 Okay, so this is a very special video that we're going to make today. One of the most successful students that I've had, Sana, I posted her results last week. She got 8.5 overall and we got a huge response from people who wanted to get more information about her, wanted to for me to share her story a little bit more. So we're going to do a video with her today and she's going to help you guys with some advice on how, maybe not get 8.5 but it'll help you reach your goals. So Sana, can you first of all just introduce yourself to people and give a little bit of background information about yourself? Yes, of course. My name is Sana and I'm a medical student. I recently graduated. I finished my medical school and in order to set my medical exams I was supposed to do the IELTS exam because my primary medical qualification is not from the UK so I was supposed to do it and that's why, yeah. Excellent. Can you tell people just a brief story about your IELTS journey? So people know that you got 8.5 overall but how many times did you do the tests, some things that got. Yeah, well this one was in the second attempt. I did the last one in July, yeah, and then what happened was I didn't get the scores that I needed. I basically needed 7.5 each of the sections and also overall but I really struggled with the writing part and that's why I came to you for help. Excellent. So what we're going to do is something slightly different today. One by page I told people that I was interviewing you and did they have any questions for you? So I have like the top, the five most popular questions and so we're going to do that first. So the first question was a really, really important question and I think how did you identify your weaknesses? Well, I think if it's just natural, I just whenever I'm doing something I just know like you know because my whole purpose is like you know to improve myself in whatever I'm doing. So I was no different anyway. So what happened was like I exactly knew that and after the score especially I knew that the writing part was the one that I was struggling with and in the listening for example I knew that I'm going to get a 7.5 the last time I got that was the score and I missed six of the questions and that was everything to do with the map. So obviously I knew that map was the area. In the reading, well I was kind of confident last time I got an eight. So I was okay with that and then speaking, yeah, I knew that 7.5 I got wasn't really reflective of my true ability because I got really nervous in the exam and I just messed it up. So I mean and in the writing I obviously knew because of this code that I got and I'm not up to the mark because I got a 6.5 and I needed a 7.5. So I just knew everything exactly where I'm in short. Yeah, so I because you were my student I was able to help you identify your weaknesses in writing but maybe for a student who either doesn't have access to a teacher or doesn't have the money for a teacher or just live somewhere without any high schools or something like that. How could they identify their mistakes in writing? I think this question is very subjective because it really differs from person to person. Every person has a different way of identifying their weak areas but the best thing they can do is obviously regarding the aisles that they can just practice with the official material and that really helps because when you do that obviously you will know which areas you're falling short of like you know and if you have stopped the exam before once, twice, twice you definitely know because the scores are reflective of your ability. So obviously I knew like in the listening part for example I knew that like the maps was the thing that I was really struggling with because when it came in the exam I got all six of them wrong so if you subtract six from 40 or at least 34 and it's a 7.5. So you just know because you practice and you practice a lot. And then the next question was just how do you boost your general level of English because one big misconception is you can just learn lots of aisles skills and take tricks and tips and things like that but at the end of the day aisles is an English exam so to get 8.5 you need a certain level of English. How did you get to such a high level of English? Okay I'm gonna be very honest here because I know there are many people watching this but yeah I totally understood that it's just not about the aisles techniques and it's just not about the aisles it's an exam of your general level of English so I read every day. I don't like reading all I love reading books there's like medical books okay I'm generally not into reading definitely not but for the purpose of the aisles exam obviously I had to because I knew I had so I was reading every day every day I'll read some article and I'll just read online because I'm always on the net anyways so I was reading every day and then I will note down the words but I followed your hundred percent rule I didn't memorize a list of the words for sure so I was I made a copy I still have it actually so I was writing down the words then I was writing the antonyms synonyms the qualifications that was really important I used an online dictionary for that and it was really helpful so by the end of everything I had a huge book with a lot of vocabulary that I could use an exam and also secondly I think it was it's something to do with my school as well because I have been taught in English all my life and the school that I studied in and country where I was born in I studied in a school called Convent of Jesus and Mary and there teachers like you know we were taught by nuns and other teachers and they used to come from the UK and Spain and everything and we were fined if we spoke in the national language and not in English so it was yes it was always stressed and I am very grateful for that like you know it really helped me yeah so I I think for anybody wanting just do what you did surround yourself with English which could mean reading every day or listening every day speaking to people just do whatever you can in English yeah and I listened as well not as well actually to be honest because I love watching documentaries regarding human trafficking and prostitution and stuff like that I'm just interested in those topics you know the things that affect socially like you know yeah everybody so like you know I would watch a lot of documentaries I love documentaries yeah so choose something that you're interested in like it doesn't have to be definitely it doesn't have to be like an academic book of course I mean if I was choosing an academic take out we definitely choose something related to medicine only but I'm also interested in all these kind of things so yeah I chose documentaries yeah I mean you could watch cartoons in English that's maybe an extreme example but you know but it just show the point I'm making is that's true do whatever you enjoy in English and that's going to help you basically just surround yourself with English read listen write everything you can that's only where okay so the next question was this is a really popular question but I don't think that the answer is going to help a huge number of people because it is so subjective but how much time did it take you to get to that score okay as you already said it's very subjective so it differs but for me it took around a month yes exactly a month actually not even a month because it was exactly 28 days but for everybody else it might take you know it could take some people a week it could take people six months it could take some people a year definitely because thing is like as I already said my level my general level of English wasn't bad I mean last time I got in the other parts if you take out the writing part including that one I got seven point five and eight which is obviously a much higher level of English but still you know you need to improve you can't stay static and like you know just think that everything is going to be fine because what people do I think is because like they keep on repeating the test thinking okay I didn't do well this time maybe next time the paper is going to be easy or something like you know it's not going to change if you don't put in the effort there's also going to be the same so the choice is yours excellent advice all right so the next question um how do you write the perfect essay actually I'm laughing because there is no perfect essay um anyways but um the point is for me I just follow the structure that you gave um but I won't lie because not completely because I I was still running out of time so in the introduction I like you know I kind of I thought like you know I'm running out of time what do I do I had to make a choice either write a right perfect introduction okay or I just like you know spend more time on the supporting paragraphs instead of doing that I chose to spend more time on the supporting paragraphs and it actually works but I think the structures that you give are really helpful because then you don't have to go into the exam and think okay what do I write next okay what's going to be the next thing I have to focus and also I'm going to say like you know um planning is very important I know it's a crucial step that many students just get because they think okay we have just got 40 minutes you know like you know and we're going to do everything in these 40 minutes but that's the wrong approach so as you always say in your course as well like you know planning is crucial not just for us for everything in life to be honest yeah it's it's no coincidence that every single student that I've interviewed like this they're they all say planning is it was crucial yeah it is the crucial part but I think the the main point in reaction to that question is there's no such thing as a perfect essay a lot of people are you know jumping from website to website from isle to isle to trying to find the perfect structure or anything it doesn't exist there's that doesn't exist of course yeah yeah you're right so writing the the best essay that you can the most effective essay that you can is what your goal should be not trying to find you know someone who will teach you the perfect essay because it's it's not a mathematics question well it doesn't exist so if something teacher is doing that I'm I think it's just about good to something yeah so the next question that people wanted to know from you and I think you'll have a good answer to this because I spoke to you the day before the test and the day before your results and you were very stressed out yes how did you cope with stress well I was very stressed firstly because it was the second attempt okay now I don't want to like you know sound negative or something I know there are many people who have done it like 14 times 14 times and comes up to them but I think it's like for me it was it was set for me because I couldn't believe like you know that I mean I've said it English all my life and I've said it in the best schools and everything and like you know how come I couldn't care it but I think I'll it's a little bit different than other exams like you know you do need the professional help like you know and sometimes what people do is like you know the think oh it's just an English exam anyway like you know I'll pass so I think it's really important to get the professional help um but you can and with the stress part you know like it really depends like you know it first from person to person but at the end of the day I just stop thinking about like you know I remember um because I remembered word to word what what I actually wrote in the exam in the actual exam so I remember emailing you as well with the whole essay and asking you oh can you give me the feedback can you tell me how my ideas are how I've sent it and everything okay and I did the same in the group as well in the private group and then like you know some people were saying it's really good some were saying oh no you could have done this but like you know and it was just like absolutely like you know I was like okay I can't take it so I just like you know deleted that post um okay in the exam what other students tell you and normally not not not some of it is very very good advice but some of it is yeah so you told me not to worry so after that after hearing your advice like you know I just deleted the comment but yeah what I did in the exam like you know I thought because I missed it up last time because of getting nervous I mean like obviously the 7.5 was not like it was not my real mark I was pretty sure on that in the speaking part I'm talking about like you know so I thought that's it I mean what I'm getting out of being nervous anyway like just a 7.5 you know so I thought like you don't forget it like you know I'm not gonna I'm not gonna think about it it's not an exam so I literally went in there and I was talking to the examiner as if I've known him for 20 years or something I literally did that I literally and that that is the best advice I can give to anybody who's not getting a score in the speaking part for sure like you know you wouldn't be nervous it's not gonna help just go there remain calm and do your best and talk to the examiner as if he's your friend I mean like exactly I said that to you what 10 times 20 times on the course so that's great that you did that all right so those are all the questions that other students have so what I think we'll do now is we don't have a lot of time obviously so we'll go through each of the four skills and if you can give just some quick pieces of advice for let's say someone most of the students watching this need a seven or above so if you are hoping for a seven or above in each of the skills what would you do so listening what would you say for listening the best advice is focus in the exam just focus like about the surroundings everything I was literally like I don't know how to explain it but be very focused especially in the math questions because you have to use more than one senses at that time like you know hearing listening like you know just moving from one point to the next and that was the part I was struggling with so focus is the number one advice I can give you and for the people who are not like you know used to listening to like English language most of the time maybe for them I would say like you know listen to listen to document fees there is a lot of stuff on the net as well to help you with the listening part if you are obviously already in the UK you're obviously surrounded with people like you know who already speak in English but if you're not then clients can English listen to English I don't know watch movies and things like that maybe and I think for when you say focus I think that's something that is a skill that needs to be developed yes and I was talking to another student who you got eight or nine in listening and they said it was very similar to meditation that you need to build up as slowly the the skill the focus that you need to do that so I mean just saying focus is some people will be like well how do I do that the how you do that is slowly building up your practice and I'm through this yeah I can add another advice as well actually I mean I don't recommend this because this is like very risky but I did it and it worked for me but maybe like but I don't recommend it I just recommend you like this thing very carefully but if you can't like you know if you just missed the point or something let's say like you know there are six thoughts to a question and let's say you didn't quite get like you know the third part or something then what you do is like you listen and when you have listened just quickly write important bits like you know if it was a map question that's how I improved on the maps like you know that was the reason I got a 7.5 last time in the map because I just couldn't follow the conversation I just lost focus so like you know like this time what I did was like you know I just wrote like important bits like you know opposite the road in the north like on the north side or something like that and I just quickly wrote it so when you have a minute you know just to check your answers instead of checking my answers I just quickly read it and then wrote the option correctly and that's how I improved great so let's look at reading now and what would be some some advice that you would give to someone for reading reading is I think it's more to do with like improving your vocabulary first of all because it's just it's just easier when like you know you know the words already and it's not something new secondly for the reading of ghost practice it goes for every part anyway but yeah for reading it's very essential third and very important timing okay because I well I said it a lot of my thing but yeah I'll say it here as well that's like no don't divide your time equally because it says like you know you have 20 minutes for each passage don't do that because the level difficulty level of each passage is different for first one is the easiest and the third one is the most difficult so obviously it makes sense to give more time to the third one rather than the first one and because first two passages are easier relatively and you gotta like you know just get as many questions you can get like you know just get them correct and the first two and the third one is just a bonus so yeah this is my advice that's what I did that's great advice and did you do the did you do it in order did you start it I did it in order yes yes I did it in order but yeah I mean you can do any part first I mean like you can do the third passage first but if you're doing a difficult thing first it's just like you know maybe I think it's better to do it in order yes I did it in order yeah the low hanging fruit first because what people I've seen a lot of advice from other people that says do the hard part first but then you're going to spend lots of time and your brain is just going to be like oh my god this is difficult and then then the easier questions become more difficult because you're mentally drained and you don't have time yeah probably you know because you're not going to get many of them correct anyway in the third one so like you know you're just like your confidence yeah the third part is really for people and a lot of the questions are to separate out the band seven eight and nine people so for realistically a lot of people who just need a seven or an eight are going to always get some questions in the last part wrong so that is really good advice so speaking you're obviously very good at speaking and but let put yourself in the shoes of someone who just needs a seven or seven point five or something like that what would be your advice we've already talked about yeah off to the examiner like you would talk to a friend and relax and anything else anything yeah for sure um okay now because I've been studying in Ukraine and obviously I didn't know the Ukrainian language and the only way I learned it was to converse the people in that language and so English is no different as well it's the language I've been to so if you want to learn it like you know and we could have like you know conversing so you should talk to more people and try to talk to people in English anyway because what happens is like you know when English is not your first language at home you you don't tend to speak in English like you know but if I have to give an advice it would be like you know a month before your exam or like you know if your level of English is really bad then probably two months or something like you just speak in English don't speak any other language like you speak in English and that's the only way you can improve and it's better to speak with somebody who is quite a better level I mean because if you are like speaking with somebody who's at the same level as you it's not going to help because they're at the same level as you and they can't tell you the wrong the mistakes or like you know whatever you are so it's better to do that yeah excellent I mean English speaking is a skill you have to practice that skill I don't know how many students I've met who say that they want a band seven or a band eight and then you say to them well how often do you speak or never it's like you know it is important to practice um task two writing what would be a quick piece of advice for that oh task two is the most difficult um okay practice practice as much as you can because that's what I did every day I will write free essays okay now yeah because um um and actually I have to say like you know um sometimes I would post the essays and even though like you know you're only allowed to you know Sir Michael would sometimes like you know just check it anyway and I was like so yeah um practice a lot at least write okay I'm not saying because most of the people work like you know I was not working so um and I had just finished my medical school so it wasn't the problem for me but at least write one piece writing a day it really helps and I mean in the group we have the chance to like you know put two essays every week anyway so like you know it's more than more than enough for the people who are working and that's the way you can improve and secondly I think um that's very important like you know once um you have done the five writings with you like you know once people have sent you the writings and like you know they get feedback it's very important like you know read through the whole feedback I know it's quite long but it's really helpful I mean that's what I used to do I would read through the feedback and then if I was struggling let's say if I was struggling with a lot let's say I was struggling with the grammar bit like you know I was struggling with the grammar bit to be honest I was struggling with articles this thing is like I don't know like when I speak naturally like like I don't think like you know there should be an uh or an or like you know I don't think like it just comes naturally okay but while I was writing I was kind of struggling with it because according to the feedback you gave me so like you know I just went on the internet and like you know I literally read through all the rules and after that like you know I practiced a lot and I improved so the whole point is like you know just whatever your area is like you know that your weak area is know that area and you will know because we get the feedback it's like very detailed feedback that we get so like you know after that like can you just try and improve and that's the only way you can improve in anything like you know just target the weak areas and that's what I did that's how I improved excellent last but not least uh academic part one or task one that's what I hate but anyways yeah okay um I think everything we need is in the course anyway that you give us uh but if I have to give for people who are not on my course what would you suggest okay I'm not supposed to say that maybe but like as I always say like you know it's very okay writing and speaking two parts in the other exam but you go and do well without getting professional help I mean it's not something that I'm just making up it's very true like you know because you maybe you can you can improve your reading and listening just because you've got the keys and everything like you know but speaking and writing at us then you can improve without professional help that's what I personally believe and for the people I think it's better to get professional help that's that's just and guys I have to say this I'm not being right Chris told me not to say this but I don't know how else to answer this question so yeah I said before the video I said don't use this as a marketing thing and don't just say I'm always not a marketing man I haven't been right I'm not related to Chris in any way I'm just a student but I really think that his help is really what you need yeah so I'll just say obviously we can't help you but what if you are struggling with writing I'm not saying join my course or anything but do get someone to help you so um like for example if you're in an English school find out who is the best IELTS teacher in that school show them your work get feedback on it or find someone to help you with it and it is really really going to help because it's a bit like if you for example if you had a problem with your car would you try and fix it yourself or would you take it to a professional and get them to identify the problem so that's it so thank you very much Sana that I think we're by doing time and what is what what is have what are you going to do in the future with with this result or what that's it well it was very very important for me I actually um I think my one of my one year is wasted because I didn't I like you know clear miles in time I didn't know there was a deadline actually that was my mistake but yeah um I'm going to prepare for my medical exams and after that I'll have a year because one year is wasted anyway I know one year is going to go in preparation for exams but after that I think it's valid for two years I should quickly clear my medical exams before it runs that's great Sana thank you very much for sharing your advice with people um it'll be really useful for a lot of students and best of luck in your future okay Sana thank you for being an amazing teacher thank you you're welcome bye