General Advice

Our posts & podcasts

• All Posts, 
• Writing, 
• Speaking, 
• Listening, 
• Reading, 
• Grammar, 
• General Advice, 
• Podcast

• 

  How to teach IELTS

  27 July 2021

  How to teach IELTS Nothing is more rewarding as a teacher than working with an exam class that is motivated to learn and improve. In fact, as a former hockey player, I often compare the feeling to that of coaching a sports team – with the students being my athletes who are working together to defeat the “enemy” of IELTS (actually, that makes it sound more like war than a sports game, but you get the idea!) However, when are you ready as a teacher to start teaching exam classes? And, more importantly, once you are ready how do you start planning your classes? There is no one way how to teach IELTS, but in today’s podcast, Nick and I[…]

• 

  Podcast – How to score an IELTS Band 8.0

  06 July 2021

  Almost every student we work with is aiming for a 7.0 or higher in the IELTS exam. However, this is not always the case. Sometimes students require an every higher score than this (or what I call a “very very high score”),  Take for example our doctors who need who need an overall 7.5, to register with the GMC or those applying to the NHS Foundation Programme who need a 7.5 in each module. In fact, occasionally, we are approached by students who need to score an IELTS Band 8.0. These are usually teachers who need to register in certain states in Australia, or people who need CLB10 or higher to migrate to Canada. However, how easy is it to score IELTS[…]

• 

  How do I start preparing for IELTS?

  27 June 2021

  How do I start preparing for IELTS? Hey!  Many students feel confused when they start preparing for IELTS. With so much information online, it can be really hard to know how or where to begin to get the best results. In this post, I want to give you a simple step-by-step guide to starting your preparation for IELTS that is based on my experience as an ex-examiner.

• 

  New GMC Rules for IELTS and PLAB!

  10 June 2021

  New GMC Rules for IELTS and PLAB! If you are a doctor who plans to register in the UK, then there was good news this week – the GMC accounted that it is temporarily changing some of rules for IELTS and PLAB in response to COVID. What are the new GMC rules for IELTS and PLAB and how will they affect you? Let’s find out!

• 

  Join our June 2021 IELTS Motivation Challenge!

  01 June 2021

  Join our June 2021 IELTS Motivation Challenge In May last year, Nick and I undertook a 31-day IELTS Motivation Challenge. Our aim was to kick-start our students into good study habits, but we found that we made some positive changes in our own lives too. Now, it’s a year later and we have a whole new set of listeners who we think can benefit from taking part in a new IELTS motivation challenge (plus, Nick and I have definitely slipped back into some old bad habits, so could do with a new challenge too!)

• 

  We have been named as the best IELTS website!

  27 May 2021

  Are we really the best IELTS website? Hey! This week I discovered that we had been independently named as the best IELTS website. This came as a shock as apparently the nomination happened over 6 months ago and I had no idea! You see being a teacher is a funny job. You spend all day every day in class with your students, creating what you think is the best teaching environment, but you have no idea what the other teachers around you are doing in theirs. Sure, as a Director of Studies in two schools, I used to go in and observe teachers to give them feedback, but you never really know what is happening behind those doors. In the[…]

• 

  IELTS Procrastination – start eating those frogs!

  18 May 2021

  IELTS Procrastination Have you ever sat at your desk looking at the items on your To-Do list and thought, why? Why is it that I never have time to get everything done? Why is it that it is always the same two or three things left at the end of every week, which I never, no mater how good my intentions, get round to finishing? Well my friend, you are not alone. In fact, this week’s episode is as much for me as it is for you, as I have decided that enough is enough. It is time to stop procrastinating and start doing! That means no more marketing procrastination for me, and no more IELTS procrastination for you. And[…]

• 

  My IELTS Classroom Episode 57: One Year Birthday Episode!

  04 May 2021

  One Year Birthday Episode! Hey! If you are reading this, Nick and I would like to start by saying a massive THANK YOU. We started the My IELTS Classroom on May 1st 2020 for no other reason than the fact that we were bored in lockdown and wanted something positive to focus on. Nick already had the recording equipment and the editing skills, and I can talk the hind legs off a donkey (i.e. I can talk and talk for hours), so we were hopefully that it could work. Well, one year later, I think that we can confidently say that it did. Running an IELTS podcast is not easy. First, it is hard to teach only with your voice.[…]

• 

  My IELTS Classroom Podcast Episode 56: Studying in the UK

  20 April 2021

  Studying in the UK Education is one of the UK’s biggest industries, but is it really worth paying for a higher education in the UK? And how can you choose the university and the degree course that is right for you? Well, in today’s episode, Nick will look at both of these questions in detail, before discussing what you need to apply for a UK Student visa. This is a great opportunity to hear two native speakers, each with personal experience of studying in the UK, giving advice on how to make the most of your experience studying abroad. Plus, you will get the chance to hear what our previous students feel about their time studying in the UK. Disclaimer:[…]

• 

  IELTS Help – Listen to our Q&A!

  16 February 2021

  Need IELTS Help?  Listen to our Q&A! Hey! Last week we asked you to email us any questions that you have about the IELTS exam, and boy did you deliver! Today, Nick and I try to answer as many as we can, which was a lot! If you are looking for general IELTS help, then this is the episode for you! One thing that we noticed when we were reading your emails was that many of you don’t realise that this podcast is not the main way that Nick and I help students on their IELTS journey! If you didn’t know that we offer video courses, daily live lessons, marking, and one-to-one lessons (!), then maybe you should go to[…]

Posts navigation

• All Posts, 
• Writing, 
• Speaking, 
• Listening, 
• Reading, 
• Grammar, 
• General Advice, 
• Podcast