Monday, 25 February 2019 – In order to develop the soft skills of the faculty members of Fisipol, Career Development Center (CDC) Fisipol UGM held “Soft skill Mastering Series: IELTS Simulation” on Monday (25/2). This simulation was held due to the high demand and necessity of speaking English, in which often fluency in English is obligatory in order to be accepted to scholarship programs or job vacancies. The event, which took place in Room 204, was held under a cooperation with Realia Language and Culture Center. This event provided various tips and tricks in answering the test questions for the participants. This event was divided into four sessions, which consisted of listening, reading, writing and speaking sessions.
“The key to be successful in an IELTS test is to prepare well and to practice a lot. You don’t need to worry about being wrong, as it wastes your time in the reading session. What is measured is your reading comprehension, rather than your knowledge. Furthermore, a good speaking ability is not measured by the comprehension of the tenses, but through our level of understanding conversations in English,” as explained by Ahmed from Realia.
Fuchia Mutiaramoty, one of the participants and a fresh graduate from the Department of International Relations batch 2014, explained the primary reason why she participated in this event. She stated that fluency in English is a mandatory skill to have.
“I have never participated in any IELTS test before, and I would like to test my English skills. My target is that I will register to participate in the LPDP scholarship for my graduate degree. However, I would also like to search for jobs, since most of the job openings require an IELTS certificate. Therefore, with an IELTS certificate, I would have plans for various possibilities.
This simulation reflected CDC’s commitment as a center of career and skills development in Fisipol, in order to prepare Fisipol students for the workforce. This simulation was attended by participants that hailed from various backgrounds, ranging from students, staffs, fresh graduates and lecturers.