IELTS preparation from Bangladesh: a realistic three-month plan with no coaching fees

First, find your actual position

Before preparing, sit one full mock test — timed, in one sitting, uninterrupted. It is uncomfortable and unavoidable: without knowing where you stand in each section, you cannot allocate time.

The British Council and IDP sites both host free practice tests, and their question styles match the real exam.

Allocate by weakness

⚠️ If your own mock says otherwise, follow your results, not the table.

The three-month plan

Month 1 — foundations and habit (1.5–2 hours a day)

• Writing: learn the Task 1 and Task 2 structures. Write three Task 2 essays a week, timed at 40 minutes
• Speaking: ten minutes a day recording yourself and listening back. Uncomfortable, and the single most effective habit available
• Reading: one passage a day, timed
• Listening: 20 minutes of English podcasts or news daily, without subtitles

Month 2 — technique and speed (2 hours a day)

• Writing: four essays a week, and edit your own work afterwards — grammar, linking words, paragraph structure
• Speaking: Part 2 cue cards, speaking for two full minutes without stopping; three a day
• Reading: complete the full reading section within 60 minutes
• Listening: full sections, then analyse the pattern of your mistakes

Month 3 — full mocks and refinement (2–2.5 hours a day)

• One full mock a week, at the real exam's time of day, in one sitting
• Spend the other days on the weak areas the mock exposes
• In the final week learn nothing new — practise and rest

Writing does not improve without feedback

This is the main weakness of studying alone, and it has solutions:

1. 1Swap with a friend — you cannot see your own errors, but you can see someone else's easily
2. 2Use the official band descriptors — IELTS publishes its marking criteria free; score your own essays against them
3. 3Write the same question twice — once, find the errors, then again a week later. Improvement is fastest here
4. 4If needed, pay for writing assessment only rather than a full course

Five mistakes Bangladeshi candidates make

1. 1Over-complicated vocabulary in writing — it does not raise the band, it raises the error count. Simple and accurate scores better
2. 2Not answering every part of the Task 2 question — the commonest reason marks are lost
3. 3Memorised speaking answers — examiners spot them and the score drops
4. 4Writing under the word count — 150 for Task 1, 250 for Task 2; below that is a direct penalty
5. 5Practising without timing — what takes 50 minutes at home must take 40 in the exam

Before the test

• Book the slot early — popular dates fill
• Confirm the Academic module (why)
• Computer-delivered tests return results faster — useful when time is short
• Match the result date to your application deadline

The point worth remembering

English is a skill, not an exam. The three months you spend here produce more than a score — following lectures, giving presentations and sitting job interviews in Europe all rest on the same foundation. Learn the exam technique, but actually learn the language. That is the real investment.