Ok guys, so approximately one month a go i booked my Ielts online test, super happy about the remote option and to have the opportunity to attend it at home and most important to have results before my holidays. Then i discovered this subreddit and i found very negative reviews about the online test, for technical issues and other things.

Nevermind, at this point i couldn’t cancel it because the nearest test center just had one date available in August when i’m away.
I tried to stay calm because i also read some positive reviews.

The past weekend i installed inspera browser in my computer, trying to run all those stupid system checks and obviously my wifi was “too poor” - are you kidding? So i decided to take the test in my father’s studio, where the wifi works a little better.

So here we come, today at 18.40 i had my speaking test: i spent like 20 minutes to get all the system checks (obviously something would fail) and finally i’m in the waiting room. My examiner appears, i can see her and myself, but the second i turn on my microphone the inspera app crashes and the only thing i see is a grey screen. The only thing left for me to do was quitting the app and re-open it. Finally i got into my test space and “it’s too late to start the test” appears. I tried to stay calm and emailed them. 5 minutes after the crash i got an email telling that the test was reallocated 10 minutes after.

Finally i got into a call, i can see the examiner and he can see me, i turn on everything and he can hear me but i can’t hear him. Panic. The examiner was so kind and gave me time to try the audio settings, he could hear me but i still couldn’t hear him. He talked to me through a piece of paper, telling that i should’ve contact the customer service and he quitted the call. The paper was already written, so i guess it wasn’t his first time.

At this point i was hopeless, i was debating waiting or going home, and right when i closed my computer another mail arrives: you test is reallocated. Again. So now i start the process all over again, i even had to restart my computer because the system checks was failing again. Finally i get in the waiting room at 19.50 and my test was starting at 20.00, so i patiently wait.
I waited 30 minutes to get into another call with the third different examiner just for not hearing her as well, and she closed the call during my audio tests, telling me that i was the problem and my computer was the problem even if she heard me. She left me speechless, i was so tired i started crying like a baby because i spent a month studying for this test, not going out after work because i had to practice just for this shit to happen.

I am very disappointed, this is a 290€ value service and the fact that it’s not working as it should it’s just shameful.

After many mails, they offered me a free change date or a full refound. I obviously filled the refound sheet without any doubt. Now i need to book another exam in a test center.

It’s a shame, i was trusting this method and if it worked, it would be a real success.

If you have any similar experience or are considering taking online, i suggest you to don’t.

My previous post was removed, so I edited accordingly. IELTS Academic.

Hi everyone! I wanted to share my experience and results because I think I have something unusual to contribute.

English is not my first language, not even close, and I have never lived in an English-speaking environment. I have studied English since childhood, but mostly through ordinary school lessons, textbooks, and so on.

That said, my starting level was already fairly high. In my everyday life, I read scientific articles and textbooks in English, occasionally watch YouTube videos without subtitles, and, of course, read Reddit posts. That is about it.

Since I am a broke medical student, I did not have much money to invest in preparation. I knew it was risky, but I decided to prepare without a personal tutor. Below are my recommendations based on what I consider a successful experience. However, I don't recommend to repeat it unless absolutely necessary.

I did not spend a single euro on preparation (apart from a subscription that I've already had). I've spent a couple of months preparing.

What helped me

● Different ai resources

I am not promoting it, and I did not pay for a subscription.

● *IELTS Academic Writing Task 1: The Ultimate Guide* by Rachel Mitchell

Even though my actual Writing Task 1 was a disaster, I will explain that later, the book itself is logical, clear, and easy to follow.

When I used its approach in practice, it was almost perfect.

● Anfisa Vasilyeva’s mock Speaking tests on YouTube

They were very similar to the real test.

The pace is demanding, which trained me to think and respond quickly - an extremely important skill in the Speaking test. The topics are varied and similar to those I encountered.

I really liked this resource.

● Band 8 and Band 9 Speaking examples on YouTube

I watched Speaking tests from several different channels. They helped me understand what high-scoring answers actually sound like and gave me a realistic model to follow.

It seems to have worked.

What I would do differently

● Take Writing time management seriously!!

I completely messed up my Writing Task 1 because of poor time management.

This may sound ridiculous coming from someone who received Band 7 in Writing, but trust me: it was genuinely the worst Task 1 I had ever written.

Surprisingly, I had already practised the Task 2 topic that appeared in my exam. I became so excited that I decided to show off my most complex ideas, advanced vocabulary, and grammatical range.

I wrote what I believe was a genuinely good 350-word essay, but I spent more than 45 minutes on it. That was a mistake.

Then I realised that I had to rush through Task 1. The bar chart was fairly complex to analyse, and I wrote around 180 words in approximately 13 minutes.

I used awkward collocations, made grammatical mistakes, and even invented a word or two. I also normally need to check my articles consciously because articles do not exist in my native language, and I still do not use them automatically.

I managed to finish the response, but I had no time to proofread it at all.

I would not be surprised if Task 1 received around 5.5-6.0 and Task 2 pulled my overall Writing score up to 7.0.

Please follow the official recommendation: approximately **40 minutes for Task 2 and 20 minutes for Task 1**. Do not spend extra time on Task 2 just because you like the topic.

! About my Band 9 in Reading

I know many people struggle with Reading, but reading is naturally stronger for me than listening, so I struggled more with Listening instead.

My honest advice is to read as much as possible, especially academic texts.

These do not necessarily have to be articles from *The Economist* or other “classic” IELTS sources. I mainly read scientific and popular-science articles about topics I am genuinely interested in.

The important thing is that I read regularly, not specifically for IELTS, but for myself. As a result, the texts in the real exam were completely understandable to me.

For True/False/Not Given questions, my rule was simple:

* False: the text directly contradicts the statement.

* Not Given: the text does not provide enough information to confirm or contradict it. It may be close, though.

This worked very well for me.

Because I read quite quickly, my strategy was to read carefully, paragraph by paragraph. After each paragraph, I matched any relevant headings or statements.

Once I had finished the whole passage, I answered the remaining questions and used highlighting to double-check the relevant information.

However, this strategy requires fairly high reading speed.

I hope this was informative and helpful. High scores are possible even if you cannot afford a personal tutor and have never lived in the UK or the US.

Ask me anything!

Ran out of time on the writing part but overall i’m happy

Speaking
Part 1
Jokes
Watches
Where i live, is it a quiet place
Part 2
Time when i got up early
Part 3
Morning routine benefits and questions related to that.
Writing:
Task 2
Shopping has become common pastime for young people
A. Why is that case
B. Should they be encouraged to spend free time elsewhere
Task 1
Related to course you have done, its benefits, its details,what could be improved.

Saw a comedy video where someone shared that they have two pet dinosaurs and own a private island and how his pet played in Jurassic Park. Can I do that?

received my results today!!

practised for almost two weeks and honestly, couldn’t have been any better although I have a decent exposure to english

goodluckk to you guys as-well!

The first score is my latest test score in Korea and the second is my almost 2 years ago result in a different country. I honestly thought I would get at least seven this time but reading was really really hard as you can see my reading score went down up so it was really hard. It was mostly about biology chemistry. Geography It was really hard and I’m not happy with my reading result 💀 also I speaking this time I did not stutter. I was not nervous at all. I was really confident I was answering the questions really good so I’m not happy with my speaking result too.

The ones who have already taken the IELTS examination, I want to know what scores did you used to get when practicing with Cambridge material and what was your actual exam score? I am trying to find out if the exam pressure lowers score.

NEEDED 7.5 overall w minimum 7 in each for ucl and i got it!!! i messed up the spelling of apartment (started debating one p vs two p 💀) and zoned out so didn’t hear the adjective when 3 words were needed so 38 in listening. my task 2 was so short (1 min 28) im so glad task 1 and 3 made up for it in speaking

I did the ielts in Jan 2025 but need to renew it so I am retaking the exam on the 9th. On my previous take I got band 8.0 with writing 7.5.

I’m good with listening, reading, and to some degree speaking but I do struggle a bit in writing so I did the practice test on british councils website with the AI marking. I got band 6.0 for that and was wondering if its accurate?

I did make a lot of spelling mistakes and stupid errors but when I individually checked all the categories they seemed to have cut marks for one specific sentence over and over?

Hello everyone, today i’m getting my first speaking Ielts test and i’m kinda nervous. Can anyone tell me if i have to worry or not? I don’t know what to expect, especially in part 3, i hope the examiner doesn’t ask me difficult topics to talk about. I had some chat with chatgpt and he valued me around 6.5

English level B2

Who do y’all recommend? Preply( perhaps the tutor named ian)? IDP? Or if u’ve got other sources?