Self-Study w/ Z.Y.👩🏻‍🏫✨

Once I was admitted, I was invited to virtual webinars~ Because of the time difference, had to participate in those at nights but it’s worth it: makes me feel part of the community already

Back in 2020-2021 я псевдо-сохла по одному университету в Америке - Vanderbilt University. Почему псевдо? Да потому что я знал, что I was not qualified enough, yet I somehow had that courage to dream about it. It was the only Top Uni I applied to, moreover, as an ED. I remember I opened the admissions decision with such an excitement, будто моя жизнь зависела от этого. And guess what? I successfully did not get there. It seems life does give second chances for it’s different this time. So if you feel stressed or sad or discouraged about your application and life, just know that this physical world takes time and your inner preparedness to manifest things. The question is not whether you get it or not but When🕰️

А, вижу

Зачем вообще сдавать IELTS?

Я зарегестрировалась на HSK (Chinese IELTS), and that means I have to start preparing for another standartized test but this time with a very limited knowledge of the language. It will again be a self-study, so we will see how it goes. The planning approach will be similar to that of an IELTS: 1. I’ll watch a few videos and read the guidebooks from the official accounts on the format and the requirements of the exam, aka getting to know the format cause i have no idea what and how HSK tests🙄 2. I’ll assess where I am, how much time I have, what resources are currently available to me and what resources I will need to get in the future. 3. I’ll create a plan, more or less flexible, that would give me enough time and space both to study and to do other stuff. And then my journey to conquering Chinese begins🧘‍♀️

Hi, guys, Happy New Year! Finally sharing one of the guides I promised on ELTS Reading💕 Wish you all high scores and joyful preps✨ For the past few weeks I’ve been traveling around China and am only now going back to work. Hope this guide brings you insights and support~

Why do all that preliminary prep? Cause you wanna help your brain stay focused and nervous system stay calm during the exam. Do spend time on building the right foundation cause that’s where compound interest works. It is natural to spend time brainstorming and organizing your essay in Writing, why not spend some time understanding Reading too?

HOW TO START IELTS READING: MY APPROACH —— Step 1: Go to the title and READ the title. While reading it: Predict the tone and theme of the discussion. Is it a biological research or a machine usage instruction? What should you expect from the language of the expected text? Step 2: Scan through text and see if there are numbers, names, quotes. Check the passages, how many? DON’T READ THE TEXT YET. In steps 1-2 you familiarize yourself with the passage. Preliminary preparation as they call. Step 3: Go to the questions and identify types of questions, beware of keywords. Step 4: Choose your reading strategy according to the questions and start doing the test. —— Briefly: Start your IELTS Reading by FAMILIARIZING your brain with the passage and catching the right mood/focus.

An insider view👀 more practical now🙌🏻

When I was preparing for IELTS as a 16-year-old — with no writing background and no teacher — my biggest struggle wasn’t “understanding the test” but lack of meaningful feedback. I didn’t need 1838909 comments. I needed a few high-quality reviews that would give me a direction or some guidance. Schools and companies ran MOCK tests, but they gave scores only! How about feedback? Where do I go next? What should I do to improve my score? Nothing. Thus, along with working on the guide, I decided to open my IELTS Writing and Speaking Review sessions — designed to give you the focused, actionable feedback I once needed myself. If interested, you can always contact me directly at @jyzstar or learn more at: selfstudywithzhuldyz.mgx.world Otherwise, stay tuned — I have a lot more to share on IELTS🌻

So far, Reading takes the lead 🎉 I’ve started working on the IELTS Reading A to Z, and it’s gonna be a TOTAL DEBUNKING🔥 skills, structure, strategies, examples, samples — a complete all-in-one self-study guide. However!! while my attention is on Reading, we can’t ignore Writing and Speaking, right?

Hi, guys~ I do give a lot of theoretical and conceptal background here, but am now starting to work on self-study guides on individual sections that will be more practical: types of questions, study strategies and approaches, etc. So, could you vote for the most urgent/important section where you might need guidance, please:

Long story short, If you find training Listening difficult, the problem might be that your ears haven’t been trained to notice the IELTS speech yet. WHAT TO DO THEN? 1. Do full, slow reviews with a script (at least in the beginning stages) — not just the questions where mistakes were made 2. Train your listening outside of IELTS — podcasts, movies, interviews — anything you enjoy. Play with speed, learning should be fun! 3. And, of course, know the structure of Listening as of the section. Good luck! working on guides on each section, stay tuned🔔

IELTS LISTENING: BLIND SPOT Do you get a [low] score because you don’t know the words or because you don’t hear the right ones? Most learners lose points in Listening not because of the vocabulary but because of how the brain processes sound🧠 This creates Blind Spots — moments where the audio passes, but your brain doesn’t capture the important part no matter how focused you are. It happened to me. Actually, it always happens to me! As a visual learner, IELTS Listening was THE hardest skill to train. Not because I lacked vocabulary — but because listening wasn’t a natural skill for me💆‍♀️ It felt painful, boring, and, honestly, frustrating, cause mistakes seemed so stupid🥲

We all seek effectiveness as if being chased by someone. While effectiveness is beneficial when approached accordingly, hyper-effectivity can harm one’s both mental and physical health. I just want to remind that your health and emotional wellbeing are as important as the skills and knowledge gained. Taking IELTS as an example, if you are studying for it, choose an approach where you would have high-quality rests between your study sessions. Get ready to experience a certain emotional pressure and panic with an excitement during the test day. On the test day, you may not necessarily control your response/reaction to the setting, but you can take some time before the exam to prepare yourself/your body to the upcoming environment. I believe there should be separate posts on: a) quality resting; b) body’s responses; c) what i mean by “preparation beforehand”; d) how to spend the day and hours before the official exam.