IELTS is a challenging test. You can reduce the stress by making sure that you understand all the rules and have all the practicalities under control for the test day. Here are four key points, and some do’s and don’ts.
Read more

To my surprise, we have actually got quite a bit of really interesting feedback and questions from my last post about my experience of taking the IELTS test, so thanks for that! This time, I want to talk about how we can get into our best possible form on the test day.  
Read more

Can’t find a good place to study for IELTS? Struggling to fit IELTS prep into your schedule? Dr Ammar Hadi Kadhim, a neurosurgeon living in Iraq, offers a solution. He achieved the band score he needed with just one month’s practice using Road to IELTS. Here’s his story…
Read more

The problem

You need to spend a lot of time preparing for IELTS on your own. But studies show that even when independent learners know which of their language skills are strong and which are weak, they still tend to spend more time on their strong areas. In a 2015 study at the University of Hong Kong, Professor David Gardner found that students ‘ultimately preferred to remain in their comfort zone.’
Read more

You perform well in class. You understand the IELTS question types. You’ve worked through the IELTS prep books. But studies show that this doesn’t mean you will do well in the IELTS test itself. Why is this?

Dr Sian Beilock, a psychologist at the University of Chicago, studied why people perform badly in stressful situations such as exams. She found that exam stress takes up your working memory — the part of your mind you use to focus on the questions. As a result, you perform worse than you would in a less stressful environment, such as the classroom or at home.
Read more