IELTS - preparation/taking the exam

I have taken IELTS on February 20, 2016, as well as on October 20-21, 2018. Therefore, I guess I can have some words over how to prepare and perform well.

Btw, my February 2016 score was 6.5/9.0 (L), 8.5/9.0 (R), 6.5/9.0 (W), 7.5/9.0 (S), overall 7.5/9.0. My current score (2018 OCT) is 7.5 overall, with 7.0/9.0 (L), 9.0/9.0 (R), 6.5/9.0 (W) and 8.0/9.0 (S).

Overall, for the best performance, imbue yourself the exact time and date of the IELTS speaking and other parts, and make sure to add "concentrate". Sounds trash but you can never imagine how critical it is.

Listening:

Well, this part is hard. The most important point is that never rush to write the answer. Most probably they will say "it is the A city, no wait it is the B city you need to go". And time to time they also make "you should pay 31 pounds if it were not for the discount you would pay 39 pounds". Care should be taken.

Especially matching task is very difficult, 2 people speak with each other and even answer can come from either of them and they generally talk rather energetically.

Listening very carefully and after the end trying to check the answers by remembering the talks, might be good if you make some practices. And both Barron's and Cambridge's listening practices are quite close to the ones you will find on IELTS.

Reading:

The easiest part, only read first sentences of the paragraphs first, then look at the questions and search the answers in a relevant place, most of the time you will have keywords provided by questions to ease your search.

Writing:

Don't bother with 20, 40 minutes parts, 30, 30 minutes for each writing might as well be suitable for you. The most crucial part is making a plan for 1-2 minutes for each writing before starting to write. That will completely organize your writing and surely leave time for grammar and other control checks, as well as word number check. And for word number, never count one by one, take one line with the relatively high amount of word and one with a small amount of word, take the average and subtract 1, then multiply with the line number, if you are above 170-180 never consider anything. For writing 2 as well follow the same procedure.

Speaking:

The first part of speaking is related to your home and breakfast, in both IELTS I answered the same questions. For the second part, when you are up to prepare a speech, make 4 bullets and moderately elaborate, that way with an intermediate and comfortable speed, you will fill 2 minutes very well. In the last part, try to divert the topic to a place you are very familiar, in which you will easily get fluent without any mistake.

More or less like this, and you will perform well. Forget about what others say. If you have any point to be more clarified or want to ask/criticize/elaborate, comment below.