Difficult circumstances of Nghe An male student who self-studied but still achieved IELTS 7.5

Motivation to try

Le Van Hoan is only 17 years old this year, but for more than 10 years now, he has not had his own house. Talking about his situation, Hoan confided: When I was in first grade, my parents divorced. From then until I was in eighth grade, my mother and I rented a small booth in Phu Son commune to both live in and run a hair salon. After that, due to difficult conditions, my mother went to the South to work as a factory worker, leaving me alone in the old booth.

Being separated from his mother since he was young, Hoan has become accustomed to an independent lifestyle. For the past two years, after passing the 10th grade entrance exam to Tan Ky High School, Hoan has moved to a small rented room near the school. He pays for the rent and daily expenses himself, saving from the small amount of money his mother sends home each month. For many years, Hoan has not known his father, and his blood relatives have rarely contacted him.

Le Van Hoan is currently a student in class 12C9, Tan Ky High School. Photo: MH

Due to difficult circumstances, his mother did not have much time to study, so from a young age, all of her dreams were entrusted to Hoan. During Hoan's primary school years, although the conditions were still difficult, his mother still created conditions for Hoan to get acquainted with English early. In secondary school, this was also Hoan's favorite subject and he soon showed his talent. In grades 8 and 9, Hoan was an excellent student in English.Englishof the school, of the district. Although the award at that time was not high, it was the motivation for Hoan to register for the entrance exam to Tan Ky High School and passed with a fairly high score.

Since entering high school, Hoan has also determined that he will study block D. Therefore, in addition to cultural subjects, Hoan spends time studying English. Currently, he is focusing on reviewing for the exam to select excellent students of the province in grade 12 of the school.

Le Van Hoan (middle) and his friends participated in the contest "Western Nghe An Biosphere Reserve says no to plastic waste". Photo: NTCC

At Tan Ky High School, for many years Hoan has also been one of the few students who has achievedIELTS certificate7.5. This is the result I just participated in at the end of August.

Among the scores that Hoan achieved, the highest score was 8.5 in listening, 8.0 in reading, 7.5 in writing and 6.5 in speaking. Along with his many years of being an excellent student, this score is a favorable basis for Hoan to apply for university admission in the near future. It is worth mentioning that Hoan self-studied and took the IELTS test without going through any center.

Secrets to self-study and pass IELTS without extra classes

Hoan started to plan for the IELTS exam when he started 11th grade. Initially, when learning about this exam, Hoan was quite confused, because his knowledge was only about what he learned in high school and focused on grammar.

Studying with friends helps Hoan practice listening and speaking skills. Photo: PV

Meanwhile, to get an IELTS certificate requires all four skills of listening, speaking, reading, and writing and requires candidates to have a fairly rich amount of social knowledge. Talking about this first "touch" of his, Hoan added: When I started studying for the exam, I found a classmate to study for the IELTS exam with and told him a passage. Indeed, at that time, my skill was so bad that my friend could hardly understand what I said because both my pronunciation and intonation were completely incorrect.

Despite his difficult life, Hoan is always optimistic and tries hard to study. Photo: MH

Hoan lives alone in a rented room. Due to difficult conditions, while many of his classmates at school have their parents create conditions for them to study at a center or online, Hoan determined that it would be difficult for him to keep up with them. To overcome his limitations, Hoan made a plan to study on his own and at this time, Hoan took advantage of his position as a "lonely" male student.

Sharing about his self-study method, Hoan said: "When I discovered my weakness, I started going online and looking for online lectures or YouTube channels that teach how to study for IELTS. Then, to practice listening skills, I started listening to online lessons. After listening fluently, I would practice speaking according to the instructions."

Hoan's IELTS test results are quite convincing.

"In addition to learning from teachers online, I also search for clips and practice listening to foreign news. For the rest, I review with my classmates: usually after each IELTS review session at the center, my classmates will review with me. Thanks to that, any mistakes I make will be corrected by them. Many friends also share their experiences to help me pronounce correctly," Hoan added.

To practice speaking skills, Hoan said, the most important secret is to “speak a lot and speak every day”. Even though Hoan is alone, with no one to interact or talk to, he sees it as an “advantage”. That means every day in class, at school, when there are events or content, Hoan outlines the ideas in his head and he will express them to himself and create contexts for himself to ask and answer. Hoan sees speaking and using English as a normal daily activity and there are days when Hoan uses English more than Vietnamese.

In the grammar section, Hoan practiced the questions himself and asked his English teacher in class to help him with some additional materials. For the parts he did not understand or knew, Hoan would ask his teacher to explain further.

During his studies, Hoan always received help from his English teacher. Photo: MH

Talking about his student, teacher Nguyen Song Quang - English teacher at Tan Ky High School added: At first when teaching Hoan, I paid attention to him because he had a talent for English and tried to nurture him to join the school's excellent student team. Later, knowing his situation, I often tried my best to help him practice speaking, writing and also connected him with many former students of the school who had successfully taken the IELTS test so that he could learn from their experiences.

To be able to study and take the IELTS test successfully, Hoan believes that English is a special subject. Therefore, during the learning process, you should not put pressure on yourself but need to "relax" to study effectively.

During his self-study, Hoan also found a website that can help students grade their own tests and correct their vocabulary and grammar mistakes. Self-study will yield better results if you listen and learn from friends, teachers and seniors.

Learning English will be effective if you don't put pressure on yourself. Photo: MH

In grade 12 of Tan Ky High School, Hoan is also the candidate with the best IELTS test results and Hoan's efforts and hard work really bring motivation to students in remote and difficult areas such as Tan Ky district and many other mountainous districts.

With an IELTS 7.5 certificate, Hoan is currently also helping students with homework at an IELTS training center in Ho Chi Minh City to earn extra income, improve himself, and gain more practical and meaningful experiences./.