IELTS courses and coaching in Australia: free, paid, schools and tutors

IDP, which runs IELTS in Australia, gives you a free online preparation course if you book early, plus free practice tests and a free Masterclass. Paid help comes from approved language schools, a paid Full IELTS Mock Test, and online providers such as E2Language and tutors on Preply, italki and Cambly.

IDP runs IELTS in Australia and publishes free preparation of its own. Before you pay a school or tutor, use these.

The free course detail comes from IDP's guide to preparation materials, which carries the date 15/08/2022, so check the current offer in your booking confirmation. IDP's fee page, updated on 24/03/2026, still mentions the free course and the voucher you receive after booking. Our IELTS discount codes page explains what IDP does and does not discount.

Our reading: the free route is enough to learn the format, find your weak part and get used to the computer screens. It does not give you marked Writing and Speaking feedback, and that is what most people pay for.

If you want a classroom course in Australia, IDP lists approved schools by state or territory: Sydney and New South Wales, Melbourne and Victoria, Brisbane and Queensland, Perth and Western Australia, and Adelaide and South Australia. Each listing has the school's contact details.

That disclaimer is worth reading twice. Approved status means a school has shown commitment to IELTS students. It does not promise a result. IDP also says no school can guarantee a specific band score. Before you enrol, ask the school for the length of the course, how many students are in a class, how often your Writing and Speaking are marked, and the refund terms. We have not listed individual schools, because we cannot source their prices or results.

This is the paid preparation product IDP highlights on its Australian practice-test page. It is a paid test, and IDP says it gives a realistic score estimate and a skills breakdown. The package is valid for 15 days and includes access to 25 live classes. It covers both IELTS Academic and General Training.

Use it as a checkpoint, not as a prediction. The estimate helps you decide when to book, but only the official test gives a score that universities, employers and immigration authorities accept. IDP publishes a discount for this mock test on the product page. We do not copy the code here, so use the page itself.

E2Language is an online test-prep provider, and it is the company IDP partnered with for its mock test. E2 says:

That is E2's own statement, not IDP's. E2's IELTS General course page lists these packages, with prices in US dollars as E2 shows them:

E2 also offers a free start. It says you can open a free account and start studying at once, and that free access covers the Score Calculator, sample lessons and a live class. It has a separate IELTS Academic course, which this page does not price.

Read that carefully, because it is a good example of why to check terms. The guarantee covers three of the five packages, and it depends on you following the course. On marking, E2 says its teachers mark against the official IELTS band descriptors and return feedback within 48 hours. Note the difference in E2's own wording: its Gold line talks about helping you get your target score, while its Score Guarantee only promises your money back if your score does not improve. Compare E2's marking with the Writing and Speaking descriptors on our IELTS band score chart.

If you want one person to correct your work, a tutor is the usual route. These three platforms each say something different about how they work:

We do not rank tutors or platforms. Prices and tutors change, and quality varies from one tutor to the next. Use a trial lesson to check that the tutor gives feedback against the criteria in the public band descriptors, not just chats with you. IDP says teachers should not award IELTS band scores using the public Band Descriptors, but can highlight features in the assessment criteria that match written and spoken performance, so treat a tutor's band as an opinion, not a result. Do not pay for a block of lessons before you have tried one.

If you want General Training writing practice, you need two things: the format, and someone to mark what you write. IELTS describes the format this way:

Task 2 is an essay: you are given a point of view, argument or problem to discuss, and you write at least 250 words in about 40 minutes. IDP's Prepare hub has Writing practice tests (its menu lists Free Practice tests and also Free and paid preparation materials, so check the price), and a course or tutor gives you the marking.

1. Write one Task 1 letter in 20 minutes, twice a week. Time it. Stop at 20 minutes even if you are mid-sentence.
2. Write one Task 2 essay in 40 minutes, once a week.
3. After each, mark yourself against the band descriptors for task achievement, coherence, vocabulary and grammar. Then get a tutor or teacher to mark the same piece.
4. Keep an error log. Note the three mistakes you make most and check for them in the next piece.

Some readers want to teach IELTS, not sit it. IDP runs a free program for that:

IDP says the course is valued at $300 but is free to registered teachers, and that each course carries 10 hours of learning. It covers Writing and Speaking, including practice in rating tests with the public band descriptors. It is for teachers, not for test takers.

This table is our reading, not IDP's or a provider's.

Questions to ask any course

• Who marks my Writing and Speaking, and how soon do I get it back?
• Does it teach the version I sit, Academic or General Training?
• Can I try a class or a lesson before paying?
• What exactly does a guarantee cover, and what must I do to qualify?
• Is the material current with computer-delivered IELTS?

You can study online from anywhere, but Home Affairs says the test must take place in a secure testing centre. Our Academic vs General Training page explains which version to prepare for. This page is not migration advice.

Common questions