Harry with Kim from IELTS Advice & Counselling

Hi my name is Harry, an international student doing masters of

teaching at UNISA. I came from China and I arrived here in Adelaide

with my family last February. It is my honour and pleasure to share

the experience I have had at the Centre for English Language at the

University of South Australia (CELUSA) for my IELTS preparation.

Thanks to the services and help that I received there, along with my hard work and perse-

verance, I have achieved the score I need for teacher registration. The IELTS staff of

CELUSA provided me with a free counselling service that gave me strategies and referred

me to a personal tutor who diagnosed the faults in my writing and speaking.

To begin with, CELUSA IELTS helped me in the way of consultation. The consultation, which

is free of charge, is provided by an experienced consultant called Kim. When I kick-started

my IELTS preparation in February this year, I contacted and made an appointment with

CELUSA IELTS for the counselling service.

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The 20-minute long meeting was between me and Kim who gave me several pieces of advice

on preparing for IELTS.

Among all the tips I received that day, a special one stood out to me in an amusing way.

Kim asked me whether or not I have a big notebook at home. Just when I was wondering

why and how this relates to the improvement of my English, her further explanation an-

swered my unasked questions: writing new words into the notebook and reviewing them from

time to time is an effective way to expand vocabulary. Sounds easy, economical and any-

thing but complex. I decided to embrace this simple strategy because I believe in the no-

tion by Clare Boothe Luce: ‘Simplicity is the ultimate sophistication.’ This seemingly too-

good-to-be-true strategy turned out, after four months of consistent work, to be useful

and magical. When I did note down new words and expressions into my file on a daily basis,

I found that these collocations popped out automatically in my brain when I needed to use

them.

Obstacles and setbacks are inevitable in the learning process and the same holds true for

my IELTS journey. When failure comes, I need encouragement and reassurance, and more

importantly diagnosis and treatment, all of which were rendered to me by CELUSA IELTS

when I didn’t reach the score I needed after my first test in May. With my consent, Kim

referred me to a personal tutor who assigned weekly writing tasks for me to work on.

For the assignments, I strictly observed the one-hour writing time limit so that the prac-

tise resembled the real test situation to the greatest extent. The tutor proofread my work

and gave me constructive criticism as to what the mistakes were and how to correct them.

This made a big difference to my writing and my English level as a whole, because the

feedback made my improvement concrete and relevant to achieve the target score. One

specific correction I was given was the use of ‘effort’. I was recommended by the tutor to

write and say ‘put a great deal of effort’ instead of ‘put a great deal of efforts’. It was

minor, but it was a refinement. Additionally, the tutor helped me with my speaking by doing

a simulation test. The practise was made possible by assuming roles with the tutor as the

examiner and me as the candidate. At the end of the rehearsal, I was again provided with

practical suggestions regarding what to include and what to avoid in the real test.

By the middle of the year, I eventually cleared the hurdle and reached the target band-

score. I am extremely grateful to the staff of CELUSA IELTS for their encouragement,

support and services, without which I could not have realised my goal. It is more blessed to

give than to receive. The love, care, compassion, professionalism and dedication of educa-

tors that I experienced at CELUSA not only helped me academically but also served as a

good example of the role model for me as a pre-service teacher. Thank you Kim and my tu-

tor! Finally to all test takers, good luck and I wish you all the best!

If you would like to share your positive IELTS experience please email your feedback

to ielts.info@unisa.edu.au

To make an appointment with the IELTS Advice and Counselling Service, please email

ielts.info@unisa.edu.au or call or ask at the Student Services Centre reception.

PAGE 2

This one day workshop, covering all four skills, has been developed to address the needs of

IELTS candidates whether they have to take a General Training or Academic test.

Surveyed students agree: "I highly recommend this workshop to help with preparation for an IELTS test."

- Build your confidence

- Practise sample questions

- Maximise your band score

APPLY IN PERSON AT THE STUDENT SERVICES CENTRE, BROOKMAN BUILDING OR

EMAIL APPLICATION FORM TO CELUSA.INFO@UNISA.EDU.AU

APPLICATION FORMS ARE AVAILABLE AT OUR WEBSITE:

WWW.UNISA.EDU.AU/CELUSA

November 2015

7 November Academic + General Available

21 November Academic + General Available

December 2015

5 December Academic + General Available

12 December Academic + General Available

Next Available IELTS Test Dates

PAGE 3

________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Next Available Dates:

- Saturday October 31 2015

- Saturday November 28 2015

'IELTS SUCCESS'

NEW IELTS PREPARATION WORKSHOP

Now you can with the CELUSA IELTS Testing Centre.

On the day of your test, you will have the opportunity to

fill out a form to indicate that you wish to pick up your

results. You will then be able to collect your results in

person from 12 until 2pm on results release day (13 days

after the test).

*This means that you will have your results hours before they are available online and several days before you would receive them in the post. IELTS cannot release results before the official release date.

Do you want to get your IELTS

results early*?

CELUSA Test Centre Brookman Building, City East Campus North Terrace Adelaide, SA 5000 Contact Us: 8302 1591 ielts.info@unisa.edu.au http://www.unisa.edu.au/celusa

P.O. Box 2471 Adelaide SA 5001

"Ability is what you're

capable of doing.

Motivation determines

what you do. Attitude

determines how well

you do it."

-Lou Holtz

There is no such thing as a

pass or fail in IELTS.

Results are reported as

band scores on a scale

from 1 (the lowest) to 9

(the highest)

9 Expert user

8 Very good user

7 Good user

6 Competent user

5 Modest user

4 Limited user

3 Extremely limited user

2 Intermittent user

1 Non user

0 Did not attempt the

test

The IELTS Band Score

PAGE 4