IELTS Academic Test Preparation (edX)

IELTS is the world's most popular English language test for those wanting to study in higher education in an English-speaking country.
This IELTS course will prepare you to take the IELTS Academic tests with confidence. You will have immediate access to over 80 hours of interactive practice materials covering each of the four skills: listening, speaking, reading and writing.

This innovative preparation course has been designed and written by experienced English teaching professionals from The University of Queensland, an IELTS testing centre and one of the world’s leading centres of learning. All of the course writers have extensive experience enabling students to reach their academic IELTS goal of entering a university where English is the primary language.
Each section of this course includes engaging multi-media presentations reviewing key test-taking skills, strategies and techniques. These are accompanied by a wide variety of authentic IELTS-style exercises and interactive activities that provide focused practice of the skills, strategies and techniques that you need to perform at your best.
As the course is self-paced, you can complete all of the course units in sequence, or only select the areas you want to focus on to prepare for the IELTS Academic tests. Then, when you are ready, you can test yourself with an IELTS-style practice exam for each skill. In completing this course, you will feel fully prepared to complete the IELTS Academic tests.

What you'll learn:

• Learn about the IELTS test procedure and format
• Learn useful test-taking strategies and skills for the IELTS Academic tests
• Practise and develop skills and strategies by completing IELTS-style practice tests in reading, listening, speaking and writing
• Develop your reading, writing, listening and speaking English skills

Course Syllabus

Module 1: Listening
The module begins with an overview of the IELTS Listening Test and what it includes. This will give you important facts about this module and what it is designed to assess. Following this, we’ll show you the differences between each section of the IELTS Listening Test and the types of questions you will need to answer. You will also have opportunities to practise these types of questions and gain the skills that you need. At the end of this module, you will be able to bring all of your knowledge together by trying a full IELTS-style Listening practice test.

Module 2: Speaking
This module outlines the different features of the Speaking Test. In preparation for Part 1 of the Speaking Test, we focus on some of the grammar that you can use to talk about your likes and dislikes. We’ll also give you some examples of how to extend your answers, or make them longer.
For Part 2 of the test, we’ll then focus on the “Individual Long Turn”. We’ll look at how to analyse the task effectively and how to organise your ideas so that you have a good start, and end, to your talk.
For Part 3 of the test, we will focus on “The Discussion”. You’ll learn to develop vocabulary related to common Part 3 topics and also some of the common grammar features you need for success in the discussion. This includes focussing on tenses and making comparisons. Later in the unit, we’ll introduce some strategies to make your pronunciation clearer.
In this module, you can watch and learn from videos of students taking different parts of the test. You can also practice the test using our audio recorder and compare your talk with our samples.

Module 3: Reading
This module begins with an overview of the IELTS Reading Test and what it includes. This will give you important information about what the test is designed to assess and the different question types used in the test. There will be plenty of opportunities to practise the skills you have learned, including a full IELTS-style practice Reading Test at the end of the module.

Module 4: Writing
The module begins with an overview of the IELTS Writing Test and what it includes. We’ll then look at the two tasks involved in the test. In preparation for Task 1, you’ll learn how to identify different types of visuals, identify and describe the topic and the main features of these visuals, and also how to write an overview paragraph to summarise the key information. We’ll then look at describing data for Task 1 of the test. You’ll learn about what language to use to describe data, as well as how to select and group information. We’ll also look at the language used for ordering ideas in paragraphs. In addition, this module offers the chance to practise writing the opening and data description paragraphs, which you can grade with our new assessment criteria. Additionally, you can get feedback on your writing from your peers and give them feedback using the IELTSx criteria.
In preparation for Task 2, we’re going to take a closer look at the essay question to help you answer all its parts and we will examine ways of planning and organising your essay. We’ll also analyse the different parts of an IELTS essay, look in more detail at some possible task types in Task 2, and explain how they are assessed. We’ll then look at how to write a good essay with good structure and appropriate language.
Along the way, you’ll have a chance to practise writing an introduction, body paragraphs and conclusion and submit these for assessment from other IELTSx students. There will also be practice of proofreading and editing before you write full Task 1 and Task 2 essays under timed conditions, and submit these for grading.