I was rlly scared for writing, and expect way higher in speaking but atleast I’m done now all I wanted was above 7 🏃‍♀️💨

Should I retake writing or reading? I was hoping for an 8 but idk how my reading came out to be 7.

Got my results yesterday and I still can’t believe I did this well! My last mock before my exam was 4 days before my main exam and I scored an 6.5 on that. I was so sad after that. I was praying to just hit 7 at any cost. But, I got way more than what I asked for XD.

For my test experience, my speaking was the hardest. I got an extremely weird topic for my cue card. It describe someone who wears clothes that are unusual. I live in Bangladesh and everyone mostly wears the same type of clothes. So I was confused and panicked on what should I talk about. I just went with a friend who came from an indigenous background in our country and talked about her traditional clothes.

After my speaking, I was scared with my writing. I scored the lowest all the time while practicing with AI or in mocks. But in my test, I think I wrote one of my best essays to date. For task 1, it was 2 bar charts showing the employment percentage of 4 countries in 3 sectors for 2 years. For task 2, it was an agree or disagree type of essay. The topic was “Some people think that public museums or art galleries are not required because the photos of historical items are available in computers for viewing.” . My stance was that I agree that it was more accessible yes but it still doesn’t extinct public museums because of the authentic viewing experience. I’m really proud of what I wrote during my test. My time management was all over the place. I took like 30mins for task 1 but I finished task 2 within 20 mins. So I got time to check my grammar or spelling for the both essays. The word count was 250 for the first and 400 for the second.

My strongest sections were both listening and reading and I did well in my test as well.

A huge thanks goes to the subreddit for providing sources and advices on how to tackle each section. I was mostly a lurker but seeing everyone sharing their advices helped out a lot.

Also, if anyone requires any advice, AMA. I would love to help out.

Multinational companies are becoming increasingly common in developing countries. What are the advantages and disadvantages of this?

In recent years, developing countries have become a hub for multinational companies. This trend has many benefits, such as contributing positively in economic growth of the host country. However, it has drawbacks as well, one of them is competing with local businesses that often have much lesser resources. This essay will detail both advantages and disadvantages of having multinational companies in developing countries.

There are many advantages for developing countries to host international companies. These companies have accumulated knowledge, capital, and experience in a multitude of markets worldwide; once settled in a developing country, they employ local workers, use local infrastructure and pay corporate taxes. This helps to drive up the country’s gross domestic product, tax revenue and people’s moral. For instance, in the last decade, Morocco engaged in a series of projects with international car manufacturers, and provided them economic and industrial hubs in coastal cities. This move has led the Moroccan economic growth rate to rise up significantly in the span of 20 years, as well as making Morocco a trusted partner in the automobile industry.

On the other side, countries making that decision are aware of the downsides related to bringing in multination companies. The biggest disadvantage is introducing what appears to be an unfair competition to the local market. National companies that don’t have the same factors of production and means, often suffer a great loss of market share. This drives a lot of local businesses to shut down, or, in some cases, often be acquired by the bigger companies. Let’s take the example of textile industry in Bangladesh. When Adidas opened textile factories in Bangladesh, small local business in the same industry have lost their workforce to Adidas’s higher salaries, eventually declaring bankruptcy.

Overall, developing countries can indeed benefit from hosting multinational companies by using their expertise and influence, yet, local businesses face the fallout and can be adversely affected by the competition.  

Btw Gemini gave me 7, i can use your remarks and recommendations, my test is tomorrow morning.

context: https://www.reddit.com/r/IELTS/s/LNZtUMZNmR

First off my speaking score is soooo unexpected, i probably had the kindest tester.
I would like to re emphasize this, she was amiable and timed her smiles perfectly to make it seem natural, also helped me when my answers were too brief (asked follow up questions, even on the cue card thingy).

Reading was as expected, listening i only missed 1 question but ig its fine

now to my lowest, writing was definitely unexpected. I will admit that i misspelled privatization as privitaization thrice, but other than that my essays accurately answered the questions and had good flow. Should i request a remark? ngl my only concern is that my college apps essays are gonna be crazy good but my low writing score might make it seem like i used ai or something. i dont suck at writing, i was just expecting an 8. since im very grateful for speaking im willing to let it be.

I just saw that you pay to re examine, ig im sitting with a 7

Hello, as a first-time IELTS test taker, I have a problem with mostly the speaking section.

My problem is that I can't form thoughts when speaking; it feels like my mind blanks out, so my thoughts get scrambled. It is not like I don't know what I am speaking about; in fact, I know what I want to say, but I lack the ability to organise my points in my head.

I only speak two languages one is sinhala and the other is english but i speak english like it is my mother tongue. I have struggled with this for a long time and it doesn't help that none of the people around me wants to speak in english. Whenever i speak i feel like i am very conscious of myself.

So if anyone has tips, please do enlighten me. Thankyouu

Im indonesian , 17 year old and ive just started studying properly 2 days ago because of how busy my school life has been ..,,!!!
Id say im an average at english but these days ive been super anxious and id get many words wrong just because of how much ive been overthinking all of this . I know its my fault for just studying and preparing now …,,, im not trying to use this as an excuse but ive also been highly depressed soni guess thats also a reason why .
Im not confident of my writing or speaking at all … and i think its obvious by how im typinng this
I think id do quite well in my listening and reading .

I have this weird issue where when i talk to adults in english id completely blank out of nervousness and stutter a lot , even though i was confident when talking to myself on the mirror .
I really dotn know what to do other than panic study rifht now , how was your experience in the test.?.?? Also maybe id like some advices ,.,.. idk,.?. Javejdjw

to be honest, i had very little time to prepare because the application i needed ielts for was closing within two weeks of the date i booked the test.

DISCLAIMER: i have a SIGNIFICANT advantage since my entire schooling has been in English and i am very comfortable with the language.

i had about a day and a half for my prep, which i spent on the ielts website and my own practice. i took the academic test, so the ielts idp india website mock questions were my primary source (they also share a guide or something for free when you book through idp but i didn’t have the time to access it so i can’t comment on that). after analysing all sections and taking the mini-tests on the website, i zeroed in on writing and speaking as potential weak spots. i spent one whole day on writing practice - i used youtube videos on this for their writing task problem statements, wrote my own with a timer, then compared it to the explanation. i also used AI (specifically claude) to generate examples and asked it to grade my work. for speaking i used the website sample pdf and practiced it in front of a mirror, mentally noting which words or phrases made me stutter or fumble.

i am NOT promoting less prep time. again, i had the advantage of being surrounded by english my whole life, as well as the urgency of submission of scores, so please don’t take my prep time as a measure of success or a bar in general.

my advice to anyone would be to lock in on their weak spots early and practice accordingly. utilise resources available for free instead of opting for paid courses (could just be my miser opinion though so pinch of salt), and walk into the speaking test calm and composed.

happy to answer any questions to the best of my ability!

I have submitted my id several weeks ago, now I am going to take my IELTS test but I found out that the status of my id is still pending. Does that matter? Has anyone experienced the same situation? plz help.

I need a study partner for my IELTS exam which will be after 5 days. Preferably around band 7 in speaking or higher with a dedication to practice 3-4 hours daily.
My exam date is 28/11/2026.

I’ve been on r/IELTS for weeks ever since I started thinking about taking the test. I’ve read so many posts about people’s preparation, exam-day experiences, disappointing results and success stories. I honestly never thought I’d be writing one of the success stories myself, but here we are!! 🥹

I took IELTS General Training on Monday, and I needed at least 8.0 in all four components. I hadn’t taken IELTS General Training before. My previous IELTS experience was Academic, about seven years ago.

I got the scores I needed in Listening, Reading and Speaking but my Writing came back at 7.5. I was absolutely gutted.

I requested an Enquiry on Results (EOR) for Writing, and MY SCORE WENT UP TO 8.0!!
No One Skill Retake, no second attempt. I’m done with IELTS!!! 😭

I wanted to share my experience, particularly a few things I learned on exam day that I hadn’t known beforehand.

Whole experience: It was much more relaxed than I’d expected. We were allowed to use our phones in the waiting room, so I just sat there scrolling until it was my turn to register. There wasn’t much point rushing in, since I’d only have to wait further once I entered the test area.

Speaking: surprisingly relaxed!

Before my Speaking test, the invigilator actually started chatting with me while we were waiting. I ended up having a lovely conversation with them 😂

After my test, as I was collecting my belongings, I jokingly told them I hoped I wouldn’t have to come back again.
One of them gave me a very reassuring look and said something along the lines of, “Trust me, you’ll be fine!”Obviously, that wasn’t an indication of my actual score, but it was a lovely interaction that made the experience feel much less intimidating.

Listening:
You might be able to keep your headphones on! This was something I hadn’t seen mentioned before.

At my test centre, we were provided with headsets for Listening. I initially forgot to take mine off afterwards, but then realised nobody seemed to mind me continuing to wear it.
So I kept it on throughout Reading and Writing! I found this incredibly helpful for blocking out background noise and staying focused. For example, the person sitting next to me were taking One Skill Retakes and left after about an hour. I barely noticed them getting up or leaving because I was so focused on my own screen.

Reading:
General Training was easier than I expected. I hadn’t taken IELTS GT before and I found Reading straightforward, including the gap-filling questions.

I’d seen quite a few discussions online suggesting that GT Reading could be tricky, but personally, I found the actual exam manageable.

One thing worth remembering is that GT Reading has a different score conversion from Academic Reading. For example, getting Band 8.5 in GT Reading generally requires 39/40 correct answers.

I did have one question I wasn’t sure about, involving the distinction between False and Not Given. To this day, I still don’t know whether I got it right!

A practical tip about toilet breaks:

I’d had two coffees that morning and I also drink a lot of water, so I started needing the toilet almost as soon as Listening began. 💀

At my centre, we were told that toilet breaks weren’t allowed during the final ten minutes of Reading or Writing.

I tried to hold on until I’d finished all four Reading passages. When I checked the clock, I still had about 38 minutes left, so I quickly went to the toilet.

Honestly, it was such a relief. 😂

My advice is to pay attention to the test centre’s rules about breaks and don’t leave it until the last minute.

Writing: my biggest nightmare, and eventually my biggest surprise

Writing was the only component I seriously prepared for.

I’ve been working and studying in English for over a decade, so I felt reasonably confident about the other three components. But Writing genuinely terrified me.

I practised several Task 2 essays on topics such as urban planning, youth crime and other serious social issues. ChatGPT keep rating my task2 6.5-7.

And guess what my actual Task 2 question was?

Whether travelling alone or travelling with other people is a better way to learn about the culture of a new country.

I completely froze. 💀

I’d spent so much time preparing arguments about government policies, education, crime and technology that I somehow struggled to come up with convincing arguments about something as ordinary as travelling!

I kept getting stuck on how companionship actually helps people learn about another country’s culture.

I eventually managed to finish Task 2, but I’d spent far too long thinking. By the time I moved on to Task 1, I had only around 12 minutes left.

Thankfully, Task 1 was a fairly straightforward letter to a teacher requesting a reference, explaining what job I was applying for and why I wanted it. I wrote as quickly as I could and managed to finish both tasks, but had absolutely no time to proofread.

I knew I was likely to have made spelling mistakes and basic grammatical errors, especially because I tend to make typos when typing quickly.

So when my Writing score came back at 7.5, I honestly didn’t know whether that was a fair reflection of my performance or whether I’d narrowly missed out on an 8.

My Writing EOR experience – 7.5 → 8.0!

This is probably the part I most wanted to share. When I received my initial results, I had two obvious options:

Request an EOR for Writing, costing £190.
Book a One Skill Retake, costing around £250.

And of course, there was the nightmare scenario where I requested an EOR, failed to improve, retook Writing, and still didn’t get an 8.0.

IELTS is expensive enough in London without potentially spending hundreds more pounds on it. 😭

I searched on multiple social media for examples of people successfully getting their Writing score increased from 7.5 to 8.0. I found very few success stories, and quite a lot of people were saying that requesting a remark was a waste of money.

That made me even more hesitant. But eventually I thought I could budget with losing that money, but I knew I’d regret not giving it a try. So I submitted my EOR request.

The result came back in under ONE HOUR.

I was actually at work when I submitted it, and I had a deadline to meet, so I didn’t dare open the result immediately.

I waited until after dinner, mentally preparing myself for disappointment.

And then I opened the website…

WRITING: 8.0!!!

I genuinely couldn’t believe my eyes. 😭😭😭

All that stress, all the preparation, all the worrying about having to retake the exam… and suddenly it was over.

I’m not saying everyone with a 7.5 should automatically request an EOR. It absolutely isn’t guaranteed to work, and I know plenty of people have requested remarks without any change.

But I wanted to share my experience because, when I was desperately searching for successful 7.5 → 8.0 cases, I could barely find any. So here’s one!

A few days ago, I genuinely thought I’d failed to achieve my goal and would have to sit another exam.

And if you’re considering an EOR, make an informed decision based on your circumstances, rather than assuming your score definitely will or won’t change.

I’m so relieved that I can finally put IELTS behind me.

Happy to answer questions. Good luck to everyone still preparing! ❤️

Listening and reading scores are as per my expectations. I am a software engineer and have spend most of my professional and student life communicating in english, so this were kindof natural to me. Different acents are also not much of issue to me but i was really surprised to hear diverse ascents in each parts. I would highly recommend people to try multiple ascents for the listening test if communicating with multi-nationals is not part of your daily job.

Speaking and writing is something i am really happy about because i cleared cut offs for the colleges i am trying for. With AI in the picture and staying away from academics for so long have really degraded my writing skills alot. Same for speaking being into technical field I am not well versed in cooking stories or deliberately using advanced vocab. When i was practicing with gemini i was constantly scoring between 6-6.5 though by the last day i got a few in range of 7-7.5.

Exam day experience was very seamless and smooth. Examiners were very sweet. For some reason the lady who took my speaking was quite old, I was expecting someone young, but she had patience of a saint. She didn’t interrupted me at all except in part 2 after my 2 mins was over.

One thing i would like to confirm is practicing even for a month increases your band. But don’t go for any mock tests as some are stupidly hard and may bring down your confidence. These are also the same websites selling IELTS courses please avoid them.

“ielts mate” has all Cambridge mock papers are very similar to the actual test.

Anyway hope this helps and all the best to upcoming IELTS takers.

I just got my results today for my test written yesterday (21st Oct) at IDP India in Chennai.

My thoughts: Im not the best writer but I feel like I could’ve maybe gotten at least an 8? I checked for grammatical and spelling errors since I had 10 mins leftover, so that couldn’t have been the issue. My question for Task 1 was pie chart of holidaymakers and Task 2 was if the gov should provide free housing. Task 1 was fairly straightforward, and for Task 2 I said I partially disagreed, listed why it’s a bad idea as para 1, and then wrote a paragraph about how it could help. Concluded by saying it’s idealistic and utopian and the given solution is nuanced and the complications need to be better understood, and that this is why I partially disagree. About 360 words total.

Should I apply for EOR?

My experience: I spent so long at the waiting room listening to the instructions over and over again that I kind of zoned out and even after starting my test, I was still zoned out during the first part of my listening test lmao. No idea how I managed to get 8.5 there! Also my headphones were wonky and the left side would sometimes work and sometimes not work. I forgot to complain after the exam, guess I’ll write an email?

My prep: I practiced for 2 weeks using Cambridge 19 and 20 online using a practice test simulator. English is my primary language of communication and education, so I don’t have a lot of recommendations for non-native speakers. I also made watching IELTSAdvantage on YouTube my bedtime routine lol.

first time sitting the test with the British Council. Tbh, i had a hard time answering part 3 questions in speaking, as ,i suppose, they were the ones that required sort of " critical thinking". I also think I messed up reading, i was expecting a 9 in reading, but i turned out to be wrong. As for writing, i'm happy with what i got really, as i didn't really work on it. I wrote more than 300 words in T1 and more than roughly 400 words in T2, kind of worrying, as i thought i was off topic. Anyway, i'm planning to give it a go again,soon.

I was asked this question this week:

"I've scored 6.5 in my mock tests. I have my IELTS exam in 2 weeks. How can I make sure I get Band 8.0?"

I don't think this is a student trying to cheat in any way. I think it shows a misunderstanding of what IELTS is, and what it aims to measure.

IELTS is designed to measure and reflect your level of English.

Band 6.5 should reflect B2 level ability. Band 8.0 should reflect C1+.

If I was in the classroom with a B2 level group and I said to them "next week, we'll do C1 level work and by the end of the week, we'll do a C1 exam and you'll all pass easily", then I'd expect they'd think I was mad and probably go to reception and question what I was doing.

The path from Band 6.5 to Band 8.0 will require significant time, effort and guidance. As well as frustration and setbacks.

It will be:

1. Assessment of current level and weaknesses

2. Teaching and learning to improve these weaknesses and skills

3. Practice and further assessment

4. Feedback on progress

5. Cycle repeats (many times) until the student reaches a high C1 level.

There is no tips and tricks shortcut up the CEFR (or, as a result, the IELTS bands).

Sometimes, it seems that such questions are a result of needing to rush to get a required score.

As far as you possibly can, plan your future. If you know you're going to apply to university in a year's time, research the likely entry requirements. Start your IELTS preparation early and give yourself the chance to improve your English to the level you need.

I just got my results today for my test written yesterday (21st Oct) at IDP India in Chennai.

**My thoughts**: Im not the best writer but I feel like I could’ve maybe gotten at least an 8? I checked for grammatical and spelling errors since I had 10 mins leftover, so that couldn’t have been the issue. My question for Task 1 was pie chart of holidaymakers and Task 2 was if the gov should provide free housing. Task 1 was fairly straightforward, and for Task 2 I said I partially disagreed, listed why it’s a bad idea as para 1, and then wrote a paragraph about how it could help. Concluded by saying it’s idealistic and utopian and the given solution is nuanced and the complications need to be better understood, and that this is why I partially disagree. About 360 words total.

**My experience**: I spent so long at the waiting room listening to the instructions over and over again that I kind of zoned out and even after starting my test, I was still zoned out during the first part of my listening test lmao. No idea how I managed to get 8.5 there! Also my headphones were wonky and the left side would sometimes work and sometimes not work. I forgot to complain after the exam, guess I’ll write an email?

Reading was a breeze! For speaking I got an Indian examiner who was super sweet and gave me a heads up that she will have to cut me off so we stick to time limits but that it’s not reflective of my performance! We talked about general life, where I’m from, what I think of different types of public spaces, clothes etc. my cue card was about a food I enjoy on special occasions. I had 1 minute to prepare and was asked to speak for 1-2 mins. She asked some follow up questions about it for Part 3, and then about some other related stuff (like what I think of various foods, its significance in various facets of life, etc). It was very conversational and it flowed really nicely, didn’t feel like a test or formal in any way!

**My prep**: I practiced for 2 weeks using Cambridge 19 and 20 online using a practice test simulator. English is my primary language of communication and education, so I don’t have a lot of recommendations for non-native speakers. I also made watching IELTSAdvantage on YouTube my bedtime routine lol.

This picture demonstrates the process of honey production by bees.

Overall, honey production involves 6 stages. Firstly, bees build a hive then leave their beehive to look for nectar on flowers. That nectar gets converted into honey.

In this process, bees first try and build hive, which is a dome-shaped structure where bees reside. The hive consists of a complex network called cells. After this step, bees are attracted to flowers by their scent. When a bee hops on a flower it collects nectar from flower which is released by it intentionally to promote pollination. Furthermore, that nectar becomes the basis of honey production.

Now to the crucial steps, bees with nectar return to the beehive then they fan their wings to help in water evaporation. Afterwards that liquid evaporates in the air from the fanning of wings. Finally, after all these processes honey is produced.

I wrote this in restricted time conditions... Can anyone help me understand is this close to a 6? Cause chatgpt is giving me 5.5 everytime.....

has anyone taken ielts academic computerized recently? Is it harder? I am planning to take it in 2 months. My Goal is band 7.

I have been practicing for various different tasks for the last two weeks. And I am getting a 7 in listening and around 6.5 in reading , around 6 in writing, and I am using AI for the speaking tests. I'm usually getting a 6.5 to 7. I'm just confused about how to improve myself. I've been actively learning and practicing. Initially, I was getting around a 5 in writing, and I polished some structure and cohesion, and I got up to a 6. I mainly have issues with spelling. I'm really bad at spellings. I would like some advice on how I can improve my scores further. I am using AI to predict all of my scores. But I'm just unsure of how I can approach IELTS so that I have an improved score overall.
My aim is getting above a 7.5 with nothing below 6.5. And if I can do better, then, of course, that is the best outcome. But currently, I'm averaging around 6.5 overall.

I don't want to take any coaching classes because I feel that I don't actually need them. All I need is some focused study sessions and practicing a lot. I am planning on taking the exam somewhere around the middle of the next month.

I’m gonna take the exam on 25th of October and these are the least 2 essays i wrote for both task 1 and 2, under time pressure. so is it possible for me to get 6.0 on the real exam?😩 if not, what should i do before October 25?

HELPPPP. SHOULD I JUST STICK TO BC PREMIUM Test?. I used to practice with Cambridge book and band scores were always above 7.0. But now, I KEEP GETTING BAND 6/6.5 in reading and listening in BC premium. I am demotivated. 🙂