IELTS

5 April 2008 @ Subang Jaya, 8 am - 2 pm

It stands for International English Language Testing System. I registered to sit for the test about a month ago. It cost me RM530 and another RM100 for its Practice Test Kit.

The only reason why my blog is written in English is simply to get me prepared (mentally and physically) for the exam. I have no intention to boast myself by using the English in my blog nor any intention to sideline my own language. As a human being, I know my strength and certainly I even know about my own weaknesses. One of my own weakneses is to converse fluently and flawlessly in English.

I have to admit that, by practicing writing in English in this blog does help me a lot especially during its Writing and Speaking sub-tests. I also make use of the net to search for the IELTS's free practice test. You may find it here and here. I was made known about it from my friends. There are a lot of free test samples actually...try googling it, you may find more useful sites for your IELTS preparation.

Overall, I'm happy with the conduct of the exam, though I admitted that I could have done much better actually (I blamed myself for that):

1. Listening sub-test (30 minutes-40 questions) - I'm pretty satisfied with it;
2. Reading sub-test (1 hour - 40 questions) - it's ok actually - time management is crucial. There are 3 lengthy passages that need to be understood in order to grasp the information to enable you to get the correct answers. I don't think I am happy with the result.
3. Writing sub-test (1 hour - 2 tasks) - I'm happy with it.... Task 1 requires you to describe about two histogram charts in not less that 150 words. For Task 2 - you need to write an essay requiring you to express your opinion for not less than 250 words.
4. Speaking sub-test (15 minutes - 3 parts) - It's ok I guess. For the first part I should have been more talkative, I think.

I'll get the result in two weeks time. I can only hope for the best. Or else, I do have spares of RM530 to re-sit the test...ha..ha...ha....