Actually, I feel completely satisfied with my test results. It's more than I could dream of at the time when I started my preparation and a good result seemed like a daunting challenge for me. At the same time I would like to appreciate the efforts of other people on the site (as well as on the other sites with IELTS preparation material), their ideas were of an invaluable help for me. I really feel like sharing my personal feelings about the preparation and about the procedure of test taking. I would feel happy if my experience can be used by any applicant who is determined and motivated enough to face such a huge task of taking the test.

During the preparation it seems sometimes that you are supposed to be a kind of genius to accomplish that task successfully. Though, my personal experience proves that it is not necessarily a true fact. The most terrible thing is that usually you don't have practice at all, or, if you are lucky enough, only a little chance to have practice. Unfortunately, we live in the country, where a person who knows more than a hundred or something English words and capable of spelling half of them correctly is considered to be a fluent speaker of English.

I believe that if you are truly exceptional or intellectually gifted person, you stand a good chance to achieve a good result without preparation. The same applies to those who enjoy the opportunity to live and study in English-speaking countries for years. But if you are less fortunate, you've got to be considerably more concerned about getting prepared for the test. I would say that a good result of the IELTS test for this kind of people has a three-layer foundation.

At the bottom of this structure is your personal determination to spend a lot of time doing exercises and practice tests. No doubt you have a strong motivation to succeed. Being not that motivated, I suppose, you will give up preparation as soon as you do first two or three practice tests - IELTS has absolutely nothing to do with all the "English examinations" previously taken in educational institutions. You are likely to find these tests extremely difficult and to find the goal to get a good score unattainable. According to my personal experience, it is always wise to expect even more terrible tasks at least in one section of the actual test. But if you are strong enough to handle all that, you will be rewarded greatly.

In the middle of the above-mentioned foundation structure, I would place the smart use of the information you receive from a wide variety of sources during the preparation. There is a good definition of that in English - the ability to convert information into knowledge. It is not really easy to enumerate all the sources of information you can get - the help of good and experienced teacher, numerous information sources on the Internet, or a lucky chance to communicate with any person who speaks English - just, to name a few. You should make the best out of all the sources of information you have, develop the most effective ways for you to analyze that information and accumulate your own experience about possible tasks at the test and the ways to cope with each particular task. At that stage of preparation even a small advice or just a single idea can be valuable. You've got to absorb the knowledge of other people, but to come to your own conclusions about the best methods to succeed in any given task. Just remember one beautiful English saying - the ideas are funny little things, they will not work unless you do. Development of this strategy or, I would rather say, construction of your own IELTS experience allows you to be prepared for unexpected questions and situations, you will find in plenty at the actual test.

I would prefer to place another important factor on the top of the three-layer IELTS foundation. I'm talking about such a simple but very important thing as luck. Though, many people believe that the luck at the test is just a reflection of how strong was your preparation. In fact it is up to any particular person to decide for oneself. One thing is for sure, the luck itself should not be considered as the only required factor to accomplish even a single section, not to mention the whole test. So I would advise you not to rely too much on it. You are no doubt feel much more lucky at the actual examination if your are prepared for nearly every situation.