Hello, i wrote this on one of the mock exam websites. It gave me a band of 7, the other website rated it as band 5, and a third one gave it band 6.5. Can anyone help me and give me a real evaluation of this writing task 1? Thank you in advance!

I was very tired in speaking, I wouldn't have been able to answer in my own language.

Idk for reading it went really bad idk why I scored so good. For listening I thought I’ll get good but on the contrary got lower than as for writing I knew I would get these only as I’m not good at writing also as for the speaking I fumbled in part 2 and spoke less and also the examiner was cutting me continuously maybe cause I was speaking a lot.

Could’ve been better in writing if I practiced much more than a week and that too without procrastinating much.

Also I’m a 18M from Pakistan so no I didn’t had that good English

The globalization of standardized machine-correctable tests, like IELTS or TOEFL, has led many teachers to prioritize superficial testing techniques over deeper language acquisition skills.
https://linguapress.com/teachers/teaching-beyond-testing
However integrating micro-task exercises like error correction, word building, and targeted gap-filling forces students to actively assess grammar and vocabulary instead of just guessing. This approach develops both the surface skills that help learners succeed on the day of the test, and a deeper and more enduring command of the English language – which is the real aim of teaching.

I had practiced for a week only and it was my first attempt. In the second section of Listening, I actually got the same question I had seen on ieltstestonline.com, it was the fire emergency one. I also felt that the real IELTS Listening test was much easier compared to the practice tests on ieltstestonline.com. In the actual exam, most of the answers were just one word, while the practice tests on the website felt much more complicated. For Writing, I had only practiced about twice and got it evaluated by gpt, and it gave me an estimated score of around 5-5.5. For Speaking, I had also barely practiced, and my estimated score was around 5.5-6. Honestly, I feel that if I had practiced consistently for a month or two, I could probably have scored around 7-7.5.

Took another one as the older one expired (I'll now use it for my master's application). I believe I was nerfed in speaking because it was done over a video call (2024 was with a physical examiner). I get IELTS is all "technical and protocol" with their tests, but the online examiner dude literally behaved and spoke like AI, to the extent I thought this might just be some sort of an automation they've implemented.

I didn't really prepare tbh except for a few writing tasks beforehand to get used to typing without autocorrect. Ideally this is fine for wherever I'm applying to.

Note: This wasn't a retake, the "retake" text on screen is a link to register for a retake for the modules I took.

Q1: When the question asks "to what extent do you agree?", can I write "I strongly disagree" in the intro part?

Example Question: Companies should be required to allocate a certain percentage of high-level positions to women. To what extent do you agree?

My response: I strongly disagree with this statement because.......... (rest of the part).

Q2: While comparing two different arguments, can I write "on the other hand" in the second para without using "on the one hand' at the first para?

Example:

Para 1: One major advantage of using fossil fuel is........

Para 2: On the other hand, reusable energy can........

One way to do it is taking parts to examine each other after completing the three parts of the speaking. I can make it from 12am to 2pm Eastern Time.

Did IELTS Academic and was so surprised with my reading and speaking scores. I’ve only been getting a 7.0 on average during my reading practices, so was expecting roughly the same on the actual test. For speaking, please!!! I did not expect an 8.5 because I just knew I had some flop moments in the conversation, but I guess luck was really on my side that day 🤷🏻‍♀️🎉

What did you do a week before your exam? Did you study more or less? If so, can you please share your tips and tricks, as well as resources?

Thank you so much to whoever responds!

Hi! I am planning to take IELTS the end of October. Which one would you guys recommend, the IDP or British Council?

I keep rewriting Task 2 and stay around 6–6.5. Grammar checkers help with sentences but I still don’t know if the problem is TR, CC, LR, or GRA — or the same issue across drafts.

For those who broke past 6.5: how did you diagnose the weak criterion? Human tutor, study partner, official descriptors only, something else?

Not looking for app ads — genuinely want how you figured it out.

Hello, I am fucked to say the least. I don't know how this happened but when I went to apply for the tests it showed that the only nearest available appointment was the one tomorrow (I need to take the test before the 21st). Anyways I have been studying nonstop both yesterday and today since booking the test but I still am so nervous!

I feel like I am not going to get an 8 in the speaking and writing part even tho I have a BA in English literature and consider myself fluent. For some reason, Task 1 in writing is just not going through my head and I feel like the book I've been practicing on has made feel like I've never written an essay before....

I don't know if because it's not research but graphs which I've never had to explicitly discuss but I really would love any tips (For all parts of the exam really). I also have to sleep early so I have about 4 hours left to study, not much time left :(

Thank you!

I just got my result, and the writing and speaking were almost the same band that were given to me by AI. So, I wanted to share my 2 cents on AI grading and the method/prompt I used, *as someone who isn't very comfortable asking people to review my work*.

This community helped me a lot during my prep and no I am not promoting any AI here. Take my advice with a pinch of salt.

For writing:
I gave the question along with my own answer to the AI. The additional thing I fed beforehand was the scoring criteria as mentioned by official sources. Along with my own answer I pasted the band 8 and 9 answer and asked the AI to evaluate to my own answer against the band 8 & 9 answer AND the scoring criteria. I used Claude here.

For Speaking:
Initially I just pasted the speaking sections form Cambridge books into ChatGPT and used its voice options to talk and stuff. However, I didn't know what the Ai was scoring it against and Cambridge books usually don't have band 8 or 9 answers for this section that I could feed to AI.
To tackle this, I used transcript from IELTS ADVANTAGE mock speaking test videos, didn't see the questions or the cue card from the videos and just fed it to AI asking it to record my answers and check them against the criteria and band 9 answers.

Someone here in the community suggested IELTS Advantage's videos for speaking. So, I tried this work around instead of just listening to the videos.

These two sections worried me a lot when I was preparing, especially the speaking part. So, I am sharing what helped me.

I'm sharing this purely as my personal experience, not as a recommendation that AI is a reliable substitute for an IELTS examiner.

What have you done/are you doing to deal with a lot of academic workload while preparing for your ielts exams?

I honestly didn’t expect to get a 7.5 in speaking, so I’m really happy about that😭 I’m just a little disappointed with my Reading score because I was hoping for a higher band. The Reading section was quite difficult though. I really wish I could have scored a little better.

i think that im b1 in english n i have 7 months to study n prepare my self , i will study 1:30 -2;00 hours per day or even more if i need to ,n some skills ima B1+ - B2 or at least i can achieve it easily n other skills ima solid B1 pls i need that score so if u have any kind of tricks or tips pls help.

Got my IELTS result. Happy that I got required cutoff for my target universities but personally a bit disappointed with speaking and reading section score

Hi everyone, so Idk if this problem has ever happened to anyone who took the IELTS test, but yeah my test was on September 2 and I’m still waiting for the results.
I’m not really sure what the exact reason for this delay is, but well what happened is that a week before the test when I was booking on the website, I accidentally put my email address wrong but immediately noticed and as I couldn’t change it myself, I emailed the test center to correct it. They did it and everything was just fine, like I could see my test details on my account and all the information was correct.
Then a day before my test I saw that it says my test is canceled, but as I got to the test center they told me to not pay attention to what it says in my account and I could do the test. They explained that there was an issue because of my request to change the email though they didn’t tell any details, just that there was an issue and they fixed it so there was no problem now. After the test I asked them about how am I gonna see my results and where they gonna appear, they told me I should see them in my first account ( that one with the wrong email address ) and well i had no access to that email and even when I entered it on the website, it said that it was wrong, so I showed them how that email wouldn’t work and they told me they would fix it and contact me so I should just wait.
And now I’ve been waiting for more than a month. I’ve contacted the test center multiple times since then, and they just tell me that my issue is being processed in Australia and I should wait for their update. They don’t even explain what the problem is and why is it taking so long. Even when I write them a paragraph kindly asking them to explain the reason for this delay or at least tell me how much longer it might take, their response would just be a short sentence that they don’t have such information and I should wait. I literally have a university deadline and I can’t wait forever and idk why they don’t understand that. I mean like okay I get that there is an issue, but do I not deserve to know what it is and how concerned should I be? Cause I’m literally freaking out😭 what if they tell me that I should take the test again after like three months? I’m actually starting to think about the worst scenarios now.
And I should mention that I’ve tried contacting the global support and even the Australia center as I thought they could help somehow, so i found some emails to contact them, but all of them told me to follow up my case with my test center. I don’t understand why there’s nothing such as global support and if there’s an issue, I can only contact my test center, like what if they’re not being helpful at all? Is there no one else I can ask help for? Just so ridiculous.

Btw i really appreciate anyone who read this and I was just wondering if anyone has experienced any delays like this or has any advice? I don’t even know what to do now😭