IELTS Academic has four parts: Listening (about 30 minutes), Reading (60 minutes), Writing (60 minutes, two tasks) and Speaking (11-14 minutes with an examiner). Each part gets a band from 0 to 9, and the overall band is their average. Many universities ask for an overall 6.0 or 6.5, sometimes with a minimum in each part, so check your programme's requirement first.
Weeks 1-2: Reading and Listening accuracy
- Do one Reading passage and one Listening section per day under time.
- For every wrong answer, find the exact sentence that gave the answer. Most mistakes come from synonyms and paraphrase, not hard words.
- Learn the question types: true / false / not given, matching headings, gap fill. Each has its own method.
Weeks 3-4: Writing
- Task 1 (describe a chart or process): practise a clear overview sentence and comparisons. Aim for 150+ words in 20 minutes.
- Task 2 (essay): plan for five minutes, answer every part of the question, one main idea per paragraph. Aim for 250+ words in 40 minutes.
- Reread each essay for your repeated errors: articles, verb tenses, sentence length.
Weeks 5-6: Speaking and full tests
- Record yourself answering Part 2 (the two-minute talk) and listen back. Fluency matters more than rare vocabulary.
- Sit a full timed test each week, in order: Listening, Reading, Writing.
- Keep a vocabulary list of the paraphrases you missed. They come back in every test.
Moving from 5.5 to 6.5 is usually about Reading and Listening accuracy and a clear Writing structure, not advanced English.
How EXAMEV helps
EXAMEV has an IELTS Academic bank and a band 6 focused bank, with timed practice, instant marking and explanations for every answer.