However, if you have more time to study, a second way to make significant improvements to your score is quite simply to improve your English. If using classes or tutors isn’t possible or desirable, you can still improve your English skills on your own with the right kind of practice. In this post, we will teach you how to study for the IELTS by yourself, at home, with an IELTS self study schedule.

How to Prepare for IELTS at Home with our Language Development Study Schedule

With the Language Development Study Schedule in this post, you can see how to prepare for IELTS at home with IELTS study material, nine types of IELTS practice material designed for all four sections of the test, and weekly study activities.

Completing this 10-week study plan will help you improve your English in the following ways:

• You will learn relevant IELTS vocabulary
• You will learn and practice advanced grammar for IELTS
• You will gain exposure to a wide variety of IELTS-like reading and listening topics
• You will practice listening to different English accents
• You will practice speaking and writing about a wide variety of IELTS-like topics
• You will develop more fluency when speaking at length about a topic
• You will write clearer and more accurate sentences more quickly

Do you have fewer than 10 weeks before you take the IELTS exam? You may want to consider our 1-week or 1-month IELTS study schedules instead.

Study Schedule Table of Contents

• How to Use This Study Schedule
• IELTS Study Material
• Reading Resources
• IELTS Practice Material: Explanation of Weekly Exercises
• 15-Minute Writing
• 2-Minute Speech
• Vocabulary Journal
• Magoosh IELTS Flashcards
• Azar Grammar Book
• Magoosh Grammar Videos
• Current Events Listening
• Variety Listening
• Variety Reading
• Your Weekly Schedule to Improve your Grammar for IELTS
• Week 1
• Week 2
• Week 3
• Week 4
• Week 5
• Week 6
• Week 7
• Week 8
• Week 9
• Week 10
• A Final Word

How to Use the IELTS Language Development Study Schedule

Following this schedule is like training for a race or practicing for a musical concert. You will complete weekly training activities that help you refine your skills for all four sections of the test.

Below, you will find a description of the IELTS practice material you’ll encounter each week, followed by 10 tables (one for each week) with these weekly activities. The tables are organized as checklists so you can keep track of your progress. You have the freedom to decide how to spread out the activities over seven days. You can even do the activities in a different order than they are listed in, if you’d like. Just check off exercises as you complete them!

Finishing all of the suggested activities each week can require a significant time commitment. Depending on your speed, it may take 5-10 hours. If you have more than 10 weeks before your exam, I recommend one of the following options:

1. Spread out the activities in this schedule over more time.
2. Begin (and possibly complete) this schedule before you begin studying intensively for the IELTS exam itself.

In both cases, you may wish to supplement this schedule with more activities. The best way to do this is to add more reading and listening practice. In the IELTS Study Material section, you will find a list of reading resources. And the weekly study checklists include listening resources with an almost endless supply of content.

IELTS Study Material

Most of the IELTS study material contained in this schedule is available for free online. Just click the links included in each weekly study checklist!

The exception is the grammar development portion of this study plan. There are many grammar resources available online. However, there are very few with high-quality explanations and exercises that will help you make real improvements to your grammar for IELTS while studying on your own.

The book I recommend for self-study is Understanding and Using English Grammar. This book contains the advanced grammar concepts you should know in order to boost your IELTS band scores, especially in writing and speaking. It also includes many helpful exercises and explanations that you can use to correct your own errors.

Additionally, Magoosh IELTS Prep students have access to the grammar videos that are linked in the grammar section of this study schedule. These videos review key concepts dealing with grammar for IELTS.

IELTS Study Material: Reading Resources

New Scientist: New Scientist is an international science magazine from the UK. Some New Scientist articles, such as one called Flawed Beauty: the Problem with Toughened Glass, can be found in Cambridge IELTS books and past IELTS exams.

Scientific American and American Scientist: Scientific American and American Scientist are two popular American science magazines. They also include health and education articles, which are very similar to IELTS Academic Reading passages. What is more, Scientific American offers hundreds of 60-second science podcasts, which are great for IELTS listening practice!

BBC News: Get the latest news from different parts of the world in English. There are many kinds of reading materials on BBC News that work great for IELTS practice material.

The Economist: The Economist is another common source for IELTS reading passages. Many articles from past exams were taken from this magazine.

National Geographic: National Geographic contains articles about geography, animals, culture, the environment, travel and adventure, which are common topics for both the Academic and General Training Reading exams.

History Extra and History Net: History Extra and History Net are two great history magazine websites with podcasts, articles and reviews on a variety of events.

Choose articles from any of these major newspapers:

• The New York Times
• The Telegraph
• Australian
• The New Zealand Herald
• The Globe and Mail

IELTS Practice Material: Explanation of Weekly Exercises

In the study schedule below, there are many valuable learning exercises that you’ll do every week. Before you start, read this overview of the types of IELTS practice material you will encounter.

15-Minute Writing

Goals:

• Increase your writing speed
• Think about how to respond to IELTS-like writing questions more quickly
• Improve the grammatical accuracy of your sentences
• Improve the focus and clarity of your writing
• Expand the vocabulary you use to write

The Exercise:

Here’s what you should do for each 15-minute writing exercise:

1. Write with pencil and paper like you will on the exam (unless you’re taking the computer-delivered IELTS).
2. Read the prompt provided on the weekly schedule.
3. Give yourself no more than one minute to think of a response.
4. Set a timer for 15 minutes and begin writing.
5. Here’s the challenge: try to keep your pencil moving the entire time. DO NOT use a dictionary as you write. Your goal is to JUST WRITE for 15 minutes and see how much you can produce. Over time, you should try to write more and more.
6. Review: This is an essential part of this exercise! When you finish, spend 5-10 minutes reviewing what you wrote. This is the time to consider whether your word choice and grammar could be improved. Keep track of consistent mistakes. If possible, share your writing with a native English speaker to get some feedback! Finally, once you are completely done with your initial writing and feedback, use your dictionary and look for places in your response where you had trouble expressing your ideas. NOW you can use your dictionary to search for words that would have improved your response. Add these words to your vocabulary journal, so you can remember them and use them in future writing.

2-Minute Speech

Goals:

• Speak more fluently about a wider variety of topics
• Have an easier time speaking for 1-2 minutes (important for Part 2 of the IELTS Speaking test)
• Expand the vocabulary you use when speaking
• Improve the focus and clarity of your responses
• Improve the grammatical accuracy of your responses

The Exercise:

Here’s what you should do for each 2-minute speech:

1. Read the prompt in the study schedule.
2. Give yourself no more than one minute to think about what you want to say. You may write notes if you wish.
3. Turn on your voice recorder and respond. Use this recorder if you need a way to record yourself.
4. Review: This is an essential part of this exercise! When you finish, listen to your speech at least once. Think of ways you could have responded more clearly, or in a more organized way. Try to catch grammar or vocabulary mistakes and keep track of regular errors. If possible, ask a native English speaker to review your response and give you feedback! Were there ideas you wanted to express but couldn’t because you lacked the words? Use your dictionary and find vocabulary that could have helped you articulate your ideas. Add these to your vocabulary journal.

Additional tip: Try your best to speak without stopping, and AVOID starting over from the beginning if you make mistakes. Each time you practice, your goal is to make it from the beginning to the end of your response without repeating yourself or getting lost. With repeated practice, you will get better and better at answering these questions with lengthy responses (like IELTS Speaking, Part 2!).

Vocabulary Journal

Goals:

• Master new words
• Create a personalized resource for regular review

The Exercise:

1. Add new words to your vocabulary journal each day. Since it’s probably unrealistic to work on your journal seven days per week, this study schedule sets the weekly goal at 50 words per week.
2. Each entry should include:
   -The new word
   -A short and simple definition (or synonym) in English
   -A sample sentence that will help you remember the meaning
3. Spend a few minutes reviewing words from prior days as well. It is much better to spend a little time reviewing your journal each day (5-10 minutes is good!) than to spend long chunks of time trying to memorize a lot of words in one or two sessions. Simply scan your list and slow down on the least familiar words. Read the definition and sample sentence and then move on. Over time, you will master all the words on our list with enough repetitions.

Magoosh IELTS Flashcards

Goal:

• Master difficult words that occur frequently on the IELTS exam

The Exercise:

Use Magoosh’s IELTS vocabulary flashcards as a supplement to your vocabulary journal. On days when you do not add new words to your vocabulary journal from other exercises like reading or listening practice, study your flashcards to ensure you’re learning 10-15 new words each day.

Azar Grammar Book (recommended)

Goal:

• Review (or learn for the first time!) and practice advanced English grammar for IELTS, that will boost your score in the Writing and Speaking modules in particular

The Exercise:

Study the chapter(s) of Betty Azar’s Understanding and Using English Grammar listed in the weekly checklists. It’s fine to skip over topics that you’ve already mastered. Do as many of the practice exercises as you have time to complete each week. You do not need to complete them all. Make sure to leave enough time to review your incorrect answers.

Magoosh Grammar Videos

Goal:

• Grammar review

The Exercise:

These short videos are excellent for supplemental grammar review. Magoosh IELTS Premium students can click the links in this schedule to access the videos. Alternatively, Magoosh IELTS students can go to their Magoosh dashboard and select “Lessons” at the top. The Magoosh grammar videos are listed for you along the right side of the resulting page.

Magoosh English also offers (free!) instructional videos on the grammar concepts listed in this study schedule. Sign up and search for the videos by title.

Current Events Listening

Goals:

• Exposure to challenging listening material covering a wide range of IELTS-like topics
• Increased comprehension of various English accents
• Exposure to new vocabulary
• Increased ability to comprehend discussion of complex topics

The Exercise:

For this exercise, you will listen to the news for 20-30 minutes three times per week. Here’s what you should do:

1. Click on the provided link in the “Current Events Listening” section.
2. On the resulting page, search for stories that look interesting to you. Many of these channels also allow you to “listen live,” in order to hear whatever programming is playing at that moment.

Perhaps you can do this exercise when you’re getting ready for school or work in the morning, or possibly on your commute. Whenever it suits for you, just listen and try your best to comprehend what you hear. The radio news outlets linked in these exercises will expose you to accents from the United Kingdom, Canada, Australia, the United States, and New Zealand.

If you’re having trouble comprehending the stories, you can most likely find a written article about the topics discussed in the program on the homepage of the radio station you’re listening to.

As always, make sure to write down new vocabulary. Most stories you hear are recorded (not live), so you should have the ability to pause and play the the program if necessary to write down new words.

Variety Listening

Goals:

• Exposure to advanced IELTS-like listening content
• Increased comprehension of various English accents
• Exposure to new vocabulary
• Increased ability to comprehend discussion of complex topics

The Exercise:

The passages linked in this section of the study plan are excellent practice for Part 4 of the listening testie, which is the most difficult section of the exam. You will gain exposure to a wide variety of topics and speaking styles. Most of the recordings offer transcripts or supplemental written materials, which can help you if you’re struggling to understand what you hear!

Variety Reading

Goals:

• Increased comprehension of challenging reading materials
• Exposure to new vocabulary

The Exercise:

Three days per week, you should choose one or two articles from the “Reading Resources List” provided below. Your goal is to read for 30 minutes a day.

Read actively:

• Take notes
• Underline words you don’t know
• Try to comprehend the passage as a whole. Can you articulate the main idea of each paragraph after you read it?

When you finish reading, don’t forget to add new words to your vocabulary journal.

Additional tip: Don’t just read articles on topics with which you are already very familiar. It’s likely you already know a lot of vocabulary in this area. Push yourself and read about new things! Keep in mind that IELTS Reading covers a wide range of topics. It’s impossible to predict the specific subjects you’ll encounter on your IELTS exam. Your best bet is to prepare by reading widely!

Weekly Study Schedule to Improve Your English Grammar for IELTS

Week 1

Week 2

Week 3

Week 4

Week 5

Week 6

Week 7

Week 8

Week 9

Week 10

A Final Word

Congratulations! If you made it this far, you’ve worked to improve your English grammar for IELTS, and completed a very rigorous self-study English course. By now, your English skills should be very sharp.

Relax, be confident, and do your best on the exam. Good luck!

It’s no secret that if you want to score well on your IELTS, you need to study. And I don’t mean the kind of studying that you start the night before the test.

If you want a good score, you need a study schedule. But trying to create your own IELTS study plan can be confusing and difficult. What do you study? When do you study it?

Don’t stress, we’ve done the work for you! Here at Magoosh, our IELTS experts have put together variety of free, step-by-step study plans, just for you. 🙂

To get you started, we’re proud to present our brand new IELTS resource: the “How to Use an IELTS Study Plan” video. Watch the embedded video below, or scroll down for a full video transcript!

What Will I See in the “How to Use an IELTS Study Plan” Video?

In this free video, our IELTS expert Elliot will give you a brief introduction, followed by everything you need to know in order to understand and follow an IELTS study plan.

In five minutes, you will learn:

• What is a study schedule?
• How do you use a study schedule?
• Which study schedule should you choose?
• What will be on the Magoosh IELTS study schedule?

“How to Use an IELTS Study Plan” Video Transcript:

Hi, I’m Elliott, the IELTS expert at Magoosh and today we’re going to talk about study schedules.

And we’re going to eventually look at an example of a study schedule that we’ve created here at Magoosh.

But to begin, we’re just going to talk a little bit about what study schedules are and how you can use them to improve your studying.

And to really boost your score on the exam by studying in the smartest and the best way possible.

So what is a study schedule?

Well, a study schedule is something to help you organize your time, okay?

You may have one month, or six months, or maybe just a week.

And the question a study schedule helps you answer is “how can organize my time the most efficiently?”

And “what’s gonna benefit the most in terms of increasing my score or helping me at least to do the best I can on the exam?” Okay?

So a study schedule gives you materials to study, to pace yourself over time in an appropriate way in order to make your studying the most efficient it can be.

Okay, another thing a study schedule does is, it prioritizes subject matter.

So some things are more important to study than others, depending on how much time you have.

For example of you have six months to study, that’s a long time to prepare.

And it might make sense for you to sign up for some classes.

And it might make sense for you to do a lot of self study with grammar, or writing, or other things that are generally going to improve your English skills.

If you only have a week to study before an exam, a big exam like the IELTS, that kind of studying is not going to benefit you as much.

You simply don’t have time in one week in order to really improve your grammar let’s say, right?

You don’t have time to spend a lot of time doing exercises and things like that.

And besides if you did that you would be ignoring important things like learning about the exam and what kinds of questions to expect.

And taking practice questions in learning about timing and other things that are important for the reading or the writing section for example.

So, a study schedule helps you to prioritize what is the most important thing to study in the amount of time you have before taking the test.

So, we have as an example of a study schedule.

At Magoosh, we’ve created a one month study schedule with these kinds of concepts in mind, okay?

We’re going to take a look at that, you can look at that schedule if you click on the link that’s in the description box below to see what the study schedule looks like.

Basically, it’s organized around a couple of things.

First of all, Magoosh lessons, lessons to help you learn about the kinds of things to expect on the exam.

Each section is covered with tips and strategies there to help you learn, how to succeed in each of these sections.

Also, of course, you need to take a lot of practice questions. And so there’s guidance there about what questions to answer, what kinds of questions to answer, and how many of them you should schedule for yourself on a particular day.

We also include information related to official practice questions, right? We also put ideas about what you could study, and what kinds of questions you could answer from official materials produced by IELTS itself.

So those links, those descriptions are there for you In order to supplement your study that you would do with Magoosh on this study schedule.

Also then of course there are additional things, things like reminding you to study vocabulary everyday, okay?

Or scheduling how frequently you want to take a full length practice test, right?

These timing, these elements of timing are a critical part of any study schedule, because you don’t want to study too little, right?

You wanna use your time the best you can and to sort of motivate yourself to study a little bit every day.

But also of course, if you studied for 10 to 12 hours a day, of course that would be too much.

The study schedule that we’ve created at Magoosh assumes that you can study for an hour to up to three hours every day, and that will depend on everybody, right?

Your situation will be unique for yourself.

Okay, so as you make your way through the study schedule, each week there’s six days of material there pushing you to study new things each day.

And also to review concepts and to review things that you’ve learned from you’re lessons from doing lot’s of practice questions, so that you can build a new knowledge and improve over time.

So, check out the study schedule and like this video if you found it helpful.

And if you have questions, go ahead and put them in the comments below.

And we’ll answer your questions about study schedules generally or the one that we’ve posted here.

So good luck with your studies!

IELTS Study Schedules

Now you know how to use a study schedule, why not pick one out?

Take a look at our One Month IELTS Study Schedule. Or, if test day coming up a little sooner, try the One Week IELTS Study Schedule!

Happy studying! 🙂

Don’t panic if you only have a week to study for the IELTS exam. If you’re asking yourself if you have enough time to prepare, the answer is yes! You can still do a lot to prepare at this point if you use your time wisely and efficiently. This one-week IELTS study plan can help you do exactly that.

If you have more than a week to study, then you might be interested in trying our One-Month IELTS Study Schedule instead. Or if you’re taking the General Training IELTS, try our One-Week General Training IELTS Study Plan. Want more options? Check out this complete list of Magoosh’s IELTS study schedules for more study guides and IELTS tips!

How to Use the One-Week IELTS Study Plan

In this IELTS study plan, you will target things that are most likely to increase your IELTS score. You’ll also want to avoid things that won’t be so helpful. To learn more about the one-week IELTS study schedule, check out the video below.

At this point, you should definitely NOT spend a lot of time studying English grammar or practicing pronunciation. You simply don’t have enough time to make significant improvements in these areas. Instead, you should prioritize the goals listed below.

Although we don’t strictly require the use of IELTS essay scoring in any of our study plans, it may also be helpful to submit one IELTS essay to Magoosh for feedback at the very beginning of the week, to help you understand how your essay will be scored on tst day.

IELTS Study Schedule Goals

1. Becoming familiar with the IELTS exam format
2. Learning strategies for each of the four IELTS exam sections
3. Taking at least one partial IELTS practice test and one full-length IELTS practice test

Let’s start with the items you’ll need to complete this IELTS one week study schedule:

Essential Items

Anyone can use this study schedule, but it was designed to pair best with the following resources:

• A computer with speakers/headphones, a CD drive and an Internet connection
• The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS
• If you don’t have time to order practice exam books before your exam, you should download and print your full-length tests. This IELTS practice test post includes some links to downloadable, full-length IELTS practice exams. You will need at least two tests.
• A timer for your practice tests (a stopwatch on your cell phone is perfect)

Optional Items

You will be able to accomplish all the goals set out in this study plan without the following resources, but they’re all very helpful (and free!), so you might consider using them anyway:

• Magoosh’s online IELTS flashcards. They’re free and you can use them on the web, on your iPhone/iPad or Android!
• A voice recorder for your speaking responses. Many students use their phones to record. This free online voice recorder is another good option. Magoosh students can use the built-in recording function for speaking practice questions. Please note that Magoosh does not give feedback on your responses at this time.
• A friend to interview you in English for the Speaking section.
• Additional posts on this very blog. One optional post you may find useful is Magoosh’s Complete Guide to IELTS Vocabulary. And in the plan below, we’ll include links to additional Magoosh IELTS Blog articles that could be helpful.

One-Week IELTS Study Plan

Click these links to jump to the day you’re working on:

• Day 1
• Day 2
• Day 3
• Day 4
• Day 5
• Day 6
• Day 7

Day 1: Get Oriented

Item 1: Become familiar with the format of the IELTS exam.

You should watch all of the videos in the “Introduction to IELTS” section of your lessons. This module will orient you to each part of the exam so you know, in general, what to expect. You will also learn how the IELTS is scored. Altogether, these lessons will give you a clearer picture of how the IELTS measures your English skills and how the exam is structured.

• General Overview
• Exam Format
• Scoring
• Reading Paper Overview
• Listening Paper Overview
• Speaking Overview
• Writing Paper Overview
• Studying for the IELTS

Item 2: Take a “diagnostic” test.

If you have time to take a full practice exam today, you should do it! However, after completing Item 1 above, it’s very likely you don’t have the time (and energy) to take a full test. And that’s okay; this is why I recommend most students simply take a shorter “diagnostic test” at this point.

A partial IELTS that covers all the sections will help you to become familiar with the exam and your strengths and weaknesses. Below are instructions on how to assemble and take a diagnostic IELTS.

Try to recreate the exam conditions as closely as you can. You should:
Find a quiet place where you can concentrate.

Reserve 1:15-2 hours of uninterrupted time (the time will vary depending on whether you complete one or two writing tasks).

If you are taking the paper-based IELTS, write (don’t type) your essay responses just like you will on the IELTS exam.

Set strict time limits for the reading questions and the writing questions.

The following plan relates to the first Practice Test in The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS. If you do not have this text, you can apply a similar plan to a different practice test if you have one, or find a practice test to download from this blog post.

Listening: Complete listening questions 21-40 from Practice Test 1 (pages 157-159).

Reading: There are three reading passages in Practice Test 1 (pages 160-170). Choose ONE of the passages and complete the questions related to that passage only. You should complete all questions in 20 minutes.

Writing: If you have time, complete both writing tasks for Practice Test 1 (page 171). Just complete one of the two if you are short on time. The first Task should take no more than 20 minutes. The second Task should take no more than 40 minutes.

Speaking: Answer all of the Speaking questions on page 172. Record your answers if possible so you can analyze them later!

When you finish, make sure to check all your answers and study the sample speaking and writing responses provided.

Day 2: Focus on Reading

It is critical to approach the IELTS Reading paper strategically. Many students are surprised to learn that, in fact, it is NOT advisable to read each IELTS Reading passage carefully before responding to questions. That approach would take too much time for most IELTS-takers. You can boost your Reading score significantly by utilizing several key Reading strategies. Your Reading video lessons target these skills directly.

Reading Lessons: Watch the lesson entitled The SUN Method first. You should also watch the video Finding Information: Skimming and Scanning in the “IELTS Skills” lesson section. The follow-up lessons on How to Skim and How to Scan in the same section demonstrate how to put these key skills to use.

If you have time, watch several videos (or all if possible!) on specific Reading question types in the “Reading” lesson section. Even if you only have time to watch a few of the question-type videos, this will at least show you how to apply the SUN Method strategies you learned.

Optional blog post: The Complete Guide to IELTS Reading. This post can either be scanned or read in full, for extra guidance and practice for the Reading section.

Practice: In Magoosh, click the green “Practice Reading” button on your Dashboard. Read and answer all questions for TWO passages. Watch the explanation video for every question you get wrong.

Writing: Write ONE essay today. Click the green “Practice Writing” button on your Dashboard. Depending on how much time you have, complete a Task 1 (20 min) or Task 2 (40 min) essay. When you’re done, read the sample essay and listen to the explanation video.

Day 3: Focus on Listening

Like the Reading section, it’s important to approach IELTS Listening strategically. In addition to becoming familiar with Listening question types, there are a number of general strategies that will help you a lot in this section. Your video lessons cover these points in depth.

Lessons: Watch the General Tips and Strategies and APT Method lessons. Also watch the short introductory videos for Parts 1, 2, 3, and 4. If you have time, watch as many of the “Question Type” videos as you can in this section. Try to watch at least two. These videos introduce the various questions types you can expect on the Listening paper. They also show how to apply the strategies you learned in the “General Tips and Strategies” and “APT Method” lessons.

Practice: In Magoosh, click the green “Practice Listening” button on your Dashboard. Listen to and answer all questions for THREE to FOUR audio tracks (depending on how much time you have today). Watch the explanation video for every question you get wrong.

Optional blog post: The Complete Guide to IELTS Listening. Like our complete IELTS Reading guide from Day 2, you can either use this as a source of quick reference for extra guidance, or read the post in greater depth.

Day 4: Focus on Writing

You’ve already done some writing this week, and you’ve already watched some videos on IELTS scoring. Evaluate yourself. How did your writing go? Use what you learned in your lessons to evaluate yourself. Start by making sure you fulfilled the most basic requirements. For example, did you meet or exceed the minimum word count for both Writing tasks? Did you answer the questions directly and fully? It is a very good idea to refer to the official IELTS writing band score descriptors for Task 1 and Task 2 when evaluating your writing.

Writing Lessons: Make sure you watch the videos for Academic Task 1 or General Training Task 1 (depending on which version of the IELTS you need to take). You should also watch the video Introduction to Task 2. Other videos in this section will help you plan and organize your essays. Depending on how much time you have today, watch as many as you can!

Optional blog posts:

The following can be used as quick reference material, or read more deeply as time allows:

• The Complete Guide to IELTS Academic Writing Task 1
• IELTS General Training Letter Writing Tips and Examples
• IELTS Writing Task 2: A Complete Guide

Practice: Take a “full-length” writing exam. Give yourself an hour to complete ONE Task 1 essay and ONE Task 2 essay. In Magoosh, click on the green “Practice Writing” button on your Dashboard. After you write, watch the explanation videos and read the sample essays. Try to evaluate your own writing and consider how you could improve your responses based on what you’ve learned from your lessons and the explanation videos. Make sure to use the official IELTS writing band score descriptors for Task 1 and Task 2 when evaluating your writing.

Day 5: Focus on Speaking

Speaking Lessons: Watch the General Tips and Strategies video and the lessons for Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3 of the Speaking exam. You should also watch at least one of the “Practice Interview” lessons. If you have time, watch the other lesson videos in this section.

Optional blog posts:
Read these articles in full or just use them for quick reference, as needed!

• Magoosh’s Complete Guide to IELTS Speaking
• IELTS Speaking Part 1: Question and Interview
• IELTS Speaking Part 2 Topics and Questions
• IELTS Speaking Part 3 Questions

Practice: You should practice preparing a few (3-5, or more if possible!) responses for Part 2 of the Speaking test. Here is huge collection of IELTS Speaking question prompts we put together at Magoosh. Scroll to the bottom of the page to find the Part 2 prompts.

Here are ways to make sure that your practice is as realistic as possible:

• Choose a topic card
• Give yourself one minute to prepare your response (set a timer)
• Try to speak for 1-2 minutes (set another timer)

Also, make sure to record your answers so you can find mistakes and listen for consistent problems (such as long pauses or verb tense errors) that you can try to fix.

Complete at least two full Speaking interviews. In Magoosh, click on the green “Practice Speaking” button on your Dashboard. Answer each question the best you can immediately after reading it. Try not to “skip ahead” and look at upcoming questions, since you won’t know the next question on the exam! After completing the question set, watch the explanation videos.

Day 6: Take a Full-Length Practice Test

I recommend taking one of the practice tests in the The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS. However, you can apply the same plan to a different practice test if you didn’t purchase this book. You can find some online IELTS practice tests here, or you could use a free practice test from one of the four official IELTS websites.

Block off approximately 3 hours so you can take the test without interruptions:

• 60 minutes for Reading
• 60 minutes for Writing
• 30 minutes for Listening (+10 minutes to write down answers on an answer sheet)
• 15 minutes for Speaking

You should time yourself strictly for each section. Put your pencil down after 60 minutes when you take your Writing exam, for example. No cheating! You need to see how much you can do within IELTS time limits.

If at all possible, find someone to interview you for the Speaking section using the prompts from your practice test. Ideally, you can get a native English speaker to ask the questions and provide some feedback. If that’s not an option, just have someone read the questions to you. In this case, it is critical to record your answers so you can analyze what you said.

Please note: the Speaking exam has three parts. Make sure the practice exam you choose has sample questions for all three parts of the test. Some of the downloadable practice exams only include sample questions from Part 2 of the speaking exam (the “monologue” section).

When you finish, you can use the answer key to mark your Reading and Listening answers. However, don’t evaluate your Writing and Speaking responses today. You should put these away until tomorrow (Day 7) so you will be refreshed and ready to analyze them carefully.

Day 7: You’re almost done!

Check your answers to the Writing and Speaking sections of yesterday’s practice test. Try to understand your errors. How could you improve what you said and wrote? You should use the official IELTS band descriptors for the speaking section to grade yourself.

After you’ve checked your answers, you may want to review some of the strategy video lessons such as The SUN Method for Reading, or the APT Method for Listening.

That said, it’s best to avoid “cramming” the day before the test. Don’t review vocabulary or do a lot of IELTS practice questions. Instead, get some rest! Being refreshed and focused tomorrow will help you most. Take a long walk or do something fun to take your mind off the exam. You’re going to do great tomorrow with all the hard work you put in this week!

Good Luck!

With only a month to prepare for the Academic IELTS exam, it’s likely you’re feeling some pressure! The IELTS is challenging, even for test-takers who are very proficient in English—which is why it’s helpful to use an IELTS guide as you learn how to study for IELTS.

During the next four weeks, you should engage with English as much as possible. Go out of your way to find opportunities to speak, write, listen, and read in English. You can learn a lot in a month, especially new vocabulary!

Of course, it is also critical that you use this time to become very familiar with the IELTS exam and how to approach each section of the test. And that is what this study schedule is designed to do!

The schedule is useful for students with varying degrees of English proficiency. Plan to spend between 1-2 hours studying each day (although some days will require more time and some less). Students with lower English proficiency will need additional time to complete the daily tasks simply because they will have more incorrect answers to review from the practice exercises. (Lower proficiency students may also want to spend extra time reviewing passages, questions, tasks, and audio tracks.)

Even if you don’t have time to complete all the listed tasks for a given day or week, do what you can! Modify the schedule to fit your circumstances. The Magoosh lessons “Create your study schedule 1 – 3 weeks” and “Create your study schedule 4 – 8 weeks” will help you develop a study schedule that meets your needs. If you have less than a month to prep, you might even consider using our One-Week Academic IELTS Study Plan. The goal of the study schedule is to keep you organized, motivated and on track with your IELTS preparation.

How Should I use Magoosh’s IELTS Essay Scoring Service in my Study Plan?

Magoosh offers IELTS essay feedback to our premium subscribers. Those with a six-month Magoosh IELTS subscription can get up to four of their essays scored. The one-month plan includes one scored essay. While we don’t strictly require the use of essay grading in our IELTS study schedules, it can definitely be useful.

If you have just one essay credit, it’s good to use that credit in the first week of your study plan. That way you can check your Writing “baseline” and get some feedback on how you should improve over the course of your study schedule.

If you have four essay credits, it’s still get one essay scored at the beginning. However, from there, you should space your remaining essays evenly throughout the rest of your schedule. That way, you can periodically re-check your progress. And the feedback you receive can help you decide which Writing skills to focus on in a given week. 

Taking the General Training IELTS?

Try our One-Month General Training IELTS Study Plan, or check out this complete list of Magoosh’s IELTS study schedules for more options and study tips!

Each week, there are six days of preparation. One day per week will be a rest day, which isn’t included in the schedule. Use that day to relax and regain your strength. If you study every day, it is likely you will get tired and benefit less from your study time.

One Month IELTS Study Schedule: Table of Contents

Click these links to jump to the resource lists or the day you’re working on:

• IELTS Prep Materials
• Week One
• Week Two
• Week Three
• Week Four
• If you have time remaining
• The day before your IELTS test

Prep Materials for IELTS Guide

Here are three essential things you need to use this study schedule:

1. A computer with internet access
2. The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS for Academic & General Training

And here are some great resources that are also mentioned in the study schedule. These are optional, but highly recommended!

1. The Magoosh IELTS Blog (You are here!)
2. www.ielts.org
3. www.takeielts.britishcouncil.org
4. www.englishvocabularyexercises.com

How to Prepare for IELTS: Week One

Week 1, Day 1:

• Lessons:
• Watch the first three videos in Magoosh under Introduction to the IELTS:
• General Overview
• Exam Format
• Scoring
• Build Your Vocabulary
• Also watch the video Using the Grammar Lessons in Introduction to IELTS Grammar.
• Watch any 4-5 grammar videos of your choice in Magoosh. Choose grammar lessons that will help you most with your weaknesses.
• Magoosh Practice:
• Start working on Magoosh’s IELTS flashcards. Your goal should be to learn 15-20 new words each day.
• Official Practice:
• Complete some Reading and Listening questions from the official IELTS website. Today, your goal is to become familiar with the format of the test. Don’t worry too much about how many right and wrong answers you get. For Reading, make sure to choose “Academic Reading” questions on this web page.

Week 1, Day 2:

• Lessons:
• Watch the next four videos in Magoosh, under Introduction to the IELTS:
• Reading Paper Overview
• Listening Paper Overview
• Speaking Overview
• Writing Paper Overview
• Magoosh Practice:
• Click the “Practice Reading” button on your Dashboard. Read one passage and answer all questions for that passage. Watch the explanation video for every question you get wrong.
• Click the “Practice Listening” button on your Dashboard. Answer all of the questions associated with two different recordings. Watch the explanation video for every question you get wrong.
• Official Practice:
• Respond to the Speaking and Writing questions in The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS on pages 171-172. Make sure to read the directions for both sections carefully. For the Speaking questions, simply respond out loud to the prompts one-by-one. Your goal today is to become familiar with the format of these IELTS sections. Don’t worry about grading yourself today.

Week 1, Day 3:

• Lessons:
• In Magoosh, watch the video Studying for the IELTS in the Introduction to IELTS section. Then, watch the first video under the Reading section, titled The SUN Method.
• Watch any 3-4 grammar videos of your choice in Magoosh, according to your weaknesses.
• Official Practice:
• Take the Reading section of Practice Test 1 from The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS (pages 160-170). Use the self-scoring chart in the back of the book (pages 387-388) to see where you stand. You should review your wrong answers carefully so that you understand why you made every mistake. However, the goal for today is to become familiar with the question types you will encounter in the IELTS Reading section.

Week 1, Day 4:

• Lessons:
• In Magoosh, watch these videos under Speaking:
• General Tips and Strategies
• Part 1
• Part 2
• Part 2 Sample Response
• Magoosh Practice:
• Click the “Practice Speaking” button on your Dashboard. Answer two full sets of interview questions. Make sure to utilize the built-in recording function. Afterwards, assess your responses using official IELTS band descriptors for Speaking. If possible, find a native English speaker or someone proficient in English to help you assess your speaking. Make sure to watch the explanation videos for both sets of interview questions.
• Master at least 20 more words in Magoosh’s IELTS flashcards. If you believe the deck you are working on is easy for you, finish it today.
• Official Practice:
• Complete the “Listening” section of Practice Test 1 on pages 154-159 in The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS. You should review your incorrect answers carefully, learning from your mistakes. However, the goal for today is simply to become familiar with the question types you will encounter in IELTS listening.

Week 1, Day 5:

• Lessons:
• In Magoosh, watch the videos in the Listening section called General Tips and Strategies and APT Method. You should also watch these short introductory Listening videos:
• Part 1 Introduction
• Part 2 Introduction
• Part 3 Introduction
• Part 4 Introduction
• Watch any 3-4 grammar videos of your choice in Magoosh, according to your weaknesses.
• Magoosh Practice:
• Click the “Practice Writing” button on your Dashboard. Complete one Task 2 essay and watch the explanation video.
• Official Practice:
• Take the “Reading” section of Practice Test 2 on pages 177-187 in The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS. Review your wrong answers carefully so that you understand why you made every mistake.

Week 1, Day 6:

• Lessons:
  • In Magoosh, watch these lessons in the Writing section:
  • How to Practice Writing
  • How Edit Your Practice Essays
  • Academic Task 1
  • Introduction to Task 2
  • Task 2 Organization
• Magoosh Practice:
• Click the “Practice Reading” button on your Dashboard. Read one passage and answer all questions for that passage. Watch the explanation video for every question you get wrong.
• Official Practice:
• Take the “Writing” section of Practice Test 2 on page 188 of The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS.

How to Study for IELTS: Week Two

Week 2, Day 1:

• Lessons:
• In Magoosh, watch three videos under IELTS Skills:
• Finding Information: Skimming and Scanning
• How to Skim
• How to Scan
• Magoosh Practice:
• Spend time today learning more new words with Magoosh’s IELTS flashcards.
• Click the “Practice Listening” button on your Dashboard. Listen to two different passages and answer all questions related to those passages. Watch the explanation video for every question you get wrong.
• Official Practice:
• Read the essays that you wrote on Week 1, Day 6. Compare them to the sample essays and answer explanations in the back of the book. Edit both of your essays. Did you catch any errors that you could correct the next time you write? Did you meet the word count minimum? Are your essays organized clearly? Use the official IELTS Writing band descriptors to help you evaluate how you did. Here are the band descriptors for Task 1 and Task 2. If possible, find a native English speaker or someone proficient in English to help you assess your writing and give you feedback.

Week 2, Day 2:

• Lessons:
• In Magoosh, watch these videos under Speaking:
• Part 3
• Part 3 Response Structure
• Improve your Band Score: Fluency and Coherence
• Watch 4-5 new grammar videos in Magoosh. Have you discovered any areas of weakness with your grammar by evaluating your writing and speaking responses? Focus on these areas.
• Magoosh Practice:
• Click the “Practice Speaking” button on your Dashboard. Answer two full sets of interview questions and watch the explanation videos.
• Official Practice:
• Complete the “Listening” section of Practice Test 2 on pages 173-176 in The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS. Review your incorrect answers carefully. Study the scripts in the back of the book (pages 344-346) to understand your incorrect answers.

Week 2, Day 3:

• Lessons:
• In Magoosh, watch these two videos under Speaking:
• How to Practice Speaking
• Improve Your Band Score: Pronunciation
• Improve Your Band Score: Lexical Resource
• Magoosh Practice:
• Click the “Practice Writing” button on your Dashboard. Complete one Task 1 essay, and then watch the explanation video.
• Spend 20-30 minutes answering questions from this set of Speaking prompts on the Magoosh IELTS blog.
• Official Practice:
• Answer all questions from the “Speaking” section of Practice Test 2 in The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS (page 189). You should record your responses so you can evaluate them at a later time using official IELTS band descriptors. You may be able to use your computer or phone to record your responses. This online recorder may also be helpful.

Week 2, Day 4:

• Lessons:
• In Magoosh, watch the next three videos under Writing:
• Task 2 Introductions
• Task 2 Thesis Satements
• Task 2 Body Paragraphs
• Task 2 Conclusions
• Watch 3-4 new grammar videos in Magoosh.
• Magoosh Practice:
• Click the “Practice Listening” button on your Dashboard. Listen to 3 different passages and answer all questions related to those passages. Watch the explanation video for every question you get wrong.
• strong>Official Practice:
• Take the “Reading” section of Practice Test 3 on pages 195-204 in The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS. Review your wrong answers carefully so that you understand why you made every mistake.

Week 2, Day 5:

• Lessons:
• In Magoosh, watch three videos under Reading:
• Matching Features Questions
• Matching Information Questions
• Sentence Completion Questions
• Short Answer Questions
• Magoosh Practice:
• Click the “Practice Writing” button on your Dashboard. Complete one Task 2 essay, and then watch the explanation video.
• Official Practice:
• Edit the essays you wrote today and on Week 2, Day 3. How could you make them better? Can you find grammar mistakes you could avoid next time you write?
• Listen again to your recorded Speaking responses from Magoosh and your official practice. Can you find mistakes or ways to improve your answers? If you had trouble answering a few specific questions, try answering them again. Repetition is a great way to improve your speaking responses.

Week 2, Day 6:

• Lessons:
• In Magoosh, watch the next three videos under Reading: Matching Headings Questions, Matching Sentence Endings Questions, and Multiple Choice Questions.
• Magoosh Practice:
• Click the “Practice Reading” button on your Dashboard. Read one passage and answer all questions for that passage. Watch the explanation video for every question you get wrong.
• Spend 10-20 minutes working on your vocabulary either with Magoosh’s IELTS flashcards or these vocabulary exercises.

How to Prepare for IELTS: Week Three

Week 3, Day 1:

Congratulations—you’ve now reached the halfway point of your one month of IELTS study!

• Lessons:
• In Magoosh, watch the next two videos under Writing, Task 2 Essay Type: Advantages and Disadvantages and Task 2 Essay Type: Agree or Disagree?
• Magoosh Practice:
• Click the “Practice Listening” button on your Dashboard. Listen to two different passages and answer all questions related to those passages. Watch the explanation video for every question you get wrong.
• Official Practice:
• Take the “Writing” section of Practice Test 3 on page 205 of The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS.

Week 3, Day 2:

• Lessons:
• In Magoosh, watch the next three videos under Reading:
• True/False/Not Given and Yes/No/Not Given Questions
• Summary Completion Questions
• Flow-Chart Completion Questions
• Watch 3-4 new grammar videos in Magoosh and review one more.
• Magoosh Practice:
• Click the “Practice Speaking” button on your Dashboard. Answer two full sets of interview questions and watch the explanation videos.
• Spend 10-20 minutes working on your vocabulary using these vocabulary exercises.
• Official Practice:
• In The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS, read page 132-133. Take your time as you analyze the three essay samples on page 133. Then do the same exercise with the essays you wrote on Week 3, Day 1. Make sure you also read the sample essays in the back of the book (pg. 390-391). Compare them to your own. What features of these essays could you incorporate into your own responses to improve them?

Week 3, Day 3:

• Lessons:
• In Magoosh, watch the next three videos under Listening:
• Question Type: Short Answer
• Question Type: Sentence Completion
• Question Type: Plan, Map, and Diagram Completion
• Magoosh Practice:
• Click the “Practice Writing” button on your Dashboard. Complete one Task 1 and one Task 2 essay, and then watch the explanation videos.
• Official Practice:
• Complete the “Listening” section of Practice Test 3 on pages 190-194 in The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS. Review your incorrect answers carefully, learning from your mistakes.

Week 3, Day 4:

• Lessons:
• In Magoosh, watch the next three videos under Writing:
• Academic Task 1: Diagrams
• Academic Task 1: Maps
• Academic Task 1: Charts, Graphs, and Tables
• Magoosh Practice:
• Click the “Practice Reading” button on your Dashboard. Read three passages and answer all questions. Watch the explanation video for every question you get wrong.
• Official Practice:
• Answer all questions from the “Speaking” section of Practice Test 3 in the The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS (page 206). Record your answers so you can review them later.

Week 3, Day 5:

• Lessons:
• In Magoosh, watch the next video under Listening:
• Question Type: Multiple Choice
• Question Type: Matching
• Question Type: Form, Note, Table, Flow-Chart, Summary Completion
• Watch 3-4 new grammar videos in Magoosh and review one other lesson of your choice, grammar or IELTS-based.
• Magoosh Practice:
• Click the “Practice Listening” button on your Dashboard. Answer all of the questions for with three passages. Watch the explanation video for every question you get wrong.
• Click the “Practice Writing” button on your Dashboard. Complete one Task 2 essay, and then watch the explanation video.

Week 3, Day 6:

Today, you’re going to take a full practice test. If you don’t have a full three hours to spend, then switch this day with a day next week when you will have the time. You need three hours with no interruptions to complete the test.
Take Practice Test 4 in The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS. Do not take breaks during the Listening, Reading, and Writing sections, and be careful with the clock. Time yourself strictly in order to replicate exam conditions the best you can.
If at all possible, try to find a native English speaker to interview you for the Speaking exam. If that isn’t possible, find a friend who knows some English to read you the questions. And if that is also impossible, simply read the questions and answer them on your own. Remember to record your responses so you can analyze them later!

How to Study for IELTS: Week Four

Week 4, Day 1:

• Lessons:
• In Magoosh, watch the last three videos under Writing:
• Task 2 Essay Type: Cause and Solution
• Task 2 Essay Type: Thematic Questions
• Task 2 Essay Type: Discuss Both Sides
• Magoosh Practice:
• Click the “Practice Writing” button on your Dashboard. Complete two essays: a Task 1 essay and a Task 2 essay. Watch the explanation videos.
• Official Practice:
• Review all of your answers from the full practice test you took at the end of last week. Pay careful attention to your wrong answers in Reading and Listening, learning from your mistakes. Grade your Speaking and Writing tasks by comparing them with the examples provided in the back of the book.

Week 4, Day 2:

• Lessons:
• In Magoosh, watch the last three videos under IELTS Skills:
• Structuring Answers: Transition Words and Phrases
• Structuring Answers: General and Specific
• Paraphrasing
• In Magoosh, watch this video in the Speaking section:
• Practice Interview #1
• In Magoosh, watch this video in the Writing section:
• How to Add Detail to Your Writing
• Magoosh Practice:
• Click the “Practice Reading” button on your Dashboard. Read two passages and answer all questions. Watch the explanation video for every question you get wrong.
• Official Practice:
• Do the Listening section of Practice Test 5 from The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS. Review your incorrect answers carefully.

Week 4, Day 3:

• Lessons:
• In Magoosh, watch the last two videos under Reading:
• Table Completion Questions
• Diagram Completion Questions
• Magoosh Practice:
• Click the “Practice Listening” button on your Dashboard. Listen to two different passages and answer all questions related to those passages. Watch the explanation video for every question you get wrong.
• Official Practice:
• Do the Writing section of Practice Test 5 from The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS. Compare your essays to the responses provided in the back of the book.

Week 4, Day 4:

• Lessons:
• In Magoosh, watch these Speaking videos:
• Improve Your Band Score: Grammatical Range and Accuracy
• Practice Interview #2
• Practice Interview #3
• Magoosh Practice:
• Review all your vocabulary from both Magoosh flashcards and EnglishVocabularyExercises.com.
• Click the “Practice Speaking” button on your Dashboard. Answer two full sets of interview questions. Watch the explanation video for both sets.
• Official Practice:
• Return to the Speaking task recordings you created on Week 3, Day 4. Repeat the same tasks better than the first time, attempting to include new vocabulary in every answer. Try to avoid grammar errors you made the first time through. When you’re done, compare the recordings. Were you more fluent than the last time? Were your responses more organized? Did new problems emerge?
• Return to the essays you wrote yesterday. Edit them and consider ways to improve them. If at all possible, give your essays to a teacher, friend, or family member (with knowledge of English) to read and evaluate. It can be very helpful to get a another person’s opinion about your writing.

Week 4, Day 5:

• Magoosh Practice:
• Click the “Practice Writing” button on your Dashboard. Complete one to two essays, watching the explanation videos.
• Official Practice:
• Complete the Reading questions from Practice Test 5 from page 232 to 243 of The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS. Review each incorrect answer carefully.

Week 4, Day 6:

• Magoosh Practice:
• Click the “Practice Reading” button on your Dashboard. Read two passages and answer all questions. Watch the explanation video for every question you get wrong.
• Click the “Practice Listening” button on your Dashboard. Listen to two different passages and answer all questions related to those passages. Watch the explanation video for every question you get wrong.

If you have time remaining:

• Review Magoosh videos and practice questions daily.
• Take Practice Test 6 in The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS.
• Review vocabulary that you’ve already learned.
• Regularly listen to TED talks and read articles from New York Times or Newsweek. After every article or talk, summarize what you learned either in writing or in speech. If you speak your summary, record yourself.

The day before your IELTS test:

Tell yourself you’re a rock star who’s going to ace the test. Don’t study today—you’ll just build up anxiety! Instead, find out what to expect on test day by reading about what you need to bring on test day. If you’ve followed this one month IELTS study schedule, you should be in good shape for the test. Get a good night’s sleep, and have a healthy breakfast in the morning.

Good Luck!

 
 

Holidays are a great time for students to prep for the IELTS because they don’t have to deal with other subjects or work. However, it is difficult to concentrate on studying because there are so many tempting things to do during the holiday. You have to spend less time on entertainment and more time on improving your skills if the test day is approaching. Take a look at the 10 ways to prep for the IELTS over the holidays and follow these tips to make the best use of your holidays!

#1 Make a plan

Make a personalized study schedule that monitors all study and entertainment activities. You need to follow your study plan every day so that you can finish all the tasks. Besides, by making a study plan, you will know what you have learned and what you need to improve in the future.

#2 Get up early

Get up early and spend some time on the IELTS in the morning. Your brain should get used to working in the morning because the IELTS test begins at 9am. Besides, the brain has more energy in the morning, so you can learn new information quickly. It also helps you to finish tasks early, so you will save some time for entertainment later at night.

#3 Get enough sleep

Do not stay up late, because lack of sleep affects your learning ability. Your brain needs enough rest to work well, so getting enough sleep during the holidays is important.

#4 Stay away from noises

It is hard to focus on the study in a noisy place. Forget about the test when there is a party in your house, because you will learn nothing in such an environment. If you want to study, find a quiet place, such as the school library, so that you can concentrate on the materials.

#5 Do full-length practice tests

Since you will have a lot of free time during the holidays, you can do full-length practice tests! You will get familiar with the test format and content by practicing with these tests.

#6 Minimize distractions

You will have a lot of distractions during the holidays. When you are studying for the test, it is better to switch off your phone and TV. Also, do not spend too much time on social networks.

#7 Find a study buddy

You can study with a friend who is also preparing for the IELTS. Practicing with a study buddy is helpful because you can learn from each other and solve problems together. For example, you can practice speaking with your friend and find out each other’s strengths and weaknesses based on the criteria.

#8 Reward yourself

Do not forget to reward yourself! It is holiday time even if you have to prep for the IELTS. After finishing your tasks, you can do some shopping, eat a slice of cake or hang out with friends for a little while. These little rewards can make you more motivated to study!

#9 Take time for exercise

Studying all the time will make you feel stressed. Take some time for exercise. You can do yoga, go jogging, or just walk around. They help you to relax and get enough energy for study.

#10 Use on-the-go resources

If you are going to travel during the holiday, use on-the-go resources to help you prep for the IELTS! Check out our post on 7 fun ways to learn English and Best IELTS prep Apps to get more useful tips!

Many international graduate students need to take both the GRE and an English proficiency exam. Luckily, there are ways to study for both of these tests at the same time. In fact, the IELTS and GRE are similar in quite a few ways.

Study for IELTS Writing and GRE AWA at the same time

IELTS Writing Task 2 and the GRE AWA’s Analyse-an-Issue Task are almost exactly the same. Both tasks involve writing your opinion on a social issue — something like global warming, funding for education, etc. In addition, almost all GRE AWA questions have the same format as an IELTS Task 2 opinion/point of view question. (This is the most common of the 3 main types of IELTS Writing Task 2 questions.)

The main thing that separates IELTS Writing Task 2 and the GRE AWA Issue task is difficulty. GRE AWA is harder than IELTS. The GRE’s issue topic has a 30-minute time limit, and successful responses are usually 500-600 words long. In contrast, IELTS Writing Task 2 has a 40-minute time limit, with a recommended word count of 250-300 words. So on the IELTS, you analyse an issue in less detail, and you have more time to do it.

Because of this difference, it’s a good idea to treat IELTS Writing Task 2 as a warmup for the harder — but similar — GRE Analyse-an-Issue essay. As you get more confident with your IELTS writing, you can even rewrite a shorter IELTS Task 2 response, changing it into a GRE Issue response. From there, you can work on mastering your GRE writing skills in both AWA Tasks (Issue and Argument), while strengthening your IELTS writing abilities.

You can also use IELTS Speaking to refine your writing skills in IELTS Task 2 and the GRE Issue topic. The Speaking topics on the IELTS don’t explore social issues in the same way as IELTS or GRE essays. But IELTS Speaking does require you to quickly think of your personal opinions and views, and express them clearly; this is especially true in part 2 of IELTS Speaking! So your IELTS Speaking practice can help you think quickly about your opinions within the time limits of GRE AWA and IELTS Writing.

Study for IELTS Reading and GRE Verbal at the same time

IELTS Reading and GRE Verbal also have a lot in common. Here again, GRE practice can be treated as a harder “next step” after some IELTS practice.

The sentence completion in IELTS Listening and reading is easier than the sentence completion in GRE Verbal. But SC on both exams involves the same basic skill — understanding the way that vocabulary fits into a sentence’s context.

And speaking of vocabulary, the IELTS does not have any questions that directly ask about the meaning of vocabulary words, while the GRE does. However, the readings on both IELTS and GRE have almost the exact same difficulty level. In fact, the level of IELTS vocabulary and GRE Reading Comprehension vocabulary are about the same. Only the GRE’s shorter sentence completion readings are consistently harder than IELTS reading.

The thing that really makes GRE Reading Comprehension harder than IELTS Reading is the questions. The GRE is much more likely to ask questions about theme, subtext, and author attitude than the IELTS. However, the IELTS will also touch on these question types. So again, what you’ll want to do is start out by building IELTS skills, and then go on to practise the harder GRE Verbal materials as well.

Study for the IELTS and GRE Quantitative at the same time

Believe it or not, some IELTS skills can be used in GRE Quantitative. This is because GRE math includes graphics — charts, tables, and so on. The IELTS also has a graphics component. IELTS Writing Task 1 asks test-takers to write a description of an infographic. And IELTS reading includes some reading activities with diagrams and charts. To sharpen your skills with English language infographics, it can help to study IELTS Writing Tasks 1 and the visual parts of IELTS reading while you also study the GRE’s visual math content.

Here, the GRE exam is not necessarily “harder” than the IELTS. Math and reading comprehension are two very different skills, and it’s hard to compare them directly. It is worth noting that IELTS visuals are often more complicated than GRE math visuals. So you may want to practise reading the GRE Quant infographics before you move on to practise with visual information on the IELTS exam.

In this guide to Magoosh’s top IELTS study schedules, we’ll tell you why using an IELTS study guide is important and help you choose (or create) the best plan for you!

Most Popular IELTS Study Schedules

Magoosh offers four study guides (also known as “study schedules” or “study plans”) that you can use to organize your IELTS preparation:

1 Month Academic IELTS Study Schedule

[printable version]

Looking for a comprehensive One Month Academic IELTS Study Schedule? Get ready for the Academic IELTS with six days of preparation and one rest day a week for four weeks! This IELTS study guide works best with Magoosh IELTS prep, and can be downloaded or printed.
   

1 Month General Training IELTS Study Schedule PDF

With only a month to prepare for the General Training IELTS exam, it’s likely you’re feeling some pressure! Luckily, this General Training IELTS study schedule PDF will guide you through four weeks of IELTS practice using Magoosh IELTS prep online, so you’ll be well prepared on test day.
   
   
   
   
   

1 Week Academic IELTS Study Schedule
[printable version]

Only one week left until the Academic IELTS? Don’t panic! Review our one-week Academic IELTS study schedule to improve your score with seven days of intensive IELTS prep. Like the one-month study schedule, it can be downloaded or printed for easy studying.
   
   

1 Week General Training IELTS Study Schedule PDF

Taking the General Training IELTS in a week? You can still do a lot to prepare at this point if you use your time wisely and efficiently. This one-week General Training IELTS study plan can help you do exactly that! Like the one-month study schedule, this study guide comes as a printable PDF and can be used alongside Magoosh IELTS prep.

“How to Use an IELTS Study Plan” Video

To get you started with your new IELTS study schedule, check out this video on how to use an IELTS study guide effectively (and scroll down for a full video transcript).

In this free video, our IELTS expert Eliot will give you a brief introduction, followed by everything you need to know in order to understand and follow an IELTS study plan. In five minutes, you will learn:

• What is an IELTS study schedule?
• How do you use an IELTS study schedule?
• Which IELTS study schedule should you choose?
• What will be on the Magoosh IELTS study schedule?

Why is an IELTS study guide important?

Making or following a study schedule can seem like a lot of work, but using a study plan will actually save you time during your IELTS prep! Organizing your studies with a schedule will help you to keep your IELTS preparation on track, and ensures you won’t have to cram in anything at the end. Plus, using a study plan can help you to pinpoint where your strengths and weaknesses are, which will show you where you need to improve!

What should I do before making a new IELTS template for my studies?

You need to do some research work before making the template, or study plan. First, you need to understand the test format of the IELTS so that you can be familiar with the different test versions, test process, and the tasks. Also, you need to know how the IELTS score is calculated so that you can predict how you will score. Check out our posts on the IELTS test format and how the IELTS scores are calculated! Then, find a high-quality IELTS prep product (hey, we might be able to help you there!)

How Should I use Magoosh’s IELTS Essay Scoring Service in my Study Plan?

Magoosh offers IELTS essay feedback to our premium subscribers. Those with a six-month Magoosh IELTS subscription can get up to four of their essays scored. The one-month plan includes one scored essay. While we don’t strictly require the use of essay grading in our IELTS study schedules, it can definitely be useful.

If you have just one essay credit, it’s good to use that credit in the first week of your study plan. That way you can check your Writing “baseline” and get some feedback on how you should improve over the course of your study schedule.

If you have four essay credits, it’s still get one essay scored at the beginning. However, from there, you should space your remaining essays evenly throughout the rest of your schedule. That way, you can periodically re-check your progress. And the feedback you receive can help you decide which Writing skills to focus on in a given week. 

How to make an IELTS study guide?

Set a goal

The first step is to set a goal for yourself. The goal should be based on the minimum requirements of your dream schools. Check the admission websites of those schools and find out their requirements on the overall IELTS score and on different parts!

Find out your weaknesses

Before making the exact plan, you can do a full length practice test to check your level. Then you can find out your strengths and weaknesses in different parts. For example, some students are better at reading and writing while some have better skills in listening and speaking. Even within the same section, you will do better on some types of questions. Check out our IELTS full length practice tests to find out your weaknesses!

Plan daily and weekly practice

This is the most complex step in making an IELTS study plan, because an effective study plan should meet your personal needs. Here are some useful tips!

First of all, you need to find your spare time. If you are busy with your studies or work, you can study for the IELTS one or two hours each work day. Weekends are probably the best time for you to prepare for the test.

Then you need to consider how much time you have before your test (another good reason to complete IELTS registration and start prep early!). A study plan for three months is different from a study plan for one month. If your time is limited, you need to focus more on your weaknesses rather than every part of the IELTS. For example, if you are already a good listener and reader, you can practice speaking and writing each day, and then do full length practice tests on weekends.

Here is a sample study plan.

Note: This study plan is only a suggestion. You need to customize your IELTS study plan based on the tips above.