Practice tests

IELTS practice test or mock test: how to use each

A practice test builds technique one section at a time. A full mock shows what happens when Listening, Reading and Writing come back to back and an examiner grades your Writing and Speaking. Use the first to build technique, and book the second to see it under load.

What a practice test is good for

A practice test is a single paper, or a single section, sat in your own time. It is the right tool for learning how a question type works and for building speed, and each module rewards a different kind of practice.

Listening: read ahead before each part and recover fast after a missed answer, with the recording played once only
Reading: one passage at a time against a twenty-minute limit, then all three in sixty
Writing: Task 1 and Task 2 written to the clock, on a keyboard if you will sit the computer-delivered test
Speaking: all three parts answered out loud and recorded, then listened back

Practice that is worth the hour

Answering a hundred questions changes very little on its own. What moves a band is the review afterwards, and most candidates skip it because the score is the satisfying part.

Make the review concrete. Count where the marks went by question type: six lost on matching headings and one on multiple choice tells you far more than concluding that Reading is hard.

Where your material includes a transcript, read it for every Listening item you missed and find the paraphrase that beat you
For Reading, locate the exact line in the passage that proves the correct answer
Keep a running list of question types you lose marks on and drill those specifically
Redo a section untimed only after you have reviewed it. Repeating it blind teaches nothing

Where practice stops and a mock test starts

Practice sections build technique. They cannot tell you what happens to your Writing when it comes at the end of nearly three hours of testing, and they cannot give you a Writing or Speaking band you can rely on, because both depend on an examiner's judgement rather than an answer key.

That is what a mock on IELTS Acer is for. Listening, Reading and Writing are sat on computer, timed like exam day. Listening and Reading are marked automatically, an examiner grades your Writing with feedback on each essay, and you take Speaking with the examiner you chose when you booked.

A workable weekly routine

Two focused sections a week, timed, with a full review of each
One Writing task a week, written to the clock, then rewritten once you have feedback on it
Speaking out loud and recorded several times a week, because fluency does not improve silently
One full timed mock every two to three weeks to see it all under load

Frequently asked questions

Can I take practice tests on IELTS Acer?

Not as a self-study library. IELTS Acer is a mock-exam platform: you book a full mock on the website or through the Telegram bot, or sit the mocks your learning centre assigns. The app is free to download; a booked mock exam is paid.

Do I need a learning centre to sit a mock?

A mock is booked with a learning centre that runs its mocks on IELTS Acer. You pick the centre, the format (online or in person), the date and your Speaking examiner on the booking page or in the Telegram bot.

Where do the mock test materials come from?

From the learning centre. Each centre uploads and assigns its own tests, which stay private to that centre.

Can I sit a mock on my phone?

Listening, Reading and Writing run in the desktop app for macOS and Windows, not on a phone. The computer-delivered exam is taken on a screen with a keyboard, and rehearsing on the same kind of device is part of the point.

Ready for the full rehearsal?

Book a mock test on computer, with Writing and Speaking graded by an examiner. The app you sit it in is free to download.

Book a mock test · Download the app