IELTS Preparation

Four equally weighted sections, an average rounded to a whole or half band, and possible minimum requirements for each skill. Use all three when planning your preparation.

9 min read

Grammatical Range and Accuracy is one of four criteria in both Writing and Speaking. Two habits carried over from Arabic hold more candidates at band 5 than any vocabulary gap.

9 min read

Task 1 has its own tense, Task 2 has another, and Speaking Part 1 has a third. Choosing wrongly is an accuracy error the examiner hears in the first sentence.

9 min read

A quarter of both productive bands rewards precise, natural word choice. Memorised advanced vocabulary used slightly wrongly scores below plain words used well.

8 min read

Each question type has a specific trap, and True/False/Not Given accounts for more lost marks than any other single format in the exam.

9 min read

There is no separate transfer time in Reading. Most candidates who run out of time do so because they read the passages in the wrong order and never recover.

9 min read

The recording plays once. The four parts rise in difficulty in a predictable way, and knowing the shape of each is most of what preparation can give you.

8 min read

The most commonly lost marks in this section are not comprehension failures. They are correct answers written down wrongly.

8 min read

Twenty minutes, 150 words, one third of the writing band. The commonest failure is describing every number instead of selecting the ones that matter.

9 min read

Two thirds of the writing band. The descriptors are public, and reading them changes what you write more than any amount of practice does.

9 min read

A plan that takes five minutes, a paragraph shape that works for every prompt type, and the specific thing band 7 does that band 6 does not.

9 min read

Eleven to fourteen minutes with a real examiner, in three parts that ask for three different things. Treating them the same is why part 3 collapses.

8 min read

Fluency and Coherence is a quarter of the speaking band. Candidates who stop to find the perfect word score below those who keep going and make small mistakes.

8 min read

A quarter of the speaking band, and the one candidates most misunderstand. Nobody is asked to sound British, and an accent costs nothing.

8 min read

Module 7 said part 3 defeats more candidates than part 4. This is a part 3: three voices, a plan that changes twice, and questions about the decision they reach, not the ones they discard.

8 min read

One voice, dense content, and questions in the order the talk gives them. The signposts a lecturer uses are the map, and this module practises reading it in real time.

8 min read

Module 12 named the Part 1 trap: answering too briefly. This module gives you three Part 1 questions to record, and a shape that makes every answer two or three sentences without effort.

8 min read

Module 12 said the band is decided in Part 3. This module gives you the language it needs, then two Part 3 questions to record and get feedback on.

9 min read

Module 5 called these the hardest three words in the exam. This module gives you a passage and four statements, and the quiz asks for the reason behind each answer as well as the answer itself, because the reason is the skill.

9 min read

What actually moves a band in the final fortnight, and the practical details candidates leave until the morning of the test.

8 min read