What has IELTS done for me?

Is IELTS worth the trouble it takes? This is a question that many students of must ask themselves.

I have a colleague – who passed the IELTS Test with high band scores and I was interested to know if it had helped her. So I asked her to write a short Essay style article answering the question: “what has IELTS done for you?”.

Below is her unedited response – these are all her own words.  I am publishing her response with her permission. Below the post is an assessment of the writing.

What IELTS has done for me?

Learning English has been part of my life for the past five years. I have considered it as part of everyday activities. Prior to working in United States, I need to take the IELTS examination and obtain a required band score.

As a Korean, studying English had been difficult during the early phase of review. In the beginning, I had intricacies in trying to understand most of the words. At times, I had a small dictionary in my bag that I carried wherever I go. It helped me to increase the words I know and be able to use them effectively. Through constant review and practice, I was able to communicate English, although I still feel that I need to improve with my grammar and sentence build-up. Most of the time, I noticed that people would try to ask me to repeat what I am saying. They seemed not to understand the words that I utter. I realized that despite of learning English, I still need to focus on pronunciation and enunciation of words. Oftentimes, I would watch TV shows that are English themed, whether news or sports. I watched carefully how these people speak their language and tried to imitate the way how they speak. As time pass by, I managed to change my way of pronouncing words. Eventually, I was able to attain the band score that I needed.

Having good credentials is eye-catching. But having skills in English usage is a plus factor. Through IELTS, I was able get the job that I deserved. I gained various positions and was able to share my knowledge and expertise through English communication. I think that IELTS has helped me gain more friends in a foreign land. People do not consider my nationality as a hindrance to communication; rather they believe that it can be used as a point of learning (304). IELTS had also enhanced my self-esteem. At first, I was reluctant in learning English; however, I realized how I need to hasten the process so that I will be able to fit in. I grew more confident. This process leads me in performing better in my work and able produce competent outputs.

Assessment and Corrections

The grammar mistakes in the short essay have been corrected and  a critique has been provided below the corrected answer.  I hope you find it helpful in your studies and IELTS Test preparation.

Essay Correction

What IELTS has done for me

Learning English has been part of my life for the past five years. I have considered it as part of my everyday activities. Prior to working in the United States, I needed to take the IELTS examination and obtain a required band score.

As a Korean, studying English was difficult during the early phase of review. In the beginning, I had difficulties in trying to understand most of the words. At times, I had a small dictionary in my bag that I carried wherever I went. It helped me to increase the words I know and be able to use them effectively. Through constant review and practice, I was able to communicate in English, although I still feel that I need to improve my grammar and sentence build-up. Most of the time, I noticed that people would try to ask me to repeat what I was saying. They seemed not to understand the words that I uttered. I realized that despite learning English, I still need to focus on pronunciation and enunciation of words. Often, I would watch TV shows that are English themed, whether news or sports. I watched carefully how these people speak their language and tried to imitate the way they speak. As time passed, I managed to change my way of pronouncing words. Eventually, I was able to attain the band score that I needed.

Having good credentials is eye-catching. But having skills in English usage is a plus factor. Through IELTS, I was able get the job that I deserved. I gained various positions and was able to share my knowledge and expertise through English communication. I think that IELTS has helped me gain more friends in a foreign land. People do not consider my nationality as a hindrance to communication; rather they believe that it can be used as a point of learning (304). IELTS has also enhanced my self-esteem. At first, I was hesitant in learning English; however, I realized how I needed to hasten the process so that I would be able to fit in. I grew more confident. This process led me to performing better in my work and able to produce competent outputs.

Critique

The piece is very good and has an easily readable logical style, with some excellent use of natural English expressions, for example, ‘having good’/ ‘eye-catching’.  However, the mistakes highlighted in red show that the speaker quite often forgets to use the past tense when talking about the past or using reported speech. Not using the past tense is a very basic mistake which might lose the writer a couple of points in the grammar area.

More real-life examples like this will be provided in the future,

To your IELTS success,

James

P.S. If you are seeking to pass IELTS at Band 7+ and would be prepared to have your work (and an assessed version) published on the website please use our contact form to express interest.

P.P.S. Click here if you would like your IELTS Test Writing Task 1 and Task 2 marked and correctedprivately by our IELTS professionals. You will be told your strengths and weaknesses and be able to focus your IELTS Test preparation towards better IELTS band scores.
 

Register Free to download the Library