IELTS Result

My Test Report Form

On Saturday, December 10th, 2011, I sat for an IELTS examination in IALF Bali as the final part of our English for Academic Programme. I got all of the four tests done in one day. The listening, reading, and writing tests were held in Wing Garden's auditorium from 09:00 to 11:45 am, followed by speaking test (must be examined by someone who is unfamiliar with the candidates, and I got Ronald as my examiner) at 12:00. On the next day, I had to say good bye to Bali and fly back to Jakarta. 

The result was announced on Thursday, December 22nd, 2011 via IELTS official website. I was very nervous when I submitted my personal data in order to access the scores. Ultimately, the result came up on my computer screen and I freaked out when I read the numbers displayed there. Alhamdulillah ya Allah, I got overall band score 7.5 out of 9.0! I was surprised with my own result since I had never expected that I would reach that high on my first real IELTS examination. But Allah had made it easy, Alhamdulillah.

I would like to thank all of you who gave me support before the exam. Particularly my teachers in IALF Bali who taught me for almost 3 months: Alana and Agnes, not to forget to mention my wonderful substitutional teachers: Anna, Des, Johan, Maggie, Nick, Mark, and Patrick. Absolutely, I am going to miss IALF and its good learning atmosphere. 

This is just a small step to pursue my higher education abroad and I believe that the rest will be more challenging. Bismillah...

PS:

According to my experience, these books are the best companions for preparing IELTS exam (academic module):

• Cambridge Advanced Learner Dictionary 3rd edition
• Cambridge Practice Tests for IELTS 1-8 
• Cambridge Vocabulary for IELTS
• Cambridge Grammar for IELTS
• Macmillan Improve Your IELTS Writing Skills
• Macmillan Tips for IELTS
• Longman Focus on Academic Skills for IELTS
• IELTS Speaking Preparation and Practice (Carolyn Catt)

I also listened to English podcasts such as BBC's 6 Minutes English or Australia Network's English Bites to improve my listening skills. While for improving reading and writing skills, I learnt by reading English newspapers and magazines. My favourites are Jakarta Globe, The Economist, National Geographic, Time, and Newsweek. My teacher, Alana, said that IELTS academic module is actually a test to ensure our readiness to enter universities, not only about our English capability. That is why we have to master general knowledge to anticipate any topic might come out in our writing or speaking test. For that reason, reading newspapers and magazines is very essential!