Shadowing Practice: How to start your IELTS preparation [for beginners] - Learn English Speaking with Video
Creating lesson...
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hi there it's asiya if you need to take an ielts exam but you don't know much about it yet then this video is for you i'm gonna tell you how to prepare for this exam quickly what resources
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to use how to book your exam and answer other questions you might have ready? let's get started!
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let's talk about the two types of the ielts exam ielts academic and general training
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if you are going to study abroad you need to take ielts academic if you are going to join your family in an english-speaking country you need to take ielts general training
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if you want to work abroad you need to check what type of exam is required but basically 80%
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of all people take ielts academic it's much more common but if you can select and both types are accepted take ielts general training it's a little bit easier you might have heard about ielts ukvi
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that is not a separate type of the exam it's the same ielts academic and ielts general training but it's taken in a room with video recording that's because britain wants to be sure that the correct
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candidate takes the test and in the past there were some incidents of cheating with other english language exams so ielts uk visas and immigration is video recorded
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that's the only difference otherwise it will be the same ielts academic or general training it's a little bit more expensive though and when you're booking your exam it will be written if
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it's your ukvi or not so make sure you choose the correct format ielts costs between 220 and 250 us dollars so it's definitely worth preparing for the exam and i would say that
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you should start your preparation first assess how much time you need and then book your exam
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and actually if you plan to take your exam in winter you can book it one or two weeks in advance
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but at the end of spring and in summer the demand for ielts goes through the roof and sometimes there is nothing available for weeks and months i had students who had to travel to another city or
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even another country to take their ielts so make sure that you book your exam early during this hot period okay how to book your ielts exam you go to ielts.org select book a test select your country
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and if you're lucky your city and you will see all the tests that are available all the test centers sometimes there is only one company sometimes there are several basically there
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are two companies which administer the ielts exams british cancer and idp but test centers in your country may have another name it really doesn't matter because all tests are the same
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they're written by cambridge english all examiners take the same training so there is no test that is easier or test that is more difficult the only difference is if you take
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a computer-based or a paper-based test if you see a computer icon it means that a computer-based ielts is available at this test center most ielts exams are still taken on paper
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but more and more centers are rolling out the computer-based version i've taken both i prefer to take it on a computer because i think it's easy to select answers in ielts listening and reading
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i like that you're guaranteed to have earphones for your listening section in a paper-based exam you may have loudspeakers but i think the deal breaker is how quickly you type do you prefer
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to type two essays or are you slow typers and then you have to write them the speaking exam is always the same it's a face-to-face interview i have a detailed video with all the differences between
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a paper-based and a computer-based versions it will help you decide which one is right for you that's the video will be linked in the description let's talk about the test format
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ielts consists of four sections and i'm gonna tell you about the differences between aya's academic and general training then when you be looking for information for your preparation you can easily
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decide if this piece of information is for you or not okay ielts listening it's the same for both
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academic and general training students it lasts for 30 minutes and you need to answer 40 questions the next section is ielts reading again 40 questions but 60 minutes
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and here academic students get three longer texts which are more scientific and general training students get five short texts which are less scientific and i would say they're a little
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bit easier that's why in general training you need to answer more questions correctly to achieve the same score in ielts reading as academic students next is ielts writing and here you're given 2
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tasks and 60 minutes task 1 is different for academic and general training students academic students need to write a report describing a chart a table a graph a map or a diagram
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general training students need to write a letter task 2 is very much the same for both types of the exam so these three sections are taken together either on paper or on a computer and ielts
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speaking is separate you may actually need to travel to the test center on a different day for your speaking exam and it's always a face-to-face interview with an examiner that lasts between 11
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and 14 minutes it's the same for both types of the exam how to prepare for the ielts exam
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there is nothing like taking a free practice test to get a taste of what the ielts exam is about and i think you should really use official practice tests in your preparation because those are
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written by the same people who create exam papers so they are the same the same level of difficulty the same types of tasks the same wording other practice tests are not like that and several
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official tests are available for free you can buy more if you need i'm gonna show you all of them in ielts listening and reading once you take a practice test you count how many questions you
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answer correctly and you know what your score is then you can learn about different strategies you can learn how to approach each type of task you can practice and your score will improve
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and actually because people know what this coin is listening and reading is they often dedicate a lot of effort to these two sections but it may be a huge mistake
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that's because statistically people get the lowest score in ielts writing and the second lowest in ielts speaking partly that's because these two sections require you to actively produce english
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while in listening and reading you only need to understand but also that's because ielts examiners use a set of specific criteria to assess your answers in writing and speaking and if you don't
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know what those are and you don't know how to meet them you're not gonna get a very good score even if your english skills are actually quite good so you should really prepare for these two sections
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i've prepared for you a free ielts study plan it will give you five steps for your preparation
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links to all the free practice tests links to other resources and it will help you get started please download it the link will be in the video description box below now let me show you a couple
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of books for your preparation that's the book number one ielts academic practice tests you can get the same book but general training practice tests this one is number 14 the latest is number
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15 and number 16 will be released in summer 2021 at the end of the book you get a sample answers with a band score that will help you understand what level you need to achieve in your writing
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for a certain score so that's really good and this one is the official guide to ielts
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it's really thick because it includes tips exercises and practice tests
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i quite like the book particularly if you have a bit more time for your preparation and you can work on your english skills as well as your ielts skills but i feel that the book doesn't
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explain in depth how to improve your score in ielts writing but other than that it's quite good and have a separate video with a full review of those books other books apps for your preparation
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you can watch it now let's talk about when you should start your preparation and how long it's gonna take and the third thing i wanna say is start preparing as early as possible
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if you know you need to take this exam start preparing now basically with ielts it's pretty difficult to assess what score you're gonna get before you start doing anything
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i know people who freak out before their exam and then achieve an incredibly high score and i know people who feel confident about their english and then fail their exam by quite a large margin
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so you need to give yourself time to prepare and pass the exam for many people it's possible to pass the exam quickly and then it's great because the certificate is valid for two years and you can
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use it later but if not you still have time to change the result let's talk about ielts scores
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your ielts result will depend on your english skills of course but it can still vary depending on how well you are prepared for your ielts exam and the goal of your ielts preparation
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is to achieve the best score you can achieve at your current level of english
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so i call these ielts skills essential ielts preparation should take you just a couple of weeks
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that's where you learn about different strategies different tasks you practice
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and then if you feel ready you can go and take your test you can follow five steps in the ielts study plan and it will give you everything for this essential preparation but then if you feel
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that ielts writing and speaking are difficult for you then you may need more advanced preparation
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you need to learn about each criterion that ielts examiners use you need to learn structures for your answers you need to learn how to produce different types of answers so that will take
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a little bit longer again depending on how much time you have i would say from one to three months
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and that's where you can use my ielts courses they will teach you everything you need to know about ielts writing and speaking in as little time as possible i will link them in the description
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so by the end of this preparation you should really go and take your exam
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and if you don't achieve the score you desire then the reason is your english skills and you should take an intensive english course and you know if you really dedicate your time to improving
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your english you can achieve amazing results in 6 months and if you start your preparation early you will have these 6 months to improve if you need but hopefully you will pass your exam
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much more quickly i think that's everything you need to know to get started with your ielts preparation please download this study plan and see you in the next video good luck bye
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Vocabulary and speaking notes for this lesson
This B1 speaking lesson is built on the video “How to start your IELTS preparation”. The speaker keeps coming back to these words: ielts, exam, test, preparation, score. This video has 65 sentences and 1935 words to shadow. The speech runs for 13:48. The speaker talks at a steady 140 words per minute, a comfortable pace for shadowing. 87% of the words are among the 3,000 most common in English, so the vocabulary is easy to follow.
Key vocabulary in this video
The 15 most advanced words in the video, with pronunciation and meaning:
| Word | Pronunciation | Meaning |
|---|---|---|
| examination noun | /ɪɡˌzæm.ɪˈneɪ.ʃən/ | The act of examining. |
| preparation noun | /ˌpɹɛpəˈɹeɪʃ(ə)n/ | The act of preparing or getting ready. |
| examiner noun | /əɡˈzæmɪnɚ/ | A person who investigates someone or something. |
| assess verb | /əˈsɛs/ | To determine, estimate or judge the value of; to evaluate; to estimate. |
| depend verb | /dɪˈpɛnd/ | To be contingent or conditioned; to have something as a necessary condition |
| exam verb | /ɪɡˈzæm/ | Shortened form of examine |
| criterion noun | /kɹaɪˈtɪɹ.i.ən/ | A standard, test, or requirement by which individual things or people may be compared and judged; a gauge. |
| dedicate verb | /ˈdɛdɪˌkeɪt/ | To set apart for a deity or for religious purposes; consecrate. |
| correctly adverb | /kəˈɹɛk(t).li/ | In a correct manner. |
| earphone noun | /ˈɪə(ɹ)fəʊn/ | A transducer that converts electric signals into sound and is held near the ear, especially as part of a telephone; an earpiece or headphone. |
| loudspeaker noun | /ˈlaʊdspiːkɚ/ | An electromechanical transducer that converts an electrical signal into audible sound. |
| administer verb | /ədˈmɪn.ɪ.stə/ | To apportion out, distribute. |
| breaker noun | /ˈbɹeɪkɚ/ | Something that breaks (something else). |
| statistically adverb | /stəˈtɪs.tɪ.kə.li/ | In a statistical way. |
| litter noun | /ˈlɪt.ɚ/ | Straw, grass, and similar loose material used as bedding for people or animals. |
Phrasal verbs you will hear
| Word | Meaning |
|---|---|
| go through verb | To travel from one end of something to the other. |
| roll out verb | To deploy or release (a new film or software, etc.); to launch (a product or service), especially in a gradual fashion across multiple regions. |
Grammar in this video
The structures the speaker uses most, with the exact words from the video:
| Structure | In the video |
|---|---|
| Passive voice be + past participle — the focus is on what happens, not who does it | is required · are accepted · will be written |
| Relative clauses who / which + clause — extra information about a person or thing | students who had · texts which are · people who create |
| Present perfect have/has + past participle — a past action that still matters now | i've taken · i've prepared |
| Advice with “should” should + verb — saying what is a good idea | should start · should really use · should really prepare |
Pronunciation to watch
The speaker uses 26 contractions and reduced forms, such as gonna, you're, don't. Say them the short way, as you hear them.
- The “sh” and “zh” sounds: examination /ɪɡˌzæm.ɪˈneɪ.ʃən/, preparation /ˌpɹɛpəˈɹeɪʃ(ə)n/
- Long words — get the stress right: examination /ɪɡˌzæm.ɪˈneɪ.ʃən/, preparation /ˌpɹɛpəˈɹeɪʃ(ə)n/, examiner /əɡˈzæmɪnɚ/, criterion /kɹaɪˈtɪɹ.i.ən/, administer /ədˈmɪn.ɪ.stə/
How to practise with this video
- Listen to the whole video once without speaking and note the words you do not know.
- Shadow it sentence by sentence at normal speed, repeating each one until your rhythm matches the speaker.
- Record yourself and compare with the original, paying attention to words like examination, preparation, examiner.
What is the Shadowing Technique?
Shadowing is a science-backed language learning technique originally developed for professional interpreter training and popularized by polyglot Dr. Alexander Arguelles. The method is simple but powerful: you listen to native English audio and immediately repeat it out loud — like a shadow following the speaker with just a 1–2 second delay. Unlike passive listening or grammar drills, shadowing forces your brain and mouth muscles to simultaneously process and reproduce real speech patterns. Research shows it significantly improves pronunciation accuracy, intonation, rhythm, connected speech, listening comprehension, and speaking fluency — making it one of the most effective methods for IELTS Speaking preparation and real-world English communication.