Yes. It was historic. We were 12 in number. The first ever set of IELTS test takers with MOD in PH.
The people did not give us prior notice about our speaking Test date until Friday night when they called. They sent a mail saying something was attached, but we all did not see anything.

However, the exam venue was fine and comfortable. Headphones were given. Looks fresh, I'm almost sure we are the first to use them.
A little hitch: we had a power failure of about 45 seconds during the Reading and the place was dark..... everyone was confused. LRW finished at about 1 pm. Speaking was done later in the day. Mine was by 4 pm. Overall, it was good. I think they will improve with subsequent exams.

Oopsy:
Please did anyone take IELTS today with MOD in Port Harcourt? Kindly share your experience. Thanks

Okay. Thank you.

MummyJaygirls:


You can enter the pool without her eca, say no to her eca question. When u get her eca, u update accordingly

Success stories all the way. Well done guys.

Please, I need your advice.

My ECA report is on the way. We initially did not plan to do a WES evaluation for my wife, because my points are high enough, and we didn't want to go through the stress. However, now we consider that the extra 8 marks may come in handy.

My question is pre-ITA do I need my wife's ECA to come out before entering the pool? In other words, when asked:

"What is the highest level of education for which your spouse or common-law partner's has:
earned a Canadian degree, diploma or certificate; or
had an Educational Credential Assessment (ECA)? (ECAs must be from an approved agency, in the last five years)"

Can I say she has a Bachelor's degree, even if it hasn't been evaluated yet?

Thanks in anticipation.

Congrats to you too. Thanks for your response to an earlier post of mine, when I asked for directions in preparations.
Thanks again.

MrBigiman:


Well done. I took the academic a while back also and made an overall of 7.5. I will most assuredly do the UKVI pretty soon. It's good to succeed.

Thanks. I will briefly share my experience.

READING: I heard this was the most difficult, so I decided to pay more attention to it. I did well over 50 practice tests, mostly through www.ieltsonlinetests.com. I practiced without timing initially, so as to get used to the questions. After then I erroneously timed for 30 minutes, and each time I was around Q36 when it got to 30 mins. When I realized it was a 40 minutes exam, I was already used to my speed. Other useful sites were ieltsbuddy.com and ieltsliz.com. I became less afraid of the test, when I told myself that all the answers were found in the passage, and I didn't need any extra information. By God's grace, I got a 9.0 here.

LISTENING: Apparently the easiest part of the exam. But one needs to concentrate. I also did practice tests, but cheated, because I paused and rewound when I didn't get a word. It was in my last week of preparations that I stopped rewinding. On the test day, I missed a question during the 3-person conversation. This made me miss another 2 or 3. My final score in listening was 8.0

SPEAKING: I always felt I could speak English, so I didn't spend time preparing for speaking. A week to my speaking test date, I started practising answering, and saw that it was a big deal, especially the Task 2 where you have to speak for 2 minutes. It really scared me. Just a day to the test, I stumbled on Jay's PPF method for speaking, and I believe that was what helped me. I got an 8.0 in speaking

WRITING: I always fell short of the 150 words and 250 words for Task 1 and Task 2 respectively. This part of the test was my greatest fear. However, few days to the test, I started preparing with Jay's videos from YouTube. I wish I had discovered him earlier. On test day, the questions were not difficult and I wrote well over the required word count. Apparently, I didn't do so well in the cohesion et al. because I had a 7. I was so excited to see my score, though.

Overall, nothing replaces practice, practice and more practice. With God by your side, ALL THINGS are possible.

MrBigiman:


How blessed u are.

Thanks.

I took the academic test.

MrBigiman:


Congrats. Amazing score. Was it general or academic u took?

I don't know if people have materials of small sizes that can be emailed to you. Most of the materials are online. There are lots of them. I downloaded some videos from YouTube. You can access them yourself.

Useful websites are: ieltsliz.com; ieltsbuddy.com; ieltsonlinetests.com.
For the videos, I found Jay videos the most useful, although they are long. Liz's videos are good, short but they are many. Most of the Liz videos can't be downloaded from YouTube. On YouTube, just search for 'IELTS Reading', 'IELTS Speaking Jay' or any other key words you need.

You can get all the materials you need by yourself.

ELDINO:
Please guys I need the materials too. My mail is elijahthomasintl2011@gmail.com. Thanks

So the result is out now. I had an overall band of 8.
LRWS was 8.0, 9.0, 7.0, 8.

I'm so grateful to God. And to everyone who has contributed on this thread.

mosky47:
Hi everyone. Thank you all for posting on this thread. I used information from here to prepare for my IELTS.

Although my result is not out, I am confident that it will be good. I hope to share my experiences here, but I will be more confident after I see the result....lol.

CHALLENGES
The least of my challenge was getting materials, as there are lots of practice around.
I needed to get an overall score of 8, at least 7.5, but most lectures I saw said how good their teachings were, and how they could help you get a band 6 score or more.....lol

PREPARATION TIME:
I think 1 month uninterrupted is enough to adequately prepared for it.

PS: Note that the exam is not a test of intelligence. If you use intelligence, you will fail it. There are techniques to passing it.

Hi everyone. Thank you all for posting on this thread. I used information from here to prepare for my IELTS.

Although my result is not out, I am confident that it will be good. I hope to share my experiences here, but I will be more confident after I see the result....lol.

Believe me, it's a good move.
I wish you all the best.

How did your ielts go? 6th January, you said.

Raymondenyi:

Hello, I'm a medical doctor practising in Nigeria;
I'm currently undergoing my residency training program as a junior resident in Surgery, will be due for my part 1 exam in 2019,
right now, greeted with so much frustration of the Health system in Nigeria and all the attendant menace there in; I want to abandon my program I'm doing and go in for PLAB exam (UK medical licensing exam, to practise in the UK) , please, is this a good move?
I need sincere responses from people, preferably doctors that have made similar moves.
Thank you.


Just to note; up to half of my colleagues in same training with me, in same Dept. Are also making same move.

Responses please...

MrBigiman:


Give it 4 weeks. The only challenging part of the exams was reading. Some also say writing though, but it wasn't challenging for me. The other parts should be easy to scale through if u speak English regularly.

Thank you for the response

Hello everyone. I'm new here.
Reading from the thtead, it seems 2 weeks is enough for intense studying to pass ielts academic.

I'm taking the exam in March but I've begun preparation as I am combining my preps with work and others.

For those who have taken the exams, which part was most challenging to you, from your experience?

Thank you so much for these updates.

I want to know if Etihad provides accommodation if there's a long overlay of up to 10 hours, especially if it's overnight.

Does the airline provide a hotel, or you're expected to remain at the airport?

Thanks

New Mile One Hospital is one of a kind. The owner is a seasoned Christian whose career is more like a calling. The health sector actually needs reviving, just like most other sectors in this country.
The populace should join the doctors and health workers to make this a reality. Let's not wait for the politicians.

OTENABOBC1:
She's the third girl this year,the 1st 300 Level student stayed next to my hostel,the 2nd a 300 level former vice president Imo state students association uniport(few weeks ago),and now this.
I want to Emphasise that....
The best time to protest is while the student is still alive in the hospital, as that will force the medical staff to give immediate attention to the patient, not protesting when the patient is already gone. Earlier this year I and my room mates would have lost one of our dear room mate who is in his 300 level and happened to be the only son to his aged parents,if not for God who gave us the grace to rush him to a private hospital with the aid of the school clinic nurse in their ambulance, though we spent a lot about N300k(after subsidy) but to be frank the hospital [b](New Mile One Hospital) [/b]accepted,operated(of severe peptic ulcer which perforated his intestines) and treated him without even an advanced payment(the only thing we paid for instantly was 15k for blood) when we pleaded that we had no money at hand but expecting a fund transfer from his parents which arrived a week later and by then he had recovered beyond average of which the chief surgeon who was a consultant in UPTH told us that if we hadn't rushed him down to the private hospital(where he was operated in not less than 2 hours of our arrival) we would have lost him to protocols at the teaching hospital which would've taken hours to accomplish, thank God we still have a hospital in this nation(Especially in PH) that cares about one's health than his wealth.
So all I'm saying is this... students should be able to create awareness while the patient is still alive not providing medicine after death or better still rush the patient to a good private hospitals not withstanding the scale of bills as parent will surely find a way to settle the later, as the Life of their child is far more precious (Even if them no get money them go get place to borrow) .
Greatest Unique Nigerian Students...
Greatest GboGbo...
Greatest GbaGba...
OverConscious Kpoin...
Aluta Continua..!

I seriously agree with you. If you hope to use UBA to swipe, please reconsider.
They debited me N267 and N269 on separate occasions. However, on Amazon, it is 208. So I only use it on Amazon.
Withdrawing from an ATM with my debit card has embarrassed me.

shimk:



also if u see black market dat is cheaper dan 230 please buy so u have enuf cash on u because it will still be cheaper dan swiping ur card.


I used fidelity card on moday, d conversion rate was about 239.

jus used my fcmb and it was bout 235. dats like buying from black market abeg.

We stayed at a friend's in Montgomery, AL which you know is about an hour away from Selma.

bims87:


I know,right. Did u rent accommodation? how much was it? I stayed with family at Mgm so m asking that cos of my friend that's also tilting towards dre

Oh yeah, he was. A very nice and caring doctor. Takes his patients personal and makes them feel very important.

bims87:


Oh nice! I had my baby in the same hospital earlier this year. Was Dr Stephen your doctor?

Yes, it is.

bims87:


Congratulations! Was it Vaughn Regional Medical Centre?

Thank you firsttymum

firsttymum:
Mosky47


Congratulations.... God is great...

It's actually in Selma, Alabama (AL). I'll reply your pm as soon as I find it. Still trying to figure out where my inbox is.

geeteeai:

congratulations mosky47!!!

please what is the name of the hospital you used in atlanta and doctor's contact.is 4100 for CS or VD.

i sent you a pm.

thank you.

Thanks.
I actually mean the state of Alabama (AL), not Atlanta. It's close to Atlanta so we drove there for Nigerian passport.

LadyGuinivere:

Nne m ooo! Hm!

Anyways na me and kenan de wave white flag now.
@LME, I think u should research and find the cheapest option. Sometimes just the hospital bill without accomodation in one state is more expensive than hospital/baby bills plus accomodation in another state .
Person fit born, then carry em kaya go back go stay with family. See Mosky na, 6k for bills in Atl in total.
Mosky congrats! I celebrate with una o!

So, we had our son last Friday in AL.

It's so affordable and the stress is less. We picked up the birth certificate on Tuesday and applied for US passport same day. 2days later, we went to Nigerian Embassy in Atlanta for the Nigerian passport. I had done the online application 2 days earlier. Paid for expedited for US passport (which is 2-3wks) and the regular (2-3days postage) for Nigerian passport. We still have 4 weeks left before our return date so we just sit down, sing worship songs, drink tampico juice and visit town while we wait for our baby's passports and our return date.

For payment, 4100 for hospital fee (came to that cost because we got a discount of 1k), Drs fee 1000, baby's hospital fee (2nights) is 600, Paediatrician's fee 300. For me, the cost is below what we expected so we are every grateful to God.

Hi guys,

I have been a silent follower of this thread (what we call 'waka pass') since February. I read all of Part 1 and followed the thread to Part 2. It has really been informative and some times hilarious and other times off the point with arguments and brawls. I did a degree in the US and I know how much I paid compared to my fellow Naijans who are American citizens, and so we prepared for this.

My wife just arrived the US yesterday. I'll give a summary of our experience.

VISA: She has a valid visa with which she traveled for a vacation 2 yrs ago.
CHANGE OF INTENT (we called it NOTIFICATION OF INTENT): I found about that on this page; we wrote them and got the generic reply. There's no harm in writing this.
MONEY: This was a major challenge as the dollar rose. When we started planning about this, dollar was about N165, and at the time we exchanged the money, it was N221 (black market). I waka tire visiting nearly every bank in my city looking for PTA. They kept telling me to check the next day, finally we settled for black market. I was really worried that she might have issues at the POE as the money we had (as at the time of her travel) was below our budget.
TRAVEL: She traveled alone, I'll be joining her later. Flew MedView to Lagos (she was harassed about flying at 34 weeks even with a Fit-To-Fly report; no wonder people lie about their GA). I had to speak English. With authority, I told them I love her more than they do and I won't want to risk her life if I know it's dangerous. Meanwhile I called AirFrance about 3 months ago, they said it's okay for her to fly until 36 weeks or so. If international flight of over 12 hours think it is safe, na this 45 minutes waka go be trouble?

She flew AirFrance from Lag with a stopover at CDG (Paris); na for Paris them begin quiz her. They asked for her medical reports, correspondence with doctor in the US, where she works etc.

POE: I didn't know this could be an issue until I started following this thread, because I've traveled several times to the US and didn't see it as anything. Well, her POE was JFK (new york), thanks to info from this thread. Conversation was brief viz:

CBP: What are you here for?
Wifey: To attend ******* (which is true) and to have my baby.
CBP: You mean you want to have a baby in the US?
Wifey: Yes.
CBP: How much do you have?
Wifey: Mentions in dollars and N15,000
CBP: How much is N15k in dollars.
Wifey: About 68 USD.
CBP was surprised) You mean N15k is just $68? That's interesting.
Wifey: Yes
CBP: stamps her in for 6 months.


Help us thank God for favour.

LESSONS:
Get all your facts right.
No need to lie.
Be bold if you are saying the truth.
Trust in the Lord.
Write the embassy to notify them of your plan. No harm in doing that.
Load your phone so you can roam and receive/make emergency calls.
Newbies: Be diligent and read the entire thread, you'll get answer to any question. This is better than asking a question that has been answered several times over.

NEXT: We pray for the Lord to perfect what He has started. Cheers.