IELTS preparation with AI — raise your band score across all four sections.

IELTS has four sections: Listening (about 30 minutes), Reading (60 minutes), Writing (60 minutes, two tasks), and Speaking (11–14 minutes, a face-to-face interview). Listening and Speaking are the same for everyone; Reading and Writing differ between the Academic and General Training versions.

Each of the four sections is scored on a band from 0 to 9, in half-band steps. Your overall band is the average of the four, rounded to the nearest half band. So a Listening 7, Reading 6.5, Writing 6, Speaking 7 averages to 6.625, which rounds to an overall band 6.5.

Academic IELTS is for university admission and professional registration; its Reading and Writing use academic texts and tasks (Task 1 describes a graph or chart). General Training is for migration and work; its Reading uses everyday texts and Writing Task 1 is a letter. Listening and Speaking are identical in both.

It depends on your goal. Many UK universities ask for an overall 6.5 with no section below 6.0; some courses want 7.0+. Migration routes (such as to Australia or Canada) often require 6.0–7.0 per section. Always check the exact requirement, because a single section below the minimum can fail an otherwise strong overall score.

In Writing, Task 2 essays lose marks on Task Response and Coherence — not answering the full question or weak paragraphing — more than on grammar. In Speaking, hesitation and limited range of expression cap the band. In Reading, time management on the final passage and tricky True/False/Not Given questions cost marks.

Raising your overall band by 0.5–1.0 typically takes 1–3 months of consistent practice, longer at the higher end where each half-band is harder to gain. Daily 15–20 minute practice across all four sections is far more effective than occasional long study sessions before the test.

Private IELTS tutors charge roughly $30–$70/hour, and full IELTS prep courses can cost $300–$1,000. The test itself costs around $200–$250 to sit. Skoolskill is free to start or about $6.99/month for daily practice and band-style feedback across all four sections.

Skoolskill gives band-style feedback against the four official criteria for Writing (Task Achievement, Coherence and Cohesion, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range and Accuracy) and helps you practise Speaking fluency. It's strong for structure and range; a human examiner still reads tone and pronunciation best, so use both near test day.