考官建议大家可以自学，但一定要有方向性的自学；同时，任何基础、任何情况下，有/老师指导的学习效果都会优于仅自学的效果，前提是一定找到一个专业、适合自己的老师。首先考官讲一下两个学生常见的备考误区：
1. 盲目自学。
盲目自学是大部分学生都可能会陷入的备考误区。学生往往会自己购买一些书籍、或者从网上看一些资料，便开始刷题自学。考官认为自学是备考雅思中不可或缺的一部分，但是盲目自学是非常不可取的。
理论上来说，人是可以自学几乎任何事情。但事实上，在实践中它是非常困难的。这就是为什么人们想要进入大学获得良好教育的原因：无论处于什么样的技能水平，有一个该领域的专家帮助你总是很有必要的。
雅思备考也是如此。考生在自学的过程中，往往容易处于一个没有方向的状态，效率也容易较低。以我们的输入类科目听力、阅读为例，学生只买一本雅思书并不是提高阅读技巧的好方法。重要的是，学生需要做符合自身英语水平的练习，找到自己的能力区间并且有方向地提升。同时，在做完题目之后也是需要通过老师的指导了解正确的答案以及它为什么正确。理论上学生是完全可以依靠自己来完成这些事情，这当然可行，但在考官看来，对大多数学生来说，有一些外部指导对你都是非常有帮助的。
2. 盲目找/老师。
这里所讲的盲目找/老师指的是在网上、或者是线下找/老师的时候，没有充分了解/老师的经历和资质，便找了一个/老师进行辅导。但由于/老师的经验不足或者不够权威，往往容易给出错误的指导，甚至耽误学生拿分数。
在考官看来，这样比盲目自学更加不可取，因为这样不仅损失了时间、也损失了金钱。老师再辅导学生学习时，起到的主要作用便是：指导方向、给出反馈。老师应该根据自己的多年教学经验给出学生一个充分的备考规划（选用什么材料、如何正确使用备考材料、如何安排自己的备考时间、每个阶段应该做怎样的事情），以及给出恰当的feedback（反馈意见）。不论是输入类科目阅读、听力，还是输出类科目口语、写作，都很需要/老师给出反馈，告诉学生差在哪里，需要怎么样去提升。
以口语为例，“When I'm teaching people to prepare the IELTTS speaking exam, what I often do is ask them how to structure and answer for part one. Then I might ask the student to try it at home and try some questions recording their answer and repeating, listening to the recording, developing self awareness, what am I doing and so on. And then we listen to it together.”
“当我教学生准备雅思口语考试时，我经常做的就是教他们如何组织和回答part1的题目。然后我可能会要求学生在家里尝试回答一些问题并将自己的答案录音记录下来，然后重复这个过程，之后再听录音，培育自我意识，知道自己在做什么。再之后，我们一起听。”
“And then I can give feedback about what is natural, what is good and what is not so good in my case, I'm a native speaker, from IELTS teaching experience and from IELTS examination experience. But the student on his or her own can listen for hesitation stuff like that. But it's difficult to know is this a natural phrase? Is this not.? Is this what people want? Is this not? So when I can give some feedback, then students can gain with self practice, try and incorporate those lessons in their self study.”
“这样我就可以提供反馈，让学生了解什么样的回答是自然的，什么是好的，什么又是不太好的因为我是一名英语母语者，并且有雅思的考试和教学经验。但是自学的学生可能不能很好地作出判断。他们很难知道这会是一个自然的短语吗？这是考官想要的吗？因此，通过我提供的一些反馈，学生能更好的通过自我练习将教学课程和自主学习结合起来。”
那我们应该如何避免误区、有效自学/找老师呢？
在考官眼里，自学和找老师并不是一个割裂的关系，而是相辅相成、互相配合的关系。
“It's not either or in my opinion, one way or another, you've got to get some input from outside yourself. And that input may come from random searches on the internet or it may come from somebody who you ask. Now, in my opinion, it is very difficult to improve your speaking skills significantly without any external support. If you do that, I think honestly that explains why people don't do as well as they could do. That doesn't mean some students might not do quite well, but I do definitely think they could have done better if they'd had some guidance.”
关于如何将二者结合起来，考官提出了几点建议：
1. 最好不要完全依靠自学
"my suggestion is that it is better not to rely on self study entirely although self study will always be the backbone of everything you do. But you can get some guidance of what self study to do, practice the stuff that you've done and how to improve it. So those things would in theory make your self study more effective. So I'm saying, I give my points that learning with a good guide teacher, mentor and doing extensive well directed self study, not time wasting, well directed, ideally resemble directed by somebody who can show you what is necessary to do better, is the best way to get your best mark. That means whatever mark you get on your own, with this additional input and guidance and feedback, I think it's possible to do better. "
“总的来说，我的建议是，最好不要完全依靠自学，尽管自学是你所做的一切的支柱。但是你也可以获取一些关于自学的指导，指导你练习已经完成的事情以及如何改进它。理论上说这些东西会使你的自学更有效。所以我要说的是，与一位优秀的老师一起学习并进行广泛的有指导的自学，是获得最佳成绩的最佳方式。有指导的自学意味着他可以告诉你怎么可以做的更好，而不是浪费时间。这意味着无论你仅靠自学拿到什么分数，在这些额外的输入和指导以及反馈的帮助下，你都可以做得更好。”
2. 自学的过程中，将自学专注在所学习的特定事物上，不要关注其他太多无关信息。
“Confine your self study to the the particular thing you're trying to learn not to more matter study thinking about the overall structure of the exam or where is a good place to take the exam or things like that. Focus on the things you need to know. Language, focus on language with your self study. And if you do get some external help, then make sure that you're getting it from the right kind of place or person. When I hear some of the things that my students tell me, that they've been told by teachers at different times or courses at different times, they are simply extraordinary.”
“将自学专注在你所学习的特定事物上，而不是担心考试整体框架或考试地点等等。专注于你想要了解的事情。语言，在自学中专注于语言的学习。如果你得到一些外部帮助，那么请确保你是从正确的地方或个人那里得到的。我经常听到我的学生说他们在不同时间从不同的老师或课程那里得知了不一样的信息，其实这都是不够可靠的信息来源。”
3.如果要获取外部建议，确保来源可靠。
“you have to try to make sure if you're going to have some external advice, get it from a reliable source, just as if you are going to have an operation, you would like to check that the person doing the operation is qualified to do it. I would say the same. It’s quite as serious as an operation. If you're preparing for the IELTS exam, at least, and you do choose to have some advice or support or teaching what everyone to call it, try to make sure that you're getting it from a reliable source. And reliable really means that they are qualified. Take cases speaking for example, they would know what is natural language. They would know how to evaluate your answers, how natural are they, are they the type of answer which is what the examiner is looking for. This kind of thing. Maybe you could ask people to explain how they do that, or why they're qualified to do that. Of course, a bad guide is probably wasted their guide at all. That's why you must choose carefully. But I think if you try and combine the best of self study and the best of getting some guidance about what you're doing, then for the vast majority of people, that will be the best way to do your personal best.”
“如果你要获得一些外部建议，请确保你是从可靠的来源获取，就像你马上要进行一场手术时，你会检查做手术的医生是否有足够的资质。这两者是一样的,你必须严肃对待。如果您正在准备雅思考试，并且你想要获得一些建议、支持或者教导，请尽量确保你从可靠的来源获得它。可靠意味着他们是有资质的。拿口语举例来说，有资质的老师会知道什么是自然的语言，他们会知道如何评估你的答案，你的回答是否自然，你的答案是否是考官喜欢的类型等等。或许你可以让他们告诉你他们是如何做的，或者为什么他们是有资质的。一个糟糕的指导完全是浪费时间，这就是为什么你必须谨慎选择你的指导老师。但我认为，对于绝大多数人来说，在学习这件事情上，结合自学和外在的指导将是个人学习的最佳方式。”
