Diagnostic and study plan

First collect evidence

Use tasks you have not studied before. Keep the first attempt, its time and the conditions. Looking up an answer, replaying audio or rewriting after feedback produces useful practice, but it changes the baseline. Record those changes in your own error log.

• Listening

  Use a published recording once before opening the transcript. Record raw marks and classify misses as lost place, paraphrase, spelling, number or plural. Only use a set with an available recording. A transcript read silently is reading evidence, not listening evidence.

  Open available listening practice

• Reading

  Take one complete reading set in your chosen track. Record the raw score, unfinished questions and time. For each error, find the deciding sentence and classify it as location, inference, vocabulary or answer format. General Training raw scores are not converted to guessed bands.

  Open Academic Reading practice

• Writing

  Write an unseen Task 2 essay in 40 minutes, then a track-appropriate Task 1 response in 20 minutes. Keep the originals. Ask a teacher to review task coverage, organisation, vocabulary and grammar; underline one recurring problem in each response. The Writing Coach is optional and uses metered AI credit.

  Open writing tasks (AI feedback is optional)

• Speaking

  Record yourself answering familiar Part 1 questions, preparing a new Part 2 card for one minute, speaking for two minutes and answering two unscripted follow-up questions. Ask a teacher to check development, continuity, vocabulary, grammar and intelligibility from the recording. The typed Speaking Room can help with ideas and language, but cannot replace this audio review.

  Open cue-card practice

Build your programme

Choose from actual work, not confidence alone. A correct answer remembered from an earlier attempt is not fresh evidence. “Reviewed” describes a learning check; it does not mean an official target band has been reached.

Build plan saves these selections. Sign in to carry a saved plan between devices; anonymous plans belong to this browser session. Changes also have a local copy when browser storage is available. Keep task answers and recordings in your own private study folder; this page does not upload them.

Clear saved selections

Your weekly plan

Priority: Listening. The automatic choice puts recurring problems first, then missing evidence. When several skills tie, select the one your teacher identifies as the most urgent. No band is inferred from these statuses.

A suggested starting load is five one-hour sessions each week: two for your priority skill, one for another skill needing work, one rotating through the remaining skills and one reviewing errors. Split a longer baseline across sessions. Adjust the load to your available time; more hours do not guarantee a band gain.

Listening focus: predict the answer type, follow signposts and recognise a changed choice. After the first listen, compare the recording with the transcript, locate the missed sound or paraphrase and retrieve the answer later. Use reviewed recordings; do not count transcript reading as listening.

1. Week 1

   Keep fresh baseline work for all four skills. Identify one repeatable problem in the priority skill and write an error-log entry that explains it. Gather missing audio evidence before evaluating Listening or spoken Speaking.

2. Week 2

   Build the language supporting the priority skill: useful collocations, sentence control and precise paraphrases. Retrieve yesterday’s examples from memory, then apply them to a different topic rather than copying them into every answer.

3. Week 3

   Slow down on the priority problem. Work through a relevant lesson, analyse one worked example and complete a new small task without help. Explain the correction in your own words and revisit it after a gap.

4. Week 4

   Practise one task type carefully. State the success check before starting, complete the task and test that check against the source or your own response. Keep the reason for an error, not just the correct answer.

5. Week 5

   Take a fresh checkpoint in the priority skill and gather an updated sample in another skill. Ask a teacher to review written or recorded responses. Decide whether to keep the priority or switch it using this evidence.

6. Week 6

   Use an unseen task on a different topic under a realistic time limit. Compare your first attempt with the specific repair you practised. If the original error returns, slow down and repeat the repair before shortening the time.

7. Week 7

   Practise pacing on a fresh complete section or response. Record where time is lost and whether accuracy falls near the end. Change one strategy at a time, then check it on another task.

8. Week 8

   Repeat the baseline process with unseen material under comparable conditions. Keep raw marks and teacher observations; do not manufacture an overall band from missing skills. Decide the next programme from the remaining evidence and verified application deadlines.

Keep all four skills in the rotation. After a fresh check, change the priority if another recurring problem is now more important. If a skill is not assessed, use its next session to gather evidence rather than assuming it is weak.

For each error, write: what I did; the evidence or rule I missed; one corrected example; how I will check a new task. Revisit the correction later without looking at the answer. Copying a model response is not a transfer check.

At each checkpoint, compare fresh tasks taken under similar conditions. Record accuracy, completion, time and teacher comments separately. If the same problem remains, repeat the relevant repair step before adding speed. A higher score on the same memorised set is not proof of improvement.

Put your evidence review and intended test date beside the application deadlines you have verified. This programme does not establish an admission requirement or a safe test-booking date.

Format reference, checked 1 October 2026. The weekly programme is original teaching guidance, not an official IELTS preparation schedule. IELTS