What good IELTS notes and material look like
Before you download another PDF or buy another book, check it against this list. Good IELTS study material:
- Follows the current test format. Listening has four parts and 40 questions, Reading has three passages, Writing has two tasks, and Speaking has three parts. Material that describes anything else is out of date.
- Separates Academic and General Training clearly, especially for Reading and Writing Task 1.
- Explains why an answer is right, not just what the answer is.
- Teaches strategies you can use under time pressure, not tricks that only work on easy questions.
- Avoids memorised templates for Writing and Speaking. Notes full of "high-scoring phrases" often do more harm than good.
- Is honest. Be cautious of any material that promises a particular band score.
Notes you make yourself are often the most useful of all, as long as they are short. One page per question type, with the strategy, two examples of your own mistakes and the fix, is worth more than a hundred pages of copied theory.
Study Notes on IELTS Learning
Our Study Notes are strategy chapters for each module: Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking. They cover how each question type works, how to manage time, how the Writing and Speaking criteria are applied, and how to plan answers. They are written to be read in short sittings, a chapter at a time, and then put straight into practice with a set.
Alongside them you will find:
- English Improvement, with grammar and vocabulary lessons for common problem areas such as articles, tenses and word forms.
- Vocabulary flashcards using spaced repetition, so words come back just before you would forget them.
- A personal study plan built around your track and your test date.
- The Mistake Notebook, which saves every wrong Listening and Reading answer for review.
Free IELTS practice material
You can start without paying anything, and without a card:
- A complete free sample mock test covering all four modules.
- Free sample Listening and Reading practice sets.
- Daily Vocabulary: five new words each day.
- The Band Score Calculator to see how your module scores combine.
- The Quick Wrap last-minute checklist for the days before your test.
- Our weekly IELTS tips blog.
Using Cambridge IELTS books alongside our tests
Many students also use the official Cambridge IELTS practice books, and that is a sensible choice. They are produced by one of the organisations that runs IELTS, and they give you real past-style papers. Our tests follow the same official format, so the two work well together.
A good way to combine them:
- Use Cambridge books for paper practice if you are sitting the paper-based test, or for extra Reading and Listening on weekends.
- Use IELTS Learning for computer-style practice, with the timer, navigator and highlighter, plus instant scoring and the Mistake Notebook.
- Use our Writing and Speaking prompts for feedback, since a book cannot tell you which of the four criteria is holding you back.
- Do not repeat the same test too often. Once you remember the answers, the score stops meaning anything.
Studying in Chennai: finding time and space
Material is only useful if you have somewhere to use it. In a busy home or a shared hostel room close to your college in Guindy, Kotturpuram or Chromepet, quiet can be hard to find. Many students use their college library, and the city's large public libraries, such as Anna Centenary Library in Kotturpuram and Connemara Public Library in Egmore, are well known as places to study.
Because IELTS Learning is online, your notes, flashcards and Mistake Notebook stay with you on your phone. You can review flashcards on the bus along Rajiv Gandhi Salai, read a Study Notes chapter during a break at work, and save the longer tasks for home.
A weekly IELTS study routine
This routine suits a student or working professional with about an hour a day on weekdays and more time at the weekend.
- Monday: one Reading passage, then the matching Study Notes chapter.
- Tuesday: one Listening set, and review your Mistake Notebook.
- Wednesday: Writing Task 1, with feedback.
- Thursday: three Speaking prompts recorded, and transcript feedback reviewed.
- Friday: grammar lesson from English Improvement, plus flashcards.
- Saturday: Writing Task 2 essay, then a full Reading or Listening test from a Cambridge book or our sets.
- Sunday: rest, or a full mock test every second week.
Register free to open the Study Notes preview and the free sample test. Full Access, ₹999 for 2 months, unlocks every chapter, set and prompt.