Determined to Boost His Score, A Male Student Scores 7.5 IELTS After One Month of Study

Crafting a Targeted Study Plan

Due to the tight schedule, Nam Anh created his own timetable rather than using Prep’s Study Plan. However, he noted that the Study Plan is quite helpful, especially for beginners who may feel unsure about structuring their study routine and knowing effective learning strategies.

During this month, Nam Anh aimed to keep all four skills balanced, maintaining his strengths in Listening and Reading while focusing on a solid improvement in the other two skills.

"I spent about 5-6 hours each day studying. For Listening and Reading, I only set aside one to two days right before the test to practice with about four tests. For Speaking, I focused for about 10 days, practicing over 30 Part 1 topics and more than 50 for Parts 2 and 3. As for Writing, I tried to learn as much as I could to strengthen my knowledge base."

Clear Study Method

For Nam Anh, Reading is a strength, so his approach to studying IELTS was to reinforce his vocabulary and read longer books before the exam to get accustomed to the length of the reading passages, thus reducing pressure during the actual test. He also chose books on topics he was passionate about to maintain focus while reading.

For Listening, Nam Anh primarily practiced by watching movies and listening to podcasts. He recommended movies like Friends, How I Met Your Mother, and podcasts related to business topics.

When it came to Writing, Nam Anh trusted Prep’s course. He was particularly impressed with the Advanced Writing course, where the lessons were concise and to the point, avoiding unnecessary details. He appreciated that he could focus on the topics he needed most instead of having to go through every part of the course. The teaching was clear and easy to apply to real exam situations.

"I learned a lot of new vocabulary, as well as how to structure and develop ideas logically, in line with the marking criteria. I also took advantage of the feedback on my assignments to practice and improve. After reading the feedback, I wrote down the mistakes I tend to make to remember and avoid repeating them. However, due to time constraints, I couldn’t complete all the exercises in the course or fix all the issues I encountered."

Despite this, Prep believes that Nam Anh's 7.0 Writing score is a clear testament to his effort and progress over the past month.

Speaking was not Nam Anh’s strong suit, but he consistently practiced in Prep's Virtual Speaking Room (VSR) to familiarize himself with different question formats and test time pressure.

“What I like most about VSR is that it's perfect for someone like me, who is more introverted. It creates an environment where I can practice speaking more, simulating exam conditions and helping me improve my fluency in speaking.”

Advice for Those Preparing for the Exam

Looking back on the entire process, Nam Anh acknowledges that he wasn't in the most prepared mental and emotional state, so achieving a 7.5 score felt like a bit of luck. Nevertheless, he is very happy that the time and effort he invested paid off.

Nam Anh offers the following advice for those currently preparing for the IELTS exam: set aside enough time for preparation and practice tests before taking the actual exam. For example, starting your study plan about 3-4 months before the exam, following Prep’s Study Plan, would be a better approach than rushing through the process like he did.

In the future, if Nam Anh plans to improve his Speaking and Writing bands, he hopes to have more time to use Prep’s Speaking and Writing Virtual Rooms. For those looking to focus on improving these two challenging skills but are unsure about how to effectively study for them, Prep’s virtual rooms provide regularly updated test sets and an AI-powered grading system that offers 80% accurate results.

Not only that, Prep’s Speaking and Writing rooms give feedback based on IELTS exam criteria, highlighting strengths and pointing out mistakes to help learners quickly address weak areas and confidently raise their band scores.

To learn more about IELTS courses and test practice rooms, you can visit the Prep For IELTS fanpage or contact the hotline at 0931 42 8899!