After getting poor results from taking an IELTS or PTE practice test, most students are usually very demotivated. In many cases, a person studies sincerely, takes a complete mock test and ends up scoring below his/her expectations. This is very common among most IELTS students, especially those who are just beginning to study for the actual IELTS examination. However, you need to remember that one poor practice score does not necessarily mean that you have bad English and that you will not pass the exam. Instead it now gives you an idea on what you need to work on to ace your actual exam.
In this simple guide, we will look into some easy steps that will help you bounce back and keep moving forward with your IELTS or PTE preparation.
Step 1: Take a Break, Don’t Quit
When you see a bad result, your first reaction could be to stop studying at all or consider yourself as a failure. To deal with this, freshen up your mind first by taking a break first, going out for a walk, or just spend some time alone. Avoid making any such decisions immediately (like “I’m bad at English” or “I can't do this”) right after seeing a disappointing number. Do not let your emotions rule out your real ability when your emotions are high.
Step 2: Pay attention to the Score, not just the number alone
The practice test score is not simply one number. It is information showing you precisely where your weakness lies. Rather than only seeing your overall band score, examine your individual section scores differing from listening, reading, writing and speaking. Based on your score question yourself, “In which area does my score drag me down?”. For instance, if your writing score is considerably lower than the rest of your scores, then you’ll know right away where you need to focus on your next few study sessions.
Step 3: Identify the cause of the poor result
It is most likely that following reasons could be the cause of poor results:
Poor time management - You did not have sufficient time to answer all the questions on time.
Lack of Vocabulary - You failed to recognize some of the words from the text or audio track
Poor grammar skills - Minor mistakes decreased your score on the Writing or Speaking part
Inability to recognize the test format - You had not studied all types of questions in detail
Exam stress - You knew the answer but failed to answer properly because of the stress of taking the test.
Knowing the cause of poor results helps you to fix the actual problem instead of just studying more without any direction.
Step 4: Develop a simple study plan
Most beginners attempt to do too many things simultaneously, resulting in burnout. Select only 1-2 weak spots from when you identified your reasons for poor results and work on them during the following week. Here is an example:
If Listening is weak then work with short audio clips and check your performance
If Writing is weak then memorize the structure of one essay and apply it
If Speaking is weak then make an audio recording of simple cue cards
Focusing on a small spot is better than studying randomly.
Step 5: Practice with feedback, not repetition
Just taking the mock test repeatedly without any feedback will not help you improve noticeably . The main thing that you need to do to make a difference is learn from your mistakes. This is another reason why personalized coaching and individualized feedback from a coach works so much better for beginners than individual study. A coach can detect patterns in errors that you make, mainly such errors that you miss on.
Step 6: Celebrate even small victories, not just large successes
Progress in IELTS and PTE preparation could often be slow and quiet. Rather than just judging and relying on your performance in your next practice test, focus on smaller successes like: Understanding a grammar concept that you did not understand before, Completing a reading text faster than the previous attempt, Finishing a reading passage faster than the last time you practiced, Feeling more self-assured while practicing the speaking part, etc. These little achievements will keep you motivated to do even better.
Final Thoughts
Having received poor results during practice tests does not mean the end of your IELTS or PTE preparation; instead, this means you have received valuable information on what needs to be done to get a good result. Every student, having finally scored the desired band score, has experienced failure during one of their test attempts. The most important thing is what kind of response you will give to it.
If you are an inexperienced student and do not know where to begin, you will benefit from having a coach who will provide you with personalized assistance.