELTS and TOEFL exams while working, and finally achieved the so-called "minimum requirements". This article will combine my own background to provide some strategies and suggestions for preparing for the IELTS and TOEFL exams, hoping to be helpful to everyone. In general, this article will be divided into three parts: mindset, IELTS, and TOEFL. You can choose the part you are interested in to read.

Mindset#

Importance of prioritization and study time: When you decide to prepare for an English exam and stick to it, you may find that some things that you used to care about or prioritize become obstacles to your English study. It could be sudden overtime work, dinner invitations from friends, or unexpected events at home. Some things must be dealt with urgently, while others can be temporarily put aside. This is where we need to make trade-offs. For example, I have given up many invitations from friends and the opportunity to go home during long holidays. I am grateful that my family and friends understood me at that time and allowed me to study without worries. When I was searching for a study plan for the exam, I saw many comments complaining about not having enough time to study while working. My advice is to rearrange the priority of things and set aside a large amount of time to focus on studying, while also utilizing fragmented time. I am lucky that my company rarely requires overtime work, so I can basically work from 9 am to 6 pm. I reserve about three hours a day for studying because studying for more than three hours will affect my condition the next day, and studying for less than three hours may be used for reading or writing practice. However, unexpected situations may arise, and sudden overtime work may compress the study time. It is important to make use of fragmented time. I use my phone to memorize vocabulary while taking the subway (not memorizing vocabulary) and listen to podcasts while walking to ensure a continuous input of English.
Avoid "self-indulgence": It is possible that after successfully completing a difficult reading or studying for a long time, you may feel that you have achieved something and start to indulge in social media. The continuity and state of studying are important. Self-indulgence may hinder you from getting back into the state. For example, if you have scheduled three hours of study, you may need one hour to get into the state. If you choose to indulge after an hour and a half, your state will be interrupted, and it will take another hour to get back into the state. In general, self-indulgence will reduce your effective study time and affect your subsequent arrangements.
Relax, it's just a test: Some friends may attribute their test failure to being too nervous. When I first took the IELTS speaking test, I experienced this situation. I cared too much about the results, which prevented me from fully performing. When I reviewed it, I realized that I took the exam too seriously. Later, I preferred to call it a "small test". If I didn't pass, it meant that my ability was not there yet. The sky wouldn't fall down, and the next day I would still go to work from 9 am to 6 pm and continue studying. So instead of worrying too much, it's better to go into battle lightly and give it your all.
Ask "seniors" and customize your own plan: At the beginning of preparing for the exam, it is inevitable to encounter difficulties in choosing materials, understanding the exam rules, and question types, especially when self-studying without a dedicated teacher to lead the way. Although this article will introduce some methods I have used, they may not be suitable for you. For example, I asked a friend about his TOEFL listening preparation strategy. His advice was to transcribe and listen carefully to each listening passage. However, since he was preparing for the exam while in school and had more time than me, I did not adopt his method. Instead, I chose to focus on intensive listening and listening to passages with unclear sentences. Therefore, it is recommended to ask "seniors" who have experience in taking the exam and listen to their methods, select the essence, and develop a study plan that suits you.

TOEFL#

TOEFL questions and materials are highly logical, and they can be described as "one link after another". The strong logic brings about fixed structures and traceable patterns. Instead of saying it tests listening, speaking, reading, and writing, TOEFL mainly focuses on listening and reading. If you excel in these two parts, your score will naturally improve. For practice materials, I recommend using TPO in the early stage and then using real past papers. The reason is that TPO is too easy and does not match the difficulty of the actual exam. The newer the TPO, the better.

Listening: For me, listening is the most difficult part of TOEFL, mainly because you can only see the questions after listening, and the choice of note-taking is crucial. Taking too many notes will lead to a lack of time to listen to the materials during the exam. Therefore, my method is to take "simple" notes, such as noting down the change in attitude of the speakers when there are transitional words or obvious content changes. Examples can be skipped. In my opinion, the time spent on examples in the materials is for you to take notes. During regular practice, it is important to listen carefully. After listening to a lot, you will have a general idea of when questions will be asked. For example, the answer to the last question in each part is usually around the last 20 seconds of the material. Also, try to summarize the content of the listening material after listening, as this will help with speaking.
Speaking: For TOEFL speaking, you can summarize your own "template", which is a set of thinking logic for answering questions. For example, acknowledge or deny a certain viewpoint, then condense the reasons heard in the listening material, and finally add examples mentioned in the listening material. Expand on the details of the examples according to the remaining time. Since the listening speed in speaking is slower, the level of note-taking is different from listening. When taking notes, you can divide the paper into two parts and fill in the corresponding parts according to viewpoints, reasons, and examples. Making good use of linking words can make your "template" more logical. "You know" is useful in Task 1, referring to Whitney's Talk Show. For Task 2, pay attention to the changes made by the school. For Task 3, look at the definition of proper nouns. For Task 4, just remember the two viewpoints or characteristics mentioned in the listening material. During practice, you can record the time and content of your speech on your phone, then listen to it repeatedly and organize the points where you stumble.
Reading: Compared to IELTS, TOEFL reading is relatively easier and does not require searching for answers in the passage. It is more about understanding the logical relationship and main idea. Examples in the paragraphs serve the main idea of the paragraphs. At the beginning of practice, try to write a summary of the main idea of the paragraphs and the article. When looking at the answer options after listing the main idea, you can directly eliminate options that do not match the main idea. For vocabulary questions, choose the most superficial meaning of the word without inferring from the context. The recommended practice method is to read the article and list the main idea of the paragraphs, then do the questions, and finally read the article carefully.
Writing: For the first essay, make sure to read the material completely, otherwise, you won't know where the points of refutation are in the listening material. Nowadays, English learning tools are quite mature. You can write an essay and then use AI tools like ChatGPT to revise and polish it. Accumulate good words and sentences from the revised results. It is necessary to accumulate, otherwise, you won't be able to type fluently in the short time of the exam. The second essay is similar to Task 1 in speaking, but the time is very tight, only 10 minutes. You can accumulate some general reasons to avoid being at a loss during the exam, referring to Qingbei MOOC. It is necessary to prepare templates, but don't use other people's templates. Summarize your own templates.

IELTS#

Compared to TOEFL, IELTS is relatively easier and has more time. In general, TOEFL tests logic and summarization, while IELTS tests logic and attention. The only unstable factor for me in IELTS is speaking, maybe because my brainwaves don't match the examiner's. Anyway, since they are standardized tests, there are patterns to follow. For practice, using Cambridge IELTS is generally enough. If you find it too easy, you can practice on ielts online tests.

Listening: If you have practiced TOEFL before taking IELTS, you will find that IELTS listening is too slow. However, slow means more details, and there are various transitions and synonyms that can confuse you. But the difficulty is relatively low. The listening fill-in-the-blank questions can usually be practiced using Wang Lu's Corpus. Most of the words to fill in are nouns, and sometimes adjectives. So you can practice corresponding chapters, paying attention to plural forms and past tense forms. Sometimes, you can judge based on the following predicates and the tenses of the previous and following questions.
Speaking: As mentioned above, my speaking skills are not good. My advice is to accumulate some general materials so that you have something to say during the exam. When answering questions in Part 3, try to be more thorough with reasons and examples, otherwise, the examiner will remind you to explain why. Speak at a normal and fluent pace, and answer logically. You can listen to podcasts to accumulate English speaking habits and vocabulary. I recommend All Ears English and its sister version IELTS Energy English 7+. During practice, record your speech on your phone and listen to it repeatedly to improve.
Reading: There are many question types in IELTS reading, but they mainly focus on understanding the main idea of the passage and finding synonyms. Practice mainly with Cambridge IELTS, and use online tests as a supplement. After practicing, read the passages carefully and locate the answers to the wrong questions in the original text. Find synonyms and accumulate them. For true/false questions, mark the information points. If all information points are mentioned, the answer is YES. If any information point is not mentioned, the answer is NO.
Writing: After finishing an essay, use AI tools to revise it, then summarize the good words and sentences that can be used. For Academic IELTS, the first essay is describing charts. The structure is generally to rewrite the topic in the first paragraph, describe the information in groups in the second and third paragraphs, and summarize in the last paragraph. Pay attention to the tense and the characteristics of the charts. For the second essay, you can use some general and broad viewpoints, such as technology, economy, and culture. Strengthen your viewpoints with logical reasons and add examples. Since there is more time for writing, you can write three viewpoints (two positive and one negative). You can refer to Gu Jiabei's IELTS Writing Guide.

Conclusion#

It's been a long time since I wrote such a long article. The writing may seem a bit "stream of consciousness". I hope you can understand. Peace.

Breaking the "inertia" is always painful, but I hope you don't forget your goals.