Two 9th grade friends share the secret to conquering IELTS 8.5 and 8.0

Don't be afraid if you encounter "strange and difficult" exam questions

In early October this year, on the official website of Hung Binh Secondary School (Vinh City), congratulations were sent to student Nguyen Tue Lam for her IELTS score of 8.5. Meanwhile, Dinh Thi Thao Lam was equally excellent when she achieved IELTS 8.0 on her first attempt. This can also be considered the school's highest result in recent years. It is worth mentioning that both are students of class 9A and members of the school's excellent student team.

Previously, both Tue Lam and Thao Lam also registered for the IELTS exam in September and took the exam on the same day. The exam preparation was also only done in a short time as Tue Lam only really focused on studying for 2 months. Meanwhile, Thao Lam just started studying from the beginning of summer in grade 9 and only had 5 months to study. Currently, in the whole province, the number of grade 9 students achieving IELTS 8.0 and 8.5 can be counted on the fingers.

Talking about Nguyen Tue Lam's process of conquering IELTS 8.5, she shared that the first step was quite favorable because when she was only 4 years old, Lam had the opportunity to go to Australia with her family. However, the short time of 4 years, combined with the limitations of a student who was only in grade 3, primary school did not really give Lam much vocabulary. Moreover, her grammar ability was still limited, especially after returning home, learning and using English was much different from a foreign environment. The biggest "shock" for Tue Lam was that she failed the entrance exam to grade 6 of the city's specialized school. In the first years of secondary school, although Tue Lam was assessed by English teachers as quite confident in communication and had advantages in listening and speaking skills. However, in terms of grammar, she was not the best student in the class.

Being selected for the excellent student team and having the opportunity to compete with other students, Tue Lam also realized her limitations. Therefore, when determining that English would be her "specialized" subject, Tue Lam had a really serious study plan. Telling more about this, Tue Lam said: I try to build for myself an environment completely in English. First of all, I switch all modes on my phone, computer and other devices to English for regular use. I also practice listening and speaking by watching movies, listening to music and watching TV from foreign channels. Besides, I consider English as my second language and practice studying other cultural subjects in English.

To complete the 4 skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing well, in addition to self-study, Tue Lam also registered for a review course from a teacher outside the school. This time, although not long, equipped Tue Lam with a lot of important knowledge, especially skills in practicing questions, writing essays and practicing grammar. For that reason, when entering the official exam, Tue Lam had a fairly solid foundation. In which, listening and reading scores were 9.0, speaking score was 8.5 and writing score was 7.0.

A memory of Tue Lam in this exam is that she encountered an essay that was considered the "strange and difficult" in the IELTS exam, an essay with a picture of a "stone". Although quite surprised, Tue Lam calmly reviewed the topic and made a complete outline before starting to work. Tue Lam said: "For IELTS candidates, all situations happen and memorizing and memorizing is seemingly ineffective. Therefore, in my opinion, instead of just rigidly reviewing, studying and taking the IELTS exam needs to be a process to both master grammar and enrich vocabulary. In addition, you must regularly watch movies, read books and magazines to absorb knowledge of many different topics and specialized fields, helping you to be confident when using English, Tue Lam added.

Unlike Tue Lam, Dinh Thi Thao Lam is a completely "normal" student when it comes to English. Even when she first entered grade 6, Hung Binh Secondary School, she did not have enough points to enter the selective class and only studied in the "Enhanced English" class. After the first year, thanks to her efforts, Thao Lam was transferred to class 9A - the selective class of the school.

With an unfavorable starting point, Thao Lam's first secret to studying well, especially studying English, is to be diligent and hard-working. In addition, Thao Lam built for herself a scientific learning path and practiced all four skills of listening, speaking, reading and writing at the same time to be able to use English effectively. When her grammar was quite solid, this female student planned to take the IELTS exam to "test" herself.

Talking more about this, Thao Lam added: I was told by my seniors that the IELTS exam is a very difficult exam. However, when I took the official exam, I found it "more difficult than I imagined". In the 4 skills, I am quite confident in the listening and reading sections, because I often practiced these skills by listening and reading English books. We also often talked with friends, chatted and posed situations to handle. However, in the speaking and writing sections, candidates are required to have a firm grasp of grammar, coherent writing style and to be calm and confident when doing the test, and to control time. Personally, in the writing section, I also encountered a question about the stone - something that no IELTS test taker wants. However, because of limited time, I had to take advantage of the test, trying to cover all the content required by the exam. In addition, I also need to express some personal opinions and views and possibly relate them to reality.

Being confident and calm when taking the test paid off for Thao Lam when she scored 8.0 on her first try - an unexpected result. Her listening and reading scores were 8.5, her speaking score was 7.5 and her writing score was 7.0.

"Stranger" at the City Excellent Student Exam

Not only did Thao Lam and Tue Lam "conquer" with high scores in the IELTS exam, at the City Excellent Student Exam, they also brought a miracle to Hung Binh Secondary School when they won First and Second prizes in English.

In fact, in Vinh city, in recent years, English has always been the subject with the largest number of candidates for excellent students. In previous years, the winners of high prizes were often students from the English class of Dang Thai Mai Secondary School. This year, the results were no exception when out of 4 first prizes, there were 3 students from Dang school, out of 13 second prizes, only 5 students came from ward schools. Therefore, the first prize in English of Dinh Thi Thao Lam and the second prize of Dinh Tue Lam were truly "special".

Receiving the First Prize, Thao Lam said: The English exam for gifted students in the city was very difficult and many of the candidates were capable. Therefore, I was very surprised to know that I was one of the few students awarded the First Prize and this result was beyond my expectations.

Talking about her student, teacher Nguyen Thi Tu Anh - English teacher said: Thao Lam is a hard-working, intelligent student, so although her initial foundation was not excellent, she later progressed very quickly. Thao Lam's advantage is that she studies very solidly, has a firm grasp of grammar, and does her homework carefully. Besides, she is very inquisitive, always serious in the learning process and constantly learns.

As for Tue Lam, achieving 16.53 points and only 0.23 points lower than the first prize winner in the City Excellent Student Competition is a real regret. However, she does not consider this a failure but considers it an experience to be able to "accelerate" in the final year of middle school. Tue Lam shared: I am a bit regretful because right at the City Excellent Student Competition, I was sick, so my listening test was not good and my score was not as expected. I hope that in the next round, I will develop my ability to bring higher achievements for myself and the school.

Not only good at English, Thao Lam and Tue Lam are also excellent students in all aspects. The achievements of the two "Lams" also contributed to the achievements of the English Team of Hung Binh Secondary School to rise to the top of the city and both of them continued to be selected for the second round to select the provincial team. And with confidence, diligence, and a solid foundation, we believe that Thao Lam and Tue Lam will go even further in the upcoming exams./.