Episode 7: IELTS. How to get a higher score within two months

In this lesson I give you three tips to help you get a higher score in your English exam. This is what I did to pass the entry exam for my Master's in English Literature at the University of Edinburgh. 

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Episode transcript

In this lesson I’m going to give you three tips to help you get a higher score in your English exam. 

If you follow the advice I give you here, and practise daily, you’ll be able to raise your score within two months.

When I applied to do a Master’s degree in English Literature at the University of Edinburgh, I needed to get a high score in my English exam. For a couple of months I worked daily on my English, focusing on the topics that I cover in this lesson. My English skills improved noticeably in those two months, and I passed my exam without trouble.

If anyone ever tells you that you cannot make fast progress with your English, don’t listen to them. I did it, and so can you. Here’s my first tip.

Tip number 1: avoid making basic mistakes

Nothing lowers your marks in an exam more than making basic mistakes.

Even if you have an extensive vocabulary and your word order is flawless, if you make basic mistakes, your score will suffer badly. Let me show you two basic mistakes that you should avoid.

Mistake number 1: getting the noun-verb agreement wrong

Many noun-verb agreement mistakes are bad, but failing to add an S to verbs in the third person singular in the present tense, is a catastrophic mistake. 

To master this noun-verb agreement, practise reading out and writing short sentences like these: 

He likes swimming.
She goes home.
Peter knows her.
Elizabeth writes letters.
My sister looks at the sky.

This is such an important issue that it’s not enough practising it until you get it right. You must practise it until you cannot get it wrong.

The second basic mistake to avoid is: overusing the article “the”

There are many cases in which the article “the” is often omitted in English. Here are three of them:

Number 1. With languages and nationalities, for example:

She is Japanese.
Italian is a beautiful language.
I’ve been studying French for many years.

Number 2. With sports, for example:

He likes to play golf.
Football is a popular game.
John doesn’t watch tennis on TV.

And number 3. With academic subjects, for example: 

Biology is her favourite subject.
She’s studying chemistry at university.
My cousin prefers history to maths.

A note of warning: beware that there are many exceptions to those rules. You’ll need to work on them to master the article “the”.

In this lesson, I’m giving you three tips to help you get a higher score in your English exam. Tip number 1 was: avoid making basic mistakes. Let’s move on to the second tip.

Tip number 2: learning vocabulary by listening to audiobooks

The technique that has allowed me to learn thousands of English words and  ...

Get the full transcript of this episode here.