Thirty days is enough time to fix a known weakness. It is not enough time to learn English. This is the four-week plan we give students who already sit around Band 6.0–6.5 and need half a band to a full band more — with the daily structure, the timing, and an honest note on who should not use it.
Week 1 of this plan is a diagnosis. RK Global's band assessment does that part free.
Time: about 2 hours on weekdays, 3–4 hours on weekend days. Roughly 70–80 hours over the month.
This matters more than the schedule itself, so let us be plain. A one-month plan works for a specific student and fails for others.
You already score around 6.0–6.5 in a properly timed practice test, need +0.5 to +1.0, can give roughly two hours a day, and your weakness is identifiable — timing, Task Response, Part 3 answers, a question type. You are correcting technique, not building language.
Your diagnostic is below 6.0, you have never taken a timed test, you need 7.5 from 6.0, or you cannot find two clear hours most days. Thirty days will not close a two-band gap, and booking a date to find out is an expensive way to learn it.
Extend the runway to 8–12 weeks and change the emphasis. Below 6.0, the limit is usually language itself — grammatical control, vocabulary range, listening speed — and those move with steady daily exposure, not with exam drills. Use the same four phases, but stretch Weeks 1–2 into a month of foundation work (reading for volume, grammar accuracy, daily speaking) before you start timed practice. Booking the test in 30 days at that level usually just buys you a retake fee.
Not sure which version of the test you are preparing for? Check Academic vs General Training before Day 1 — the Writing Task 1 you practise depends on it.
Do not start "studying" yet. Week 1 replaces your guess about your level with evidence, and ends with two named criteria to work on. Everything after depends on getting this right.
| Day | Focus | Task | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 1 | Baseline Listening + Reading | One full Listening and one full Reading test, strictly timed, no pauses. Score honestly and note which sections lost marks. | 2 hr |
| Day 2 | Baseline Writing | Task 2 in 40 minutes, Task 1 in 20, in the format you will sit the test. Submit for correction — do not self-mark. | 2 hr |
| Day 3 | Baseline Speaking | A full three-part mock, recorded, ideally with a trainer as examiner. Listen back to it once, fully. | 2 hr |
| Day 4 | Error analysis | Build an error log: every wrong answer, sorted by question type. Read the public band descriptors against your own scripts. | 2 hr |
| Day 5 | Test mechanics | Confirm paper vs computer, each module's timing, word limits and transfer rules. Book the test date if you have not. | 2 hr |
| Day 6 | Name the two criteria | Write down your two weakest criteria (e.g. "Task Response in Task 2") and two weakest question types. That is your Week 2–4 syllabus. | 3 hr |
| Day 7 | Plan + light practice | Draft the next three weeks around those four items. One relaxed reading session, 30 minutes of speaking. Rest. | 3 hr |
RK Global's band assessment covers exactly this: a writing sample corrected by the trainer, a short speaking diagnostic, and a recommendation on whether 30 days is a sensible runway for your profile. Free, and there is no obligation to enrol.
Get My Personal IELTS Preparation RecommendationThis week is deliberately untimed: speed added to a broken technique only produces faster mistakes. Everything you write should be corrected before you write the next one.
| Day | Focus | Task | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 8 | Writing Task 2 structure | Plan five essays without writing them — position with a degree, one controlling idea per paragraph, a supporting example. Then write one in full, untimed. | 2 hr |
| Day 9 | Reading question types | Drill your two worst types only — often True/False/Not Given and matching headings. Twenty questions, then read every explanation. | 2 hr |
| Day 10 | Speaking Part 2 | Five cue cards: one minute prep, two minutes speaking, recorded. Re-record the two worst until you fill the time. | 2 hr |
| Day 11 | Listening sections 3 & 4 | Two section-3 and two section-4 practices. Mark every distractor — where the speaker self-corrected and you followed the wrong answer. | 2 hr |
| Day 12 | Writing Task 1 | Two Task 1 responses (graphs or process for Academic, letters for General). Focus on the overview and accurate comparison language. | 2 hr |
| Day 13 | Grammar accuracy | Rewrite your corrected Week 1 essay for accuracy alone; count error-free sentences before and after. Then eight Part 3 questions aloud. | 3.5 hr |
| Day 14 | Half-mock + review | Listening and Reading under timing, to check the drills transferred. Update the error log; review one corrected essay properly. | 3.5 hr |
Days 8, 12 and 13 need a marker. If you do not have one, online writing evaluation is the part of this week worth paying for; online speaking practice covers Days 10 and 13.
Now add the clock. Every task runs to exam timing, one module at a time, so when something breaks you know what broke it.
| Day | Focus | Task | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 15 | Writing under timing | Task 1 in 20 minutes and Task 2 in 40, one sitting. Stop at time even if unfinished, then note what you would cut. | 2 hr |
| Day 16 | Reading pacing | Full Reading in 60 minutes on a hard budget: roughly 17 / 20 / 23 minutes per passage. Move on when the budget ends. | 2 hr |
| Day 17 | Speaking, timed mock | Full three-part mock at exam pace, recorded. Note hesitation points and whether you were searching for words or for ideas. | 2 hr |
| Day 18 | Listening, no second chances | Full Listening at exam timing. On computer there are only two minutes to check at the end — practise it that way. | 2 hr |
| Day 19 | Writing again | Second timed Task 2 on a different question type. Compare with Day 15 for recurring errors. | 2 hr |
| Day 20 | Weak-type blitz | Your two worst question types again, now under timing. Then 15 minutes of Part 3 abstraction practice. | 3.5 hr |
| Day 21 | First full mock | All four modules in one sitting, in test order. Score it, log the errors, do not study afterwards. | 4 hr |
If you are sitting the computer-delivered test, run these in that format — see computer-based IELTS preparation. Official free familiarisation tests are on the British Council and IDP websites.
The last week is not for new material. It makes the performance repeatable and shrinks the error log: two full mocks, corrections between them, a deliberately light finish.
| Day | Focus | Task | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Day 22 | Mock correction | Work through the Day 21 mock in full: every wrong answer explained, both essays re-read against your corrections. | 2 hr |
| Day 23 | Targeted repair | The three most repeated errors in the log. Nothing else today. | 2 hr |
| Day 24 | Speaking polish | Third recorded mock, focused on pronunciation features — word stress, chunking, intonation — not new vocabulary. | 2 hr |
| Day 25 | Writing accuracy | One timed Task 2, then five minutes of proofreading: articles, agreement, prepositions, plurals. | 2 hr |
| Day 26 | Reading and Listening speed | One of each at timing, only to hold the pace you set in Week 3. Check spelling on every Listening answer. | 2 hr |
| Day 27 | Second full mock | Full simulation at the same time of day as your test slot. Score and compare with Day 21. | 4 hr |
| Day 28 | Final review | Read the error log end to end. Re-read your two best essays, not your worst. Confirm ID, timings and route. | 3 hr |
| Days 29–30 | Taper | Light only: 30 minutes speaking aloud, one reading passage, proper sleep. No new material, no mocks. | 1 hr/day |
Full-length online mock tests cover Days 21 and 27. Students in Madhya Pradesh can also sit a free mock test in Jabalpur or Indore.
Alongside the day's task, these habits run through all four weeks. Twenty minutes in total, and they matter more than an extra practice test.
A podcast or news bulletin at natural speed, without subtitles. Write three facts you heard. Speed tolerance is built by exposure, not by test papers.
Read one longer article a day and write a two-sentence summary in your own words. Paraphrasing is the underlying skill in nearly every Reading question type.
Write five sentences on the day's topic and check them yourself for articles, tense and agreement. Frequency of clean sentences is what the band descriptors reward.
Answer one cue card or Part 3 question aloud daily and listen back. You cannot hear your own hesitation in real time; you can hear it in a recording.
Five words a day, each written in a full sentence with its natural collocation. Not word lists — precision is what earns the mark, not rarity.
Every day, one line: what you got wrong and why. By Day 28 this document tells you exactly what to revise, which no generic checklist can.
Print this or copy it into a notebook. Tick items at the end of each week — if a week ends with more than two unticked boxes, extend the plan rather than pushing on.
The two hardest parts of this plan to do alone are the Week 1 diagnosis and the corrections in Weeks 2–4. Both need someone marking against the descriptors instead of guessing.
If the assessment says 30 days is not enough, we will say so — see moving from 6.5 to 7, which typically takes six to eight weeks.
Corrects your writing personally and runs live speaking mocks. About Ayushi and how classes work →
"The trainer Ayushi mam gave me the right strategies and guidance to improve in every section. The regular mock tests and feedback helped me identify my mistakes and work on them."
More verified results — including Abhinav Sharma (7.5, online) and Gurneet Kaur (7.0, online) — on the student results page. Individual results vary; no band is guaranteed.
If you are already around Band 6.0–6.5 and need half a band to a full band, yes — thirty days of structured, corrected work is a reasonable runway. Below 6.0, or moving from 6.0 to 7.5, it is not realistic and 8–12 weeks is the better plan. The honest answer depends on a diagnostic, which is why Week 1 here is diagnosis rather than study.
No plan can promise a band, and we do not. What 30 days can reliably do is remove technique problems — timing collapse, unclear positions, running dry in Part 2, repeated question-type errors. Whether that produces 7.0 depends on your starting point and consistency. Individual results vary.
About two focused hours on weekdays and three to four at weekends — roughly 70–80 hours across the month. Two focused hours beat four distracted ones. If you cannot protect two hours most days, extend the plan rather than compress it.
Extend to 8–12 weeks and change the emphasis. Below 6.0 the limitation is usually language rather than exam technique, and language responds to daily exposure — reading volume, listening at natural speed, daily speaking, grammar accuracy — before drills are worth doing. Keep the four phases, but give Weeks 1–2 a month of their own.
Book it in Week 1, once the diagnostic says 30 days is sensible. A booked date creates the deadline the plan depends on, but booking before you know your level is how students end up paying for a retake. RK Global also helps students book the exam date.
Yes, with adjustments. Keep the weekday two hours as one block rather than fragments, move the Week 3 and 4 full mocks to weekends, and treat the Days 29–30 taper as compulsory. Many of our online students study on evening or weekend slots for this reason.
Send one writing sample and take a short speaking diagnostic. You will get a trainer's read on your current level and whether 30 days is the right runway for your target — free, from anywhere in India.