How to prepare for IELTS/TOEFL in one month (my experience)

hello guys and welcome back to my YouTube channel  in this video I want to share my experience  

preparing for IELTS and TOEFL and give you a few  tips before we begin this video I have to mention  

that I'm not an IELTS or TOEFL preparation expert  I'm a student just like you and I happen to pass  

both of these language exams and get pretty  high scores so the whole video is just going  

to be my experience and the things that help me  a little back story I took IELTS in 2018 when I  

was 18 years old because I really wanted to go  to Canada to study there and my score was 8.0  

I was actually very nervous during the writing  part because I didn't have enough time but you  

know everything was okay and I got a pretty good  score however I didn't go to Canada because it  

was way too expensive and I decided to just stay  at my university in my home country as for TOEFL  

I took this language exam in 2020 and in 2020  I was stuck in New York City because of it I  

couldn't leave New York City I couldn't go back  to my home country because all the flights were  

I couldn't go anywhere because all the flights  were canceled so my plan was to stay in New York  

City to go to a university there and for that  I had to take TOEFL and my score was a hundred  

and nine to be honest I liked TOEFL a lot more  than IELTS but again it was just my personal  

preference my personal experience and I didn't  end up staying in New York City after spending  

some time in New York City I decided to go to  Ukraine and then to Turkey so yeah it was just  

like a whole roller coaster of everything so yeah  in this video I want to share everything I did the  

things that helped me prepare for both of these  language exams in just one month and before you  

start asking me Veronica about how much time do  I actually need do I need a month or two months  

or three months or maybe one week to prepare for  TOEFL and IELTS I have to tell you that it's very  

individual it depends on you first of all how much  time do you have if you only have one month then  

okay start preparing now but if you're planning  to take an exam next year then think about your  

English level think about how much time you can  dedicate for the aisles or TOEFL preparation and  

also what score you would like to get these three  things are absolutely crucial to keep in mind I  

think in general the preparation for IELTS doesn't  differ much from the preparation for the TOEFL you  

have to make good notes work on your listening  and reading skills and try to immerse yourself  

in the language so right now let's move on to  the tips first know the format you should find  

out everything about the format of the exam how  many questions are usually asked what type of  

questions are asked because obviously the content  of the questions are always going to be different  

however the type of questions are likely to stay  the same and if you know the format well you will  

save yourself a lot of time during an exam usually  all the details about the exam times the format of  

the exams can be checked on the official website  of the examining body and that's exactly what I  

did the first thing I set down in front of my  computer and I opened the official website When  

I Was preparing for layouts the website was  isles.org save it and look for details there  

as for the TOEFL the website is called ets.org  toefl.html all the links to all the websites and  

all the resources I'm mentioning right now are  going to be in the description the second step  

is discover what examiners are looking for this  especially applies to writing and oral speaking  

Parts when you have to produce something what I  did when I Was preparing for the alts and tofu  

was the following I just tried to look online  for like past exam papers and look through them  

like how did students respond to this question  how did they write this essay like what did they  

say when the examiner asked them this question  or that question and I was trying to look for  

patterns and also obviously I just Google like  how to prepare for the outs writing part or how  

to prepare for the TOEFL speaking part for example  and there are so many websites telling you exactly  

what the examiners are looking for of course it's  better if you can afford taking English classes  

with a native speaker who is an expert in Isles  or TOEFL however I know that for some of you guys  

it's not probably an option because those classes  can be quite expensive because first of all it's a  

native speaker and second of all they're an expert  in IELTS and TOEFL so if you don't want to take  

classes with a native speaker or you can't afford  to don't worry you can still prepare by yourself  

I think another great resource to get a sense  of what you should be aiming for are videos on  

YouTube yes we all love YouTube so very much  for the US the YouTube channel is called top  

IELTS tests and there I highly recommend watching  IELTS speaking interview band 9 real test 9.0 is  

the highest band score and obviously you want  to be watching videos of people who managed to  

get that score because you want to see what they  said or maybe how they structure their answers  

or maybe you just want to look at their level  of fluency and plus a very cool thing that I'm  

sure you guys will notice is the fact that most  of those people have an accent which is totally  

okay having an accent in English doesn't mean  you will get a low score you have to have good  

pronunciation it's true you have to have a good  command of the language yes but not the perfect  

American accent for example and the YouTube  channel for TOEFL is called TST prep TOEFL and  

they also have a lot of videos covering their  writing part and the speaking part step number  

three look for test specific materials in your  browser just type in IELTS mock tests or TOEFL  

mock tests and try to do as many as you can before  your exam again if you're preparing by yourself of  

course you won't be able to get feedback on your  writing part and on your speaking part because  

no one is there to give you feedback however  to be honest right now for the writing part  

you can use chat GPT you can just copy and paste  your essay there and ask chatgpt to check it for  

example to find all the grammar mistakes you made  when it comes to the speaking part you can talk  

to yourself you can record yourself for example  and then watch the recording again and try to  

find like all the mistakes you made if you made  any mistakes obviously it's better if you have  

like a teacher who could give you feedback but  again it's not a hundred percent necessary you  

can pass out and TOEFL successfully without a  teacher all by yourself the main reason why mock  

tests are important is because they will help you  get the timing right and the timing is everything  

when it comes to outs and TOEFL when I was taking  the Arts exam in 2018 my timing really sucked  

like I didn't have enough time to really finish my  writing part well so I was like scribbling so fast  

guys you cannot even imagine because I had like  five minutes left and I had like this much you  

know and I was like oh my God no I have to ride  faster obviously I made a lot of mistakes like my  

riding part was the worst like all the other parts  really helped me get a good score so that's also  

something that makes those exams more interesting  if you know that for example writing is hard for  

you and probably you will not get a good score  you can prepare really well for speaking reading  

and listening and get really good scores there so  my advice time yourself when you're at home and  

you're doing a mock test time yourself like use  a stopwatch on your phone be very serious about  

it because when you're there actually taking  an exam The Examiner is there they won't be  

like okay we can give you five more minutes no  they will be like give me your papers right now  

the time is up tip number four surround yourself  with a target language I think some people have  

the strong idea that if you're preparing for an  international exam all you should be doing is mock  

tests practice tests and that's it I don't think  it's true I think you will get bored very fast  

and it's just very important to surround yourself  with language continue reading your favorite book  

in English continue watching your favorite show  in English but now try to be more Mindful and more  

serious about that every time you watch watching  your favorite show try to pause if you see any  

words you don't know try to look up the meaning in  the dictionary and try to use this word yourself  

like create a sentence and say it out loud the  same is true for reading when you're reading a  

book and you come across a cool new word and you  feel like you could use it during the outs or  

TOEFL exam create a sentence and say it out loud  because you have to understand that all of these  

exams check your overall level of proficiency and  to increase your language level it's important to  

fully immerse yourself in the language and I  think what can help you immerse yourself in  

English and have a good time learning English is  my workbook that is called real English workbook  

if you want to learn new vocabulary that native  speakers regularly use I highly recommend you go  

check out this workbook I think it's an amazing  resource for those of you guys who just want to  

learn useful vocab on 10 different topics and also  listen to how native speakers actually say all of  

those words because every single conversation  is recorded by a native speaker from the United  

States I really wanted to create a material  that is as authentic as possible and that's  

why I knew that I had to ask help from a native  speaker because I'm not a native speaker myself  

of course I could record all the conversations too  but my pronunciation is not always perfect I have  

an accent and it's totally okay and obviously  I want to make sure my product is good quality  

so if you want to get the workbook and have fun  learning English and improve your pronunciation  

your accent learn a lot of new cool amazing words  make sure to click the link in the description and  

get the workbook right now and finally I want  to talk about memorizing new vocabulary because  

when you're preparing for a foreign language  exam there are probably many words you have to  

memorize many new words you have to learn and  you're always ask ask me Veronica how are you  

memorizing all of this new vocabulary in English  Spanish and Chinese because you're learning three  

foreign languages like how do you actually do  it and guys the answer is simple first of all  

I'm consistent and consistency is very important  and second of all I use Anki Anki is based on this  

space repetition technology and I think right now  there are multiple apps that have this technology  

I prefer using Anki because it's something that  I started using such a long time ago when I just  

went to college I was like 17 years old I was  learning Chinese and I was using Anki so it  

has a lot of nostalgia for me the space repetition  technology can help you learn new vocabulary three  

times as fast and I can attest to that I can truly  tell you guys that is absolutely true if I'm not  

using Anki if I'm trying to just memorize new  words I write them down a piece of paper and I  

try to memorize a whole list well it's going to be  pretty unsuccessful but when I have all my cards  

with all the new vocabulary on my computer  and on my phone it makes it so much easier  

to memorize all of these new words first of all  it's so much easier to create all of these cards  

electronically because you can just copy and paste  everything and second of all because of this space  

repetition technology you're learning is a lot  more effective so I think these are all the things  

that I did to prepare for the TOEFL and the IELTS  successfully again my IELTS score was 8.0 and my  

total score was a hundred and nine and for me that  was absolutely perfect I was very happy with those  

course and yeah that's pretty much it I really  hope your exam preparation will be successful  

and you will get the score you want so really good  luck with that I know it's very hard I know it's  

very stressful but you can't do it I believe in  you if you're consistent if you're serious about  

it you will get a good score and if you want to  make English learning more fun don't forget to  

check out my real English workbook the link will  be in the description if you like this video don't  

forget to give it a thumbs up and subscribe to  my channel and I'll see you guys in my next video