r/IELTS

I’ve been studying for IELTS using YouTube playlists lately, and I’ve noticed something: most of the “friction” isn’t in the listening practice itself — it’s in managing transcripts and notes.

My old routine was a total mess:

• Opening every video one by one
• Copying subtitles manually to review
• Saving notes in 10 different places
• Losing useful phrases I wanted to practice

Once my playlists got longer, this became way too time-consuming.

I’ve been experimenting with a new personal system to streamline this — processing full playlists, getting transcripts in bulk, and organizing notes into review cards. It’s made going back over long listening videos way easier.

Curious how other people here handle transcript and note-taking for YouTube-based IELTS practice. Any hacks or workflows you swear by?

AI said from 16 to 20; some people said from 18. I have just one month to prepare.

Which point would be better ?

I keep stuttering while speaking and i often go blank while trying to talk

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!

hey do you know at what time will it get published in canada?

Hello everyone

How do you improve speaking practically...I have remained on a 6.5 for the longest time.

And what topics should I prepare for maybe based on your experience

I'd be testing in two days😭🔥

I have my IELTS academic speaking test scheduled for tomorrow. Can anyone please provide insights on the cue cards asked in part 2 of the speaking test ?

https://preview.redd.it/r8dywv2np72h1.png?width=1656&format=png&auto=webp&s=d5cd6a5d706276043560d984442c6aed28e9afb5

Hey guys, I wanted to share my recent experience and see if anyone else has dealt with this level of incompetence from the test board.

A while ago, I filed a formal complaint about my recent paper-based exam due to terrible venue conditions and environmental interference. Two days ago, I received their official response straight-up rejecting my complaint. To make matters worse, yesterday they sent me a "score breakdown" that wasn't even mine—the scores and details belonged to a completely different candidate! This is a massive privacy breach.

How can a high-stakes, expensive exam like IELTS be managed so carelessly?

Has anyone successfully appealed a rejected complaint before, or should I just accept that I got robbed of my money and time?

I’m a freelance music producer trying to get into teaching, but after browsing online, seeing all sorts of institutions advertising around, claiming such seemingly ridiculous things, it feels like most if not all of them are just straight up BSing, not gonna mention which country I’m from but IYKYK I guess. Just want some opinions on this from yall who’s had some experience teaching, is this common at all? I mean of course it’s possible but I’d imagine it’s like hitting a mini jackpot no?

Some people think that more money should be spent on protecting endangered species while others think it is a waste of valuable money

 

Many people believe that more financial resources need to be spent on defending species that are on the verge of extinction, whereas others think it is a waste of important money. I completely agree with the opinion of using funds to safeguard rare animals. If people want to prevent environmental damage, then they need to be ready to spend money and they are obligated to do so, because extinction of species is caused by people.

On the one hand, authorities need to spent money on defending endangered animals, because their extinction can cause serious damage to ecosystems and create environmental problems, which is also become dangerous for humans. For instance, if bees disappear, agriculture and plant growth could be negatively affected because bees play an important role in pollination. Moreover, if government choose to follow people who think that authorities should not spend money on safeguarding endangered animals, then it can cause extinction on numerous species like bees and that will effect humans in negative sense.

On the other hand, human activity has caused the problem and therefore people are automatically responsible to defend endangered animals by spending money. For example, we use everything in our daily life that causes problems to animals, cars and planes, which creates air pollution. Also factories which produces, phones leptops and other things. that we need to use. Another issue is deforestation, we are clearing forests to use that place for our own gain, when at the same time it was place where animals lived and after we cut trees they have nowhere to go and this causes animals to go extinct. As a result, of disforestation more animals become endangered and we are automatically obligated to help them and to use state’s financial resources to help species that are in danger.

In conclusion, more money should be spent on species that are on the verge of extinction to prevent environmental damage and because of human activity has caused problems for endangered animals we are automatically oblgiated to use our financial resources.

 

My IELTS teacher just told the class that we must not write “on the on/other hand” in Opinion Essay because this phrase is only used for Discussion Essay.

I'm confused, I mean what if the test taker wants to discuss both view then finalize their stance, obviously they can use the phrase, right?

I don't know, this rule seems so rigid.