Inspiring IELTS Success Story: Student Achieves 8.5 IELTS Through Self-Study

From the border village of Tan Dong in Tay Ninh province, Hoang Van Thai taught himself English, gradually reaching out to the outside world, and then won first prize at the provincial level and scored 8.0-8.5 in IELTS.

Hoang Van Thai, 20 years old, is currently a student in Logistics and Supply Chain Management at the University of Economics in Ho Chi Minh City. He took the IELTS test at the beginning of the month and scored 8.5, getting a perfect score in Listening. His scores in the other three skills were 8.5 in Reading, 8.5 in Writing, and 7.5 in Speaking.

"The result was beyond my expectations, so I was very excited and called my parents right away," Thai recalled. This was the second time the student took the IELTS test to prepare his application for a multinational company. Three years ago, Thai took the test to apply for university and scored 8.0.

Thai was born in Tan Dong village, Tay Ninh province, next to three Cambodian villages. His parents were farmers, growing local crops like sugarcane and rubber.

The young man saw that his border village had limited education resources. There were no English centers, and people didn't focus much on studying. Not many thought about improving English to increase chances for higher education and international work.

In primary school, Thai mostly learned English from textbooks on his own. In middle school, when his family could afford it, he asked to study in town. Every day, Thai biked 20 km round trip.

"The travel was tiring, but I was excited because I got to study," Thai said. He often wrote about his school life in town in a diary, which he sometimes reads.

Still, Thai felt classroom English wasn't enough, so he spent a lot of time studying on his own. He watched science videos on YouTube, especially physics experiments, to grow his vocabulary.

The hard part of self-study then, for Thai, was not knowing who to ask about things he didn't understand. The only person who knew English was the teacher, but she only knew the basics. Thai aimed to pass the exam for a specialized school to learn more deeply.

The young man "searched everywhere" for online guides, read books, used dictionaries, and practiced past exam papers. As a result, Thai passed the test for the English specialized class at Hoang Le Kha High School for the Gifted in his province. In his final year there, Thai also won first prize in the provincial English competition.

At this time, Thai learned that language certificates were widely used for university admissions. He chose to study for IELTS with the goal of passing an economics major.

"My childhood dream was to be an English teacher, but economics was a better choice to help my family," Thai said.

Regularly reading books and watching videos in English, Thai's Listening and Reading skills were quite strong, so he only practiced online tests to get familiar with the format.

For the other two skills, at first, Thai realized he wasn't doing well because "without someone to check my work, I didn't know where I was wrong." Later, he happened to meet a classmate studying in Singapore and started talking to them. After chatting about many common topics and seeing how well the friend used English, especially in expressing ideas and presenting arguments, Thai asked for help with Speaking and Writing.

Tran Phuoc My, a close friend and English tutor of Thai, was impressed by his mature attitude towards the IELTS exam goal.

"Thai studies to understand. So, he always looks for practical and applicable ways to learn," My said. "Thai always tries to give as many pros/cons arguments, or challenge his own ideas when practicing Speaking and Writing."

For his second certificate attempt, Thai still asked his friend to check his work and improve his argument skills. During two months of summer break, the two friends met weekly to review over 10 essays and 4 speaking tasks that Thai had prepared. My also helped Thai practice speaking like in a real test, then gave detailed feedback on logic, fluency, grammar, and vocabulary. Most practice materials came from the Cambridge IELTS.

Besides doing practice tests, the male student still improves his English by reading newspapers, science magazines, and everyday foreign books. Thai is a regular reader of philosophy articles in the New York Times and health and nutrition articles in the science magazine Nature...

"English is a tool that helps me access the world's vast knowledge. In my backpack, there's always an English book," Thai said. The student is learning about psychological phenomena in the book Quirkology by Richard Wiseman, a professor at the University of Hertfordshire, England.

Thai also often talks to and helps foreigners in the Notre Dame Cathedral area (Ho Chi Minh City) to practice speaking and listen to tourists' experiences.

Last semester, the student chose Global Supply Chain Management because it was taught entirely in English. Thai always takes notes in English to understand and think in this language. At the end of the term, his group analyzed a pharmaceutical company's supply and purchasing strategy through a video and received good feedback from teachers.

In his journey, Thai said another lucky thing is having his parents' support. His father advised Thai to learn more English online, saying learning English would open up a bright future. Thai's mother also encouraged him, even though she had never learned the language.

In the coming time, Thai said he will focus on studying, completing his internship well, and helping friends learn English.

"I will also continue writing blogs in English, sharing my views on life issues in this language," Thai said.