1. Only treat it as an exam.
Only treat it as an exam. Do not treat it as something that can raise your English to a higher level after getting through it. There is no magic in this IELTS thing. You won’t get to a very high level just because you get through it. However, you have to get through it to buy yourself a chance to improve your English to a higher level, which is studying in a western country. Thus, bear in mind, don’t you try to actually improve your English level to get through the test (unless you have a couple years to do this which you don’t have). What you should do is, finding another way to get through the test first, and then improving your actual English level when you are studying in a western country. “Another way” I am talking about here is not cheating, but strategy. Before developing good strategies, you need to get to know about the test and yourself first.
2. Knowing the test and yourself
First of all, you need to know how much you need to score totally and how much you have to get in each section to achieve the total score. There are only four sections in the test and you need to know what they are, how the score system is in each section, what types of exam questions are in each section, how much time you have to finish each section, which sections are your strengths and weaknesses, how much score you are expecting to get in your strong sections and weak sections to achieve your expected total score. Think about those questions and write down some notes. Now you know a little bit about your advantages and disadvantages in the test, as well as the question types, score system etc. But more importantly, now you have a goal - knowing how much you need to score and how to achieve it from each section. Now you can develop some good strategies for yourself.
3. Developing strategies fit for yourself.
Well lets say you are good at listening and reading but not doing well in writing and speaking (most Asian cases I guess). Assuming you need a 6.5 total score, by getting 7 in listening, 7 in reading, 6 in writing and 6 in speaking. Then you break down the strategy into four sections aiming at four test sections. Everyone has their own study method or pattern. There wont be an universal strategy. Therefore now I am only going to put down a rough strategy according to my own situation. I hope it will be helpful to your own one or you may modify mine in terms of your own situation.
