You have booked you IELTS test and the big day is coming up. It is important to make sure you have prepared as much as possible but if you have yet to start your preparation, don’t worry!  Read our last-minute tips below so that you can feel comfortable and ready for test day!

1) Speak English, everywhere and at anytime

In the run up to test day, make sure you are speaking English as much as possible.  At work, school, home, out in public. Every time you do this, you are preparing for your test! Think of this as your “warm up” for test day. This will give you confidence for when you do your speaking test.

Read our IELTS speaking test blog to find out more about this section of the test.

2) Get a tutor to check your work

British Council has an online tutor service. Your tutor will be able to check any work that you do and give you tips on how to improve.  For example, you can practice some writing tasks and get your tutor to show you areas where you can improve so that you can maximize you score.

Read our blogs on the writing section to improve your score:

IELTS General Writing Task 1

IELTS Academic Task 1

IELTS Writing Task 2

3) Make sure you understand the test format

Get a free IELTS practice test. By doing a practice test, you will understand the test format so there are no surprises on test day.  Also, you will familiarize yourself with the typical content of the test and the question types that you may be given.

Analyse the question types and work on the ones which you have trouble with.  It is important to work on your weaknesses!

Read our blogs on the IELTS Listening and Reading sections to get the best tips for test day:

IELTS Reading Blog

IELTS Listening Blog

5) Work on your weaknesses first.

If you are really good at a specific section of the test, then you don’t really need to practice that skill in great detail.  Work on the areas where you are scoring lower first.  Once you have fixed these issues (or at least improved them!), you can then polish your skills in the other areas.

4) Be organized with your time

If you have a relatively short time to prepare for your test, it is important to be smart and organized.  Make sure you dedicate “IELTS” time everyday to your preparation and stick to this!

5) Be smart with your preparation

If you have a short period of time to prepare for your test, then it is important that you focus your preparation on test skills.  This means understanding the test format and question types as well as reading our blogs to get the best test tips. There is no point spending lots of time memorizing example answers to practice tests or long lists of academic vocabulary.  This isn’t the best use of your time right before the test as you are unlikely to need to use all these words for the tasks on tests day.

6) Take care of yourself

In the days running up to test day, make sure to take care of yourself both physically and mentally. This means eating well, getting enough sleep and doing activities to minimize stress.  On the day before your test, make sure you have planned your journey to the test venue and that you have all the items you need to bring with you (i.e. your identity documents). Also, try to get an early night the day before your test.  It’s best not to stay up until the early hours of the morning doing last-minute revision as you may be fatigued on test day.  It is important to be as fresh as possible!

Follow this extra advice for test day so that you give yourself the best chance of success!

7) Be confident

Be confident for test day.  It’s understandable that you will be a bit nervous (most people do when they have to take a test!) but have the confidence that you have prepared for the test and that you can do your best on test day.

Best of luck with your IELTS preparation.

Are you ready to take your test? Find IELTS test dates at the closest location to you.