How I helped Anastasia, student, achieve IELTS Band 7 in 6 months and unlock her university options

01 — Client Background

A motivated international student aiming for a UK university place

Anastasia is an international student preparing to apply to European and British universities. Her objective was to secure an IELTS Academic score high enough to open up the widest possible range of institutions and courses.

UK universities generally require an overall IELTS Academic score between 6.0 and 7.5, depending on the institution and the programme. When we began, Anastasia's English was already very good, around Band 6. She was highly motivated, enjoyed intellectual challenges, and had the discipline to take on serious preparation.

02 — The Challenge

Pushing a Band 6 student to Band 7 in a fixed 6-month window

At Band 6, Anastasia already had functional English, but each additional half-band requires more precision, more vocabulary, and stronger academic skills. She needed to:

• Master four skills tested by IELTS: Writing, Reading, Listening, and Speaking, each with its own techniques and pitfalls.
• Build advanced academic vocabulary across the kind of topics IELTS draws from: economics, ecology, biology, psychology, sociology, culture, etc.
• Reach her objective within a fixed timeline: the IELTS exam was scheduled in 6 months, which corresponded to approximately 60 hours of lessons.

03 — The Solution

A comprehensive programme built around authentic academic materials

We took a comprehensive approach covering all four IELTS skills, using:

• Newspaper articles in English on economics, culture, education, natural sciences, geopolitics, and psychology, one prepared by Anastasia for each lesson. This practice improved her summarising skills, taught her to use linking words properly, and helped her articulate different points of view, crucial for the Writing and Speaking sections.
• Psychometric tests, since academic texts on psychology and sociology are common in IELTS.
• Short videos featuring different English accents, to prepare her for the Listening section.
• Long opinion pieces on literature and society, used for vocabulary-building and analysis.
• Weekly sample IELTS tests as homework, followed by a thorough analysis of her mistakes in the next session.

04 — The Results

Band 7 achieved

The programme delivered the result Anastasia needed:

05 — What Anastasia Said

In her own words

"I took lessons to prepare for the IELTS exam with Anna several years ago. The IELTS was a very stressful topic for me, but Anna was always so positive during our lessons, so I always left them in a happy mood and with new knowledge. Anna is an incredible teacher who helped me achieve great exam results. My English skills have improved significantly, so I can easily watch films and read books in English."

Anastasia, IELTS student