My Top 3 English Study Materials: Part 1
๐ Introducing the 3 Main Textbooks I Used to Study English (Part 1)
Hello! This page is a space where I would like to introduce the textbooks that I have personally used and received great help from since I first started studying English.
Although I am not a gifted writer and some parts may not read as smoothly, I have done my absolute best to write this in the hope that my experience might be of some help to those who are just starting out. ๐
๐ก Starting Out: My Initial English Proficiency
When I first started studying English in earnest, I couldn't even make a single proper sentence on my own. At most, all I could manage were very simple sentences that you would typically find in a middle school textbook, consisting of a single word each for "Subject + Verb + Object."
Realizing that it was impossible for me to expand my sentences, I made a firm decision: "Let's start over from the very basics of grammar and build a proper foundation." That is how I opened a grammar book first, which eventually led me all the way to preparing for actual exams.
Now, let me introduce the books I used one by one.
1. Grammar in Use
- ๐ Study Period: About 6 months (and I still look up parts whenever needed)
- โ๏ธ Study Method: I focused on "extensive reading as fast as possible and endless repetition." Instead of staying on one page for too long, I aimed to finish the entire book as quickly as I could, and then returned to the beginning to study it all over again, focusing on increasing the number of times I went through it. Even now, having completed the book, I still use it like an encyclopedia to look up and review any grammar points that are confusing or hard to remember.
๐ Reasons for Choosing & Honest Review
Back in my school days, I absolutely hated memorizing rigid grammatical terms (e.g., restrictive relative clauses, adverbial usage, etc.). Just looking at those terms made me feel drowsy and lose all motivation before I even started.
So, after searching around online, I chose this book because people said "it is explained intuitively in English, and it doesn't contain the complex, difficult grammatical terms used in Korea." The result was highly satisfying, and this book became the biggest stepping stone for me to naturally understand sentence structures from a native speaker's perspective.
2. Hackers IELTS READING BASIC
- ๐ Study Period: About 1 week
- โ๏ธ Study Method: I found a few free online lectures on the official Hackers website, watched them, and then concluded my study with this book.
๐ Reasons for Choosing & Honest Review
To be honest, while studying with this book, I clearly realized that online lectures do not suit my learning style. I learned that it is much more efficient for me to tackle the reading myself rather than just sitting there listening to a lecture.
Although I only looked at this book for a short period of about a week, it is definitely a helpful book for beginners who know absolutely nothing about the IELTS exam or have a low understanding of the question types. Thanks to it, I was able to quickly grasp roughly what format the exam questions are presented in before moving on to the next step.
3. Cambridge IELTS Series
- ๐ Study Period: About 1 year and 6 months
- โ๏ธ Study Method: When I was studying, Volume 17 was the latest edition. Therefore, I borrowed Volumes 12 through 17 from the library or purchased the E-books directly to study. My daily routine was to consistently practice one Reading passage and one Listening section every single day.
๐ฌ Detailed Study Method by Section
๐ Reading:
I read a single passage and solved the questions while timing myself. At first, I focused on solving the questions regardless of how much time it took. This was to track how my reading speed improved over time.
After grading, I thoroughly read the passage again from beginning to end without skipping a single sentence, checking all the words I didn't know. I didn't memorize the vocabulary separately; I just looked up the definitions and moved on.
Regardless of whether I got a question right or wrong, I found "why this specific sentence serves as the basis for the correct answer" within the passage and recorded the matches one by one in my notes.
Starting from Volume 17, I worked my way backward down to Volume 12, and then returned to Volume 17 to study all over again using the exact same method.
๐ง Listening:
I solved the questions in a quiet environment free from surrounding noise, wearing a headset to simulate the actual test.
After solving the questions, I carefully read the audio script from start to finish to fully understand the content, and then listened to the audio again.
To train both my ears and mouth, I practiced Shadowing repeatedlyโspeaking along with the audio exactly as I heard it while looking at the script!
Just like Reading, I started from Volume 17, worked my way backward to Volume 12, and then came back to Volume 17 to study again in the exact same way.
โ๏ธ Conclusion
So far, I have introduced the 3 main types of textbooks that served as the core pillars for improving my English skills. I will gradually update other minor supplementary materials and resources in the future.
If you have any questions, inquiries, or suggestions while reading, please send me an email through the "Contact Us" menu at the top of the blog, and I will get back to you.
Thank you so much from the bottom of my heart for reading this long post to the end, especially since it might have been difficult to read due to my lack of writing skills. Happy studying, everyone! ๐ฅ