Van Ha shared that her initial target was 7.0, so she was quite surprised to achieve a score beyond her expectations. In addition to her own efforts and dedication, a large part of this success came from the close and detailed guidance of Ms. Yen Thanh (Greenfield School English Teacher) in teaching and correcting her work during her studies.

Recognizing the benefits of the IELTS certificate in university admissions, Van Ha developed a serious study plan for each skill with the desire to use the IELTS certificate to secure a place at the university she dreams of.

From her own experience, Van Ha shared simple "secrets" that students can refer to and apply to conquer the IELTS exam effectively:

Before starting to prepare for IELTS, Van Ha believes it is necessary to set specific goals for each skill and carefully review the scoring criteria to determine what you need to do. After that, she created a specific study plan: practicing one skill each day, doing 1-2 exercises per skill per day. Besides that, she also consulted the advice of those who went before (e.g., Cloudoris, Mr. Dang Tran Tung) to find an effective way to learn.

Listening is the skill Van Ha is most confident in. She practiced by watching videos on YouTube, watching movies in English, and listening to Podcasts. For words that she didn't hear clearly, she turned on subtitles to write down the word and its pronunciation in her flashcard collection. Van Ha often practiced exercises in the Cambridge IELTS series and on some websites like Bestmytest, Study4, then she compiled the results to identify the types of exercises she encountered many difficulties with and found more of those types to practice.

To practice Reading, Van Ha often read English newspapers such as The New York Times, Herald Sun, The Guardian; read bilingual books and books in English. When she encountered new or good words, she wrote them on flashcards, clearly noting the meaning, pronunciation, and how to use the word. She also used the Cambridge IELTS series and the websites Bestmytest, Study4 to practice this skill.

For Speaking, Van Ha shared that this is the most "difficult" part. To get a high score, you not only need to pronounce correctly, have good intonation, and a wide vocabulary, but you also need to have arguments close to the question and how to develop the ideas logically. She often practiced speaking by topic with Ms. Yen Thanh, with close friends, and with her parents. When speaking, she tried to speak continuously, without interruption, and used the words and phrases she had recorded in her flashcard collection. Besides that, she also watched videos about IELTS Speaking on some YouTube channels like IELTS FACE-OFF, Academic English Help.

Regarding Writing, Van Ha carefully studied grammar and spelling to ensure that she did not make mistakes. When reading Ms. Yen Thanh's comments in each of her articles, she wrote down the mistakes she often made in a notebook, thought about the correct way to write, then asked her teacher and some friends who had taken the IELTS exam for comments. She read sample articles on Mr. Simon's website, wrote good words and phrases on flashcards, divided the table of synonyms/antonyms, and pasted them on her desk to memorize. Besides that, when reading English books and newspapers, she tried to remember interesting information to use as arguments for her writing.

Van Ha also emphasized that learning is not only for the IELTS exam but also for future use of English, so students need to be serious about learning, try their best, and they will succeed.

Congratulations to Van Ha on her very proud results, and we hope that she will continue to strive to achieve her goals!