IELTS-Blog::How Marlon from Sri Lanka scored Band 9 in the IELTS Speaking test

How Marlon from Sri Lanka scored Band 9 in the IELTS Speaking test

Posted: 23 Jul 2014 03:30 AM PDT

IELTS Band 9 in the Speaking test is thought of as next to impossible for non-native English speakers. However, Marlon – a 30 year-old man from Sri Lanka – has proven this can be achieved even by a person who did not speak English from birth. And he won in our monthly IELTS results competition in June as a result Even though Marlon’s first language is Singhalese his English is apparently just as good, and today he shared a few tips that can help you, too, get a similar score in the IELTS test.

Marlon says:

“As far as speaking is concerned, I think what really helped me was the fact that I watch English dramas (British) as I love watching such dramas, for example, ‘Midsomer Murders’, ‘Doctor in the House’, ‘Doctor at Large’, etc, and also watching programmes such as stand up comedy shows or even shows like ‘The Daily Show with Jon Stewart’ as well as documentaries about history, politics and travel.

I think that watching these dramas not only helped me improve my vocabulary but also pronunciation and expressions as well.

Almost on a daily basis I read the news by visiting websites such as CNN, CBS News, NBC etc and whenever I come across a new word, I refer to the Cambridge Dictionary Online for its meaning and usage.

And besides these habits which I follow not because of IELTS test but because I find it interesting and stimulating, I also did some practicing using past test papers, especially the listening and writing modules.

Hope this helps :)”