IELTS

A 6-week IELTS study plan: week by week, skill by skill

Updated: October 3, 2026

This IELTS study plan gives you six weeks of clear work: what to practise each week in Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking, when to take a full mock test, and how much time to spend each day. Six weeks is enough to learn the test format, fix your biggest weak points and build stamina. It is not enough to jump three bands, so the plan works best if your English is already close to your target. At the end you will find how to change the plan if you need band 6.5 or band 7.5.

First, know the test you are preparing for

IELTS has four parts, and the official format is the same in every country. Listening takes about 30 minutes, Reading 60 minutes, Writing 60 minutes and Speaking 11 to 14 minutes. The whole test takes 2 hours and 45 minutes. There are two versions: Academic (for university study) and General Training (often for work or migration). Listening and Speaking are the same in both versions. Reading and Writing are different, so check which one your university or visa office asks for before you start.

Two details change how you should plan. In Writing, Task 2 counts twice as much as Task 1, so it deserves more of your practice time. In Academic Writing, Task 1 asks you to describe a graph, table, chart or diagram. In General Training, Task 1 is a letter. In Speaking, Part 2 gives you one minute to prepare and then you talk for up to two minutes on a topic card.

Free official practice materials

Use official materials for your mock tests, because the level and question style match the real exam. Two free places to start:

• IELTS.org sample test questions: sample questions and answers for Academic and General Training, with tasks for all four skills. Find them under «Preparation resources» on ielts.org.
• IDP IELTS familiarisation tests: free computer-based Listening, Reading and Writing tests, plus Speaking practice. Useful if you will take IELTS on computer.
• The British Council and Cambridge English also publish official practice material, and the official IELTS practice books contain complete tests with answer keys.

Keep a simple score sheet. After each Listening or Reading test, write down your raw score out of 40 and the question types you got wrong. That sheet will tell you what to study next week.

The 6-week plan, week by week

Weeks 1 and 2 are about knowing the test and your weak points. Weeks 3 and 4 are about building the skills behind the questions. Weeks 5 and 6 are about doing full tests under time pressure, because many candidates lose points simply by running out of time in Reading or Writing.

Mock tests: when and how

1. Week 1: one full test to set your starting score. Do not study before it.
2. Week 4: one full test to measure progress and change the plan if needed.
3. Week 5: two full tests under real conditions: same time of day as your exam, no phone, no pauses.
4. Week 6: one final mock at least three days before the test, so you have time to rest.

After every mock, spend as long reviewing as you spent on the test. For each wrong answer, ask: was it vocabulary, a spelling mistake, a trap in the question, or time? The fix is different for each one. If spelling is a frequent problem, read IELTS Listening spelling mistakes, and if certain question formats keep beating you, see IELTS Listening question types.

Your daily time budget

These numbers are a starting point, not an official rule. Choose the column that fits your target and your free time.

On mock test days, the mock replaces the daily plan. Keep one day a week light: review your mistake list and vocabulary only. A tired brain learns less, and you want to arrive at the test rested.

How to adjust the plan for band 6.5 or 7.5

Your overall band is the average of your four section bands, rounded to the nearest half band. An average of 6.25 becomes 6.5, and an average of 6.75 becomes 7. This means a strong section can help a weaker one, but most universities also set a minimum for each section, so check your requirements.

For Listening, the official scoring page shows that about 23 correct answers out of 40 gives band 6, 30 gives band 7 and 35 gives band 8. Academic Reading uses similar marks for those bands. So in practice tests:

• Target 6.5: aim to score clearly above 23 out of 40, and get closer to 30 each week. Focus on the basics: complete Task 2 with a clear position, answer every Speaking question with a reason, and stop losing easy points in Listening Parts 1 and 2.
• Target 7.5: you need to be above 30 out of 40 and moving toward 35. Spend more time on Listening Parts 3 and 4 and on the hardest Reading passage. In Writing, work on range: complex sentences, precise vocabulary and few errors. In Speaking, practise developing ideas in Part 3 without long pauses.

Writing and Speaking are marked with four criteria each. In Writing they are task achievement or task response, coherence and cohesion, lexical resource, and grammatical range and accuracy. In Speaking they are fluency and coherence, lexical resource, grammatical range and accuracy, and pronunciation. Read the public band descriptors once, then judge your own work against them.

To see how raw scores turn into bands in more detail, read IELTS Listening band scores.

A short daily routine you can start today

1. Warm up with 10 minutes of dictation from a Listening Part 1 or 2 recording.
2. Do one timed Reading passage, then check every answer and note the question type.
3. Write one paragraph of a Task 2 essay or one Task 1 overview. Count the words.
4. Answer three Speaking questions aloud and record them. Listen once and note one thing to fix.
5. Add five new words or phrases to your review list, each in a full sentence.

If you prefer a guided path with an Arabic interface, the Typeflu IELTS preparation course covers all four skills in six units.

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