Review ~ IElTS training by BAFEL

Hi! I am Shruti Baruah and it has always been my dream to study abroad. After a lot of speculation, I decided to do research work of Medical Sciences.

I worked really hard for it and came out in flying colours in my 12^th. Now I was ever so ready to chare my dreams. However, I wasn't sure as to how to go about it, what all to do, and whom to approach. Then one day  I along with my parents went for a seminar on how to study abroad. It is here that I heard about IELTS (International English Language Testing System)  and what I need to score etc. They suggested me to take up a few classes for IELTS.

I searched in Just dial and came to an institute in the vicinity of my home. However, I was still skeptical about it. Before actually stepping out to look into BAFEL which was close to my home, I was in a catch 22 situation. But after stepping into BAFEL, I was amazed at the professionalism of everyone present right from the counselor to the trainers.

A light flickered within me and I felt at ease that coming to BAFEL was the right decision that I made. I felt that all my worries would definitely be taken care of in BAFEL with baby steps.

It was in BAFEL that I got to know in detail about the 4 skills that I need to score, in which,  though it sounded similar was completely different. I was told that I would be tested on 4 skills – Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking. I’ll just give a bit of information about each of the skills.

Reading  - 40 Questions

1 hour paper with 3-4 passages. The 1^st passage is easy, the 2^nd hard and the 3^rd the toughest. There are different types of questions. I was told that first I would have to look for the keywords in the question, then look for the keywords in the passage and on finding it, just write down the way it is given.

The second thing that I was told that most of the students face difficulties to answer the ‘True’, ‘False’ and ‘Not Given’ questions, wherein they confuse themselves between ‘False’ and ‘Not Given’. I was also sailing in the same boat initially, but thanks to the trainers in BAFEL, I was well trained in it.

Writing – Two Task

Task 1 = 150 words (20 Mins), Task 2= 250 words (40 mins)

I was told that in Task 1 I need to complete the task in 20 minutes. I would be given, maps, tables, pie charts, graphs, etc. And I would need to make comparisons and decipher whatever is written and write an essay.

The 2^nd task was an essay writing wherein I would need to write an essay. I was told that a small quoted write up would be given followed by the question, I can take the help of the idea, however, I cannot copy it as it is, because if I did that, then I would be marked down.

I was also told what I need to take care of. I need to pay attention to grammatical errors, spelling errors, upper and lower case, punctuations, globally approve acronyms are accepted however I can not use any SMS lingo like; lol, ttyl, etc.

Listening – Four Sections

30 mins (Multi-Tasking)

10 mins (to copy it to the fair sheet)

40 mins test.

Section 1 (essay)	Monologue, where one person would be talking about an address a post office thing.
Section 2 (bit hard)	Dialogue between two people
Section  3 (hard)	A monologue about a documentary or a professor giving a lecture.
Section 4 (Very hard)	A dialogue where students are asking questions to the professors or many people putting in their views or ideas or discussing the documentary.

Speaking  - 11- 14 Mins – 3 sections

Section 1	Introduction round where the examiner asks questions to the candidate for almost 2 mins.
Section 2	Is the cue round, the examiner gives the candidate a cue card with a topic and 1 minute to prepare. After the 1 min is over, he needs to speak for 3-4 mins. He can use the notes he made for reference.
Section 3	After speaking, the examiner again asks questions either related to the topic given in the cue card or something similar to do it.

I had applied to Kinston University for my higher studies and by the grace of God and BAFEL, my dream was fulfilled.

And all this was possible because of the training that I was given in BAFEL. I feel like a kid in a carnival as my trainers in BAFEL held my hands and actually cleared all my doubts.

The kind of training given to me was phenomenal and up to the mark. It was in BAFEL, that I was made aware that IELTS can be given two ways i.e. CBT and the normal way.

I was told in BAFEL, that I would be trained by my trainers on a one to one basis. This was something new to me, as all the other institutes that I had gone to, told me that the class would be group-based.

Another thing that is embedded in my mind was as I had come from a small town and had never been to a Seven Star hotel. I was zapped on the day of my exams, seeing the Leela, the overall look was ethereal.

However, after setting myself in, I relaxed enough and was pleasantly surprised to feel that I was not feeling at all nervous because it was similar to the kind of mock tests that were given to me in BAFEL.

I passed out in flying colours and today I am writing from Kinston and I thank BAFEL for it.