Nepenthe

The easiest method is watching series with english subtitles. BBC has a text service that lays a layer of subtitles on the broadcasted show. All popular series/movies come with English subtitles in the DVD (Or , if you download them, get English subtitles instead of subs in your native language) Playing multiplayer online games has the advantage of improving your confidence and speed. You use ventrilo/teamspeak and talk to your game buddies all day, in English. That won't help you with the accent though. Series will. When the actor says a word, you'll see the spelling in the subtitle, and hear the pronouncation from him. + you will have a good time watching them.

It came out as; 30 Reading 28 Listening 26 Speaking (grammar errors it says, shouldn't use "gonna" instead of "going to" I guess :p ) 28 Writing (grammar errors again, I'm too used to informal speaking and writing..) Schools I applied require scores from 80 to 90, but I'm happy with the result as I didn't have to study for it, and I haven't lived in an English speaking country.

Hello I took my first IBT on the 23rd as well. It was in Ankara/Turkey, at the Real Training Solutions Test Center located at the Computer Engineering Department of Ankara University, and it was not my first choice, but all the other test centers were full by the time I got my bank to approve credit card transaction, which they blocked on their own, having identified ETS as a scammer recipient.. (HSBC, The Worst Bank in the World) The staff was very friendly, we filled in some form where we were required to rewrite a paragraph with our handwriting and sign, but I visited the center the previous day and I knew the deal (Even brought a pen for the chore.) We were photographed one by one (My expression was that of sheer terror and exam stress on the photo, I was not any happier when I saw my photo on the screen of the compute I was supposed to take the test) The microphone failed the test 3 times. After that I was moved to another computer, and seated on a similar wooden chair that made my back hurt like nothing after an hour. It was supposed to be the computer lab that software engineers train/ take classes and do programming homeworks. Massive failure there on behalf of the University Administration. My only test training consisted of the walkover practice test provided by the ETS to those who register. So I knew tha the reading passage would stay even if i skipped to the question. That saved me a lot of time because I couldnt have understood a thing whilst a classroom of teenagers yelled "I live in Ankara It is a big city but It's too cold and I have diarrhea" in unison. Not the exact words. The reading part went OK. The only questions I pause for more than 10 seconds are those final questions where we are required to order the sentenced or drag the most important ideas among major and minor ideas listed in a box. Mainly because I happen to disagree with the test at such questions, even since when I was 9, taking Turkish tests with similar questions. Listening part was the easiest for me. Been watching almost all the cool series like House, Lost, Heroes and quite a few series on BBC Prime in English for almost 7-8 years, the simple academic speech almost bored me with its slow tempo. I was quite confident about the speaking part before the test began, because I adopted a strong Brit accent in years, without having lived in Britain for more than two weeks. The question as asked, and i began speaking in the preparation time, only to tremble with panic because I couldnt hear my own voice, then I got the beep and the answering time began, when I could hear myself. I spoke too fast. I had taken notes about what to speak, and it was quite a lot of material. But I spoke too fast and I still had 10 seconds when I ran out of ideas. I tried to insert some more witty comments, but I doubt the scorer will fancy that :) I should really have practiced the timing beforehand. Writing section was nothing but glorious. In the first question that made us write about an academic's speech and a reading passage I used all transition words and humorous remarks, but refrained from adding my personal thoughts as instructed. The essay question asked us to write an essay stating our opinion (pro or con) about a statement such as "Young people should hop from job to job until they find one they would be happy to build a long career"... I planned my essay to stlate an opposing idea, my first point was that youth was too valuable to waste like a bee flying from flower to flower looking for polen, only, the bee gained experience in the line of work he would be doing all her life, unlike a young person who would gain no experience about computers when serving pasta at a restaurant, if he is to apply to an IT company next.. The second point stated that companies review CVs and look at our previous jobs, and they wouldnt think "hey, he worked at 10 jobs but dint like them", but more like "hey, his previous 10 bosses fired him, so why should we hire him?" , so the main statement was inconsisted within itself, job hopping wouldnt bring a long career... I concluded the essay with something like "life is a board and we live it not with an eraser in hand but with a pen, adding new words to those we already wrote.." , quite cliché but I thought it would charm the scorer ;) Overall I'm happy with the listening and writing parts, so so about the reading part because of those final questions, and scared about the speaking part, should the scorer ignore the accuracy, and accent but just focus on the way I used (couldnt use) the time. 16 days an no scores yet.