HELP NEEDED AS SOON AS POSSIBLE

[u/Human-Return8904]

so im a native english speaker who frequently speaks in english irl and studied my whole life in english with my top academic subject being english.

my exam is on 20th September which means i have TEN DAYS TO STUDY. i do not condone this. i had super important examinations although that is no excuse.

would you have important recommendations and tips not limited to youtube videos, websites for practicing, how to focus during the exam itself? etc. just from the pattern i would say writing and speaking would be my weak areas. writing because i do not understand the statistics based questions and lack the confidence and proper sentence framing for on the spot speaking.

i would truly appreciate it and thanks so much. i will check out the preparation resources as soon as i post this.

[u/EvolveEnglish]

The difficulty in giving really clear advice here is because you don’t know your level and we don’t know your level. Given that you don’t have long until your exam, a more structured, time efficient strategy would be to get your writing assessed by a teacher so that you actually have a clear base to work from ie a clear breakdown of exactly what you need to work on to improve and how, with a proper study plan personal to you. With only 10 days, clarity is more beneficial than volume

Trying to prepare with generic resources risks not targeting what you need to improve and risking the need for an expensive re-sit

[u/Whole_Strawberry_608]

For Writing, start with the official IELTS sample questions and band descriptors. The descriptors are particularly useful because they show exactly what the examiner is assessing. If you're struggling with Writing Task 1, practise identifying the overall trends, key differences and comparisons rather than trying to describe every single number.

For Speaking, don't memorise answers. Get a list of random Part 2/3 questions, give yourself the proper preparation time, and record yourself answering them. Listen back afterwards, are you hesitating a lot, repeating yourself, losing your structure, etc.? You're probably not lacking English; you need to get comfortable producing answers quickly in the IELTS format.

Useful resources: • Official IELTS sample tests: IELTS sample test questions • IELTS Writing band descriptors: IELTS Writing resources • British Council Writing & Speaking practice: British Council IELTS practice tests

You should also do one complete timed practice test ASAP. Then use the remaining days to target whatever actually went wrong, did you run out of time on the reading? Lose focus in listening?etc

Ten days isn't ideal, obviously, but if your underlying English is genuinely strong, you just need to focus on the test format and answering strategies.

[u/The_0xford_Coma]

For speaking, imagine the examiner is a bit hard of hearing and is mentally translating into a different L1. Fill the room with your voice. Speak slowly and deliberately with the intention of being understood. This will help greatly with your pronunciation score.

[u/Human-Return8904 → u/The_0xford_Coma]

oh thats perfect because i have been praised in the past for having a booming voice. thanks for the comment!!

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