Short answer: Thirty days can move an IELTS band if three conditions hold: you start around band 6, you give the plan about two hours a day, six days a week, and you spend those hours on what a diagnostic showed, not on the section you enjoy. The plan below does exactly that: a full mock on day 1, one table per week and one line per day for all 30 days, alternating the four sections, with full mocks in weeks 3 and 4 reviewed within 24 hours, an error journal that turns every mistake into a rule, and three final days with no new content. Everything it uses is free.
Most 30-day plans fail on day 3, because they were written for nobody in particular: three hours a day, every section every day, a new textbook chapter each morning. This one is written for a specific candidate, states its assumptions up front, and fits in the evening after work or classes.
Who this plan is for, and who it is not for
The plan assumes a starting point around band 6 in most sections, which in practice means you can read an academic passage and understand most of it, follow a lecture in English, write 250 words in 40 minutes without stopping, and hold a conversation for ten minutes. It assumes about two hours a day, six days a week, with the four rest days built in, and one exception on day 1, day 19 and day 26, when the full mock takes about three hours. It assumes you will do the review sessions, which are half of the plan, and not only the tests.
It is not for you if you are around band 5 or below: the gap to 6 is mostly language, vocabulary and grammar, and 30 days of test practice will teach you the format without closing that gap; give yourself three months and a course. It is not for you if you can only give it three or four hours a week: cut it to the Listening, Reading and Writing lines and stretch it over two months instead. And it is not for you if you are already at 7 and need 8: the plan will sharpen the habits, but the jump from 7 to 8 is about precision and range in Writing and Speaking, which needs a teacher's eye more than a schedule.
Day 1: the diagnostic
Day 1 is a full mock test, all four sections back to back on the real timings, about three hours, before you study anything. It hurts, which is the point: a plan built on a guessed level is a plan for someone else. Do not review it the same day. On day 2, fill in this table for each section; you will fill it again on days 20 and 27, and the three columns side by side are the progress record.
| What you note | Listening | Reading | Writing | Speaking |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Raw score and band | x / 40, band | x / 40, band | band per criterion, Task 1 and Task 2 | band per criterion |
| Time | Which section you lost the thread in | Minutes left, or minutes over, per passage | Words and minutes per task | Seconds of speech in Part 2 |
| Question types missed | Form, notes, map, matching, multiple choice | True / False / Not Given, headings, completion, multiple choice | The weakest of the four criteria | The weakest of the four criteria |
| Why (your words) | Not heard, heard but misspelled, word limit, distractor | Ran out of time, chose the copied option, wrong form of the word | No position, one idea per paragraph missing, repeated linking words | Hesitation, short answers, memorised phrases |
| How it felt | One line: the section you dreaded, the one you rushed, the one you enjoyed. The one you enjoyed is where you will want to spend the 30 days; the plan will not let you. | |||
The weakest section is the one with the lowest band; if two are equal, the one with more "why" entries. It gets the two open sessions on days 18 and 25, and the extra 30 minutes wherever a day has some. The other sections are not dropped: the plan alternates all four, because a band moves slowest in the section you stop practising.
Week by week
| Week | Goal | Sections | What you produce |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 (days 1 to 7) | Know your level and your habits. Learn the method for each question type you missed. | Full mock, then all four, one or two per day. | The diagnostic table, the first pages of the error journal, one Task 2 essay with feedback, two recorded Speaking parts. |
| 2 (days 8 to 14) | Practise on the clock, review off the clock. Fix the weakest criterion in Writing. | All four, alternating; a Quick Mock Test on day 13. | One full test per section reviewed, one essay rewritten, one full Speaking test transcribed, the journal reread once. |
| 3 (days 15 to 21) | Exam conditions. Second full mock, reviewed within 24 hours. | All four, plus one open session on the weakest section. | The diagnostic table filled a second time, compared with day 2. |
| 4 (days 22 to 30) | Consolidate. Last full mock, reviewed within 24 hours, then no new content. | All four until day 27, then light days. | The diagnostic table a third time, the journal reread from page 1, the night-before checklist done. |
Day by day, all 30 days
Durations are the target, not a minimum; a session that runs long is a session you will skip tomorrow. "Review" always means the same thing: every wrong answer looked up in the passage, the transcript or the feedback, and written into the journal with its rule. The site has four Listening tests and four Reading tests, so from week 3 you will meet tests you have already seen: that is expected. Retaking a reviewed test measures whether the rules stuck, and the questions you got wrong the first time are the ones that show it.
| Day | Task | Time | Section |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Full mock test, all four sections back to back, on the real timings. This is the one day over two hours: allow about three hours. Do not review anything today. | about 3 h | All four |
| 2 | Review the mock with the diagnostic table below: raw score and band per section, time left, question types missed, what you felt. Start the error journal with every Listening and Reading mistake. | 2 h | All four |
| 3 | Listening: one test, section by section in practice mode, then the question types you missed on day 1. Reading: True / False / Not Given method on one passage. | 1 h + 1 h | Listening, Reading |
| 4 | Writing: plan and write one Task 2 essay in 40 minutes, send it to the checker, read the note on each criterion. Speaking: Part 1, ten questions recorded, listen back once. | 1 h 15 + 45 min | Writing, Speaking |
| 5 | Reading: one full test on the 60-minute clock. Review every wrong answer against the passage and add each to the journal with its rule. | 1 h + 1 h | Reading |
| 6 | Listening: one full test on the exam clock, then review. Speaking: one Part 2 cue card, one minute of notes, two minutes of speaking, recorded. | 1 h 30 + 30 min | Listening, Speaking |
| 7 | Rest. | 0 | None |
| 8 | Writing: Task 1 in 20 minutes then Task 2 in 40, as in the exam. Send both, read the feedback, note the weakest criterion of each. | 1 h + 1 h | Writing |
| 9 | Reading: matching headings and summary completion on two passages, method first, clock second. Listening: sections 3 and 4 of one test, the academic ones. | 1 h + 1 h | Reading, Listening |
| 10 | Speaking: all three parts recorded in one sitting, then read the transcript and mark every hesitation and repeated word. Writing: rewrite the day 8 Task 2 essay on its weakest criterion. | 1 h + 1 h | Speaking, Writing |
| 11 | Listening: one full test on the clock and its review. Then 30 minutes on the journal: spelling rules and word limits copied out by hand. | 1 h 30 + 30 min | Listening |
| 12 | Reading: one full test on the clock, review with the passage open. Compare the time left with day 5. | 1 h + 1 h | Reading |
| 13 | Quick Mock Test, about 50 minutes, all four sections in short form. Review it, then reread the whole journal and cross out the rules you no longer break. | 50 min + 1 h 10 | All four |
| 14 | Rest. | 0 | None |
| 15 | Writing: both tasks in 60 minutes, exam order. Review the feedback and compare the criterion bands with day 8. | 1 h + 1 h | Writing |
| 16 | Listening: one full test on the clock and review. Speaking: Part 3, ten questions, each answer with an opinion, a reason, an example. | 1 h 15 + 45 min | Listening, Speaking |
| 17 | Reading: one full test on the clock and review. This is a test you have already seen; the goal is the rules in the journal, not the score. | 1 h + 1 h | Reading |
| 18 | Your weakest section, chosen from the day 1 table and the journal: two hours of its question types, method first, clock second. | 2 h | Weakest |
| 19 | Full mock test, all four sections, on the real timings, at the time of day of your exam if you can. | about 3 h | All four |
| 20 | Review the day 19 mock within 24 hours: the diagnostic table again, side by side with day 2. Every mistake goes into the journal. | 2 h | All four |
| 21 | Rest. | 0 | None |
| 22 | Writing: both tasks in 60 minutes. Review, then rewrite the introduction and conclusion of Task 2 until the position is clear in both. | 1 h + 1 h | Writing |
| 23 | Listening: one full test on the clock and review. Speaking: all three parts recorded, transcript read, compare with day 10. | 1 h + 1 h | Listening, Speaking |
| 24 | Reading: one full test on the clock and review. Time per passage noted; 20 minutes each is the target. | 1 h + 1 h | Reading |
| 25 | Your weakest section again, two hours, using only the rules from the journal as the checklist. | 2 h | Weakest |
| 26 | Full mock test, the last one, on the real timings. | about 3 h | All four |
| 27 | Review the day 26 mock within 24 hours, fill the diagnostic table a third time, and reread the journal from the first page. | 2 h | All four |
| 28 | No new content. Reread the journal, one Part 1 warm-up recorded, one Listening section 1 for the ear. Stop after an hour. | 1 h | Light |
| 29 | Logistics: route, documents, what to bring, the night-before checklist below. A short Part 1 warm-up. Early night. | 45 min | Light |
| 30 | Exam day, or the day before it if your exam is later: the checklist, a warm-up in English out loud, nothing else. | 30 min | Light |
The section guides on this site cover the method for each line: Listening question types, spelling rules and traps, Reading question types with a method each, the Task 2 structure with a plan per essay type and Speaking Part 1, 2 and 3 with cue cards. Read the one for your weakest section in week 1 and the other three as their days come up. The Quick Mock Test on day 13 is a short version of all four sections in about 50 minutes, useful as a mid-plan check without losing an evening.
The error journal
The journal is the part of the plan that does the work, because a mistake you have written down with its rule is a mistake you notice the next time before you make it. Four columns, one line per mistake, kept in a notebook or a spreadsheet, reread on days 13, 20 and 27 and on day 28. The rule is written as an instruction to yourself, short enough to remember in the exam.
| Date | Section | Error | Rule |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 2 | Listening | Wrote "accomodation" for accommodation in the Section 1 form. | Double c, double m. Check every doubled letter in Section 1 before moving on. |
| Day 5 | Reading | Wrote FALSE for "Adults require exactly eight hours"; passage said seven to nine. Guessed TRUE because eight is inside the range. | "Exactly" is the claim. A range in the passage contradicts an exact figure: FALSE. |
| Day 8 | Writing | Task 2 introduction did not state a position; the checker marked Task Response down. | Last sentence of the introduction: "This essay argues that ..." Every time. |
| Day 10 | Speaking | Part 2 answer stopped after 50 seconds; transcript shows "and ... yeah" four times. | Four keywords in the minute of preparation: what, when, who, why. One sentence per keyword before stopping. |
When a rule stops being broken for a week, cross it out. By day 27 the journal should be mostly crossed out, and the lines that are not are the ones to reread on the morning of the exam.
The last three days
Days 28, 29 and 30 have no new content, no full test and no essay. There is nothing a new passage can teach you in 48 hours that is worth the tiredness it costs, and Listening and Speaking in particular are worse on a short night. Day 28 is one hour: the journal reread, one short Listening section for the ear, one Part 1 warm-up out loud. Day 29 is logistics: the route to the centre, the documents, what to bring and what to leave, then an early night. Day 30 is the exam, or the day before it, and the only English you need is ten minutes of speaking out loud on the way, so that the first words in Part 1 are not the first words of the day.
Sleep is the one thing on these three days that measurably changes a score, and it is the one thing candidates trade for a last practice test. Do not.
The night-before checklist
- Identity document, the one you registered with, in the bag.
- Confirmation email or letter printed or saved offline; the centre address and the arrival time, which is earlier than the test time.
- Route checked, including what you do if the first option fails.
- Pencils, an eraser and a pen for paper-based; nothing else needed on computer-based, and nothing electronic goes into the room.
- Water in a transparent bottle if the centre allows it; breakfast planned.
- The error journal reread once, the crossed-out lines skipped, the rest read twice.
- Speaking time and date confirmed, since it can be on a different day.
- Phone alarm set, and a second alarm.
- No new practice test, no new vocabulary list, no forum threads about "what came up this week".
- In bed at the time you would need to be for a normal working day, not later.
If you want to know what a given combination of section bands gives as an overall band, the band score calculator applies the rounding rule and holds the raw score tables for Listening and Reading; it is useful on day 2, to see how many correct answers separate you from the band you need in each section.
Quick answers
Is 30 days enough?
It depends on where you start. From around band 6, with two hours a day and the reviews done, a gain of half a band to a full band is what the plan is built for, mostly in Listening and Reading, where the format rewards practice fastest, and in Writing when the feedback loop is used. From band 5 or below, 30 days improves the habits but rarely the band, because the gap is language rather than technique. From 7, the plan sharpens without guaranteeing 8. There is no figure here because none would be honest: the day 1 mock, the day 20 mock and the day 27 mock are the only measure that applies to you.
How many hours a day?
About two, six days a week, with three exceptions of about three hours for the full mocks on days 1, 19 and 26, and three light days at the end. Two hours is enough when one of them is review: a test taken and not reviewed teaches almost nothing, a test reviewed with the error journal teaches the rule you will apply next time.
Should I do a full mock every day?
No. A full mock is about three hours, leaves no time for the review that gives it value, and repeated daily it measures fatigue more than level. The plan has three full mocks, on days 1, 19 and 26, each reviewed within 24 hours, plus one short Quick Mock Test on day 13. The rest of the time goes to one or two sections a day, on the clock and then off it.
Is the plan free?
Yes. Everything the plan uses, the full mock test, the Quick Mock Test, the four Listening tests, the four Reading tests, the Writing checker with its feedback, the Speaking test with the transcript and the band score calculator, is free on this site with no sign-up. The estimated bands are practice signals, not official results: this site is independent and not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to IELTS, the British Council, IDP or Cambridge English.
The short version: diagnose on day 1, alternate the four sections, review every test within 24 hours into the error journal, sit the full mock again on days 19 and 26, and stop learning three days before the exam.