“When time is limited, strategy matters.”

As a sophomore at a leading economics university, Linh Nguyen set her sights on the IELTS with a clear goal: to improve her English proficiency and unlock more academic and career opportunities in the future. With limited time for preparation, she chose Prep Edu as a learning companion, building a focused and effective strategy that ultimately helped her achieve a result beyond her expectations.

From time pressure…

Taking the IELTS, for Linh, was a personal goal rather than a compulsory requirement. This made self-discipline her biggest challenge. “The hardest part for me was 'fighting' procrastination while studying on my own without a fixed deadline. I realized that if you plan to take IELTS, you should register the test date as soon as you start studying.”

Because of final exams at university, Linh only managed to fully concentrate on IELTS during the 6 days immediately before the test. During those days, she pushed herself to prepare intensively across all four skills. “I spent most of each day doing practice tests and submitting assignments for feedback on Prep Edu, especially Writing. At peak times, I sent about 8 Writing tasks to the platform in a single day.”

This experience helped Linh fully appreciate the flexibility of online learning. Being able to manage her own schedule was crucial while balancing university commitments and IELTS preparation. “Compared to traditional offline classes, which can be distracting and overcrowded, studying online with Prep Edu allowed me to stay focused and revisit lesson videos whenever I needed.”

…To smart and comprehensive IELTS strategy

For Listening, Linh deliberately trained under tougher conditions. “I usually practiced listening at a faster speed than the actual test, around 1.25x to 1.5x, and focused heavily on reviewing my mistakes. If I still couldn’t find the correct answer after listening twice, I carefully checked the transcript to identify whether the issue was vocabulary-related or due to lack of concentration.” This method proved especially effective for learners struggling to improve their listening accuracy.

With Reading, Linh imposed strict limits to sharpen her time management skills. “I clearly divided my time for each passage: no more than 15 minutes for Passage 1, and flexible allocation for Passages 2 and 3. My key strategy was to read all the questions and highlight keywords before reading the text, then I could locate information more efficiently.”

In Writing and Speaking, often considered 2 most challenging skills in IELTS, Linh still approached them with confidence and clarity. “Prep Edu supported me a lot in Writing, especially Task 1, thanks to clear templates and structured formulas. In Task 2, I used to write many ideas without developing them deeply. Through detailed feedback from AI and teachers, I changed my mindset: focusing on 1 main idea per paragraph and developing it thoroughly using the structure Point - Explanation - Example - Contrast - Linking.”

For Speaking, Linh made full use of Prep Edu’s Virtual Speaking Room and practiced on forecasted topics. To save time, she applied a topic-combination strategy (linking multiple topics into a single story or character). This allowed her to respond more naturally without memorizing too many separate scripts or outlines.

Achieving IELTS 7.5 with a dedicated AI’s feedback

Among all of Prep Edu’s features, Linh found the AI-powered feedback system the most impressive. “The AI feedback is extremely detailed; it points out even the smallest grammatical errors. Prep Edu’s AI scores follow the criteria in the actual IELTS test with 90% accuracy of scoring. Most importantly, feedback always came with clear action plans, helping me rethink my approach and build more logical, in-depth essays.”

With the support of Prep Edu, Linh achieved an IELTS overall score of 7.5, exceeding her original target. This achievement reflects not only Linh’s dedication but also the reliability of AI-powered and customized roadmap preparation. “Prep AI feedback was so accurate. It helped me clearly understand my level and follow the personalized Study Plan, which made me feel much more confident during my preparation,” Linh said. 

If you’re looking to experience IELTS preparation with an intelligent AI feedback system, as Linh Nguyen did, explore the course here: https://prepedu.com/en/ielts