IELTS Study Plan for 2 Months

hello today i'm going to share with you my ielts study plan to prepare for the ielts test in two months not only that i'm actually going to give you a study plan if you only have one month to prepare or even just one week and believe it or not i actually have a two day study plan to help you prepare for ielts something for everyone let's go and check them out [Music] hi this is keith from the keith speaking academy helping you speak better english give better answers and get a higher score on the ielts speaking test so today i'm looking at study plans to help you prepare for ielts now as you may know my main focus is on ielts speaking but a lot of what i will discuss today can also be applied to all four skills speaking writing listening and reading and of course to both modules the general ielts and the academic ielts modules so today i'll be looking at the following the two key elements of ielts preparation where you need to focus how much time you really need to prepare for ielts and also what to do then if you only have two days one week one month or two months or more okay and down there somewhere there is a link to my website where you can download these ielts study plan pdfs for free now in an ideal world right you would probably have a year to prepare for ielts there'd be no pressure you can take your time you'll have a teacher giving you strategies and great tips you could increase your level of english you could learn about the test and then you could book your test and then pass the test with flying colors with flying colors that means to pass the test very very well right now that's the ideal world but i know that sometimes life gets in the way right you have deadlines for university application you have family circumstances for immigration that mean you need to do ielts as soon as possible asap asap right life takes over which means you know students like you have these limitations and they need to move quickly so i am here to help so i hope these study plans will help you prepare better for the ielts test so you're not wasting time or wasting money so you can get the result that you need to get now when preparing for ielts there are two key things you need to focus on the first one is your overall level of english the second one is your understanding and knowledge of the test and how the test works for the vast majority of students right the most important thing is actually the first it's their overall level of english and i would recommend to students to spend probably 70 percent of their time focusing on improving their overall level of english and 30 on exam technique and maybe some exam practice now unfortunately most students do the opposite they focus on the exam technique the tips the format and not enough on their language skills you know for example asking questions like well how long should my answers be in part one which tense should i use in part two can i give personal examples in part three now these are important questions right but they're much less important compared to your overall ability to speak english that's where you should be focusing it's a bit like right if you bought a product in a shop and the wrapping or the packaging right is very beautiful it's very attractive you touch it it feels lovely it looks expensive and nice and then you open up and if the product itself is low quality it's no good so the wrapping it's like the tips the little bits of the tips and techniques of ielts right but inside if your products your language skills are low quality the examiner is not going to buy your products right so focus most of your time and energy on your overall language skills right okay thank you keith i understand then there's language level and there's exam preparation okay but i still need to know how much time do i need to prepare for ielts okay great question let's answer it right um of course it's a bit different for everybody but let's say let's imagine right so there's two things right there's the level of language and the test ability let's imagine your level of language is already at the level you need right you need a band seven and your language ability is already band seven then you will probably need six to eight weeks to prepare for the test understanding the test and doing test practice right i'm talking about all four skills to understand how the writing works to do some practice the reading the listening and the same to understand how speaking works and to do some practice six to eight weeks by and large right of course everybody's a bit different but more or less now if your language level is not at the level you need so you need a band seven but your level is actually band six then in addition to those six to eight weeks you will need a lot of time to get your level your language ability up a whole band cambridge assessment who create the ielts test gives some very good guidance here right they say that approximately it takes 200 hours of guided learning to move up one level on the cefr one level on the cefr like a1 to a2 or b1 to b2 is similar very approximately to one level in ielts 200 hours right to go from a band six to a band seven approximately so that means well let's have a look right if you study six hours a week over nine months that will be 216 hours six hours a week for nine months you could get up one level that is probably the realistic situation right you could study more intensely right for example if you're studying 20 hours a week then in 10 weeks you've covered 200 hours right so theoretically you could move up that language level in in in what in 200 hours in 10 weeks right on top of that you need to do your exam preparation right so remember we're separating language ability and preparation for the test exam technique okay that is the realistic situation of course it depends a bit on on you your learning style your learning ability your background the environment of english that you're in if you can immerse yourself in english or not and the tools you have available as well if we're talking just about ielts speaking right if you already have the level of language you need like band seven you could probably just prepare for the test like the test technique in a week you could probably understand the format and prepare for the test in a week i would say you'd probably need one week to understand how the speaking test works and at least another week of intense practice right for the speaking test so your next question is keith that's great how do i know what my language level the real level of language ability is well i suggest for everybody to begin your preparation with a mock test now this can be a full mock test of the four skills or just a mop test for your speaking skills if you're just focused on ielts speaking the mock test can reveal your real language level ability the feedback you get will tell you how much of that is language and how much is exam technique for most people exam technique is not the biggest problem it's language level but take a mock test before you start preparing and find out how you can do that there are some links below to some services you may want to look at that can help you do mock tests great now let's move on to those study plans so let's have a look at these ielts study plans right remember my focus is on ielts speaking so these are ielts speaking study plans you can find links below to each of these plans to download them let's look first of all at two days okay now do remember in two days you're not going to improve your level of english very much if at all the same in a week you won't make much progress in english over a month yes you can make some progress and two months or more definitely you can level up your english speaking ability okay and remember right i'm a big believer not in hard work but in fun work right don't think you have to sit in a room with a spotlight on your books for hours and hours until you have a headache don't do that right make it fun make sure you get materials which are fun and engaging so you're enjoying your studying right it's fun work study for half an hour take a break do another half an hour take a break do another half an hour right make it fun make it light because that is how you learn better let's begin then with a two day study plan so what are you going to do in two days i would say it's kind of a quick immersion right try and spend at least three hours each day and basically you're going to be looking at a quick review of the format of the test understand how part one two and three work and also get some tips templates and strategies that will be fresh in your head and you can probably use in your test in the next few days so the whole plan is below you can download that but just a quick overview these are some of the videos i would recommend right and these are videos from my own youtube channel of course self-promotion ah great so i would look at how to introduce yourself fluently um the band nine part one tips i would certainly look at part two the templates that i have there's an introduction video to templates for part two can be really useful very quick help you out with your part two and finally the video about part three news is probably the best one to look at um to get up to date on part three and how that works i think the other important things to do maybe on on the the final day or the second day to think about your mindset and to do a practice mock test with your mindset i can recommend the video about nerves and uh not getting nervous in the ielts speaking test to help you get in that mindset about i can do this i believe in myself my english is good i'm going to enjoy this test because all of that will help you relax and perform better and i also recommend doing a practice mock test even a recorded test you can find them on my website where i interview you a recording of me interviews you and you practice answering it's really important to get you used to the timing of the test and the need to respond um under pressure if you like so that is what i would recommend for your two days now your study plan for one week if you've got a week okay it's going to be similar to the two days but you can extend it out your main focus is going to be understanding the test but also doing practice some test practice right i would say on the first day look at the format and the evaluation of the test so i recommend the video about how how ielts speaking is evaluated and also going to the ielts website downloading the band descriptors and looking through those you can look at the explanation on my website about the band descriptors and what they mean for you so you understand how you're evaluated i would then spend day the next day looking at part one the day after looking at part two and the day after looking at part three and then on day five actually on day four you could also download the 10 mistakes to avoid in ielts speaking book because being aware of what you do and what you shouldn't do is also very important right on day five then i suggest you bring it all together part one part two part three and um look at lots of model answers right i can recommend if you're short on time of course in part one the model answer on sleep is really good with some tips part two the model answer on a water sport and when it comes to part three have a look at the the video on news because that is another very common topic and a lot of the tips and strategies will be useful for you there so on day five you're putting it all together right and day six again if it's your last day look at your mindset get ready get ready for the test psychologically you know you're gonna enjoy the test and also relax i would suggest you know possibly the last day watching a film in english listening to a podcast something that puts you in a good mood the test is demanding so you know don't burn the midnight oil the day before the test don't stay up until the early hours no no relax take it easy you're not going to change anything the night before but you can change your mindset and your phys your physical body to be relaxed and that way you're going to perform better and get a higher score let's move on great so we've looked at like a two-day plan a one-week plan let's look now at preparing for ielts speaking in a month now this is good because you can move on now not only looking at test technique but also developing your language now to be honest i'm going to be very honest with you my preference here would always be take a course if you can right why because with a course you get guided learning remember cambridge assessment talked about guided learning 200 hours of guided learning guided means there's a teacher guiding you because otherwise many students get lost they spend hours looking for the right book the right video they're on youtube they're scrolling they waste a lot of time a course gives you guided learning it gives you development of both language skills and exam technique and tips right both which you need and finally a course is going to be organized and systematic right which is really important because you know you're not going to waste time and waste money looking for the right stuff losing your focus trying to find the materials and organize them yourself right i mean you can do that but you do risk losing a lot of time and money that kind of bit by bit piecemeal approach is not great it's much better to have a holistic approach and a course does that for you now i'm not going to beat about the bush i do have a course but you can choose any course out there right you don't have to choose mine of course i do have one ielts speaking success get a band 7 plus if that's right for you it doesn't matter right the important thing is choose a course which is right for you make sure it's high quality it's engaging and it's fun so that you enjoy your learning and so ielts is not a headache for you right now then that's my first choice is to do a course but i understand not everybody is able to buy a course right not all students are in a position to do that i'm a strong believer in equality of education educational opportunities right of course everybody's different but everybody should have the same opportunity to access quality education and unfortunately that doesn't happen um but we can try and help with that i mean that's why i spent a large part of my career in educational projects around the world um is is looking to give people educational opportunity and and equal access so if you can't take a course right now that's fine that's why i've got the study plan so this study plan for the month and for the two months right can help you organize in a more holistic way the materials that you need so this is really the reason that i'm doing it so everybody can access quality education let's look at the details so you've got four weeks in a month right is that right yeah four weeks in a month in the first week i would look at test format and part one of the test in the second week focus on part two in the third week focus on part three and then in the fourth week review and review and review bringing it together and a bit of work on the mindset as well right i would say a strong focus would be getting familiar with the topics the common topics and subtopics of ielts subtopics are important because if for example in part three when we talk about let's say technology there are lots of subtopics they could talk about maybe it's artificial intelligence robotics computers all sorts of things so get familiar with topics and subtopics rather than focusing always on the questions right topics give you flexibility focusing on questions make you a bit rigid and not very flexible for a band 7 you need flexibility right i would focus a lot on talking on the topics and and practicing speaking and recording yourself as you're practicing and then listening back and seeing how you can improve so you're on that continual cycle of study record improve improve all the time okay do some recorded mock tests again on my website there are a lot you can do there for free where you're putting yourself in the position of the exam under exam conditions and getting used to being tested so more or less that would be the approach i think a really important thing right is don't compare yourself with others it's very tempting to go on youtube or facebook and look at some mock tests of other students at band seven and band eight and you go oh i'm better than that well that's not a band-aid i can do much better than that and you compare yourself don't do that it doesn't help you compare yourself today with you yesterday right compare yourself with you making progress day by day don't compare to other people it doesn't help you doesn't help you mentally and actually it's not accurate even examiners don't compare other candidates they always look at the candidate and the band descriptors so compare yourself to yourself let's move on now last but not least is the study plan for two months right and this is great because in two months again you can really level up your english as well as focusing on exam technique as i mentioned before my number one choice here would be to follow a course for the reasons i explained before okay but if you follow a study plan again you can download it below this is what it would look like for two months the first month would be the same as the one month study plan right the same kind of thing and then the second month each day i would choose a topic one of the common common ielts speaking topics and focus on that topic right learn the language you need do the practice you need on one topic each day so basically it's a topic based approach now there are lots of websites out there with different materials for different topics i do live lessons every week and on the website there's an archive of at least 30 live lessons you can download the notes watch the video each day focus on a topic look at the notes and practice right that is a really good way to build up your skills over the two months in addition i would as general advice i would say think about the learning cycle right because and this is important right study something does not equal i know it so when you study something you're right i know that no you don't learning is not a linear progression like going up the stairs learning is more like an up and down and up and down and up and down a bit like the um dow jones index it doesn't go in a straight line so you need to go around in circles and there are many um theories of learning and language learning there's experiential social cognition um connectivism social constructivism and they all have different approaches but basically this idea of a cycle is really important so as you're studying think about the learning cycle and i will share with you my very simplified learning cycle for learning english right so it starts with here you see or hear the language or a word in context then you repeat it and you notice how to use it and then you try it out speak it out make sentences and then you review and you review it i think a really good way is to test yourself or by listening to it in different context you get feedback and you notice that oh i made a mistake and you can see how to do it correctly so as you're studying a different topic day by day remember this learning cycle and use that as the core of your learning wow i think i've just given you one of my biggest secrets there the learning cycle of language learning that can really help you i hope excellent and a final thing i would recommend is to join a community get onto one of those facebook groups if you like um join other people other students who are preparing for ielts where you can share your happiness your joy your headaches your frustration but just sharing and motivating each other is a really good idea so go and join a community as well right i think that's it so just as a final word i would say you know do remember right there is no best way to prepare for ielts every person learns in a different way some people are very talented at languages some people um they don't need a teacher or a tutor they can do a hundred percent self-study other students they need a teacher they need a guide they need more support and that is absolutely fine so just know yourself know what you need and then choose that path whether it's taking a course having a one-on-one teacher or following a study plan it's absolutely fine just remember you know spend time with the language some students ask me you know is it enough to watch your youtube videos for me to get a band-aid there is never enough right in life we never have enough food money free time there's never enough about language learning the more time you can spend with the language the better you will be right it's as simple as that spend time with the language notice things practice and review and you will be just fine i'm sure you're going to be fine whichever path you take because i think like me you believe that english learning you know it takes time you need to be patient you need to study in a clever way right fun study um and it's going to open up a whole new world it's not just about ielts it's about beyond ielts it's about bigger things than that great so that's it i'm going to finish up here please remember to subscribe turn on the notifications do leave me a comment you know let me know which study plan you're going to take or which course you're going to study share with us your path i'd really like to find out and hear from you great thank you very much for watching take care now [Music] bye-bye [Music] you

Channel: English Speaking Success

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Keywords: ielts speaking, ielts preparation, ielts study plan, ielts tips, ielts planner, ielts study, ielts study plan 1 month, ielts study plan for 2 months, ielts study plan for beginners, ielts study plan 1 week, ielts study planner, ielts speaking study planner, ielts speaking study plan, ielts speaking self study, ielts speaking test self study, ielts speaking preparation, ielts speaking preparation pdf, ielts speaking preparation at home

Id: DAvZZe71Ok4

Length: 28min 49sec (1729 seconds)

Published: Sat Mar 13 2021