One-to-one preparation with native English teachers, built around the Speaking test — where a full quarter of your overall band is decided live, by a human examiner.
Every lesson is private and online. You start with a real diagnostic in the exam format and an honest band estimate, then follow a plan aimed at the exact criteria costing you marks. Not a generic syllabus.
It lasts 11-14 minutes, it is the only part assessed live by a human examiner, and it carries a full quarter of your overall band. It is also the part you cannot fix by memorising answers, which is exactly why weekly practice with a native speaker moves the number.
The examiner introduces themselves, checks your identity, then asks general questions on familiar topics: home, family, work, studies and interests.
We build answers that extend naturally past one sentence, so you sound settled from the first minute instead of warming up while you are already being assessed.
You are given a task card with a topic, plus paper and pencil. You have one minute to make notes, then you speak on your own for two minutes.
We turn that one minute into a reflex: a four-point note structure that reliably fills two minutes, plus recovery language for a topic you have never thought about before.
You and the examiner discuss issues related to the Part 2 topic in a more general and abstract way, and in greater depth.
This is where Band 7 is won or lost. We train you to speculate, compare, concede and justify — the abstract language examiners listen for — on topics you have never seen.
Your Speaking band is the average of four criteria, and most candidates plateau because they keep practising the one they are already good at. Your first lesson identifies which of the four is holding your score down.
Speed, flow, order and progression: your ability to link ideas into connected speech.
Willing to speak at length, but repetition, self-correction and hesitation are noticeable, and connectives are sometimes overused.
Speaks at length without noticeable effort. Hesitation is for ideas, not for words, and a range of connectives is used flexibly.
The range and precision of the vocabulary you use, and the attitude it conveys.
Enough vocabulary to discuss topics at length, with paraphrase that works but is not always precise.
Flexible vocabulary that handles unfamiliar topics, with less common and idiomatic language used with some awareness of style.
The range of structures available to you, and how accurately and appropriately you use them.
A mix of simple and complex forms, but with limited flexibility and errors that can affect understanding.
A range of complex structures used with flexibility, and frequent error-free sentences.
Being understood, and using pronunciation features to carry meaning. This is not about losing your accent.
Generally understood throughout, though individual sounds and word stress reduce clarity at times.
A range of pronunciation features sustained — stress, intonation, chunking — and easy to understand from start to finish.
These descriptions summarise the publicly available IELTS Speaking band descriptors. The same four-criterion logic applies to Writing, where Task 2 counts twice as much as Task 1.
Speaking is our specialism, not our only one. Your plan covers whichever skills stand between you and your target band.
Every recording plays once only, in British, Australian, New Zealand and North American accents. On paper you get 10 extra minutes to transfer your answers.
Prediction and signposting, the traps that catch careful listeners — multiple speakers, mid-sentence corrections, spellings and numbers — and answer discipline, because incorrect spelling costs marks.
Between 2,150 and 2,750 words in total, and there is no extra transfer time: the hour includes writing your answers.
A timing plan per passage, skimming and scanning under pressure, and the question types that cost the most bands: True / False / Not Given, matching headings and matching features.
Task 1 asks for at least 150 words in about 20 minutes; Task 2 asks for at least 250 words in about 40 minutes — and Task 2 counts twice as much towards your Writing band.
Task 2 first, because it carries double the weight: a repeatable structure, position-led paragraphs, and the cohesion and lexical range examiners reward. Task 1 then becomes a dependable 20-minute routine.
Identical in Academic and General Training, and assessed by a human examiner on four equally weighted criteria.
Weekly live practice with a native teacher, criterion-by-criterion feedback after every mock, and Part 2 drilled until the one-minute plan is automatic.
Listening and Speaking are identical in both versions. Reading and Writing are not.
Applicants to universities and higher education, and professional registration in many regulated fields.
Three long passages taken from books, journals, magazines and newspapers, written for a non-specialist audience and sometimes including diagrams or graphs.
Task 1: describe visual information — a graph, table, chart or diagram — in your own words. Task 2: an essay responding to a point of view, argument or problem.
People migrating to an English-speaking country, or applying for work experience, training programmes or secondary education.
Extracts from notices, advertisements, company handbooks, guidelines and newspapers: the English of everyday and workplace life.
Task 1: a letter, which may be personal, semi-formal or formal. Task 2: an essay, written in a slightly more personal style than the Academic version.
Not sure which version you need? Bring the requirement from your university, employer or immigration authority to the free trial lesson and we will confirm it with you before you book anything.
No generic syllabus. Your plan starts from where your marks are actually going.
A native IELTS teacher takes you through the real Speaking format and tells you where you are starting from, including which of the four criteria is costing you the most.
We work backwards from the date you are sitting the test and the band your university, employer or visa route requires, then set what has to improve each week.
45 minutes, online, with a native teacher who knows your file. Most of the lesson is you producing language, and correction happens in the moment rather than in a report afterwards.
Marked against the official assessment criteria and returned with a band for each skill plus the specific reason behind each one, so the next lesson has a target.
Question order, time per passage, what to do when a Part 2 topic is unfamiliar, and how to stay steady when the Listening recording plays only once.
Two of the four Speaking criteria — pronunciation and lexical resource — are judged against natural English. That is difficult to learn from someone who does not speak it natively.
It is not about losing your accent. It is word and sentence stress, intonation and chunking: features a native speaker hears instantly and can correct in the second it happens.
Lexical Resource at Band 7 expects less common and idiomatic language used with awareness of style. That comes from someone who uses it daily, not from a vocabulary list.
Recordings use British, Australian, New Zealand and North American accents, and they play once. Weekly exposure to natural speed and connected speech is the preparation.
A mistake corrected the second it leaves your mouth is a mistake you stop making. That is only possible one-to-one, with someone listening for it.
Requirements are set by the institution, not by IELTS. These are the ranges we see most often, and you should always confirm the exact figure with the organisation you are applying to.
Check the minimum for each skill as well as the overall band. Many universities, employers and immigration routes set a floor in every one of the four skills, and a single low skill is the most common reason a strong application is turned down.
The things candidates actually ask us before they book.
It depends on your starting band and your target. As a rule of thumb, most candidates need 6 to 10 weeks of weekly one-to-one lessons plus independent practice to move half a band, and longer for a full band. Your trial lesson gives you a realistic timeline rather than a sales answer.
Speaking responds faster to one-to-one work than any other skill, because it is the one you cannot practise properly alone. Every lesson is live conversation with a native teacher who assesses you against the same four criteria the examiner uses: fluency and coherence, lexical resource, grammatical range and accuracy, and pronunciation.
Both. Listening and Speaking are identical in the two versions, while Reading and Writing differ, so your plan follows whichever version you are sitting. If you are not sure which one you need, we will work it out with you from the requirement you have been given.
IELTS averages your four skill scores and rounds to the nearest half band. An average ending in .25 rounds up to the next half band, and one ending in .75 rounds up to the next whole band, so 6.5, 6.5, 5.0 and 7.0 average 6.25 and are reported as Band 6.5. This is why lifting your weakest skill is often the quickest way to move your overall score.
Then that is what we work on. Many candidates come to us after a test where three skills met the requirement and one did not, usually Speaking or Writing. A short, focused block of one-to-one lessons on that single skill is normally the fastest route back to the score you need.
Yes, in the real timed format and marked against the official assessment criteria. You get a band for each skill and, more usefully, the specific criterion behind each band, so the next lesson has something concrete to aim at.
Yes. It is a real one-to-one lesson with a real IELTS teacher, not a sales call, and no payment details are required. You leave it with a band estimate and a clear view of what would have to change to reach your target.
IELTS recommends that results are treated as valid for two years from the test date. Individual universities, employers and immigration authorities can apply their own rule, so always check the requirement where you are applying.
A one-to-one lesson with a native IELTS teacher. You speak in the real test format, you get an honest band estimate, and you leave knowing exactly which criterion is costing you marks.
Online · one-to-one · IELTS Academic and General Training · no payment details required
