You’ve taken IELTS twice. Maybe three times. Each time you’re “so close” to your target score. Each time you’re shocked by the results. Each time you blame the examiner, the test center, or bad luck.
Let me save you another $250 and some dignity: You’re failing because you’re not good enough yet. And the industry built around IELTS has zero incentive to tell you this truth.
The IELTS Coaching Scam Industry
Walk into any IELTS coaching center. They’ll test you, smile warmly, and say “You can definitely get Band 7 in two months with our program!”
They’re lying.
Not because they’re evil—because they’re running a business. If they said “Your English needs 6-12 months of fundamental improvement before you’re ready,” you’d walk out and find someone who’ll take your money with false hope.
Here’s what coaching centers won’t tell you:
80% of their students don’t hit their target score on first attempt
Most students retake 2-3 times, each time paying for new “advanced” courses
The “expert teachers” are often just people who scored Band 7+ themselves—not trained educators
Their success stories are the exceptions, not the norm
Those “guaranteed score” promises have fine print that protects them, not you
The entire model depends on keeping you enrolled, hopeful, and paying. Brutal honesty kills revenue.
Your Writing is Worse Than You Think
Let’s talk about why you’re stuck at Band 6 or 6.5 in Writing, wondering what you’re doing wrong.
You’re making the same mistakes every examiner sees 50 times a day:
Memorized phrases stick out like a sore thumb. “In this contemporary era,” “in this modern-day and age,” “it is often argued that”—these scream “I learned English from IELTS materials, not real life.” Examiners aren’t impressed. They’re bored.
You think you sound academic. You actually sound robotic and unnatural. Real academic writing is clear and direct, not stuffed with phrases you’d never use in actual communication.
Your grammar range is fake. You throw in one conditional sentence, one passive structure, and one relative clause per essay, thinking that’s “range.” It’s not. It’s a checklist.
Real grammar range means naturally using complex structures because your idea demands them, not because you’re trying to tick a box. If you have to consciously think “I should add a complex sentence here,” your grammar isn’t actually advanced—it’s performative.
Your ideas are superficial.
“Education is important for society” isn’t an idea—it’s a placeholder. “Technology has advantages and disadvantages” says nothing. These are the thoughts of someone writing in a language they don’t think in.
Band 7+ writing shows depth: nuanced positions, acknowledgment of complexity, specific reasoning. You’re not getting there because you’re busy translating from your native language and padding word count.
Your coherence is broken. You use linking words like “however,” “moreover,” “furthermore” as if they’re magic score-boosters. They’re not.
Coherence isn’t about connectors—it’s about logical flow of ideas. I’ve seen essays with perfect linking words that make no logical sense. The ideas don’t build on each other. Each paragraph could be shuffled randomly with no loss of meaning.
That’s not coherence. That’s just sentences with fancy transitions.
You don’t actually answer the question. This is the killer. You write a beautiful essay about a topic tangential to the actual question.
“Some people think X. Others think Y. Discuss both views and give your opinion.”
You write four paragraphs explaining X and Y, then end with “I agree with both.” That’s not an opinion—that’s fence-sitting. The question demanded you take a position and justify it.
Or worse: “To what extent do you agree?” and you write about advantages and disadvantages instead of expressing and defending a clear extent of agreement.
You didn’t answer the question. Automatic Band 6 maximum, no matter how perfect your grammar.
Speaking: The Section You Think You Passed
You walked out feeling good. The examiner smiled. The conversation flowed. You’re sure you got Band 7.
Results arrive: Band 6.
What happened?
You misjudged the entire interaction. The examiner’s job is to make you comfortable and keep you talking. Smiling and nodding doesn’t mean you’re doing well—it means they’re professional.
Here’s what actually hurt your score:
You didn’t speak enough in Part 3. You gave 2-3 sentence answers. Band 7 requires extended discourse—developing ideas, explaining reasoning, providing examples, considering alternatives. You stopped at surface-level responses.
When asked “Why do you think people are spending more time online?”, you said “Because it’s convenient and entertaining.”
That’s a Band 5 answer.
A Band 7 answer explores multiple reasons, considers different demographics, acknowledges downsides, connects to broader social changes. It’s a mini-lecture, not a chat.
Your vocabulary was repetitive. You used “good,” “bad,” “important,” and “interesting” 40 times. You said “I think” to start every sentence. You couldn’t find alternative expressions for basic concepts.
Band 7 requires flexibility and precision. Using the exact right word, not just the close-enough word. Paraphrasing naturally. Expressing subtle distinctions.
You had pronunciation issues you don’t even hear. Maybe you drop final consonants. Maybe your intonation is flat, making questions sound like statements. Maybe you stress the wrong syllables in multi-syllable words.
You don’t notice because in everyday conversation, people use context to understand you. Examiners are specifically listening for these errors. They cost you points.
You hesitated too much. Not just silence—those “ummm,” “how to say,” “what’s the word” moments. Each one signals you’re operating at the edge of your competence, struggling to access language in real-time.
Fluency isn’t speed. It’s smooth, natural delivery with only natural hesitations. Your hesitations revealed effort and uncertainty.
Reading: Why “Techniques” Aren’t Saving You
YouTube is full of “IELTS Reading tricks.” Scan for keywords. Underline topic sentences. Predict answers.
You tried them all. Still stuck at Band 6.5.
Because techniques can’t fix comprehension problems.
You’re not actually understanding complex sentences. When a sentence has embedded clauses, multiple qualifiers, and abstract concepts, you get lost. You reread it three times and still aren’t sure what it said.
That’s not a technique problem. That’s a language problem.
The sentence “While proponents of urban renewal argue that gentrification revitalizes neglected neighborhoods, critics contend that it displaces long-term residents who can no longer afford escalating property costs” has clear meaning.
If you had to read that twice slowly to grasp it, you’re not ready for IELTS Reading at Band 7+. The passages are full of sentences like that, and you need to process them quickly.
You’re misunderstanding question types.
True/False/Not Given destroys people because they don’t understand the distinction.
True = directly stated or clearly paraphrased in text
False = directly contradicted in text
Not Given = neither confirmed nor denied in text
You’re choosing “False” when the answer is “Not Given” because you assume if it’s not mentioned, it’s false. Wrong. The text might simply not address it.
This isn’t a trick—it’s testing whether you can distinguish between what’s said and what’s not said. If you can’t, your reading comprehension isn’t test-ready.
Your vocabulary gaps are bigger than you admit. You skip words you don’t know, hoping context carries you through. Sometimes it works. Often it doesn’t.
“The study’s findings were predicated on assumptions that subsequent research failed to corroborate.”
If “predicated” or “corroborate” are unfamiliar, you lost key meaning. Context might give you the gist, but IELTS questions test specific details. Close enough isn’t enough.
Listening: Your Biggest Blind Spot
“I watch English TV shows. My listening is fine.”
Except you watch with subtitles. Or you watch the same shows repeatedly until you’ve memorized the dialogue. Or you pause and rewind constantly.
That’s not listening—it’s assisted comprehension.
IELTS Listening is unforgiving:
Single play-through
Multiple accents (British, Australian, American, sometimes others)
Background noise and multiple speakers
Fast, natural speech with connected words
Spelling matters—”accommodation” not “accomodation”
You’re failing because real-time listening at natural speed is completely different from leisure watching with support.
You can’t process and write simultaneously. The audio keeps going while you’re writing an answer. You miss the next question. You panic. You guess. You lose track. The section collapses.
This is a working memory and processing speed issue. You need practice holding information briefly while writing, then immediately refocusing. It’s a skill, not a trick.
You’re mishearing common speech patterns.
“I’m going to” sounds like “I’m gonna”
“Want to” sounds like “wanna”
“Should have” sounds like “should of” (and people mistakenly write it that way)
Words blend together: “did you” becomes “didja”
If you’re trained on slow, clear classroom English, natural speech sounds like mush. You literally don’t hear word boundaries correctly.
Accents throw you off. You’ve trained on American English but the IELTS recording has Australian speakers. Different vowel sounds. Different intonation patterns. Suddenly you’re struggling.
This reveals your listening isn’t truly proficient—it’s accent-dependent. Real proficiency handles variation.
The Band 6.5 Trap
You’re stuck at Band 6.5 overall. Each test, you get:
Listening: 7
Reading: 7
Writing: 6
Speaking: 6
And you wonder why you can’t break through to Band 7 overall.
Because Writing and Speaking expose your actual English level. Receptive skills (Listening/Reading) are easier than productive skills (Writing/Speaking). You can recognize language you can’t produce.
Your Band 7 in receptive skills is real. Your Band 6 in productive skills is also real. The average—6.5—is your actual level.
You can’t “trick” your way past this. You need to fundamentally improve your ability to produce accurate, fluent, complex English in real-time.
That takes months of practice. Speaking regularly. Writing with feedback. Expanding productive vocabulary. Internalizing grammar until it’s automatic.
There’s no shortcut. Sorry.
Why You’re Not Improving
You’re “studying” 3 hours a day but not improving. Why?
Because you’re practicing, not learning.
You take practice test after practice test, review answers, and move on. That’s not study—it’s testing yourself repeatedly without addressing gaps.
Effective preparation looks different:
When you miss a Reading question, you don’t just check the answer. You:
Identify WHY you missed it (vocabulary? misread question? wrong paragraph?)
Extract unknown words and actually learn them
Reread that paragraph until it’s clear
Find similar sentence structures elsewhere and practice them
When you get Writing feedback showing grammar errors, you don’t just note it. You:
Drill that specific grammar point until it’s automatic
Write 10 more sentences using it correctly
Have someone check those sentences
Use it consciously in your next essay
Most people don’t do this because it’s hard and slow. Taking another practice test feels productive. Drilling grammar feels boring.
But drilling is what works. Testing yourself repeatedly without fixing problems is the definition of insanity.
The Retake Cycle of Desperation
You took IELTS and got Band 6.5. Need Band 7.
You immediately book another test in 3 weeks. Because “now I know what to expect.”
This is a waste of money.
Nothing significant changes in 3 weeks. Your English level is essentially identical. You might get lucky and score 0.5 bands higher on one section. Or you might score worse because different test content exposed different weaknesses.
The only reason to retake quickly: Your score was significantly below your practice test results, suggesting you had an off day. Even then, 4-6 weeks minimum to consolidate.
Otherwise, you need months of actual improvement before retesting makes sense.
I know people who’ve taken IELTS 5+ times over 6 months, each time hoping for different results while doing the same preparation. They’ve spent $1,500+ and gotten nowhere.
That money could’ve paid for quality tutoring that actually fixed their problems.
What Success Actually Requires
Stop looking for easier paths. Here’s what works:
Immersion, not study. Live in English for months. Read English news daily. Listen to English podcasts during every commute. Watch English content without subtitles. Think in English when possible.
Your brain needs massive input to internalize patterns. 30 minutes of “IELTS practice” daily won’t cut it.
Productive practice with expert feedback. Write essays and get detailed corrections from someone qualified. Practice speaking with someone who’ll interrupt and correct your errors. Uncomfortable? Yes. Necessary? Absolutely.
Address root causes, not symptoms. Vocabulary too limited? Read more and actively learn words. Grammar shaky? Get a grammar book and drill exercises. Pronunciation unclear? Work with a tutor on specific sounds.
Time. Language acquisition is slow. You need 6-12 months minimum to jump a full band at intermediate levels. Accept this, or waste money retaking tests prematurely.
The Bottom Line
IELTS is a language test, not a puzzle. Your score reflects your English level, with slight variation for test-day performance.
If you need Band 7, become a Band 7 English user. Then the test takes care of itself.
If you’re currently Band 6, you need significant improvement. No course, no technique, no “expert tips” will shortcut this.
You can either accept reality and put in months of real work, or continue the cycle: test, fail, blame something external, repeat.
Your English level is your English level. The test just measures it.
So stop trying to game the test. Start actually improving your English. Read more : https://anglotree.com/
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