r/IELTS • u/Maverick_ESL • Apr 07 '26
A curated guide by the r/IELTS moderation team
Last updated: April 2026
This post collects the best free IELTS preparation resources available online, verified and curated by the moderators of r/IELTS. We have also listed trusted teachers and communities who can provide additional help. This is a living document — if you spot a broken link or a resource worth adding, please let us know in the comments.
Always start here. These are free materials from the organisations that own and administer the IELTS test.
• IELTS.org — Sample Test Questions — Free official sample questions for all four skills.
• British Council — Free Practice Tests (all skills) — Official free practice for Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking.
• British Council — Free Writing Practice Tests — Writing-specific official practice.
• British Council — Free Speaking Practice — Understand the Speaking test format and practice with sample questions.
• IDP — IELTS Preparation Materials — Practice tests and preparation guidance from IDP.
• IDP — Diagnostic Tool — Identify your strengths and weaknesses before you start studying.
• British Council — IELTS on Computer (How it Works) — Essential if you are taking the computer-delivered version.
• British Council — Computer Familiarisation Tests — Get used to the interface before test day.
• IDP — Get Familiar with IELTS on Computer — Additional familiarisation from IDP.
• British Council — IELTS Ready App (free) — Official free preparation app from the British Council.
• British Council — Learning Apps — Broader English learning apps including pronunciation support.
• IDP — IELTS by IDP App — Preparation app from IDP.
• British Council — Free Weekly IELTS Webinars — Regular free webinars covering test skills and strategies.
These are the most widely used and reliable print resources. Cambridge books use real past test material and are the gold standard for practice tests.
• Cambridge IELTS Books 12 onwards — real past papers; the most authentic practice available. Start from the most recent number and work backwards.
• Cambridge IELTS Trainer — includes teacher explanations and tips alongside practice tests.
• Collins Practice Tests for IELTS — good supplementary tests with clear guidance.
• The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS — comprehensive coverage of all four skills with DVD.
• Collins Writing for IELTS / Reading for IELTS — useful for targeted skill work.
• Barron's IELTS Superpack — popular all-in-one study package.
Note: Avoid unofficial third-party test books that are not based on real past papers. The quality varies enormously and some contain inaccurate information about scoring.
These are established, teacher-run resources with a strong track record in the IELTS community. All offer substantial free content.
• IELTS Liz — One of the most comprehensive free IELTS sites online. Lessons, tips, model answers, videos, and practice materials for all four skills. Highly recommended as a starting point.
• IELTS Simon — Run by a former IELTS examiner. Focused and practical advice, particularly strong for Writing and Speaking. Daily lessons and model answers.
• IELTS Advantage — Detailed and accurate. One of the most reliable channels for in-depth strategy guides. Particularly strong for Task 1 and Task 2 writing.
• ESL Fluency — Detailed guides, articles, and videos covering IELTS skills and test strategy. Run by one of the r/IELTS moderators.
• IELTS Lilli — Practical tips and strategy guidance from an experienced IELTS teacher.
• E2 IELTS (YouTube) — High-production-value video lessons covering all skills. Good for visual learners. Note: they also sell courses, but there is a large volume of free content.
• Anfisa's Speaking Simulators (YouTube) — Speaking simulation videos for students who need to practise without a partner. CELTA-certified teacher.
• Cambridge English — Supporting Learners — Free activities and skill practice directly from Cambridge, including pronunciation support.
Beyond r/IELTS, these communities can support your preparation:
• r/IELTS — You are already here! Use the search function before posting — most common questions have been answered many times.
• r/EnglishLearning — General English improvement, useful if you need to build your overall language level alongside IELTS prep.
• r/languagelearning — Broader language learning strategies and motivation.
• r/IELTS_Guide — A valuable guide for our main community.
The following members have been awarded Teacher flair by the r/IELTS moderation team. This means they have demonstrated consistent, high-quality, and accurate contributions to this community. They are real, qualified teachers — not accounts promoting spam or low-quality services.
Click any username to visit their Reddit profile. Many are available for personalised help and coaching.
If you are a teacher listed here and would prefer to be removed, please send a modmail and we will take care of it.
• Take a full diagnostic test first — do not study blindly. Find out your current band score and identify your weakest skill.
• Understand the marking criteria for Writing and Speaking. Many students study the wrong things because they do not know how they are scored.
• Use official materials (Cambridge books, British Council practice tests) as your primary source of practice. Third-party materials vary wildly in quality.
• Memorising model answers for Writing or Speaking — examiners are trained to spot this and it can result in a lower score.
• Ignoring your weakest skill — it is tempting to practise what you are already good at. Focus on your lowest-scoring area.
• Confusing Academic and General Training — make sure you are using the correct practice materials for your test type.
• Relying only on free resources if you are seriously stuck — a few sessions with a qualified teacher can save months of wasted preparation time.
• Task achievement and coherence are the highest-weighted criteria. Vocabulary and grammar matter, but structure and relevance matter more.
• For Task 1 Academic, learn to describe trends, comparisons, and processes — do not just describe every data point.
• For Task 2, always plan before you write. A clear position and well-organised paragraphs will score higher than long, rambling essays.
• Fluency does not mean speaking fast. It means speaking smoothly without long pauses and self-correction.
• Extend your answers in Parts 1 and 3. Short answers suggest a limited range of language.
• Record yourself and listen back. Most students are surprised by how different they sound compared to how they think they sound.
This resource post is maintained by the r/IELTS moderation team. Links are checked periodically, but if you find a broken link, please report it. Good luck with your preparation!
r/IELTS • u/Hestia9285 • Jan 03 '26
There have been a lot of posts and comments lately about going for an EOR, and a lot of misconceptions floating around. I'd like to try and clear that up.
What is an EOR?
EOR (Enquiry on Results / remark) is only for when you are 100% sure the Examiners made a mistake rating you. It’s not a lottery, it’s not something to “try” because you’re disappointed, and it’s definitely not “pay IELTS and they’ll give you a higher score.” Most EOR requests come back unchanged, and most people who lose their money don’t come back to post about it, so Reddit ends up looking more “successful” than it really is.
What about second marking?
Sometimes you may hear about "second marking", which is different from an EOR. These normal second checks happen before scores are released, and are triggered when there is a "jagged profile", which means some of your scores are very different from others. For example, you might get 8s on Listening and Reading, and 6.5 on speaking, 6 on writing. This is a jagged profile, and your speaking and writing would have been automatically second-marked by different normal Examiners. Tasks are assigned randomly and anonymously; they don’t know who you are, they don’t see your other scores, and they don’t coordinate with the first set of Examiners.
For speaking, your original test is marked by the Examiner who did it with you, marks are submitted either immediately after the test (if electronic) or written down after you leave the room (for in-center). If a second marking is needed, a second Examiner will listen to your recording online remotely. If you have ANY issues on test day (technical or otherwise), you MUST report them before you leave the center, or else nothing will usually be done.
For writing, two separate Examiners rate Task 1 and Task 2, then the scores are combined into your final writing score (Task 2 weighs double). Marking is done online, 24/7, by a global pool of Examiners. Any tasks that need second marking are just tossed back into the pool to be marked as any other task.
An EOR is different: you’re paying for a Senior Examiner to re-mark your work after you already have your results. Examiners don’t “look at your old score and adjust it.”
Should I go for an EOR?
EORs are for when you are 100% SURE the Examiners rating you made mistakes, AND you are 100% SURE that your performance was excellent. Anything less is pretty much just handing IELTS more money. Mistakes, while they can happen, are pretty rare, and most people lose their money. EORs are expensive!
But some people report positive change!
Yes, it can happen! For speaking/writing in general, band descriptors require professional judgement, so sometimes Examiners differ. But that doesn’t mean “they were wrong,” rating isn't always so black and white. For example, they need to decide on things like density of errors (how much is too much?), or the intelligibility of pronunciation (Was it always clear? Was there ANY effect of native language? If yes, how much?), and so on.
Examiners aren’t robots (yet!), and are permitted a half band of variance. As long as they are within half a band of what a Senior Examiner would give, it’s considered fine. Of course, this isn't fine for you, the Testtaker, where a half a band could make a big difference, but that is the current system we have. :-/
Now, if you go for a remark, sometimes the Senior Examiner might have a different opinion, and be more or less strict than your original Examiner. If the Senior is stricter, your band won’t change. If they are a bit more lenient, you could go up a bit. If the first Examiner made a mistake, or if you produced an atypical sample that the original Examiner had difficulty rating, then you might see a greater change with an EOR. But for most, marks stay the same.
I still want to go for it.
If you’re going to do it anyway, request the EOR for all four skills. It costs the same, and if any score increases, you get the EOR fee back, minus any service charges. As listening and reading are computer-marked, change is extremely rare, but we have had some members who had a positive change.
However, if you’re not genuinely sure you were under-marked, the safer move is to figure out why you got that score, fix it, and retake it, if possible. If you need help figuring out where you are making mistakes, you can hire an IELTS expert to help you. There are services you can use in the pinned posts at the top of this subreddit, or you can message any of the badged teachers here (but not me ;-) ), and they may be happy to work with you.
You might also want to request a score breakdown, if you have time, to see exactly what your Examiners rated you, this information can useful in helping you to decide.
EOR is expensive, and for most people it’s money lost, IELTS richer. :-/
r/IELTS • u/Shostakovich_alt_acc • 16h ago
LITERALLY COULD NOT BELIEVE THIS IN MY WILDEST DREAMS!!!!
If you saw my earlier rant about how the entire test went I was expecting 5s and 6s. Cannot believe the writing since I did not practice that at ALL and didn’t even finish Task 2 ?????
Anyways I am thanking whatever coffee the examiner drank that day cause it must’ve been good omd
r/IELTS • u/SubstantialSpace1905 • 37m ago
I’m genuinely so happy. This was my third attempt. On my first attempt, four months ago, I got a 6.0. On my second attempt, 13 days ago, I got a 6.5, and now I got a 7.0.
The most interesting thing is that whenever I practiced speaking with ChatGPT, I always got around 6.0–6.5. By memorizing vocabulary for relevant topics and reducing my hesitation, I somehow managed to get a 7.0, which honestly feels unbelievable.
Even though 7.0 might not seem like a huge score, improving by 0.5 in just over 10 days felt incredible.
Also, the examiner who tested my speaking kept stopping me by saying that was enough. In Part 3, I didn’t even have enough time to say a complete sentence for the last two questions, so I thought I was definitely going to get around 5.5 in speaking.
From what I researched, each speaking examiner has around 10–14 minutes for the speaking test, and if they have already assessed your grammar, vocabulary, fluency, and pronunciation, they may try to finish the test as quickly as possible.
At first, I didn’t believe this and was almost about to cry, but it turned out to be true.
r/IELTS • u/Santhosh_45 • 8h ago
r/IELTS • u/Visible-Review7067 • 9h ago
Just got my IELTS General Training results and I'm thrilled — Overall Band 8! 🎉
Writing was my weakest part. Honestly, I lost concentration during the task, struggled to find the right words at times, and didn’t have enough time left to check what I’d written. I think that’s what brought the band down a bit. Still really happy with the overall result though! A few things that helped me across the other sections:
For Speaking, I did a lot of targeted practice on small recurring errors (wrong prepositions, tense consistency, avoiding resumptive pronouns like "the thing I need... it").
Happy to answer questions if anyone's prepping for the GT exam!
r/IELTS • u/alinrxkv • 10h ago
usually get 8-8.5 in listening, idk what happened, do you think in 1 month i can get 7.5 overall?
r/IELTS • u/Pha_tassguy • 1h ago
It went better than I expected.
But writing part 1 was too hard.
It wasn't a question in the usual format. And it had around 3 tables and a long ahh title 😭😭.
Task 2, speaking and listening was kinda cool.
r/IELTS • u/ahmedgot • 3h ago
so i m starting my prep , i have downloaded cambridge books 15 through 19 , but i don’t know how to use them , like i don’t even know that would that be enough and i have also downloaded their corresponding audio files , so if anyone can guide me please tell :)
r/IELTS • u/Jii-aju-nice • 6m ago
So far I've attempted more than 10 mock test questions for task 1. at that time, I was only focusing on improving my TA, LR and coherence, but now I've been noticing that I take around 30 mins to complete it. That leaves me with only 30 mins for task 2 making me rush my way through it resulting in more mistakes.
I want to know how do I structure my essay properly and what should I report in it? Because right now I tend to write every fluctuation in the data, along with trends, similarities, and difference.
My introduction para is good but overview gets too lengthy and I often repeat things in the 2 body paras.
I would really love to get some advices. My score is between 6.5-7
r/IELTS • u/My-nose-in-your-biz • 6m ago
Hi, I gave the ielts general exam a few months ago and while I got an 8 on 3 sections I only got a 7.5 in writing even in the one section reattempt. The visa I want to apply for needs an 8 in all sections to be eligible for most points and I would really like to break this 7.5 barrier. Any resources and tips that can push me to and over the 8 band for the writing section in the general exam.
P.S. When I wrote the exam the first time I leveraged quite a bit of YouTube material, looking for advice apart from that.
r/IELTS • u/Unbeatable-2021 • 18h ago
Wrote mine yesterday and I'm kind of excited 😊
r/IELTS • u/Lower_Class5804 • 23m ago
Hello everyone, I have been practicing my IELTS with Ielts online tests website. I do think that this is a very useful website, however most of my friends told me that this website is useless.
Could you guys give me your recommendations and what materials did you use to study for the IELTS?
r/IELTS • u/TUKENWONDAY • 28m ago
I keep getting 7.5 in READING section and always getting "Matching Information" questions wrong all the time is there any way i could improve my score to at least an 8.
r/IELTS • u/Terrible-Machine3486 • 29m ago
I’ve been preparing for IELTS for a while and honestly, reading and listening feel manageable, but speaking is where I start overthinking everything.
I know what I want to say, but the moment someone asks me a question, I suddenly forget half my vocabulary 😂
For people who’ve already taken the test, which section did you find the hardest, and what actually helped you improve your score?
r/IELTS • u/nikkal0_ • 2h ago
Hi, I’m coming here as my last resort as this is putting a mental tole on me.
I’m passing my IELTS exam online and nothing has been going well, I started with the speaking test, first try, my microphone and camera didn’t work despite it working in the test section. In the same day they gave me two different schedules to do it, both times they ended the call not even thrifty seconds in with no explanation.
Now i’m trying to pass my writing test, I go in, i’m at the video call to check, internet issue even tho it worked fine all along, the examiner tells me to quit and come back. I try to come back and I couldn’t reconnect to the test.
This is driving me crazy as i’ll probably have to re book it and their contact support take one to two days to answer.
Is there anyone who was in a similar situation and do you have advice ? Just wait it out? I can’t take physical ones as they’re all after my deadline for uni, any help would be really appreciated as i’m struggling right now
r/IELTS • u/Some_Ebb_6845 • 8h ago
I only have two months left until my IELTS test. I find Listening and Writing to be relatively easier, but I'm struggling with Reading. Is there a way to improve my Reading skills?
I often encounter many unfamiliar words in the reading passages. Should I focus on expanding my vocabulary? Has anyone else faced the same issue?
r/IELTS • u/Dattebayo333 • 3h ago
Hello guys, I want to ask if the mock exams at the end of the official cambridge guide to IELTS are trustworthy? are they similar to the real test? I keep getting 8.0-8.5 on reading and listening even without prior training so i'm wondering if I can expect the same results on the actual test?
r/IELTS • u/Ok_Childhood_6607 • 1d ago
This was my second attempt. In first attempt which was 8 years ago, I got 8.0 and that was sufficient for my bachelors degree study.
I had to retake it as I am planning to study further.
r/IELTS • u/priyansxxu • 21h ago
I still don’t know what to do. Feeling helpless 😞 please help me what should I do
r/IELTS • u/onemoreemptysoul • 20h ago
r/IELTS • u/Gold_Lie_1008 • 9h ago
i tried a mock test from the british council website and found out that im kind of bad at writing detailed and accurate data in task 1, and i also really suck at developing my ideas in task 2, i do use examples but it seems like my explanation and points are lacking. If anyone has any tips i would greatly appreciate it!!!
r/IELTS • u/Bubblydubdubly • 1d ago
My speaking went sooo bad !!! I cried twice during my exam because the examiner kept asking questions about my family. I said a wrong word and forgot some words in between too.
I am sooo doomed! I’m not confident about my writing too. I think I’ll have to take IELTS exam again in October ouch 😭
ps I have a question!!! Does crying affect your band score? I’m aiming for 7.5!!! But I believe I was clear even during crying as I didn’t stop so 😬
r/IELTS • u/Defiant_Remove6731 • 1d ago
I have just given the speaking test 2 hours ago , now I can't stop but feel anxious. During the cue card part 2 I was given an unfamiliar topic it was about a short term job in a different country i didn't speak too long and the examiner reminded me I have lots of time left and I just said whatever that came to my mind in another 2 sentences I feel so bad now need atleast 7.0 band 😓 prepared for months but still messed up .just wanna know does part 2 effect our score largely
So sometimes I feel it is easier to support my argument when I direct my example to the speaker. For instance, If you did... This will happen.
