BEANTWORTEN SIE FRAGEN - English

If you are after at least a 5.5 or 6.0 on IELTS, I’d firstly get my level of English up to at least B2 before even starting to think about the IELTS exam format. The courses for taking IELTS are all about the exam format - including the writing formats - not really learning English. You should already have got the required level of English even before ”exam training”.

You state that your level is A1. Give yourself *at least* 1 1/2 or 2 years to develop and improve your English to a B2 level. To do this in one year is extremely rare - and that's even stuudying English fulltime and doing nothing else. Anyone promising you things like "I'll teach you English and in 3 months you'll be B2" is just trying to steal your money.

Focus on getting and learning as much vocabulary and grammar as possible. You’ll of course need this for writing, along with other parts of IELTS such as listening, speaking and reading. Make sure you learn the prepositions and other structures associated with the words you are learning.

As for writing... Try writing as much as possible. Get a native speaker, or at least someone at C1 or better, to check your writing and point out your mistakes. Write on as many topics as possible. Don’t focus too much on format but on producing correct text and using different vocabulary and grammar. Write using paper and pencil, not typing! My experience with student groups and private students is that they improve their writing much more rapidly when they are writing by hand.

When writing, do your thinking in English - don’t formulate sentences in your native language then translate the sentences into English! Translation makes it even harder to write a logical text.

Read a lot in English - but don’t use translators! This also helps with writing because it helps to activate grammar and vocabulary you know.

In general, avoid trying to translate as much as possible, If you have to translate a lot of vocabulary in something you are reading or listening to, then the material you read or hear is probably at a too high level of English for you level.

Focus on British English rather than American English when learning English and preparing for IELTS. There is a bias for British English because the bulk of examiners are British English speakers.The examiners are real people and not an AI bot like you see for TOEFL or the Duolingo English Test (both of which most institutes treat as a joke English certification).