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 reached 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 trade-offs and study time: When you decide to prepare for an English exam and stick to it, you may find that some things that were previously important or of high priority have become obstacles to your English study. It could be sudden overtime, 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 trade-offs come in. For example, I have given up many invitations from friends and the opportunity to go home for a long holiday. I am grateful to my family and friends for understanding me and allowing me to study without worries during that time. When searching for a study plan for the exam, you may see comments complaining about not having enough time to study while working. My advice is to rearrange your priorities 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, so I can usually study for about three hours a day. 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, such as sudden overtime, which will compress the study time. It is important to make use of fragmented time. I will review vocabulary on my phone while taking the subway (not memorizing words) and listen to podcasts while walking to ensure a continuous input of English.
Avoid self-indulgence: Sometimes, after successfully completing a difficult reading or studying for a long time, we may feel proud of ourselves 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 of studying. For example, if you have scheduled three hours of study and need one hour to get into the state, but 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 future arrangements.
Relax, it's just a test: Some friends may attribute their test failure to being too nervous. When I took the IELTS speaking test for the first time, I experienced this situation. I was too concerned about the results, which prevented me from fully performing. When I reviewed it afterwards, I realized that I took the exam too seriously. Later, I preferred to call it a "small test". If you don't pass, it means your ability is not there yet. The world won't collapse, and the next day I still went to work from 9 to 6 and continued to study. Just try harder next time. So instead of worrying too much, it's better to relax and give it your all.
Seek advice from "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 prepared for the exam while in school and had more time, I did not adopt his method. Instead, I chose to focus on intensive listening and practicing writing vague sentences. Therefore, it is recommended to ask "seniors" who have experience with the exam for advice, listen to their methods, and tailor your own study plan.

TOEFL#

TOEFL questions and materials are highly logical, and can be described as "one link at a time". The strong logic brings about fixed structures and traceability. Instead of testing listening, speaking, reading, and writing like IELTS, TOEFL mainly focuses on listening and reading. If you do well in these two parts, your score will naturally improve. For practice materials, I recommend starting with TPO in the early stages and then using real past papers later. 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, the most difficult part of TOEFL is listening, 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 changes in the speaker's attitude when encountering contrastive words or significant 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, you should focus on intensive listening. After listening for a while, 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 summarize the reasons heard in the listening material, and finally add examples mentioned in the listening material. Expand 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 sections for viewpoints, reasons, and examples. Making good use of linking words can make your "template" more logical. "You know" is useful in Task 1, you can refer to Wu Qitu'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, remember the two viewpoints or features and examples 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 less time-consuming. After the reform, there are only two passages with 10 questions each, and the span of the questions is not large. The main focus of TOEFL reading is to understand the logical relationship and main idea of each paragraph. The examples in the paragraphs serve the main idea of the paragraph. During initial practice, try to write a summary of the main idea of each paragraph, so that when you look at the answer choices later, you can directly eliminate options that do not match the main idea. For vocabulary questions, choose the most obvious answer without inferring from the context. The recommended practice method is to read the passage and write the main idea of each paragraph, then do the questions, and finally do a close reading.
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 important to have this accumulation, 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 in case you feel lost during the exam. Templates should be prepared appropriately, but don't use someone else's template. Summarize your own templates for both the first and second essays.

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 never match the examiner's. Anyway, since they are both standardized tests, it means there is a pattern to follow. For practice, the Cambridge IELTS series is generally sufficient. If you find them too easy, you can practice on ielts online tests.

Listening: If you have practiced TOEFL before taking IELTS, you will find that the listening speed in IELTS is too slow. However, slow means more details, and there are various transitions and synonyms that can confuse you. But overall, the difficulty is relatively easy. For the fill-in-the-blank questions, you can practice with the Wang Lu corpus. Most of the answers are nouns, and sometimes adjectives. Choose the corresponding chapters to practice, and pay attention to plural forms and past tense forms. Sometimes, you can determine the answer by the verb and the tense of the previous and following questions.
Speaking: As mentioned above, my speaking skills are not very 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 provide sufficient reasons and examples to avoid the examiner asking "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 the main focus is understanding the main idea of each passage and finding synonyms. Practice mainly with the Cambridge IELTS series, and use online tests as supplementary materials. After practice, do a close reading of the passages. Locate the answers to the incorrect questions in the original text, find the synonyms, and accumulate them. For true/false questions, mark the information points. If all the information points are mentioned, the answer is YES. If any information point is not mentioned, the answer is NO.
Writing: After practicing an essay, use AI tools to revise it, and then summarize the good words and sentences that can be used. For Academic IELTS, the first essay is describing charts. The structure is usually to rewrite the topic in the first paragraph, describe the information in the chart in the second and third paragraphs, and summarize in the last paragraph. Pay attention to the tense and the characteristics of the chart. 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 accordingly. Since there is more time for writing, you can write three viewpoints (two positive and one negative). You can refer to the book "Gu Jiabei's Step-by-Step Guide to IELTS Writing" for more details.

Conclusion#

It's been a long time since I wrote such a long article, and it may seem a bit "stream of consciousness". I hope you can understand and find it helpful. Peace.

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