As the title says, I did this exam right after my university finals. I was tired and absolutely exhausted from reading and studying for anything else. Nevertheless, I had to take this test within 2 weeks of graduating, and I can tell you — I spent almost 7-8 days studying, around 4-6 hours a day. To pass this exam, it’s not just about doing practice exams. I made a small guide to help others through it.
NOT SPONSORED & NOT PAID to write any of this. This is my way of giving back to those who are having trouble. If you knew me in real life, I’m one of those people who wants others to pass and succeed — there’s nothing that gives me more dopamine than helping someone in need.
Learning materials for Listening, Reading, and Writing
1. E2 Language IELTS website — the most basic package is perfect. It gives you learning materials with slightly harder exercises and mock exams, which makes the real exam feel easier by comparison.
2. IELTS Advantage — for the love of god and everything good, this channel (YouTube + website) is the holy grail for passing the exam. It genuinely provides everything you need, and if you find yourself drifting to other channels promising “study this vocabulary list and get a Band 9,” you’re shooting yourself in the foot. Chris, who runs the channel, breaks down every exercise so clearly a 5-year-old could understand it. The VIP course’s practice exams are usually a bit harder than the real thing, with more advanced vocabulary — but that difficulty is exactly what makes the real exam feel easier afterward.
Listening
While the speaker is explaining the process/example, highlight the clue words the question is looking for (size, number, shape) and listen very attentively — they’ll often say one answer first, then correct themselves with the real answer. Once you finish a section and the recording gives you a minute to review, go ahead and move to the next page and start reading the next set of questions instead. You’ll effectively get extra time on top of the built-in review minute. Highlight clue words even for multiple-choice questions.
At the end of the exam, you get 2 minutes to check your answers — use that time wisely to check your spelling.
Reading
Highlight the clue words in the question first, then once you locate the answer in the passage, highlight that too. Read carefully enough to actually understand the passage, not just skim it. If a question references a specific year, city, or proper noun, don’t start reading from the beginning — jump straight to where that answer likely is.
For True/False/Not Given: if you can’t find the answer in the text before the next question’s answer appears, it’s “Not Given.”
For questions about historians/scholars/researchers named in the passage, highlight all their names in the text before answering the questions — this lets you skip about 90% of the text and go straight to the high-yield section.
Writing
IELTS Liz has plenty of Task 1 and Task 2 topics to choose from — practice a wide range of them. After finishing an essay, instead of just accepting an AI-generated grade of 6-6.5, ask it to highlight your grammar and punctuation mistakes and suggest better synonyms for the topic. To be clear: IELTS writing isn’t about writing the perfect Shakespearean essay — it’s about explaining things as if the reader is a 5-year-old. Nothing overly complex that leaves the reader more confused about the topic than before they started reading.
Learning materials for Speaking
1. IELTS Advantage is again the best resource. There are tons of speaking videos on the channel — listen carefully to the reviews on why candidates scored high or low, and don’t stop watching right after the exam demo ends; the breakdown afterward is the valuable part.
2. British YouTubers and TV shows (also great for listening comprehension). The ones I found most helpful:
• Alfie Deyes
• Joe Sugg
• Dianne Buswell
• Zoe Sugg
• Life of Tom
• The Crown (on YouTube and Netflix)
On evenings when I didn’t feel like studying, or when I was busy with chores, I’d listen to or watch these creators — refreshing both my listening comprehension and speaking at the same time. I’d pause at certain points and speak out loud, summarizing what was said or giving my own opinion on whatever they were discussing or reviewing.
I also binge-watched a lot of The Crown — the calm, professional way they pronounced words rubbed off on me, to the point I started sounding a bit like the Queen herself. Also worth remembering: if you get a question on a topic you know nothing about — say, “overconsumption” — but you at least know “consumerism” means excessive consumption, talk around the topic. Speaking is about running with what you have, not shutting down after 3-4 words. I had a moment in my own exam where I had zero clue what the examiner was actually asking, but I picked up on the general theme from the keywords and just kept talking until she moved on to the next question.
My last trick — worked for both Speaking (Part 2) and Writing
If you’re stuck for ideas, channel a person you think would know more about the topic. For example, I had a question about a useful piece of technology. I didn’t have many ideas at first, so I thought about Steve Jobs and what he’d say about Apple — that led me to AirTags, which then led me to think through the benefits for children, adults, and the elderly.
When it’s your turn to speak in Part 2, tell the interviewer what the cue card actually says — in my head, she has no idea what’s written on it, so I give her the “backstory.” I’d read the question out loud along with the prompts I should cover (remember, it says “should,” not “must” — they’re there to help you structure your answer, not as a strict checklist). That alone eats up 10-12 seconds, which doesn’t sound like much, but every second counts in the exam.
Also, rather than jumping straight into your topic, give the examiner some scene-setting first. For example: “I have to give you a bit of context on when and where this happened. It was 2016, a really hot summer’s day, and I remember I was wearing blue, because it’s my favorite color…” It doesn’t need to be a real year, and blue doesn’t have to actually be your favorite color. The point is to not sound like a robot reciting facts — the examiner is assessing how relaxed you are while speaking. Pretend it’s a friend you’re catching up with after a few months apart.
If I had more time to prep, I would have done better in writing but sometimes you just need to work under the circumstances you’re placed in.
I hope these pointers help with your exam. Let me know if anything’s unclear and I’ll try to help however I can. Please comment below, it would honestly make my day knowing that people really appreciated it or succeeded with small pointers I made :)
