Not knowing how to prepare for IELTS, many people spend money on courses — yet without a clear plan, progress stays slow. In fact, 3 months is a realistic and sufficient timeframe to reach a band 6.5–7 goal, provided you know exactly what to do each week. Below is the complete, practical programme, from finding your level all the way to mock tests.
Step 1: find out your current level
Before building a plan, you must know where you stand. Randomly guessing "I'm probably B1" is a mistake — it steers you towards the wrong materials.
- First, test your level: the English level test shows your approximate CEFR level (A2–C1) and the IELTS band it maps to.
- Then sit one full, timed diagnostic mock test — that is your real starting band.
- Record the result for each of the 4 skills: for example Listening 6.0, Reading 5.5, Writing 5.0, Speaking 5.5.
Tip: give the most time to your weakest skill. For most people that's Writing or Speaking — because they are productive skills, and they improve through practice, not just study.
Month 1: foundations and core skills
The first month is for consolidating the base. The goal: fully understand the test format and build a daily English habit.
Weekly plan (Month 1):
- Listening — 4 practice test sections per week; after each one, analyse your mistakes (why did you slip: spelling, or mishearing the word?).
- Reading — learn the question types: True/False/Not Given, Matching Headings, Multiple Choice. Each type has its own strategy.
- Writing — learn the structure of Task 1 (describing a chart) and Task 2 (essay). For now, focus on correct structure, not speed.
- Speaking — record yourself answering Part 1 questions every day. Example: "Tell me about your hometown."
- 10 new words a day — from the Academic Word List (AWL), memorised in context.
If your grammar foundations are weak, reinforce tenses and sentence structure in parallel with the lessons in the learn English from scratch section.
Month 2: intensify and focus on Writing/Speaking
In the second month we raise the volume and concentrate the load on the biggest "score-makers" — Writing and Speaking.
- Writing: write at least 2 Task 2 essays and 1 Task 1 per week. Getting feedback on every essay is non-negotiable — if you don't know which criterion is costing you marks, you won't grow. Run each essay through the IELTS Writing checker against the 4 Task 2 criteria — Task Response, Coherence and Cohesion, Lexical Resource and Grammatical Range and Accuracy. (In Task 1 the first criterion is called Task Achievement.)
- Speaking: move on to Part 2 (the cue card — a 2-minute monologue) and Part 3 (in-depth discussion). Record every answer and listen back.
- Reading and Listening: from now on, work every test against the clock. For Reading that means 40 questions in 60 minutes — speed training matters.
- Vocabulary: focus on collocations, e.g. "make a decision", "heavy traffic" — word combinations lift your band more than isolated words do.
Reaching band 6.5–7 requires grammatical variety. Learn to use complex sentences, not only simple ones:
- Simple: Many people use cars. It causes pollution.
- Complex: The widespread use of cars, which is increasing every year, is a major cause of pollution.
Month 3: mock tests and exam mode
The third month is the switch to full exam conditions. This is the month you practise for real.
- Do 1–2 full mock tests per week: all 4 skills in one day, under real time limits, no breaks.
- After every mock test, keep an error log: which mistakes keep repeating? Eliminate your 5 most frequent ones.
- For Speaking, find a real conversation partner, or record yourself and analyse it.
- Check your pre-exam band forecast with the IELTS band score calculator — it computes the overall band from your 4 skill scores.
Tip: your overall IELTS band is the average of the 4 skills, rounded to the nearest half or whole band. For example 6.5 + 6.5 + 7.0 + 6.0 = 26, average 6.5. That means one weak skill can drag the whole result down — keep your skills balanced.
The key to reaching band 6.5–7
Experience shows that most people who fall short of band 7 do fine in Reading/Listening but get stuck at 6.0 in Writing. The reason: writing without feedback. Stick to these:
- Get specific feedback on every essay — not just "good", but which sentence is weak and why.
- Write at least 15–20 complete essays — that's the realistic minimum for band 7.
- Listen to English for 30 minutes a day (podcasts, YouTube) — your ear has to get "tuned" to the language.
This 3-month plan demands consistency — 1.5–2 hours a day, 6 days a week. Structured practice always beats random "long hours".
Start preparing today: first find your level, then write your first essay and get its band estimate through the Writing checker. Create a free account to begin — get precise, criteria-based feedback after every exercise and grow steadily towards band 7.
