🗣️ disclaimer

before i’ve even started for my IELTS Acadexam, i’ve been learning english my whole life since the age of 5 (i’m 25 now). so make of that what you will. everyone has different starting point and learning progress!

oh and fyi, i spent 2 weeks in total preparing for the IELTS Academic!

🖇️ pre-preparation

these are the things you MUST do before even starting to study/prep for the IELTS exam!

make sure you have the money!

the IELTS exam ain’t cheap. it’s $280 - $340 depending on your location (it’s Rp3,150,000 in indonesia).
sign up for the exam itself! (the CBT, not the PBT one)

i highly recommend that you sign up through the british council because the main study resource that i’m recommending is a free one that you’ll get after registering for the exam through the british council.

i registered for the exam 1,5 months in advance. but i only started studying 2 weeks before the d-day lmao. the thing is, if you register way in advance (1-2 months before the exam), you’ll be more motivated to study!

you can sign up using this link: https://takeielts.britishcouncil.org/

👂🏻 listening

⏰ the duration of this section is 30 minutes.

🎧 the audio will only be played ONCE.

📝 40 questions in total.

⚠️ this is the easiest section, in my opinion. but you have to keep yourself FOCUSED, otherwise you’ll make some stupid mistakes (like i did).

📙 you will be listening to 4 recordings in total.

recording 1:

a dialogue placed in daily life and context.
recording 2:

a monologue about everyday life or social context.

for example, a talk on the condition of streets in an area.
recording 3:

a conversation between more than two people placed in a training or educational context.

for example, a teacher discussing an assignment with students.
recording 4:

a monologue on any academic subject.

for example, a college lecture.

how to prepare

listen to lots of english content with british, irish, scottish, canadian, american, and australian accent. or just listen to anything in english, basically!
- here are some podcast recommendations if you need them:
- just listen to anything you’re interested in! but spice it up with some ‘serious’ topics, e.g. environment, finance, etc.
do lots of listening mock tests!

i use the free resource from the british council = IELTS FLEX.

you’ll get access immediately after paying for the test. the interface is very similar to the actual CBT exam — use it to get yourself used to the feel of the exam platform later.

here’s the link: https://ieltsflex.com/
DON’T ZONE OUT and relax.

for some people (including moi!), staying focused is HARD. i spaced out a lot during my mock tests (and on the exam day too) and it led to some mistakes that could’ve been easily prevented.