So,I went for my academic Ielts examination last Saturday at British Council Malaysia. Thanks to my ever efficient mother, I managed to reach there at 6.30am in the morning when I only needed to report in by 8am ヽ(￣ω￣(。。 )ゝ What to do haha But contrary to what I expected 6.30am on a Saturday out in the city, there were already quite a few people out and about, rushing to their workplace. I guess that their jobs start 7am in the morning. Phewww, I shall appreciate being able to wake up at 10am in the morning every day and still have time to eat a hearty breakfast.
Well, since I had lots of time left before 8am, my mom left me in front of KLCC because she thought it would be a good idea for me to walk to the KLCC park, find a bench, sit down and eat the breakfast she prepared for me in a tupperware. (´｡• ω •｡`) ♡ I followed her advice and walked towards the park, but it was a bit dark around the park so the coward in me led me to plant my ass on one of the staircase in front of KLCC's big fountains, where the KLCC guards were having their roll call and morning briefing. It was interesting to see them all lined up, they even sang the national anthem! w(*o*)w I never knew they were so dedicated! Teehee~
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| I really should take more pictures haha |
Back to British Counsil, there isn't much of a dress code but I wore formal anyways, no harm trying to impress the examiners (I had all 4 segments of the test on the same day) The Ielts test is separated into 4 segments, all Ielts takers should be clear about this already. There's the Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking. So, first, you'll get an email on the details of your Ielts test, details include the components, duration, date, venue, reporting time and the starting time. And they'll tell you that the result of your Ielts would be released 13 days after your test. Well, I don't know what's the usual arrangement, I'll just tell you guys my story.
So, I had two sections in my Ielts journey, the Listening/Reading/Writing (Written examination) part, and the Speaking part. The written examination part and speaking part would be held seperate from each other. I had my written examination at 8.30am in the morning, and we had to report in by 8am. There's a funny story about my reporting in, please learn from my example and don't do the same mistake i did (⁄ ⁄•⁄ω⁄•⁄ ⁄) British council is hugeee (O_O;) I kind of regretted my slow paced breakfast at the fountain already when I reached the place. So I only had information from the email that said I'll be having my examinations at the 2nd floor of the South block. Thank God the South block is just near to the entrance. Once you go in from the front entrance, you'll see a big fountain and a jungle of trees beside the fountain. Before the fountain, there'll be a building on your left, that'll be the South Block \(^ヮ^)/ I think the examinations are always held here, since there was a big signboard saying that the 2nd floor was an examination hall.
So here comes the mistake, once you reach the South Block, you'll see a counter opposite a few elevators and some scary looking guards sitting behind the counter. I was kind of afraid of them so I just ignored them and walked my way into the elevators. The lifts were quick and a door opened straight away once i pressed the 'going up' button. I went in happily, ignorantly to be exact and pressed the 2nd floor button. It didn't light up Σ(°△°|||)︴ and the door closed on me. I was stuck there, without being able to go up. It was soooo embarrassing coming out of the elevator, it took me a while to gain the courage to step out (ﾉД`)
Well of course the guards out there laughed a bit and I embarrassingly went to face my fate. They were actually quite friendly people (╯_╰) The correct thing to do: Walk up to them and look for your name on a list that they'll leave on the counter table. Sign beside your name, and they'll give your bag a quick check (They didn't check mine) Then, they'll go to the elevator with you, scan their card and press the level you should go to for you. Haih
Ielts has really strict security checks. Once you reach the top, you'll be asked to line up then they'll explain the rules, that there are 3 stations inside.
Station 1 : The belongings station
You leave your bags or bulky items here
Smaller items like your handphones/purse will be put into zip-locked bags with your name written on
Station 2: Registration/scanning station
You'll be asked for your IC/Passport for identification purposes
Then you'll be asked to scan your right index finger 4 times on their scanning machine
Station 3: Picture time
Then you'll have to take picture for identification purposes
Remember, no teeth, no spectacles, and your ears must be seen!
All these are done for identification purposes I guess, they don't want any other people impersonating you and nailing your exam for you (O_O;) Haha they even ask you to scan out when you go for a toilet break during the exam and scan back in when you come back >.<
Mm~ once you go in the exam hall, it'll be 2 hours and 40 mins of concentration and silence. There's a water dispenser outside the hall and they allow you to bring water in the paper cups they provide (゜Д゜)⊃旦, so actually there's no need to bring a water bottle in. They only allow clear mineral bottles.
Ohyea, some links that I think would be helpful:
Listening & Reading:
https://www.ielts.org/about-the-test/sample-test-questions
Writing (model answers):
Task 1 http://www.ielts-exam.net/academic_writing_samples_task_1/
Task 2 http://www.ielts-exam.net/ielts_writing_samples_task_2/
A quick check of what you need to bring:
1) IC/Passport
2) Jacket (if you're afraid of the cold)
3) Clear mineral bottles (but they provide a water dispenser so you don't really need this as well)
The written examination part and speaking part are usually arranged separately. Some may not even be on the same day or venue. I requested for the same day and I got it. So my written examination was in the morning and I had to wait till 2.40pm for my speaking test. So, as usual, reporting in 30mins earlier than the exam time. The exam hall we used in the morning has now been converted into a waiting room. (╯°□°）╯︵ ┻━┻ This time, we could bring in our belongings
\(￣▽￣)／ Basically everyone in the waiting room was either bored/dead nervous. Nobody was talking ＼(º □ º l|l)/ After a while, my name was called along with a few others. We left our belongings at the registration counter and went into different small rooms.
The rooms were really small!! Its about 1m x 2.5m. HAHA That was my first thought. My examiner was a pretty lady that smiled all the time. I can see that she was trying to make me relax. The whole thing went so typically that I was shocked. So I watched a few youtube videos for the Ielts Speaking test, (I'll put some links below) and it was exactly like that o.O The examiner recited some lines into a recorder, saying that this whole conversation would be recorded omg I thought the examiners in the youtube videos were recording because of youtube but apparently everyone gets recorded! Teehee
My speaking test questions:
Task 11) Tell me about the place you are staying right now
2) Do you like the place you're staying at right now?
3) Talking about walking, is there any place you can walk around in your area?
4) Anything interesting stories you encountered while walking around your area?
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sRFEKvsw-vs
This person helped me a lot.
Task 2
1) A question card that asked me who do I consider a leader in Sports, Politics or Work.
Explain - Who the person is -How did you get to know him - What has he done
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XyDrz6YAwvw
Task 3
I forgot what she asked me on haha Basically she continued the above topic by asking me some questions about the leader I mentioned. I said Lee Chong Wei (*/ω＼)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TyYHs1-6Vls
The whole speaking test was actually just about 10mins long. It went by really fast ─=≡Σ((( つ＞＜)つ It's the wait that was long. Well, I hope everything went well for me and that everything will go smoothly for anyone going to take the test ( ´∀｀)ノ～ ♡ 13 more days till the results come out~
See you next time!
(°∀°)b Joyce
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