Does preparing for IELTS Academic actually improve your “real-life” English ability?
Hi everyone!
I’m an Asian international graduate student in the US. I’ve taken both the GRE and TOEFL before, and I achieved scores that were good enough for my program.
The problem is that I still feel far from comfortable using English in actual graduate school settings - writing assignments, giving presentations, participating in discussions, etc. More specifically, I often lack confidence in my grammar, and I feel like there’s a big gap between the vocabulary I can understand (reading/listening) and the vocabulary I can actively use (speaking/writing).
So I’m thinking about studying English more seriously over the summer, and I’m wondering whether setting an IELTS Academic score goal would be a good idea.
Especially for non-native speakers: did preparing for IELTS genuinely improve your English skills beyond just test-taking ability?
I’m asking because, honestly, preparing for the GRE and TOEFL didn’t really feel that way for me.
If you did feel a real improvement, at what score range did you start noticing it? (e.g., around 6.5 → 7.5, 7 → 8, etc.)
Thanks in advance!