1. ‘The early bird catches the worm’

Finesse your grammar skills by using free resources such as www.learnenglish.britishcouncil.org at a fixed time on a daily basis.

Cognitively the human brain is at its sharpest in the morning. Why not get up 20 minutes earlier tomorrow and make that a daily habit?

2. ‘Two heads are better than one’

Find a ‘Study buddy’ specifically for IELTS speaking purposes only, preferably someone you speak to only by phone, as this will refine your pronunciation and listening skills. Collaborating together creates and sustains motivation.

3. Re-visiting old favourites

Expand your vocabulary by extensive reading and listening. It is not unheard of for some IELTS candidates to repeatedly watch series such as ‘Friends’ and repeatedly re-read a particular book so that the idioms become second-nature to them.

4. Noticing

As you read sample reading tests and watch sample speaking tests online, keep an alphabetically-arranged notebook of vocabulary. Very soon you will notice repetitions of the most mathematically frequent items. Put a tick beside them each time you spot one, and your brain will soon identify the most profitable phrases.

5. ‘Memmmmmorrrrrries…..’

No, not the song from ‘Cats’, but instead the ‘Memory Palace’ psychological technique to efficiently store and recall vocabulary. Look it up online and adopt the strategies: the Memory Palace trick will upskill you to acquire language related to the vast plethora of IELTS topics.

This article was written by Denis, who teaches our IELTS Exam Preparation class.