World Speaks English (IELTS Prep)
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To open the 🌍 you need 2 things: IELTS and support. You will find both here.

Join the community of strong English learners created by Darian Sandmartin🌿

Our chat is here https://t.me/wsecommunity
Your personal trainer: @D_Sandmartin
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🌟 MY IELTS STORY - DAY 1/6

Picture a miserable day - it was raining, I had a day full of classes (some of them - particularly boring), and what served me as home was an old distressed Russian dormitory.

🐜 With cockroaches.

3 years ago I lived an ordinary life of a typical student who studies in a common Russian university. But I had never wanted this! The usual life cycle in my country: school - Bachelor’s degree - work for 30 years - poor pension. Such perspective brings regrets and depression, not a bright and exciting lifestyle.

No wonder I desired to change the boring life I was living.

I had no idea that soon I would be sharing a classroom with the Prince of Luxembourg at the best business school of Switzerland! πŸ‘‘πŸ€―

Curious how this transformation happened to me?

I knew there was more to youth than just sitting in an old dorm, eating cheap noodles and reading textbooks for class. So I started looking for international Master’s.

And such a surprise for me - the requirement for studying abroad was IELTS - a test I knew nothing about!

To be honest - I procrastinate a lot, so I started preparation only when there were 3.5 weeks left until the test date πŸ™ˆ Long story short, I had to prepare for the Academic IELTS on my own and then successfully scored the overall band of 8.0!

If you want to know how I did it - click the star button below 🌟

Why do you want to take IELTS? Is it for work / university and where? Share with me your story in the @wsecommunity group!

#DarianIELTS
@wsechannel
🌟 MY IELTS STORY - DAY 2/6

So, you already know from my previous post that when I was living a dull life of an average Russian student, I decided to radically change the future ahead of me and go study abroad. Turned out, for that I needed IELTS.
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You probably know how nice it is to make such bold decisions! You feel happy and excited and capable of everything! But only a couple of day passes when your confidence drops, you don’t know where to start, you feel demotivated and helpless. I felt exactly the same way.

But then I remembered why I needed to take this test.
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πŸ’΅ Do you know how many doors does English open? Today, it is virtually impossible to find a high-paying job without knowing English (even if you stay in your country). That’s because the majority of leading industry reports, books, articles and media covering innovations are written in English.
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πŸ—Ί Also, English is a key to many new people and places. Knowing this worldwide language one may get education of much higher quality, a friend network of prominent professionals and travel across the globe!

However just motivation is often not enough for success. Especially when you don’t know what to start with.

Luckly, I figured out that when there is no clear plan ahead of me, I don’t feel comfortable and don’t keep a situation under control. Everything kind of slips through my own fingers. So, this is what happened with me when I decided to get a double Master’s degree abroad. The decision was there, but I lacked understanding of how I would get there.

If you want to know how I how I planned my preparation - click the balloon button below 🎈
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What are your current IELTS preparation strategies? Share with me your story in the @wsecommunity group!

#DarianIELTS
@wsechannel
🌟 MY IELTS STORY - DAY 3/6

The last part of my IELTS story finished at the motivation point. I clearly felt that the motivation itself is not enough to keep me going and achieve things, even though there were plenty of reasons to study English seriously.

The golden key to all of my achievements is careful planning. I firmly believe that it is much more difficult and far from effective to try and do things without clearly seeing where you want your actions to lead you.

So, when it came to the IELTS preparation planning I followed these steps:
πŸš€ Identified my current level of English (took placement tests, many are available online)
πŸš€ Took a mock IELTS test to get familiar with its structure and understand which modules were the weakest ones for me
πŸš€ Set the target score I wanted to achieve (this depended on the requirements of chosen universities / countries and my level of English at the time)
πŸš€ Learnt what are IELTS band descriptors (publicly available, they explain what is required for each band score)
πŸš€ Drew a calendar for all the days I had ahead of the test (I had 3.5 weeks) and filled them with IELTS activities
πŸš€ Spent 4-6 hours on preparation every day, using Cambridge IELTS books for mock tests and MacMillan Advanced Grammar in Context for grammar
πŸš€ Used the Pomodoro technique that forces you to stay focused for 4 short periods of time (each around 25 mins) and gives you a short break in-between.

When filling in the calendar I focused on the weakest modules and planned to spend 30% more time on them. I found Speaking and Writing to be much more difficult than Reading and Listening. That helped me to always stay on track with my current progress.

I recreated my daily, weekly and monthly planners for you and made them free to download here. You’re free to print them, fill in and use at your convenience. Press the πŸ‘» button if it was useful!

#DarianIELTS
🌟 MY IELTS STORY - DAY 4/6

Last time, in the 3rd part of my IELTS story, I described my preparation planning techniques, and how they became the key to my success. If you haven’t read the last post – please do it in my profile, you’ll also be able to get a free IELTS planner from me there!

When I figured out planning and made it clear how to approach preparation, my days were filled with hours of intensive study. However, i started to see some significant problems that made learning more difficult.

πŸ“ Self-preparation has certain explicit drawbacks. The first is that there won’t be anyone to check what you’re doing and how correct it is. I felt uncertain about the quality of my work. Since I wanted to save money, at first I tried to ask my friends to correct essays and practice speaking with me. It worked way better with Speaking than Writing, because none of my Russian friends were proficient enough in English to evaluate essays.

πŸ™Š The second problem was lack of support. Sometimes I felt completely alone - struggling through days of constant study. I am sure many people who prepare on their own know what I am talking about. Especially when there are more responsibilities that must be fulfilled (work / family / school / college) and no-one cares about your IELTS journey that is far from simple.

This is why in my Rocket Speed IELTS Preparation course I tried to make sure these two pains of self-preparation do not worry test-takers any more. When you join the course, you get a supportive group of fellow learners who have targeted 7+ on IELTS. You become a part of a team what is always there for you and none is left abandoned during preparation.

I'm happy to share with you my personal step-by-step guidelines and a sample to a band 8+ Writing task 2 essay. Text me to @d_sandmartin to get it! πŸš€

πŸ‘» What are your biggest pains and struggles of self-preparation? Share with me on @wsecommunity and I will offer ways of resolving them!

#DarianIELTS
WSE Community reviews πŸŽ‰
🌟 MY IELTS STORY - DAY 5/6

In the last post about my IELTS journey I talked about the biggest obstacles i faced during preparation. I also shared my step-by-step tutorial to a band 8+ essay for Writing Task 2 - go check the post out if you haven’t already!

So, when I managed to prepare for the test so successfully that I was able to get overall 8.0 on IELTS Academic, I decided to share my experience. To talk about books I used, strategies I applied and approaches I preferred. This is how the World Speaks English community was created. 

I can’t judge whether I succeeded or not (in being a helping hand for others), but I keep receiving thank-you messages from all over the world. Swipe my photo right to see some of them. These stories give me hope that all my work is not in vain and truly spark joy in my heart.

I really hope that I was able to assist test-takers through any way - during my courses or just simply in the WSE community. My major motivation was to show them how to avoid difficulties that I personally had to deal with. 

If I had such a community back then, I would..

🌎 meet fellow students and practice speaking with them.
🌎 learn how to write essays correctly and efficiently.
🌎 boost my listening using authentic materials.
🌎 know how to read fast and understand much more. 

Such a blessing it is to have someone who has already cracked the test and is now ready to share their dos and dont’s, someone to rely on, someone to ask for clarification and advice!

And if at the moment when I needed to take IELTS there was an intensive course like the Rocket Speed one, I would definitely opt in.

#DarianIELTS
β€‹β€‹πŸ“š NEW READING - TECH TRENDS 2020

Where to find real-life academic vocabulary used for describing data, graphs, trends and scientific advances? Where to read practical articles with uncommon words that are perfect to use in IELTS Speaking and Writing modules?

In science / business / strategy reports!

Download this Tech Trends 2020 report by Deloitte, where you will learn about recent advances in financial tech, digital twins, human experience platforms, AI use cases and more - perfect to expand your outlook (will be easier to come up with new ideas on the test when asked about technology) and vocabulary.

#reading #ielts
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πŸ‘» COMMON IELTS WRITING MISTAKES

Still don't know how to handle your punctuation in writing? You should because it is graded in your essays! Here are the most common 6 punctuation mistakes on IELTS Writing:

1. Informal contractions like don't. shouldn't, won't, isn't.
Remember, you must use only formal style in your IELTS essays (even when writing a letter to a friend). Therefore, use only full negation forms: do not, should not, will not, is not.

2. Omitted points (full stops) in the end of sentences.
It's easy, isn't it? Just always end your sentence with a full stop and start the next one with a capital letter.

3. Too many commas in extremely long sentences.
If you notice that your sentence stretches across 4-5 lines of your essay - something definitely is going wrong. It is much better to write shorter, concise sentences without punctuation excess.

4. Wrong apostrophe usage.
Remember how possessive case is used - we put an apostrophe before "s" in singular (a singer's mike) and after "s" in plural nouns (singers' mikes).

5. Exclamation point!
Do you really need it in your IELTS essay? Think twice. Are you being formal when putting these exclamation points in the end of your sentences and adding this emotional tone. I doubt it. Leave it for your text messages.

6. Suspension points (three dots β€” ...).
Same as wit the exclamation points. These elision marks are used in novels and fiction books to express sadness or confusion. You definitely don't need this in your IELTS write-ups! Make sure to stay formal and take the style example from scientific reports.

#ielts #writing
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🌟 10 REASONS WHY YOU SHOULD TAKE IELTS THIS YEAR

Have you been postponing taking your test? Or maybe you know someone who haven't yet decided to take the exam and doesn't understand its benefits?

In this video I will explain in detail how the test is beneficial for your life, personal growth and development.

https://youtu.be/PmpvaJ8yW3c
#ielts #videos
​​⭐️ WSE HERO - FEBRUARY 2020

I want to celebrate people who have been World Speaks English members for a long time, have contributed to its development, participated in live streams, courses, and our discussions in the community chats. All of them - WSE Heroes - have a unique story to tell.
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This is Najeeb. He is a Mechanical Engineer and a Researcher - quite a busy man with many responsibilities. So he didn't have much time for IELTS preparation. However, his example is for lots us to take - his determination allowed to first move abroad for Master's and then - for PhD!

His first uni abroad was in China (thanks to the full-funded scholarship that he received!) which he was able to get in because he scored 7.0 on IELTS Academic. After completing his Master's with distinction, he aimed at a US university to continue his PhD research. He improved his IELTS results and scored 7.5 this time, opening himself doors to the Griffith University of Auckland πŸŽ‰

Parallel to the IELTS prep, he also worked hard on the GRE test, which turned out much more difficult than IELTS πŸ’ͺ🏻

He is thankful to the WSE video lessons that helped him to get the required score in IELTS first attempt πŸ‘πŸ»
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Congratulations for becoming the WSE Hero of the month, Najeeb! We love celebrating outstanding community members πŸŽ‰

#wsehero
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πŸ“š HOW TO LEARN NEW WORDS

You have been repeating the same word for days but it still doesn't pop up in your head when necessary? Try there 10 TIPS ON HOW TO MEMORIZE NEW WORDS!

Eventually, it will be simple for you - seeing a words for 2/3 times must be enough to memorise it. But everyone is different, remember that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=CyDcLq1Tewo

#vocabulary #video
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🍭 SPOKEN ENGLISH TIME

As I manage my groups and teach students, I notice that some don't fully understand the meaning of the phrase β€œWhat are you up to?”
It's a very useful and simple phrase that makes communication easier. Basically, it means β€œWhat are you doing right now?” or "What are you going to do now?" Of course, it's informal and mostly used among friends.

There is another situation: if you met a person you haven't seen a long time and they were catching up with your life, it would mean β€œWhat is going on in your life these days?”

How do we respond?
πŸ”Έβ€œOh, not much, you?”
πŸ”Έβ€œWell, I'm rather busy. What about you?”
πŸ”Έβ€œOh, not a whole lot. Anything interesting you're up to?”
πŸ”Έβ€œI am working on my new project. What are you doing?”

"What are you up to?" is an excellent phrase to use instead of "How are you?", which is fairly simple and boring 🀐

#vocabulary #feel_English
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✏️ 9 STEPS TO DESCRIBE A DIAGRAM FOR IELTS ACADEMIC WRITING TASK 1

1. Read the title and the image of the diagram, and paraphrase it – this will be your Introduction.

2. Find similarities and differences, assign data to groups, describing the diagram in detail – this will be your main body of text.

3. Add sequencing words to your text in order to connect your descriptive sentences and make it flow better. (For example: next, once, additionally)

4. Make sure to include Passive Form in the description to define an action that is done.

5. Make sure you paraphrase all the time through your essay to avoid redundancy and repetition.

6. Include conditionals and adverb clauses to indicate possible outcomes when describing the diagram.

7. Use more linking words to make your essay cohesive and coherent (For example: therefore, however, although, nevertheless).

8. Write a clear summary of the principle idea of the diagram in one short paragraph - your conclusion.

9. Read through your written work to check for any errors.

#writing #ielts
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