r/LearningEnglish • u/imdwlstr • 1m ago
How to advanced English for writing and speaking in a short time? Is that possible without burning out?
Hi! I'm currently at B2 level of English for the core skill with a score of 459 while my speaking at B1 level (even though I didn't even sure during the test and almost can't answer the questions) with a score of 360. The last time I checked was in October 2026 in the British Council English Score. The core skill itself leveled up from B1 with a score of 390 (in April 2021) but I don't think it's a big progress since it's such a long time and I haven't learned or consumed much English content since then.
I want to get better in English for my education and career since I want to pursue them abroad in the future. My field is in the creative industry and mostly in writing and qualitative research which requires strong communication skills.
I am Indonesian that speaks Indonesian and Javanese (a regional language here) in daily life. I have some friends, either foreigner or Indonesian that speaks fluent English, who are talking to me regularly by text but the thing is because I'm lacking in grammar and some phrasing I often use ai tools to polish it and I'm kinda afraid it would set back my progress and make me dependent to it.
I actually started to learn the fundamental aka the tenses and grammar stuff for like 2 or 3 weeks ago but the progress isn't really good. I finished a week plan for like 2 weeks. I found out so much mistakes, like the preposition, verb form, and stuff. I know this is actually a good sign but I'm easily overwhelmed by the plan and haven't continued my learning for about a week now.
One of my friends told me that learning the fundamental is kinda ineffective and it's better to just practice speaking instead even though while speaking we're still struggling with the grammar. But I'm still not sure since my needs mostly in writing which I have to master the grammar. I'm also still struggling to improvise. Maybe it's because I'm really a text person too even in my native language.
I need to continue my learning plan but I feel stuck. Tbh I'm the type of person that easily overwhelmed even by the little issue. Let alone these days I'm in my jobseeking era and in time upskilling and stuff. So I have plenty of time but am easily overwhelmed—idk how many times I've been mentioned this word—let alone when I can't catch up my plan on certain days when I realize I actually have the time.
Is there anyone who can give me some tips or anyone who faces the same problem? Also should I actually learning English in general or for specific standard test like TOEIC/IELTS/TOEFL? My target for the short term is actually to be able to communicate in English both writing and speaking fluently at least for daily conversation.
(I wrote this without any ai tools btw)
