From daily 2.5-hour practice to 7.5 IELTS with Prep Edu

As a full-time office worker who needs English for working communication and dreams of studying in the UK, Thanh Pham decided to invest time in preparing for the IELTS exam. After three months of focused practice on Prep Edu, she achieved an overall band score of 7.5. What are her secrets? Let’s find out!

Motivation to conquer IELTS with Prep Edu

Thanh discovered Prep Edu after following Mr. Tu Pham, its CEO and Founder, since the platform’s early days. She had witnessed his own IELTS journey and trusted the value he brought to learners. After exploring Prep Edu’s test practice features, Thanh found the platform perfectly suited to her study style and decided to enroll.

“My company has both Vietnamese and Indian colleagues, so English is our main working language. I also plan to use my IELTS score for a study-abroad application in the UK. That’s why I registered for Prep Edu’s 90-day intensive IELTS test practice package to focus on reaching my goal,” she shared.

The secrets behind 8.5 in Listening and Reading

Thanh achieved 7.5 IELTS overall, with 8.5 in both Listening and Reading, results that came from consistent and strategic practice.

For Listening, she made a habit of reviewing her mistakes and identifying patterns. “I often missed the plural “-s” or made spelling mistakes when listening, and sometimes struggled to catch information. My trick was to listen at 1.25x speed during practice on Prep Edu. That made the real test feel slower and easier to follow. I also focused on understanding the full context instead of just catching keywords.”

For Reading, Thanh spent time learning specific strategies for each question type on YouTube, then applied them when using Prep Edu’s test practice. “Prep Edu helped me a lot in this process. With such a large collection of tests, I rarely ran out of materials.” 

Most importantly, Thanh practiced Listening and Reading back-to-back, just like a real exam, which really built her endurance and focus.

Tips to use AI to improve Writing and Speaking

“Writing was my weakest skill,” Thanh admitted. “I often lacked ideas and vocabulary to paraphrase. Thanks to Prep Edu’s AI feedback, I learned how to develop ideas, structure sentences, and use better words from sample answers. During the real test, even though my essay was a bit short, I made sure to use accurate structures and avoid spelling mistakes.”

For Speaking, Thanh learned techniques directly from Prep Edu’s AI-guided model responses. “I practiced how to rephrase or repeat parts of the question - just like the AI models - to buy myself more thinking time and sound more fluent.”

“Stay consistent and disciplined with your journey”

To prepare for IELTS exam, Thanh committed to a 3-month Prep Edu test practice package, dedicating herself fully before test day. She set a fixed weekly schedule - Monday, Wednesday, and Friday for full practice sessions.

“I usually spend 2 to 2.5 hours doing a full Listening and Reading test, including review time. On the other days and weekends, I focused on Writing and Speaking, my weak skills. Since Writing takes more time to plan and compose, I sometimes spend an entire evening or even a full day on just one task,” she explained.

Throughout her journey, Prep Edu served as her dedicated virtual tutor, helping her identify mistakes, improve efficiently, and stay on track to reach her target score.