The Analyst Down Under

The new month's certainly started off well enough. My motto had always been to keep expectations low so I could end up doing better than I expected. But this time I did pretty well, with an overall 8.5 and 7+ in all the bands. Best of all, I got a perfect score in my reading, though writing was 7.5 (when I secretly expected an 8+) and I scored 8.5 in both speaking and listening. So this means that I have cleared one part of the skilled migration requirements and can go ahead with my occupational assessment, with English language testing off my worry list, thogh a better pic wouldn't have been the worst thing I could do. Its been difficult gathering the course outlines of all the subjects I took at the various universities in different parts of the world, though I had some help from my cousin in the UAE who arranged for all my docs on that front. I still haven't decided completely which assessment body to lodge my case with as this needs more analysis. Most importantly, I...

It was good that I made a fuss about having to send in my photographs without a cap. Sara from the IELTS administration just called in to say that she took another look at my pic and has approved it for dispatching the results. That's after I talked to a very professional and courteous lady in the British Council with immaculately refined speaking skills in both native-Brit and khalis Urdu - Sadia But, managing the British Council information center. She called back a few minutes after I made contact on the toll free number and told them that I was intending to send them the bill along with my photographs. Sadia promised me that she would get down to it and that she was quite sure that it wasn't prejudiced, when I explained to her that I had said "thank you very much but I'll keep it on" to the nice test administrator who had advised me to take off my cap before going in for my speaking interview. After all, the cap ( topi ) is an integral part of my religious and...

No, I'm not losing my religion, as much as you'd imagine from my previous post (I said too much, I said it all...). And I'm not so big on REM either, except for this very sticky song. Well, I lost at least five listening questions to my lack of concentration and love for drifting thoughts. The reading was sharp, and I finished my writing just in time, going over each task and finishing satisfactorily. My preparation was a little half-baked, as I did not do an all-important practice test beforehand and this cost me quite a few on the listening as I still hadn't oriented myself properly to pay attention. However, watching 'Australia' with my folks over the last two nights paid off as I could easily make out that Australian accent in one of the clips, though I still missed one in that section while I was gloating. This Ramadan's tasbeeh and ziarat of Bhaiji Bhai probably had a lot to do in taking me through this paper (as usual, I was fretting like a nervous co...

So unless I'm really starting to enjoy testing again and again to show them I'm at least as good as I really am, I need to pay attention. Listening 1 - Scan the questions and calculate what kind of answers you need to listen for. (Is it an address? Is it a word or a number? Is it a noun, verb or adjective? etc.) 2 - Listen carefully for the answers Reading 1 - Scan the questions 2 - Read the text as past as possible. Make sense of the passage, the overall theme and perhaps jot down the topic of each paragraph, but try not to indulge too much or re-read. Skimming text by reading over two or three words is better than reading each word separately. 3 - Answer the questions by referring back to the relevant text section in each case. Do not answer any questions from your own inference without making sure that it is exactly what is included in the text, nothing more nothing less. 4 - Leave any difficult questions and move on. Try to attempt the maximum number of marks, even if it me...

Well, a hop and jump later, here I am, wondering. Once again, I was a stammering fool (or half) when I was asked the same two questions I should have anticipated in the speaking test and been able to prepare better for: 'what do you do?' and 'is it easy to find a job in you country?'. And as for my two-minute 'something that broke or stopped working and what you did', I had no idea of how much time had elapsed so I was left wandering and digressing scared I wouldn't be able to take up all of my two minutes like last time and only got so far. I left out all the juicy funny parts and wasn't able to keep purely to the topic. However, my responses in the last part were so interesting for the interviewer that she even continued the conversation long after she stopped recording. Unlike the dimly lit sleepy hotel room in my last interview, this was in a classroom right past the dungeon keeper and barricaded locker rooms. Also, the interviewer was lively and res...

Well, the day of the speaking test has finally arrived, one day before the written. Having gone through the British Council website and judging from my past experience, walking in for the interview with a clear, focused mindset is a pretty good idea. This is my strategy to get a good score (as good as last time or better): 1. Be relaxed and natural, but also confident, upbeat and super-interested in conversing with the interviewer 2. Remember not to simply reach the interviewers level of communication, but to exceed it - articulating thoughts skillfully as well as dripping lexicon and idiomatic phrases all over the place. A good way to do this would probably be to imagine that I'm an expert on Wall Street that has been approached by only the most glorious news channel for a short fifteen minute radio interview. The topic could be anything, so I need to communicate as much information as richly as possible, especially in my 2-minute monologue and in the ensuing conversation. Of co...

Unlike the last time I sat the IELTS, now there are online resources that prepare candidates for the test. I received an email from the IELTS around six days to a week after submitting the application at the branch. It reads: Dear TAAHA ABDUL LATIF Thank you for registering for IELTS with The British Council. Please note that we have received your application form and payment slip. Your registration status is confirmed now. Following are your test details: Customer Reference Number : ommitted - Name : TAAHA ABDUL LATIF Test Date : 25 Sep 2010 Test Centre : KARACHI Test Module : AC Date of Birth : 1981-01-09 Gender : Male Passport/CNIC No : - ommitted - Payment Date : 2010-09-15 Your Correspondence Address : - ommitted - You...

Contrary to what I had in mind, IELTS did not become history as early as I would have liked. I still have to deal with clearing the English Language requirements because for all my linguistic brilliance, I messed up in the writing section last time - falling short of the word limit in the second part of the test, having taken up most of my time in the first task. This was very reckless and irresponsible because: 1. IELTS information material clearly stated that falling short of the word limit in the writing section would be a costly mistake. 2. My exam strategy couldn't have been any worse - the second part of the test was worth twice the marks than the first part, but I managed to allocate only half as much time as I took in the first part. Falling short by half a band in this section means that I have to go through the whole process and empty my pockets once again. However, some consolation comes from the fact that my targeted accounting body for migration assessment (ICAA) does...

Sweat, blood and tears are good. Then maybe you can just pass on those CIMA papers like I did (I shudder to think about the bucketfuls due for November at the Management Level, and beyond). I am grateful to the Lord and to all the people whose prayers pulled me through. On the other hand, life just isn't effortless any more. I know I don't always dot my is' and cross my ts' but I missed out on the minimum 7 band IELTS requirement in the writing section. Which means another Rs. 10k (or is it 12k already?) and unnecessary delays. I guess this time around I'll have to sit down and do some 'practice' - or at least one blog dedicated to IELTS exam strategy, because that's where I messed up. 'Unnecessary delays' is right because I just had a virtual classical Homer Simpson 'doh moment while going through the assessment criteria for immigration. Turns out I could have been in Australia already (yeah right), if I had applied just a few months earlier...

With constant changes to the Skilled migration, you can never be sure what's just around the corner. But language has always been important - no doubts about that. IELTS is the way to go. There's an application form and calendar and instructions for folks in Pakistan on http://www.britishcouncil.org/pakistan-exams-ielts.htm It's pretty expensive, and more so from July. So this is the next thing on my 'To do' list, as it seems to be the right time. I'll be losing 5 points in another 6 months when I turn thirty, so I guess I need to expedite matters and have my arsenal of certifications and verifications ready. From now on, I really need to mind my language.