Passed 9.0 Listening and Reading IELTS despite having attention deficit disorder

Pham Tran Kien graduated in Education, University of Wisconsin-Superior in the US and received a master’s degree in Language Teaching from the University of Canberra, Australia. Recently, Kien took the IELTS test and got the result on May 13 with 8.5 overall, in which both Listening and Reading skills achieved 9.0.

Kien was discovered to have ADHD Syndrome (Brain syndrome, causing difficulty in controlling personal behavior, hyperactivity and poor concentration) while studying in the US, making him unable to sit still. more than 40 minutes. Several years ago, Kien often had to take certain medications to minimize the effects of ADHD.

However, Determined to challenge himself and train himself to improve his concentration in this IELTS exam.

About two weeks before the test date, Kien determined what would be the skill that would “make it difficult” for him. As for Listening, because of ADHD, Kien used to have to put the Listening song on YouTube at 1.75 to 2.0 speed to reduce anxiety. However, in this test, with the goal of improving concentration, Kien did the opposite, leaving the speed 0.75.

“It sounds paradoxical, but that’s what I had to do. This helped me quite a lot on test day. But by Section 4 of the Listening test, my brain started ‘strike’, causing me to pinch myself. thighs continuously to focus again”, Kien recalls.

At the end of the 30-minute Listening test, Kien began to get distracted, his head hurt, and his hands trembled. Lack of water made Kien’s ADHD worse. He tries to finish Reading in about 50 minutes and spends the last 10 minutes reviewing it.

When it comes to the Writing test, Kien’s physical strength and concentration is only about 40%. Even so, he still adhered to the principle of “first with more points”. Kien did Task 2 for 40 minutes and spent 15 minutes on Process of Task 1, and 5 minutes to review the lesson.

“Due to symptoms of ADHD, while I was writing, my hands and feet were shaking, my head was very painful. At that time, I just wanted to get out of the exam room quickly,” Kien said, adding that the speaking test took place in the middle of the afternoon. when his body was tired.

Of the four skills, Kien’s Speaking and Writing scores are lower than in previous tests. Kien said he was subjective when he thought that in the past he had achieved better results, so before the exam he almost did not practice again. In Speaking skill, Kien advises to prolong the answer part, try to give a lot of information so that the examiner has more bases for evaluation. Meanwhile, with Writing skills, candidates need the guidance of experts.

According to the 28-year-old master, the key to Reading is hard work. Reading is the most important vocabulary and to increase your vocabulary, you need to read a lot through books, newspapers or other English resources. Instead of writing down a list of words and then memorizing them, Kien suggests learning words in context for long-term memory and understanding.

“You also need to gradually increase the length of the reading to practice concentration and avoid feeling tired in Reading,” Kien said.

Most confident in Listening skills, IELTS teachers offer a few ways to practice to improve their ability. Kien said that if you want to listen well, you need to pronounce it correctly first. This can be improved by proactively reaching out to native English speakers. Kien often listens to TED Talks and favorite topics about space, environment, and space on YouTube.

“Start with topics you’re interested in so you don’t lose your inspiration. Then you practice listening for long periods of time to get used to the speed and intensity,” advises Kien.

Kien is currently improving his Speaking and Writing skills to retake the exam next month, with the goal of 9.0 overall.

Dawn