Up next in 10
Patricia Gets Band 7.5 and Goes to Ireland
637 views
Mar 10, 2025
She needed to score 7.5 in IELTS to practice medicine in Ireland. You know how tough that is, right? Here's the crazy part: She did it with just 4 DAYS of preparation. No, that's not a typo. 4 days. But wait - before you think "that's impossible" or "she must be a genius", here's what you need to know: This wasn't her first try. She failed twice before. But on her third attempt, she: - Scored 8.0 in Reading - Scored 8.0 in Listening - Scored 8.0 in Speaking - Got exactly what she needed overall: 7.5 Her secret? She stopped wasting time on: ✗ Random YouTube videos ✗ Outdated textbooks ✗ Generic advice from non-experts Instead, she used our AI essay checker and followed our proven system. Look, I'll be straight with you: 1. You probably don't have years to prepare 2. You're probably tired of getting scores that are "almost there" 3. And you definitely don't want to keep paying for retakes That's exactly why we created our IELTS preparation system. It's the same system Patricia used. The same system that's helped thousands of students achieve their target scores.
View Video Transcript
0:06
you are now listening to the I podcast learn from cheors and ex examiners who are masters of I outs preparation your
0:14
host Ben Worthington hello there I students in this tutorial we are talking with
0:20
Patricia and she's got some great results from uh her latest ey Els test
0:26
so um before we jump into it uh Patricia could you tell me a bit about yourself and why you're
0:32
taking the ielt please um so I just graduated medicine and I was exploring
0:39
my options uh where can I go and practice medicine and since I didn't
0:46
really get that much interested in the doing medicine being a doctor in Poland
0:52
um I started exploring my options where I can use my English um and I found um
1:00
Ireland as an option for continuing uh practicing medicine there um but I had
1:06
to do iots to do that I also explored a bit um about the medical practice in the
1:12
UK and I tried doing um iots for for the UK but um it's uh it's my fault that I
1:20
kind of explored it too uh too late uh because the score is very high which I
1:26
have to to get there I have to get 7.5 in each section and to have 7.5 overall
1:33
right which is super hard um in a in a short period of time because I was still
1:39
a medical student so depends how much time you devote for it but for irelander
1:46
was slightly lower I I had to uh get 6.5 in each section and have 7.5 overall so
1:55
I managed to get that score uh this this year excellent okay and just a quick
2:01
question was the English route to uh instead of Ireland was the route to
2:07
England was it slightly more uh bureaucratic because of brexit and all of that um yeah there's a there's a lot
2:15
of documents here that you have to gather um for example I think some some Visa uh Visa
2:24
documents uh but I think it's very well organized um with with the hospitals
2:29
because are assigned for the hospital for two years I think I I I have no
2:34
checked information about that so much um because I depended um depended a lot
2:41
on the opinions of my friends um that that friends I I found those people
2:46
online um and I I asked them what do you think about the UK FP program do you
2:52
think it's worth it do you think because I I kind of have in mind which doctor I want to be um and I want to be a gy
2:59
ologist and I found out that it's not so easy uh to to get into that
3:05
specialization exactly uh they are trying to kind of fill in blanks uh in
3:11
the system and it's not Gynecology so oh I see yeah so I uh I was thinking a lot
3:19
about it that it's a lot of effort for probably doing bureaucratic work for two years and in Ireland it's just one year
3:26
of um like kind of it's we call it stage in Poland it's kind of a postgraduate uh
3:34
13 months of practice uh like an internship which is which is still paid
3:40
um but um yeah like there there's a lot of documentation also to together for
3:46
Ireland but for shorter period of time for for internship I see right then
3:52
that's interesting and then as you said before both routs the one to Ireland and
3:58
the one to the UK required yours exam but the Irish route was required
4:06
slightly slightly lower level and um I remember you you worked with us before
4:13
didn't you and you took the general yeah yeah and what what results did you get
4:18
when you worked with us before um so I took first my first I exam was academic
4:25
and I managed to get I remember I think I got seven I don't remember because it was like two years ago and I I kept I
4:32
kept studying for another a already um so I think I got seven from writing but
4:40
I was practicing a I was going like mad woman really I was writing um I was
4:46
trying to find a research that is going to tell me okay you're writing this well you're using the good vocabulary um
4:54
because um as uh as I told you before I I'm also a tutor but my vocabulary stays
5:01
on the level of A2 B1 maybe B2 sometimes
5:06
but most Primary scho students are based on this vocabulary for A2 so for me it
5:12
was hard to jump into vocabulary immediately like C1 just B2 just like
5:17
use very high vocabulary so when I was using um your website every time it was
5:23
telling me you know you can use a little bit higher vocabulary higher level I was like no I know but I'm just so used to
5:30
the vocabulary that I'm using with my students it was it was so difficult at
5:36
the beginning but I I did a lot of writings I I think that's the clue you just have to even if you feel that you
5:43
you are you have no idea what is an essay what you're reading you just have to go with the flow and um even now when
5:51
you have this AI feature it's going to kind of give you the idea what they are looking
5:57
for so it's it's really good yeah right so that was the main problem that you
6:02
were looking to solve was the the vocabulary yeah and you realized that
6:07
the vocabulary was the issue because you're using the AI essay checker on
6:12
podcast.com yeah right I see I see excuse me
6:19
so um you took the academic yeah and that's when you said you were like a mad
6:24
woman just writing writing writing using the AIS check again that instant
6:30
feedback and just realizing vocabulary was was the issue yeah and then once you
6:36
realize the vocabulary was the issue what steps did you take to improve your
6:41
vocabulary um I had U I had some American book with vocabulary um which
6:48
is it's basically you have a list of words and then they are used in um in um
6:56
in Reading te texts so um it was sometimes I I tried really this is
7:03
actually what I teach my students to just don't look for the translation in your own language because each language
7:09
has different vocabulary so there's no sense in translating exactly to this
7:14
word at the beginning it's good but you know when you go on uh it's good to
7:19
understand it in another language um so I had a list of vocabulary uh from some topics that I
7:26
felt weak at so for example family and relationships I didn't feel bad about it
7:33
because also my boyfriend is Italian so we use English every day and um for for me that topic wasn't
7:41
wasn't a problem but when I had uh science um environment I tried also to
7:47
to stay in medical vocabulary sometimes it was like my uh my safe um my safe
7:54
Point uh even when speaking I try to connect everything to Medicine
7:59
and like every time going topic yeah yeah that's interesting you said
8:06
that I have mentioned to do something similar before on a previous tutorial I
8:11
said look if your specialization if you know a lot about say for example technology in your case in medicine then
8:19
there's no harm in diverting the conversation to that
8:25
kind of subject obviously if they ask you about volcanoes can't talk about
8:30
muscle groups obviously but there are some opportunities and the other thing
8:36
that I wanted to mention was just to clarify so when you're expanding your vocabulary you don't look for the direct
8:44
translation in your own language you look for the description the meaning in
8:49
English is that correct yeah that's true yeah yeah yeah I remember actually my
8:54
Spanish tutor said exactly the same you know and then she's like oh and then you look for the meaning and then you find
9:01
other words that you don't know and then you go look for the meaning for that youly yeah but that's that's a yeah it
9:09
is a really effective way to uh in the context of reading when you when you do
9:14
the reading and you you go into the read and you're like oh okay this is this one I remember the word Myriad right now and
9:21
I had no idea what is a myriad and uh and then I looked um and it meant like
9:26
something like a lot of like you have plenty of you can use Myriad instead and then I found it I was watching a TV show
9:33
and there was a myriad I was like okay this word actually exists I'm not going
9:40
crazy excellent so in the context just like uh kind of getting a custom to this
9:45
word and then it's good beautiful I love it I love it so you took the iots
9:51
academic that's when you said you were like a a mad woman that was a while back and he was taking exam after exam after
9:57
sorry not taking exam after exam after exam we'd probably be bankrupt if we were taking yeah yeah yeah you were
10:05
doing then General yeah okay then you took the general yeah is I talked with
10:11
some friends that were applying for UK FP because the two years ago I uh I found the the offer for the UK without
10:20
any exploring I was just okay I'm going to give it a shot if I get in I'm going to start thinking because there was very little
10:27
time uh for everything and um my friends were like okay you got seven from
10:32
writing you you need 7.5 so let's try to do 7.5 from writing but in general
10:38
because they also accepted the general training exam right um but um so I got
10:45
the 7.5 in W I was very happy because there was the letter it's kind of more
10:51
um I wouldn't say it's easier it's just a different format uh in the academic there's the there's the chart to
10:57
describe and this is this is something that might be a bit difficult uh because
11:02
you just need to kind of get um get used to the vocabul like rise increase and
11:09
and that kind of things so that was my study also for academic uh studying this
11:15
specific words for to describe it um but for for letter it was easier because I
11:22
felt like it's kind of like a conversation kind of like a monologue with somebody but you have to just
11:27
describe it in the letter yeah and I managed to get 7.5 but because I was so focused on writing I think that I uh I
11:35
didn't practice enough from reading and from other um sections yeah so uh
11:43
listening go was okay I got the limit and then I received five from reading
11:48
and that was that was my I I I felt completely I was so shocked about it
11:55
because I saw I saw first 7.5 writing and I was like wow okay that I have it
12:00
and then I I saw the reading and I was completely shocked I I even wrote to to
12:06
I and I I I asked them to verify it again because it's not possible that I got I think I had like nine or eight
12:13
from academic and just a month later I get five from General and yeah that it
12:20
was completely I I I have no idea what happened really because I also felt very confident about reading afterwards yeah
12:27
and uh nothing really happened which was a bit uh disappointing and I kind of um
12:34
lost hope for it it was too late for UK kfp for me uh I see I see yeah yeah I
12:41
kind of kind of lost hope at that moment uh also I got stressed on speaking
12:47
because I was I told you I was really focused on writing and uh I lost to
12:52
0.5 points on on speaking and I was because I remember uh and this could
13:00
be a good advice for some other people uh that I was so focused on um not
13:06
saying I like too much or not saying in my opinion too much sorry I'm I'm still after I I I had a
13:16
kind of like a flu or a code before no is um so um I I was so focused on saying
13:22
not not don't say too much I like not too much in my opinion just use use a
13:27
lot of vocabulary and I was so focused on this that I I kind of forgot that there's the time limit and then the all
13:34
of the factors combined yeah and I was like okay this is not going well oh no
13:40
I'm so sorry so just to summarize you you then took the academic that was for
13:46
the UK route you possibly focused a little you were just 100% focused on the
13:53
writing you achieved your goal in the writing but unfortunately the other
13:59
three were kind of pushed to the side because you so but you got the goal in
14:04
in writing but the other ones slipped yeah and I see I see so that's why you
14:10
took it a third time is that right for the Irish route yeah exactly I had my
14:15
sixth year of medicine because when you apply to when you apply to the UK you have to apply um after your fifth year
14:23
uh of medicine and uh for for Ireland kind of similar you can apply during
14:29
your sixth year but I said it was too much I already took two times I I have
14:34
the sixth year I'm graduating there's too much going on I'm going to wait uh so I waited this until this the end of
14:42
the sixth year to to decide what I'm going to do uh and then I I saw that um
14:48
I have to do I again for for Ireland with a with a lower with my lower scores
14:54
but I just then remembered about reading I was like no you cannot just like Focus
15:00
just on the reading um so um what happened is that the deadline last year
15:09
was okay you have to do it until the end of February but then this year they
15:15
withdrew the option um they withdrew the test that is also a part of
15:21
qualification so in my mind I was I was like okay so how are they going to qualify on the first step probably
15:28
everyone is going to have to have the I that's what I thought yeah yeah and I
15:34
was like okay let's wait until they publish act actually every requirement
15:39
but I'm going to start studying slightly uh and then I got the requirements and
15:45
there was the aisles that I have to do it until the 18th of November wow so
15:50
yeah I kind of kind of predicted it but I was on the I was on the truck already
15:56
for the for the whole year I see I see wow and so you had to do it and you were
16:01
kind of you had the suspicion you you have to take the eye out and then uh you
16:07
started preparing for it the third time yeah and what resources were you using
16:13
and and like how did you approach it because you learned probably from last time not to neglect any the other
16:19
disciplines yes how did you prepare this time so um I knew that I I have very
16:25
limited time there was limited number of dates I also couldn't take it in Poland so I had to go to to Italy to to my
16:32
boyfriend who was a bit uh yeah there was a lot of effort into into this into the take um and I I knew that I also I I
16:41
was also working I was tutoring so with reading I felt that I'm really on track
16:47
I'm just going to like um go through a few tests and I'm just going to have the idea how it looked like what I have to
16:54
look for uh with listening I um I honestly just checked a few tips uh on
17:02
um I remember it was Pinterest I think just like what to focus on um just like
17:08
just find the similarities I I think with with listening you kind of have to
17:14
just know what the questions look like just yeah maybe this one uh know that
17:19
you have to find similarities um in words so for example they are not going
17:24
to say a bottle of water they are going to say bottled water or something like this you you
17:30
yeah um so I I had this one and then I just tried to kind of listen to the
17:36
radio just like kind of surround myself with this higher um English vocabulary
17:43
which is not sadly Instagram Pages scrolling around no it's not this one
17:49
like you you have to avoid easy vocabulary very much so I I Tred to
17:55
avoid it um can I ask what radio programs did you listen to um BBC BBC
18:03
Radio um or BBC when they talk about the weather um I have the iTune I iTune in I
18:12
think or something this up which is I think yeah but I try to use the BBC even
18:18
the when they they publish some news then I try to read it as well for for
18:25
for the sake of reading for example yeah when you was doing the the listening and
18:31
and the reading when you was reading the news or listening to the the radio were you was it all passive like were you
18:39
doing the washing up or or Tiding up or something or were you sat down with a pen and writing things down uh I had my
18:47
notes on my uh on my iPhone open and when I found the when I heard a word I tried to write it down and just check
18:54
for the for the meaning and I also just now remember that I down loaded um
19:00
downloaded audio books instead of reading a book I was I downloaded everand I'm not sponsoring anything I
19:07
just know that this is a good resource but uh yeah it's it was a really good um idea to start listening
19:14
to audiobooks because and I tried to focus on British English because I thought okay American English is just
19:21
fast but for me being fast is not a problem uh for me the problem was the
19:26
accent sometimes when I was l listening to it uh but yeah I think audio books
19:33
helped a lot excellent yeah and were they was it fiction non-fiction or um
19:42
yeah what I think it was just like a romantic I I stayed with Joo Moyes the
19:48
the the British writer it it was very um I like her a lot because the I feel like
19:54
vocabulary is not too too too too complex it's just simple relationships
19:59
but it's kind of um it's not discouraging because some of the books
20:05
are um I don't know you you find so many descriptive words yeah that it's um it's
20:13
a bit difficult to keep track exactly yeah I've had the same when I've been learning languages like some books I'll
20:19
be like oh this one's going to really push me but there'll be there's only a certain amount of vocabulary that I can
20:27
misunderstand or mis interpret and then I start tuning out and then it's just sound then and I I'm just it's a waste
20:35
of time so you went for audio books um that weren't so challenging but it was
20:40
more a case of like keeping yourself in in the story and keeping yourself
20:45
listening right exactly I just want to remen what you said about the listening
20:52
uh because I think that's a great Point what you said about how the questions are phrased and once you get to to know
20:58
the structure of the questions um it becomes a lot easier so you did a
21:04
practice tests for the reading and then you did prati did you do practice test for the listening as well or I didn't
21:10
have the time no okay yeah I just looked through my book because I have this set
21:15
of iots I don't know how they are called now uh but it's like the set of I think
21:21
three very thick books and uh they are like American I think right yeah I I
21:28
bought them some time ago when I was studying for the previous iot and they have some tests so I just looked okay
21:34
this one is constructed in this way and for the first I I was listening already to um I I did the listening um a few
21:43
times just to have the idea and I remembered how it looked like so I see that's why I had the idea already gotcha
21:50
and then for the writing you were using the essay checking uh service yeah on
21:56
the I podcast right yeah yeah the beginning of the when I was studying for the last time I uh it was already two
22:04
years uh like two years passed so I I didn't remember the name of the page and
22:09
I was very frustrated and I remember this one evening I was just right I was like you know I check I don't I don't
22:15
remember how how was it called and I was trying to find it there was some other website that I tried to use but I don't
22:23
know they I didn't feel like it's not it like I I knew it's not this thing I
22:28
don't I couldn't describe what it is but um just uh how I could see that okay
22:34
this essay is being checked or underlining the words or what gram grammatical structure I was using and it
22:42
was just better I don't know it's just keeping the track of this H not not to
22:48
brag about the page but really it was it I um I really I really found this was a
22:54
good research for me really excellent okay and just the listeners can you
23:01
break down how you use the essay Checker like did you have a a system
23:07
like it said okay this vocabulary needs upgrading and then you went and did XY Z how did you use the Checker to um to
23:15
improve your writing so at the beginning I tried to uh write the topic obviously
23:22
because there's the frame for the topic and then starting to write the the essay
23:27
uh but then H when I started to do it on the page and I put the timer it was so
23:34
stressful to see the timer that I I I I couldn't do it um like starting on the
23:40
page so I just opened the the docs document and I um I I started to realize
23:47
that it was very difficult when I was writing the topic from the book because I was doing the topics from the book not
23:53
from the internet because uh I know that on iot you when when you write something
24:00
you already have the idea what's the topic so you have kind of this extra time so I was trying trying to make a
24:06
photo uh but with scanning the te the the text so I can just copy the the text
24:12
later to to the to the Checker right and then just writing it in the docs and
24:19
having a quick look at it and then just P pasting it on the page and checking it
24:24
I see okay so you you you didn't used the Checker to write the essay because
24:30
it was stressful you wrote the question in in a Word document then you copy
24:35
pasted it into the Checker yeah and then you hit submit yeah and then what was
24:41
your next step Patricia uh so then I was then you have to wait for the Checker to
24:48
to to verify everything because the first Mark I always I I always got this first Mark immediately but it was always
24:55
lower than the the the the mark that that got like with that they that
25:01
arrived with time oh so um I was like okay I'm just going to give it a five five minutes I'm gonna like I'm GNA make
25:08
myself some tea I'm gonna I'm GNA chill for this five minutes and then I'm going to check and and then I was checking the
25:14
essay uh what I did was I was looking at the words that it underlined uh which
25:21
were repeated and if I can change them because I remember my biggest struggle
25:26
was the word children and and there was the word youth there was the word toddler and I think that I Love This
25:33
research for this because I didn't have to like look around all of those pages on on the internet and Find synonyms for
25:40
the word children yeah it just gives you the um it gives you the idea immediately
25:46
which word you could use um it also helped me on the on the official um iOS
25:53
I had a topic about I think education or something and I had to use the the words
25:58
students uh todders uh I don't know pupils I was trying to diver make it
26:05
make it more diverse and the AI was also helpful because it not didn't CH change
26:11
my um essay completely um on the on the website but it kind of like paraphrased
26:19
my my my sentences and they were better and I was sometimes writing them down and just
26:27
like um comparing them with with mine how could it be better gotcha okay so
26:33
there's two things there you um when you were using the essay Checker you were
26:38
using when it underlined words that were repeating it synonyms like almost
26:45
instantly once it had done the detailed check and then um the extra AI one it
26:52
kind of paraphrased it and gave you some more sentences with new vocabulary
26:58
correct yeah yeah excellent excellent and that speeded up everything when you
27:03
were preparing for the writing yeah yeah because I had about four days so it was
27:09
yeah I was I was writing if I said about the previous I that I was writing like
27:15
mad woman this was it was even crazier it was
27:20
really I I just thought okay I have to the problem with uh with iot for this
27:27
time was that still had to I had to do it for 7.5 and even though that it was 6.5
27:35
every part that I still had to have everything for 7.5 overall gotta oh I
27:42
see so what did you score um actually before we get into the score yeah yeah um is there anything that we haven't
27:50
covered that you would like to share that could help a student pass the a exam h
27:58
I I have nothing on my mind right now no worries worries I did my job I've asked enough
28:04
questions good all right um right then so um what scores did you get then in
28:11
your in your latest exam um I got eight from each section uh except for writing
28:19
where I got 6.5 oh yeah but uh I'm still satisfied
28:25
because I think there was very limited time to prepare and was just yeah it was
28:30
still good and 7.5 overall right I see and that's got you enough um that's a
28:36
high enough grade for the Irish route for medicine yeah yeah yeah I wanted to
28:42
take it as soon as possible it was I remember the the requirements for the
28:48
for the medical truck for for the for Ireland was published about 22nd 23rd of
28:55
um October and I took I on the 27 for
29:01
28 I was like I'm just going to go for it because there was a very limited time and you know you never know when they
29:07
will publish your results I got mine in two days I have to say it was very quick
29:12
yeah yeah so yeah yeah but I'm still very satisfied speaking for eight I was
29:18
I was very shocked I great did you use the speaking test simulator no no I no
29:26
time okay you didn't have time focusing on yeah I just I just focus on writing
29:31
and um I'm still satisfied because on the um when I was doing it with the with
29:36
the page it was also telling me I have 6.5 seven and if you if you add the
29:42
stress when you are on the time pressure and everything um I I was still very satisfied with the
29:49
with the overall score yeah I mean in four days that's that's crazy and 7.5
29:55
overall that's really really impressive sces there so finally as my
30:02
last question what would you say to anyone who is considering taking the
30:07
IELTS exam soon um I think that they um it's a very
30:14
difficult question uh because there's a lot of factors to consider but um if um it's a
30:22
person that already wants to take the iot not to um maybe just surround yourself with
30:29
English and be aware that you already know know a lot of things because you
30:34
you took this first step so if you know that you can take the exam you you already have the knowledge because not
30:41
the same person is going to take I if they don't know anything true true so
30:46
just just to uh stay on track and keep doing what you're doing and if you know
30:52
that you already uh you already know a lot of you understand speaking let's say
30:59
um you uh when you're listening to somebody you have no problems just focus
31:04
on your weak points and depends how much time you have if you can focus on each part then go for it but if there's just
31:12
uh if you have limited time and you can focus on one part just just focus on this one part and this one part can also
31:18
give you the extra vocabulary for reading for um for every part of I I
31:25
think yeah yeah that's a great Point that's a great point Point like you learn new vocabulary doing reading exams
31:31
there's no reason why you can't use it in your speaking in your writing yeah
31:37
absolutely okay super and maybe about speaking I I also have this thing in
31:42
mind try not to think about this person that you're talking to because it's only you and this person and the thing that
31:48
records you uh try to think of this person as someone who really wants you you to get
31:55
the high score I get I I I had that experience I feel like um this person is
32:01
not your enemy because sometimes we feel like the examiner is the one that wants to like uh wants us to fail um but I I
32:09
had a very good experience I I have to say that my examination it's not like they were doing the face expressions
32:15
that really encouraged me to speak more uh but just imagine it it's like a
32:20
normal conversation and even if you don't know the answer just tell them oh it's a difficult question I don't know I
32:26
don't know the answer yet I'm going to think about it and just keep on talking so show them that you are capable of
32:32
what you're doing right now that's genius yeah yeah I've said very similar
32:37
on previous tutorials and other and uh ex examiners have said the same like an
32:44
examiner is looking for opportunities to give you points you know so as you said
32:51
if you think of this person as your friend rather than your enemy and you know it's your opportunity to shine in
32:58
exam exactly it it gets the whole your whole mental mindset is going to be so
33:05
much more powerful than going in there nervous thinking oh I'm GNA fail this examiner is making it difficult but yeah
33:12
so I love I love your uh point of view there Patricia that's genius that's genius all right so um if you are going
33:21
to take the IELTS exam soon uh then you can head over to ieltspodcast.com we've got the AIS check out the exam simulator
33:28
and a big thank you to Patricia for joining us today and I'm wishing you all
33:34
the best in Island Patricia thank you thank you very much I should have asked this at the beginning but am I
33:40
pronouncing your your name correctly um well in Poland they say it patri um but
33:47
I got used to so many versions of my name because as you know I'm I'm both in
33:52
Poland and in in Italy all the time so it's Patricia Patricia Pat yeah it's a so
33:59
many I'm I'm looking forward to hearing something else in Ireland yeah they might call you Paddy
34:07
we'll see yeah yeah yeah exactly I think so so I guess English speakers say
34:13
Patricia your native polish friends and family will say Patricia patri and then
34:20
what and what did the Italian say patrizia yeah something like
34:26
this so we sometimes stay with PT it's easier P
34:33
International yeah my wife has a similar experience yeah I should have asked at
34:38
the beginning so I do apologize no no problem no problem all right then well thank you very much uh Patricia and I'm
34:46
wishing you all the best in Ireland thank you thank you very much you're welcome
34:56
[Music]
35:05
thanks for listening to IP podcast.com [Music]
#Health Education & Medical Training
#Medical Tourism
#Standardized & Admissions Tests