 Hi everyone and welcome to the first video on this channel here in July so I'm here to share some tips on understanding IELTS and how to get the best grades. So obviously IELTS is a gateway to any kind of academic and professional English language use or further study. And it is a unfortunately can be both a gateway and a barrier for what you want to achieve. So mastering it does become a necessity. Now if you don't know anything about me, in addition to being a PhD researcher and all the other things I do, I am actually an IELTS trainer. I have taught IELTS for over five years and I love teaching IELTS so this is why I'm very happy to share all the tips and all the advice that I can for anyone who's sitting IELTS or who's preparing to sit for any examinations in IELTS. So very quickly what I want to cover is basically, you know, obviously people need IELTS is an international English language testing system that's the acronym. And that's basically what it does. So it's an exam that you sit, it has modules in the four skills. Reading, writing, speaking and listening and then you get you get individual grades for every module and then you get an overall score. And often that gives you access to further English language study so a lot of people who need to study a master's or a PhD or even first degree. If their language of instruction where they got their previous qualifications isn't English, they will be required to sit for this exam. Other people need it for general purposes it could be for you know purposes of immigration, travelling entry into English speaking countries like the UK or Canada, or even to practice their profession so you may be a doctor. You may be a dentist and you have to satisfy the requirements of your English language competency. So it can be tricky but it doesn't need to be so the first thing I really want to touch upon is the fact that there are two categories of learner. So there are the learners who are learning English and then there are the learners who are just studying. And by studying what I mean is that you already know how to speak English you already know how to communicate in English you may even be a second language speaker, almost native, you know in terms of the people I'm talking about are people who come from countries that instruct formal education in English so countries that are Commonwealth countries like Nigeria, India, Kenya. In these countries, the official or second language is English so a lot of people are familiar and they already know how to speak English but they still have to satisfy the IELTS requirements. So basically all it is is just you know studying for the exam and familiarising certain linguistic concepts and certain structures to be able to sit the exam. And then there are other the other category who are people whose first language is in English and it's not something they were instructed in. In any of their study at any point of study and quite often a lot of them learnt English as a foreign language not just a second language a foreign language as adults, or quite late, you know in secondary school as opposed to you know a bilingual system of education. This is common in a lot of the Arab speaking world in China. In, you know, countries, South American countries, Central American countries where the official language is Spanish, and even Europe and, you know, whether we speak in France, Italy, Spain, or further you know, Eastern Europe whether you know we're talking about Slavic speaking Slavic origin countries that's right. So the distinguishment is just useful because if you are somebody who is learning English, it will take longer to be able to prepare and sit for the IELTS where you get a good grade that will satisfy the requirements for entry into whether it's a university program or for any other general professional or academic purposes. Whereas if you are somebody who has done your degree or you know you've spent six years studying medicine and your language of instruction is English, then obviously it's a case of studying and just you know refining and polishing the English to the standard that is required to satisfy what needs you have. And that's what I like to do with my students I like to you know from the onset be like which category do you fall into because the needs are quite different. Okay, so are you studying it because obviously I used going to study language or are you actually learning because like I said it takes longer. So the time that you need will vary, you know, you can do an intensive study that is fine. But for a period of three months, I would say is fair for somebody who is in the first category so somebody who study in English, whereas somebody who is learning. So has learned as an adult and has learned you know, taken English as a foreign language for study. I would say you really should give yourself anything between 12 and 18 months for preparation of the IELTS. Of course, each case varies, depending on the individual, the circumstances and your style of learning. But this is obviously a generalization and just kind of like a guideline. The second thing is when it comes to preparing IELTS is very structured it's very rigid. So if you have seen any of my previous videos as one where I speak about the product versus the process approach to writing. I will link the video below because it's worth looking at. Now the IELTS because it is rigid it does follow a system of learning where you are producing something within, you know, very strict confines and the structure and the language and the register that you use is is pretty much set and it doesn't really allow for much flexibility. So it requires a lot of practice and a lot of trying to get your work to be very accurate in terms of grammar and in terms of the kind of you know vocabulary you use. So you are going to be looking a lot at examples that are like the perfect model and trying to almost replicate in order to get the highest grade. And then people, you know, say, you know, because there's no flexibility then you know once you've learned this you've memorized it is does it serve any purpose after you've sat your exam. And the answer is yes, even though IELTS is very rigid it does form a basis for you it's like a springboard for you to go on to further academic study in English. Now, of course there are certain vocabulary that are very IELTS like and they're canned and they're very you know produced. And sometimes you know we do need to kind of put them aside and be like okay they've served their purpose for IELTS, and we don't really want to use them for any further academic study. But I definitely don't think IELTS is useless in terms of moving forward and taking a lot of like vocabulary and grammar skills along to further academic English study. So don't just see it as the means to just get the score and then you know as tutors as English language tutors we do kind of put pressure on students to leave their IELTS background. But the truth is there are a lot of features of IELTS that you can adapt and fully function you fully utilize in your further academic English study. Okay, so therefore it is worth looking at it, not just as something that has to be done and needs to get done, but something that is an investment of your time to gain skills, good linguistic skills in English. And things that you will develop further, just because you get the IELTS score it doesn't end there you will you know develop further. And that is why it's worth you know getting the best training in terms of you know spending time to really refine your skills, especially when it comes to productive skills you know whether it's speaking or writing. It's a process of refinement, it's a process of you know drafting and getting feedback then redrafting then getting more feedback then redrafting until you can get your work to as near as the model, the perfect answers as possible. I think that's just what I want to touch upon. Initially, this is just kind of an intro into what it takes to kind of be on the way to get the best grades. And it is very possible, whether you are a language learner, an English language learner or if you're studying it because you already know how to speak it you know you are pretty much fluent. And it's almost you're almost bilingual, but you still need to satisfy the requirements, either category, I mean it is possible for you to do very well in it. But it's just a case of you know, and being honest from the onset which one do you fall into and understanding that IELTS does take a product approach and like I said by product I mean you are replicating as much to near. Perfect in terms of writing and in terms of speaking. And that's the process it follows. But of course within that I myself as a trainer I do want my students to be able to do as much refining as possible. And that's the approach I take as a trainer. So that's all really for today. This month on my academic community on Patreon I am focusing on IELTS writing specifically for task one. So if you want to master that do come over and join us. Like I said the whole month of July is dedicated to that and there is an overview you'll see on the Patreon welcome page where you'll see what we are focusing on in terms of writing for task one. In the next video. Thank you for watching. Don't forget to like and of course subscribe and share this video until next time. Goodbye.