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| Books.. Practice.. Score! |
Many of my friends and relatives were asking me how my family applied for permanent visa in Australia. My answer was always, "I
used an agent". Then they will ask me which agent. I tell them I used
NTRUST, a local company in Singapore.
Since I haven't tried other agencies, I cannot compare them
with others but I was very satisfied with their service. Of course, hiring an
agent does not mean I would do nothing and just wait for our visa to be
approved. I needed to prepare for the IELTS, an English exam that would add
points to my eligibility.
At first, I thought I needed to enroll on some English
course specializing in IELTS for me to get a better chance of obtaining a high
score. But because of my busy work schedule, I decided not to. I purchased some
books, if I my memory serves me right they are from the publisher Cambridge and
just study on my own. Despite going home late at night, I dedicated one hour of
practice before I go to bed. I even asked my wife to help me practice. She
wrote some questions that are most likely to be asked in the speaking exam such
as "Tell me something about yourself", "What do you usually do
during your free time?", "Who do you look up to?" and a lot
more. I even recorded my own voice while practicing and listen to it to know which parts I can
improve!
Let me tell you, it was not fun practicing but because I
really wanted to give my kids a better future, I just did what I needed to do -
practice English. I took the test and after 2 weeks of waiting for the result,
I obtained the score I needed. I got at least 7 on each band (not bad!) that
made me eligible for skilled migration. I have a friend (whom I guess speaks
English better than me) who took the IELTS twice before getting his target
score on each band. He said he did not practice for his first exam because he
was too confident that is why he failed. On the second one, he practiced and
even got a minimum of 8 on each band.
So there, PRACTICE is the key to IELTS.
Back to my agent, after submitting my scores, the process
went smooth. I was updated with the progress of my application. I gave them all
the necessary documentation they needed for the application. We thought it
would take about 1 to 2 years to get approved but surprisingly, our visa was
approved in 7 months only!
You are not required to use an agent but if you are not confident in handling your application, just use one. Using an agent would cost you more than applying on your own but it would be totally worth it once you get the visa!
