 Everyone Chris here from IELTS Advantage and recently I went and did the computer delivered IELTS test I recently got my certificate. Here's what a band 9 Certificate looks like but it wasn't really so that I can show off that I can get a band 9 The reason why I did this was for two reasons number one to give you guys Insight information on the experience of doing the computer delivered test and they give you some advice on How to get the best possible score and have the best experience on test day and just to walk you through Exactly what test day looks like for the computer delivered test and then also answer the question that we get a lot Which is is the computer delivered test easier? Or is the paper based test easier? So I'm going to answer that question And then at the end of the video, I'm going to give you the most important advice about Computer delivered versus paper based and I'll also give you a free course if you watch all the way to the end So one of the things that I discovered is that your score will be determined by Not just your English level or your IELTS knowledge or your IELTS skills But your overall capacity on the day What do I mean by that? Well, if you do the wrong things and you're feeling bad You're not able to perform to the level that you are capable of performing that You're probably going to get a lower score because think of what you have to do on test day You have to spend a very long time Focusing and if your brain and your body is not ready for that Then you're not going to perform at the level that you need to perform at so let me give you some advice on things that I think you should do in order to perform at the best possible level and It really starts the night before so the night before I did all the wrong things And so I worked all day the day before and then I had the drive down to Dublin where the test center was that was a two and a half hour drive so when I got there I was pretty much exhausted and then when I got into the hotel and The I discovered that the bed in the hotel was very hard very uncomfortable And then to make matters worse what I did Dublin has like the best pubs and the best Guinness in the world So I went out and I didn't get drunk, but I had like five or six pints of Guinness which meant that I was not optimally performing and to my best them the next day, so What I would advise you to do is make sure that you're you know not Taxing yourself not stressing yourself out not tiring yourself out too much the day before Get a good night's sleep and don't go to the bar and drink the night before instead just have a nice relaxing Evening and make sure that you get enough Sleep the other thing that I didn't do what you should do is prepare what you're going to do From when you wake up until you get to the test center So my test center said that I had to be there at 8 10 a.m. So 10 past 8 in the morning so when I woke up I was staying in a hotel because it's very far away from my house and The hotel didn't have any breakfast so I had to go and walk in the rain to try and find breakfast which I couldn't find any and Then it made me really late, and then I was late to the test center. It was raining It was just a disaster. So what I strongly recommend you do is like the the day before Go and find out exactly whoops go and find out exactly where the test center is How long is it going to take you to get there? How are you going to get there? Get all of your breakfast and these things sound really silly But they do have an impact on your score and I'll talk about Why that's so important when we're talking about the listening test and the reading test and the the writing test The second big mistake that I made That you shouldn't make is kind of arrogance. So I'm not preparing because you're arrogant. I often criticise students because they will Email me and say I don't really need to prepare for the test. It's an English test I'll just go and do it. That was my attitude. I was like, I'm a native English speaker I'm an IELTS teacher. I don't really have to prepare. So I didn't do any practice tests or I didn't do any preparation really at all and When the first question of the listening test came up, I was like, oh shit. I didn't realise how quickly the questions come up and The first question was the registration plate of a car And they only said it once and they only said it very quickly and I was oh, I didn't realise how quickly that was and if I Had have done some practice tests if I had a prepared that wouldn't have been such a shock now It wasn't a problem for me because again I'm a native English speaker wasn't going to be a huge problem But if I was a non native English speaker and I was struggling to get a band 7 that one mistake could have been a disaster for the rest of the test because Even as a native English speaker when I thought that I got the first question wrong I just started thinking like what's the point? What am I doing here? I messed it all up. This is going to be a disaster Even though I coach people not to have those negative thoughts as a human being if you're unprepared And you think that you've messed something up. You're going to be making mistakes and it's going to be really stressful So make sure that you're fully prepared before you go and do the test The third thing that was quite surprising that I haven't thought about before was they they put you in a waiting room With other students and you're there for about 30 minutes and it was interesting I looked at what the other candidates were doing Some of them were just like very relaxed looking at the window, you know, not not that bothered But other students were on their phone and you could tell that they were looking at IELTS websites and one was watching YouTube clips about IELTS and everything You should not be looking at IELTS tips and tricks and things like that 30 minutes before your test for two reasons number one They're going to confuse you and they're not going to help you improve in any way So it's a waste of time, but number two The IELTS test is very tiring. It requires a lot of focus So you shouldn't be doing anything in that 30 minutes other than trying to relax So that could be just listening to some music that could be just Meditating that could be looking at the window that could be you know breathing I would strongly recommend finding something that relaxes you and do that during those 30 minutes Two things that you should not do is number one Start looking up, you know, IELTS websites and stuff like that 20 minutes for your test and the other thing is stress Getting very anxious and very stressed out. I know it's a stressful situation But if you are spending 30 minutes worrying, you're going to start the test At a disadvantage, you're going to be a little bit exhausted You're going to be a little bit tired when the test begins And it's really important that you are like an athlete at the Olympics You know, an athlete trains for four years in order so that they will reach their peak During the race at the Olympics, you want to be starting the IELTS test At your very peak, not like me Hung over from drinking too much beer, no breakfast, no sleep You know, just not in a good way at all So make sure that you are giving yourself the best opportunity to get the score that you need The other thing I would like to say is the staff were amazing I have done the IELTS test in different centres I speak to students who tell me that their experience was not good This experience was excellent and they did everything they could to be professional But really relax people and make sure that they give them the best opportunity I know that it's different in different cities and different cultures and different countries But it did actually help And I was thinking if I was a student, this would actually really help me And I think it's important for you to realise that there is a market out there of different centres So I live in an extremely small country Just in my country, within a two hour drive I think there are three or four different centres So if you have a bad experience at one centre Don't be afraid to go to a different centre with different staff, different examiners They're not going to make it easier for you The test is not going to be easier, the test is not going to be different But I just think that if you have a better experience and you're more relaxed Again, you're able to just perform at your optimal level One last thing before we get into the experience of actually doing the computer deliver test was they said something really interesting before the test began which I haven't thought about before They said if you have a complaint, if something goes wrong you need to make that complaint on the day before you leave the test centre After you leave the test centre, IELTS will not listen to your complaints You would not believe the number of emails that we get from students complaining about examiners, complaining about test centres complaining about all sorts of bad things that have happened on test day and they send me an email a week after they do the test with the British Council I don't work for the British Council, I am not delivering the test I'm not a test centre Why would you email me, a teacher, instead of complaining on test day? So for example, a common complaint that we get is that people can't hear the listening, the audio equipment is not good If you complain on test day, they will listen to your complaint and you will have a justification for you should give me another chance of doing the test But if you wait and you email me I'm not going to be able to help you and IELTS won't listen to you So if you have a complaint, complain on test day But if you go to a good centre, you shouldn't have any complaints OK, so then they bring you in and you do the listening test then you do the reading test and then you do the writing test It's really important that you understand that those are back to back There isn't much of a break in between the listening test the reading test and the writing test You can go to the bathroom whilst you're doing the test But you cannot go to the bathroom in the last five minutes and in between the test So one quick tip is don't drink a lot of water If you're really needing to go to the bathroom, you're going to waste a lot of time I don't agree with the fact that they're back to back and there's not much of a break in between I think it's because of cheating They're worried that people are going to go to the bathroom and, you know, find phones or something like that You wouldn't believe the lengths people go to to cheat The example I always use is like when you go to the airport 99.999% of people who go to an airport are not going to do anything to the airplane when they get on it But, you know, one guy tried to blow up a plane with a shoe bomb 15 years ago and now we all have to take off our shoes So a lot of people criticise IELTS for these rules These are because of bad people who are trying to cheat the test and they're trying to make the test as secure and as safe as possible So I do have sympathy for them because running an IELTS school we have to create all sorts of rules as well because a tiny minority of students are just idiots So make sure that you have a good breakfast but don't drink too much water because you'll be going to the bathroom and when you're nervous, you have to go to the bathroom a lot as well So, you know, don't dehydrate yourself or anything like that but don't fill up on water either So the listening test starts Is the computer-based listening test easier than the paper-based test? Yes and no A few things are advantageous when it comes to the computer-based listening test The first thing is, is you get proper headphones So you're not in a big room with lots of people and, you know, bad audio equipment You have headphones which blocks out all the other sound and just makes it easy for you to focus So I think that is a big advantage especially if other test centres in your local area don't have headphones That can really help people And, you know, listening to a foreign language is difficult Headphones should help The other thing that is just much easier is you will see the questions and they have some of the questions are typing but some of the questions are drag and drop and I think it's just easier to look at the screen listen to your headphones and then drag and drop different options I think that's easier than looking at the paper I don't think that's a huge advantage and it wasn't an advantage for me because I spend all day looking at a screen and I think it was a tiny advantage but I liked it but it wasn't a huge advantage I don't think it will help someone go from a band 6.5 to a 7, for example The other thing about the computer-delivered test is you're in a small room with a smaller number of people I don't like being in big rooms with lots of people It makes me nervous I just don't like it I know that's probably weird but, and probably most of you don't worry about that type of thing I do not like to be in big rooms with, you know, hundreds of people That's not... I don't even like to be in rooms with more than 10 people That's kind of a fear that I have But it helped that I think there were only five people doing the test that day It was a small room and there were only five people That really cuts down on the background noise as well I get easily distracted by background noise And during the listening test, if you're distracted and you think of something else then you might miss the part of the recording that you need to get the correct answer So I think that has its advantages as well Moving on to the reading test Again, because it was on a screen I found it faster to read Just sitting up, looking at a screen And again, you had those drag and drop options And then you had the tick options I think that just makes it easier Not easier to find the correct answer But just get through everything And it's not as stressful in some way Because it's on a screen That's what I find personally I got it done in 20 minutes When I do the paper-based test It takes me at least 40, 45 minutes to really get everything done I'm not saying that's going to guarantee that you will get everything done You know, in half the time But I did speak to Some people who have worked in test centres And they said that what they noticed with the computer-based tests These are people who've watched thousands of people do the tests They said that people generally finish the reading test faster So if time management is an issue for you It's not a magic bullet It's not going to magically make you go from a six to a seven or anything like that But if you're really struggling with time And you feel that would help you Then I think the reading test and the computer-delivered one is a little bit better Also, there's a bonus hack This is a great opportunity to go to the bathroom So, listening, you cannot go to the bathroom because you will miss something Reading, because what I did was I focused for 20 minutes I got everything done in 20 minutes I went to the bathroom And what I actually did in the bathroom was Well, I'm not telling you exactly what I did in the bathroom But the additional thing that I did in the bathroom was I just meditated a little bit and did some breathing Because that was like an hour into the total test And my brain was starting to melt Because of the reasons I explained before But I was just starting to really lose focus and really lose concentration So that was a good opportunity to do that Now, don't do that if you are struggling to finish all the questions It's better to focus on the questions and get them done But if you can get everything done in kind of 40-45 minutes And then take a short break, take a quick toilet break That's going to refresh you a little bit for the writing test Because the writing test requires a lot of focus and concentration So I found that quite good Then I was able to come back I still had 30 minutes to check my correct answers and everything And I think that really helped me get a bad 9 Because in the general training, if you get one question wrong, you don't get a bad 9 So I think that really helped The writing is where the computer-based test, I think, is much, much, much better Especially if you are someone like me who writes on a screen all day long So all day I'm just typing essays, replying to emails, sending messages to coworkers That's just what I do all day So it's very natural for me to look at a screen, write something, think whilst I'm writing something on a screen But most importantly, I find the editing much easier on the screen So when you're writing on a piece of paper and you want to edit something you want to delete It can look very messy and on a screen, you can tidy everything up And I just felt more confident about writing the essay and then checking it at the end And then just tidying things up a little bit I think that is much, much better And if you're struggling with writing and editing is a problem for you And you're used to working on a screen and writing on a screen I think the computer-based test would probably be worth a go But wait until the end and I'll give you some really important advice Don't think that it's automatically going to improve your score Speaking is exactly the same for both computer-based tests and paper-based tests So I won't go into too much detail about that If you want to know about my scores and what scores I did And quite a crazy experiment I did on test day I'll leave a link below to my discussion on my scores And how I got those scores and everything OK, so you're probably thinking now that computer-based is better And you're going to do the computer-based test Wait one minute, here's the most important advice So you're going to be using this with the computer-based test And you're going to be using this on the paper-based test But are you really? No, what you're really using is this You're using your brain If you're writing, listening, reading, speaking level Is not up to the required level before you do the computer-based test You're not going to get that score A huge mistake that a lot of students make Especially those that are stuck at a 6.5, for example So they got 6.5 a few times on the paper-based test They think if they go and do the computer-based test They're magically going to get the score that they need This is not going to improve your vocabulary This is not going to improve your grammar This is not going to improve your reading skills Your listening skills, your writing skills It just is not It's going to give you probably the best opportunity To perform at the level that you are at But most of you are not at that level right now I know that sounds harsh, but it is true And it's our experience of teaching thousands of students every year So what I would strongly recommend Is that you get to the level you need to get to Consistently in practice So listening, reading, writing, speaking You should be getting your score that you need Consistently before you do the test Then once you are happy with that Go and book the test Don't do what 98% of students do Which is book the test And then panic the day before And be sitting on their phone You know, 30 minutes before the test Going, oh, what are some tips and tricks Like that is not going to work And this is not going to help you If you want to prepare What I've done is I've put together a free course Called IELTS Fundamentals Click below, it's totally free It's going to take you through The most important information you need to know And what it does is just make everything really, really simple And easy to understand Click below and you can get free access To our fundamentals course Also check out IELTSAdvantage.com That's our website where you'll find help With basically everything you need All things IELTS And if you have any questions Pop them below in the comments Or feel free to send us an email We answer 100% of the emails that we received Hopefully you found that video interesting If you want more detail about the experience Of doing the test and my scores And how I got those scores, click below And you'll find another video Or it should be coming up somewhere here Justin, put it somewhere All right, thank you very much, guys And hope you find that video interesting