In this tutorial you will learn how to get a Band 8 IELTS score by:

* knowing what skills you need to achieve an 8

* discovering successful ways to improve your English

* perfecting your IELTS exam taking techniques

* seeking expert advice to help you achieve your target

Is Band 8 a good score in IELTS?

Yes. Very few IELTS candidates score an overall 8.0. It means that in both IELTS Listening and IELTS Reading you score at least 36 correct answers out of 40 and in Speaking and Writing your English is practically error free.

How can I get 8 in IELTS?

By working on:

* Language skills: to significantly improve your spoken and written English as well as listening and reading comprehension. This means working on accuracy and fluency, on your use of grammar in writing and speech, and the range and depth of your vocabulary.

* Exam skills: strategies to deal with the most challenging parts of the exam in all 4 areas.

Steps to take

* You need to be very aware of your strengths and weaknesses.

* Know your current level by taking a practice test.

* Get feedback from experts.

* Follow their plan. Take a look at feedback from our Online course.

Let’s take the four skills tested in the exam to see how that plan might work.

* IELTS Listening

Listening in the context of the IELTS exam is the part that most involves multi-tasking. You read the questions, then listen and write your answers. The questions test your ability to grasp general meaning, understand factual detail and speakers’ attitudes and opinions.

Let’s say that your current level gives you a 6.0 or 7.0 in Listening. To reach that 8.0, first have a daily listening activity, such as the following:

* At least 15 or 20 minutes.

* Listen to things that interest you. Sources from radio to podcasts.

* Listen with purpose, for example, to get the general idea and write a short summary.

* Paraphrase what you hear. Start off with short 2 or 3 minutes segments. Write down or record your version of what you heard. Listen again to check.

* Note down new words and expressions you hear. Review them later by looking up their meanings and working on synonyms, antonyms, collocations, pronunciation.

The student who works at listening purposefully and at the same time is working on vocabulary and grammar, gains so much more than those that just listen to answer test questions. We need to practice tests but don’t let that dominate your studies.

In the IELTS test itself,

* The harder questions are at the end of the test and any lapse of concentration means you could miss one or more questions. To get an 8.0 you cannot afford that.

* Many questions are based on synonyms. That’s why working on paraphrasing is so important. Take this simple example. It’s from the 3rd listening activity, the one where 2 or more people are talking about some topic related to studies. In this case, 2 students are discussing a presentation they are preparing with their tutor. The set of questions 21 to 25 is multiple choice. Question 21 asks:

Carla and Rob were surprised to learn that coastal cities 

* A contain nearly half the world’s population

* B include most of the world’s largest cities

* C are growing twice as fast as other cities

You hear:

….Yeah.