 Okay, so we have a very special video today and we have a student success story for you. Carolina from Brazil was very, very kind to decide to share her story with you guys so that you can learn from her success and hopefully be successful yourself. So Carolina, can we just start off by you giving some just background information about yourself just to introduce yourself to everybody? Yes. Hi Chris, thank you. You were great. I just wanted to say thank you from right from the start. My name is Carolina. I'm from Brazil and I'm applying for a Canadian visa. So I did the general training IELTS. And can you tell people a little bit about your IELTS experience? So what scores did you get? What struggles were you having and you know what scores did you end up getting? Okay, well I did two tests. So one of them the first one was in July this year 2017. And right from the start I knew that my problem was writing but I kind of got a little bit scared of the listening because I knew that I had issues with spelling. So I knew that the listening is just like everything together you know. So you have to listen and you have to also write the word correctly. So the first test I did on listening I wasn't really good. I just I didn't really read the the other spaces. So I just got lost and then like five questions or three or five questions I just lost. So then I really got freaked out with listening that I didn't really think I didn't really thought it was my issue but then I just focused on listening on the first one. And speaking I just went with the flow. I thought I would do okay. I thought I would get a seven and reading all of the tests I did I got above seven. So I kept doing them and then writing was just like okay I think I can do this. And then I didn't really practice too much. I did four essays but by myself everything was by myself. And then okay let's do this test. And I got 8.5 on listening 8.5 in reading 7.5 in speaking and then a 6.5 in writing and then I all I could see was that 6.5. Very very typical scores very very typical. It's normally reading and listening are you know very very high and then speaking a little bit lower and then writing a little bit lower still. Why do you think that was? Why do you think that someone just listening to you and the fact that you got 8.5 and reading and 8.5 and listening and why do you think writing was a problem? Well because of the feedback obviously. I think reading and listening you can just go there and then see the the scripts and then see what's your mistake. And the two of them that you don't get feedback when when studying alone is writing and speaking. So I think that's the direct consequences. I thought I could do it on my own and then I'll just go and see what it what I can do. But then I saw that I I tried actually before I did the other test I tried getting it remarked because I thought oh just a point point point five that I need maybe they'll give it to me and I don't have to do the test again. But it took like 10 weeks and then the the result came back and changed then and I okay I'll have to do this again. Then I didn't really have much time. I I got the results that the the marking wasn't unchanged in 15 of October. So the test day was the second of December and I had this trip already planned and the surgery plan too but I just okay I'll just focus on writing and a little bit of listening. I I did like a test each week so I didn't I was actually worried that my score was going to go down in listening. So I just kept that and then on the final week I did a one test on reading again and it was okay. So I was pretty confident on the other ones because if you if you've done it once you really know you know the test. So I knew that I had to focus on writing and then the first thing I did was getting an IELTS questions and I got it marked by a teacher. So I did the test one and test two and got it marked but I kind of took a long time to get it marked and then this was like in the beginning of November and then I said okay I have to do something because the time is ticking and I just wanted to to get a the seven that I needed but then I I had to know what mistakes I'm doing before that so and I wanted to do it on the time and then I just stopped worrying about the time and just did the essay and got it marked and then I got a seven on task one and a six on test two. Then I I knew that test two was I mean it's got more way I don't know how do you say it's worth two times a task one. So I knew I needed to focus on test two and then I read the modal answer that came with that and then I tried to do another set of essays so I did task one again and test two again and then on task one I got a seven again and on task two a six point five that was the score I got at the end of the first test two so I just wasn't really getting better so then my husband did the test the first time and then he he was the one that knew your your site your website but he he's kind of lazy and then he only studied like two weeks before the exam and then I just knew about your your site like two weeks before and then I I just looked at it back then in July and then I tried doing something what I believed what you were saying but okay then I got that six point five and anyway so then I went back to your site and then miracle happened and your facebook ad appeared and with the one dollar course on the writing test two that that was was I was trying to get better so then okay I'll do this and it was right in the middle of my trip so I had to do your tests and managed to to do things in my my trip anyway and then so it was really good because it kept me focused I'm sure that if I didn't have that course going on I would just give myself a break for one week but it was really important because back then it was like two weeks for the test so I really needed to get better because I I didn't have the the score I needed and I wasn't doing it on the time so that was really worrying me I just okay I'm free to do what I want I'm taking more time than I would have on the test and I'm still not going no I'm not getting the seven that I needed so what was like mind blowing for me at that point was then the first lesson you said that we should get the our task remarked marked not remarked and then and then you said go and look at your mistakes and practice and get stronger on those things so I went back and looked at it and I saw that I was making spelling mistakes preposition mistakes and I saw that I was putting too much ideas on one paragraph so I focused just one idea one example explaining that example and then that it was great because I didn't have the issue of the time anymore because the more ideas you have the more you have to think and then you lose the time yeah so you simplified the thing for me just saying okay think of one good example what I actually started from the example first of all reading the questions that is the basic thing is just to understand it and plan that question but really thinking of the examples because at the course when I got a good introduction from from you and then the paragraphs the example wasn't really helping me develop so I first think of the example and then I just go a little bit backwards and then that was the click for me and it helped out completely because in on the test day I could check my answers and I could even count I counted my words so yeah so I had really time to spare I correct myself then I had some issues with some words and then the first thing I did was get in the car with my phone and see if I spelled it correct and then I I didn't spell it correctly the three things that I was doubting myself I didn't get it and then oh my god I think oh I didn't spelling is important but you don't have to if you misspell a few words it's not a big deal like it yeah but you're not going for perfection you know all the three things that I could remember that I wasn't doubt I didn't get it and then oh my god and and the prepositions I don't know if I did it rude and then it was like this thing until I got the results but you got 7.5 that's amazing yeah that's a really amazing achievement to go from so you were getting 6.5 to 7.5 is that it yeah I mean that's a that's a huge improvement in well how long was it a few weeks or something yeah it was actually the first test was in July and the second in December but I actually just started studying in in a month so there was a huge amount of information there Carolina and I'm really grateful for I'm really I'm not saying that in a negative way at all but I was just making notes when I was listening to you and what I'm going to do is just pull out some important things that you did just to summarize them for students so the first thing was that when you first did the test you have this you have this attitude that a lot of people have is my English is probably good enough it's an English test I'll be fine so a huge number of people have this problem where they're like I can speak English I can listen to English I can do this there'll be no problem but it's a bit like I know a few people when they were kids they we we live in the countryside and I have friends who live on big farms and when they were kids they would just drive around even when they were teenagers before they were allowed to drive so when they went to do their driving test they were like I've been driving for years since I was a kid I'll be fine and all of them failed so because they were not doing it in the way that the driving instructor wanted them to do it and they were making some key mistakes and that's the same with IELTS for a lot of people even though like obviously listening to you your English level is at a very very high level but especially for writing there are some key things that you might not be doing correctly and that's where yours the second point I want to make about feedback feedback is extremely important that you said you could get feedback for reading and listening at home by by checking the answers and that's great but for speaking and writing you really if you really want if you're struggling it is important to get someone to look at your writing listen to your speaking and tell you where you're going wrong because the other thing that I noted down was that you had some very very specific reasons why you were getting 6 or 6.5 so making common grammar mistakes including lots of different ideas in one paragraph your example is not being effective these are things that if you do them you're definitely going to get a 6 or 6.5 but they're very fixable it's very easy for me to to look at your writing and say all of your prepositions are wrong or 90% of your prepositions are wrong maybe focus on prepositions you have too many ideas in one paragraph just limit it to one thing your explanations and examples are not specific enough or not answering the question make them more specific and that that's very easy to go from struggling at 6 or 6.5 to 7 or above so that was great and the other thing that that I picked out from you was the fact that you were saying that it was from July until November or December and you were like you knew that you had to improve but there was nothing really getting you to to focus and just sit down and do it and for most people and there's two things that that motivate them to to actually do that and first is fear so fear that they're going to fail and they're like oh my god I have to sit down and actually do this or the other thing is when they invest in them so they invest money in it or they invest time in it or they do some sort of investment which makes them want to do things and because free websites like mine are great but like your husband did you know you might look at a few things it's free you know there's no structure to it but when somebody actually commits to something like you did which is only one dollar then it provides a little bit of structure and a little bit of motivation and the other thing was you what you did was you focused on your weaknesses and turn those weaknesses into strengths so again focusing on on feedback and getting that that was amazing so thank you very much for that if you could give someone some advice so we've already talked about feedback and if you could give someone some advice who's struggling with writing and what advice would you give them well you already said the feedback that's number one but one thing that in your course your one dollar I can't believe it was one dollar which really really helped me was actually seeing the good advice when you when I just rolled on the comments and then I saw good example good paragraph when you had a positive comment I would go there and read okay what what is he doing different than I'm doing and then that was great specifically specifically in in your course and a thing that I did the most because I didn't really have time to write as much essays as I wanted to but what really helped me was I just planned as many as I could so I I just saw your website the things that health environment those things that are the top points and then I just planned the essay so I had an example I just knew what I would do in that situation and that helped me having the example in my mind on test day yeah I think that's really really good advice obviously it would be better if you wrote the whole essay but a really good just practice technique is to get a bunch of questions 10 20 questions and you know maybe you're off on a Saturday or Sunday and you have the whole day or you have one hour a day just sit down with those questions and think what would be the main ideas that I would use for these questions what would be the explanations what would be the examples and you're kind of activating those parts of your brain that will for all a multitude of different topics so that when you are in the test you are familiar with all the common topics and you've exercised that part of your brain that allows you to figure out okay agree or disagree I agree here's one example or here's one idea here's another idea okay how would I explain that okay how would I use an example in that way so that's a really really good technique obviously try to do the whole essay but if you've limited time or if you're just worried about idea generation focus on idea generation if you're worried really worried about examples focus on examples get a huge number of questions if you are worried about paraphrasing get 20 questions in paraphrasing you know it's it's not rocket science you know it's not really comp it doesn't have to be complicated if you're worried about something focus on that you know practice in that way try and get feedback but if even if you can't get feedback it's good to familiarize yourself with everything so Carolina what what are your plans for the future now what what will the IELTS test help you do well I'm waiting for it to come by the mail yeah I just got the results online on Friday I just I think I will just believe my scores when I see it in the paper you know because I don't know where those nine came from I because at the end on the second test I got nine I'm listening nine I'm reading seven point five I've been writing and then seven point five in speaking speaking just remain the same but I didn't really study so that I think that you would have got much higher in speaking if you have got some feedback because you're speaking to you I can't I it's I'd say that you are more an eight eight point five actually just speaking to you today than seven point five so again shows why you you should maybe get get feedback yeah what will you be able to do on with with your results so I'm applying for the express entry in Canada so I really needed the CLB nine so that's why the seven was so important for me so hopefully at the end of this year maybe we'll be living in Canada so that's what are you going to do in Canada I don't really know yet it's nice to have options though yeah so we're I'm a nutritionist so I would have to validate my diploma if I wanted to work in the area but I just wanted to move to a country that's better than mine actually well you if you want a job as a new nutritionist you could start with me I'd be a big project for you trying to shed shed some pines for me I think I'm gonna have to go on a diet after Christmas we all have our own little projects that we our own little things that we need to improve in our lives so thank you very much Caroline I really appreciate you I know that's great advice for people and everything you said is true and I totally agree with the advice that you gave students so thank you very much Caroline again if you need anything in the future just let me know and I'll try and help you out okay thank you Chris because I think the main thing you were just direct to the point you know you do this some people don't like that yeah but that's great because it's it's reality so the students that appreciate that will will do fine the reason why I'm like that is because I don't believe in wasting people's time and um with when I used to teach children it's really important with children that you don't behave like that that you don't be brutally honest with them because you want to instill confidence and because they're children but a 35 year old man who needs the score that they need just tell them you're making this mistake this mistake this mistake fix this fix this fix this some people really like that approach others don't others don't like me as a teacher because I'm brutally honest with them but that's totally fine I can't pretend to be someone that I'm not it's difficult to to hear the critics because you want to you want to do fine and but that's really necessary because if you if you're struggling with something then you've got to take action yeah but then at the same time I was like I'm not really prepared I think my test would be next year you know and that that is good too you know because you just have to do it you're not 100 I didn't feel 100% ready for the test but I think I never will you know no no no like you could you could work on things for the next year and get 9999 but why would you want to do that there's there's more important things in life than aisles and especially after you've got the scores that you need so well done carolina okay thank you thank you bye bye