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The 10 Best IELTS Preparation Books of 2024

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September 23, 2024

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Let’s talk about the best IELTS preparation books. It’s hard to name the absolute best books for IELTS preparation—what helps one person may not be as effective for another. However, our experts have picked some of the best IELTS prep materials, including the best IELTS books and free IELTS resources (like Magoosh’s free IELTS eBook), and categorized them according to their strengths. This should help you prepare for the IELTS in a smart, efficient, and focused way. Let’s get started!

The Best IELTS Prep Books of 2024

Click on a heading in the table of contents below to jump directly to each of the IELTS preparation books.

The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS
Barron’s IELTS Superpack
Target Band 7: IELTS Academic Module
Official IELTS Practice Materials Volume 1 and Volume 2
IELTS 15 (General Training and Academic)
IELTS Trainer
IELTS Vocabulary Up to Band 6
IELTS Grammar For Bands 6.5 and Above
The Road to IELTS
Online IELTS Resources

1. The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS

Cambridge English also offers official practice exams. I recommend the IELTS book The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS, which includes six full-length Academic IELTS practice exams and two full-length General Training practice exams. This IELTS book also contains useful chapters with exercises and tips to help you prepare. If you plan to purchase only one book, this is most likely the one to choose out of all the IELTS preparation books. There is one flaw, though. While this is the best book for IELTS Academic practice, it may not be the very best book for IELTS General Training practice.

2. Barron’s IELTS Superpack

Barron’s IELTS Superpack is technically not one book, but three: Barron’s IELTS, Barron’s IELTS Practice Exams, and Barron’s IELTS Essential Words. These three IELTS preparation books are sold together in a boxed set. Barron’s IELTS is the complete guide, with advice and tutorials for every part of the IELTS, as well as 4 Academic Practice tests and two General Training tests. the IELTS Practice exams book contains an additional six IELTS Academic tests and an extra six GT ones. the Essential Words book teaches IELTS vocabulary, with an emphasis on IELTS Reading vocabulary.

All in all, these three books are great, full of tips, tricks, and practice materials that will help you prepare well for test day. That said, the three Barron’s books in the Superpack have some minor flows: occasionally they give advice that doesn’t really ring true. For instance , these books tell you that the True/False and Yes/No questions are the hardest questions on the test, but this is not true for most students. To give one other example, you’re also told to add as many personal details and experiences as possible into your Task 2 essay, but this is not necessary at all for getting a top score. And the practice material, while fairly IELTS-like, is just a little off; the audio focuses on American accents far more than the real IELTS would, and the passages and questions are simpler than average for the exam.

These are all insignificant complaints, though. For the most part, Barron’s does a fantastic job here, and the three Superpack books are all a good investment in your IELTS prep.

3. Target Band 7: IELTS Academic Module

Target Band 7 for IELTS Academic is one of the less well-known IELTS preparation books, but it’s still great! This book focuses on test strategy and it includes a variety of useful tips. The “Writing” section is the strongest chapter, with solid strategies, example questions, and example responses. Yet, this IELTS book would not work very well as a primary study guide. It does not include enough practice exercises with feedback. Furthermore, in a number of places, the strategies and tips lack examples to demonstrate how to put the advice to use.

4. Official IELTS Practice Materials Volume 1 and Volume 2

It is very important to take several full-length practice exams before your test day. Practicing with official IELTS material will benefit you the most. Official IELTS Practice Materials vol. 1 and Official IELTS Practice Materials vol. 2 are definitely worth your investment. Each volume includes both an Academic test and a GT 1, as well as model answers at various band score levels for the Writing tasks. Volume 2 includes a DVD with very useful videos of people taking the Speaking exam. Make sure to use all of the official materials provided by IELTS. You should spend time studying the free sample questions on the IELTS website in addition to these full-length exams.

5. IELTS 15 (General Training and Academic)

IELTS 15 may be the very best IELTS practice book. (Or practice books.) All too often, IELTS prep resources fail to cover IELTS General Training and IELTS Academic equally well. This is not the case with IELTS 15, a pair of official IELTS prep books from Cambridge. Both the Academic and General Training versions of IELTS 15 are equally useful; each book presents four practice tests, along with a set of audio transcripts and an answer guide that includes model essays with scorer commentary.

6. IELTS Trainer

For still more official IELTS full-length practice tests, IELTS Trainer is a great resource. This book collects six practice tests, but it does a lot more than that. The first two tests, in the “Training and Exam Practice” section of the book, include many notes and tips on how best to answer the questions. And the test questions themselves are carefully curated in the first to tests, to help you focus on different essential skills. Once you’ve gotten that support and preparation, the remaining four tests in the books are authentic, full-length practice tests.

7. IELTS Vocabulary Up to Band 6 (Cambridge)

IELTS Vocabulary Up to Band 6 is yet another official book from Cambridge’s impressively large IELTS library. Unlike the others, however, Vocabulary for IELTS doesn’t contain practice exams. What it does feature is an extensive number of practice activities to help you improve your vocabulary skills for the exam. The words are very well selected, and all could likely appear on the real test. And the activities help you build vocabulary in a way that is fun, interesting, and rigorous. This book tends to focus on IELTS Reading, since that’s the most vocabulary intensive part of the exam. As a result, this is one of the best IELTS Reading books.

8. IELTS Grammar For Bands 6.5 and Above (Cambridge)

Like its companion vocabulary book, IELTS Grammar For Bands 6.5 and Above focuses on skill-building rather than practice test questions. However, Grammar for IELTS also does include official IELTS passages, question sets and tasks, even if it doesn’t include a full test. Learn how to use and apply good grammar to every part of the exam!

9. The Road to IELTS

With a very generous selection of full-length practice tests and training modules, The Road to IELTS is also a great official resource. While the Road to IELTS is not technically a book, this is its greatest strength. As an online official practice course form the makers of the exam, The Road to IELTS contains more material than could easily fit into a print resource.

While I do really like this course, it does have some disadvantages. At times, the skill-building materials seem a little too broad. For example, many of the IELTS Writing exercises include activities that are focused much more on listening or reading. In general, you’ll see an integration of all skills in the exercises for each of the four sections. This can be helpful to overall English ability, but it can feel distracting for students who want to focus on just one section or skill at a time.

10. The Best IELTS Preparation Books: Online Resources

In addition to the online course I mentioned above, I have several other web-based IELTS resources I can recommend to you. Many of these are free, and the rest are quite affordable.

Prep From the Four Official IELTS Websites

While many standardized tests have one official website, the IELTS has numerous official sites. The main four sites feature quite a few free practice tests and question sets, and a variety of free or cheap webinars, video lessons, eBooks, and so on. Magoosh offers a guide for the four official IELTS websites and how to use them.

Magoosh’s IELTS Section and Skill Guides

Magoosh also offers the following guides to the sections and important elements of the IELTS exam:

Magoosh IELTS Premium (Video Lessons and Practice Questions)

If you like what you see on our blog, go to Magoosh IELTS and consider signing up for a free trial or perhaps even a paid subscription. A paid subscription comes with over 125 lessons, more than 600 questions, and free email assistance. You also have the option to have your IELTS Writing essays scored, for a small additional fee.

Those are our rankings for the best IELTS preparation books! For more rankings of great IELTS resources, check out the Best Apps for IELTS Students. We hope these resources help you prep in an effective and helpful way. Good luck! 🙂

Authors

David Recine

David is a Test Prep Expert for Magoosh TOEFL and IELTS. Additionally, he’s helped students with TOEIC, PET, FCE, BULATS, Eiken, SAT, ACT, GRE, and GMAT. David has a BS from the University of Wisconsin-Eau Claire and an MA from the University of Wisconsin-River Falls. His work at Magoosh has been cited in many scholarly articles, his Master’s Thesis is featured on the Reading with Pictures website, and he’s presented at the WITESOL (link to PDF) and NAFSA conferences. David has taught K-12 ESL in South Korea as well as undergraduate English and MBA-level business English at American universities. He has also trained English teachers in America, Italy, and Peru. Come join David and the Magoosh team on Youtube, Facebook, and Instagram, or connect with him via LinkedIn!

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Eliot Friesen

Eliot Friesen-Meyers is the Senior Curriculum Manager for Magoosh IELTS and TOEFL. He attended Goshen College (B.A.), New York University (M.A.), and Harvard University (M.T.S.), gaining experience and skills in curriculum development, ESOL instruction, online teaching and learning, and IELTS and TOEFL test prep education. Eliot’s teaching career started with Literacy Americorps in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania, and later, taught ESL programs at Northeastern University, University of California-Irvine, and Harold Washington College. Eliot was also a speaker at the 2019 TESOL International Conference. With over 10 years of experience, he understands the challenges students face and loves helping them overcome those challenges. Come join Eliot on Youtube, Facebook, and Instagram. Recent blog posts Complete Guide to IELTS Writing Task 1 Complete Guide to IELTS Writing Task 2

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17 responses to “The 10 Best IELTS Preparation Books of 2024”

Kerrie Jones

March 9, 2017

Hi – I want to donate some IELTS books to refugees / asylum seekers hoping for entry to Australia – can you recommend the most useful books to buy remembering they will likely not have access to audio players or the Internet – thanks Kerrie

Reply
1. Magoosh Test Prep Expert
  
  March 9, 2017
  
  It’s an honor to give you advice on such important humanitarian work, Kerrie! I’d recommend Cambridge IELTS books. These are official books with authentic IELTS practice questions. And Cambridge books are plentiful and affordable, especially if you buy used copies from sites like Amazon.com. The lack of audio players or computers isn’t ideal. However, the asylum seekers you’re working with may benefit form reading the transcripts out loud, or having native English speakers read the transcripts to them. And most Cambridge IELTS books also do come with CDs, in case the asylumees are able to get access to a CD player.
  
  Reply
2. Sahil Mehta
  
  February 13, 2018
  
  Please donate me …..I m unable to buy these but have a desire to study them
  Please please please give me
  And reply for it if you r interested
  
  Reply
jawaria

January 20, 2018

Sir its 3rd time i m stick same general reading band pls give me some tips where i take start to improve general reading ….i have only one month

Reply
1. Magoosh Test Prep Expert
  
  January 20, 2018
  
  Hi Jawaria,
  
  Thanks for reaching out! The best way to improve your reading score is to…read! We recommend that students read every day–this will help you to build your reading comprehension and English skills. As we mention in this blog post, this is the best way to improve your general reading ability. I recommend that you check out this blog post for more tips: https://magoosh.com/ielts/improve-ielts-reading-score/
  
  Reply
chris

August 24, 2018

Hi there,
a couple of books I’d recommend are Teach Yourself IELTS Reading and Teach Yourself IELTS Writing by Richard King. You can find them on Amazon.

Reply
1. David Recine
  
  August 24, 2018
  
  Thanks for the recommendations, Chris. I’m not personally familiar with those books, but will keep them in mind the next time the team and I look at doing additional book reviews. 🙂
  
  Reply
Mohamed

August 21, 2019

Hi – I would like to ask about “mindset for IELTS” series and if you have used any of the books of this series, please. I have noticed that Cambridge has advertised for this series recently and would like to make sure if it’s really effective in improving the students levels or just the sources you have mentioned above are more than enough?
Thanks in advance – Mohamed

Reply
1. Magoosh Test Prep Expert
  
  August 23, 2019
  
  Hi Mohamed,
  
  Unfortunately, we do not have much experience with this resource. There are a lot of resources out there and we try to review the most popular ones. But being a small team means that we have to prioritize the materials we look at and review. So we may review this in the future, but as of right now, we don’t have plans to review it.
  
  Reply
PARTH-PATEL

September 2, 2019

Hiii sir,

Please could you send me cambridge ielts trainer -2 [academic module] full pdf+ audio.

Reply
1. Magoosh Test Prep Expert
  
  January 29, 2020
  
  Hi Parth,
  
  We link to those resources for purchase but do not sell or give them away.
  
  Reply
tuborgkk

November 18, 2020

Countries should spend money on trains rather than new roads. Do you agree or disagree.

The world should invest on train transport instead of building new roads. I strongly disagree with this statement as providing infrastructure seems feasible, it is cheaper to construct, and it would allow commuters to use it at any given time.

Firstly, building technology has developed to such an extent that new and cheaper materials are being used in making asphalt. Engineers now can use massive mixing containers, and quickly produce surface mixtures to cover roads. It has been estimated that contemporary methods in construction roads, are exceedingly more affordable than actually making trains. An evidence for this is a Tokyo based research company and according to its latest published report, trains appear to be not only costly to build but even more expensive to maintain. Secondly, another example of this excessive spending on trains is confirmed by the New York Public Travel Authority which also states that running trains has proven to be extremely exorbitant and perhaps improving existing roads is a viable option. `

Apart from having to spend all these money on trains, Governments are now finding out that accessibilities and facilities of train station is also a major deterrent. Apparently, new train tracks require stringent compliance to bylaws as well as substantial investment in providing facilities including handicap accesses, elevators, and ventilation systems. Furthermore, train operations demand staff available to work overnight as well as on weekends which also contributes to running costs. As a result, investments in train transport is clearly proving to be unjustified. According to the city of New York, a workable solution is for roads to be updated and or connected to existing ones. Hence, enabling individual drivers and buses to facilitate commuters with journeys to work and back with a comparatively minimal cost.

In conclusion, even though the global perception is that money should be spent on trains, roads in fact prove to be a much cheaper version that allows commuting and infrastructure improvement.

Please, feedback Writing 2 task

Reply
1. Magoosh Test Prep Expert
  
  February 18, 2021
  
  Hi there,
  
  Thank you for sharing your essay with us! Unfortunately, we are unable to grade your writing at this time. However, if you’re interested in having your essay graded, then check out our plans.
  
  Magoosh IELTS Plans
  
  Reply
Negin

August 15, 2021

Hello Magoosh

I’ve just started preparing for IELTS also I have one year to improve my English and get ready for the test.
also beside that, I study for university lessons (resource books are in English), therefore I see so many new words in books or YouTube videos and sometimes they’re more than 20 in a day and it’s so distracting and sometimes exhausting to switch between studying English and studying for university lessons.

In this case what would you recommend ? should I keep writing every new word I see in my vocabulary journal or stop finding new words while I’m studying for my university lessons?

Reply
1. Magoosh Test Prep Expert
  
  August 17, 2021
  
  Hi Negin,
  
  Thanks for reaching out. It can definitely be tough to learn a lot of new words while studying! My recommendation would be to continue writing the new words in a journal, but to limit yourself to learning only a handful of new words each day. That way you are continuing to learn, but not overloading yourself with too much information.
  
  Reply
Sirdp

August 3, 2023

Absolutely Right . IELTS 15 (General Training and Academic) is best Book for practice.
If you want to move to an English-speaking country to study, then you should take the IELTS Academic test. For work or immigration, the IELTS General Training test is recommended. Please check the entry requirements of your organisation before choosing your test.

Reply
1. Magoosh Expert
  
  August 4, 2023
  
  🙌
  
  Reply

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