IELTS courses, coaching, tutors and General Training writing practice for Canada

Book IELTS in Canada and you get free preparation, though IDP's offer is valid at participating test centres only. IDP gives a free online course, for one skill for 30 days or all four skills for 4 days. The British Council gives IELTS Ready Premium, with 40 full practice tests. Paid help comes from E2Language and from tutors on Preply, italki and Cambly. The British Council also lists IELTS Coach and EnglishScore Tutors, and shows a price only for its IELTS Progress Check.

If you book with IDP in Canada at a participating test centre, free preparation comes with the booking. IDP describes two packages:

Both packages let you choose from 60+ expert-guided tutorial videos, 100+ practice questions and quizzes, 150+ grammar and vocabulary lessons, 14 sample writing assessments with model responses, 7 speaking assessments and 8 mock tests with feedback. To claim it, IDP says to click the banner in your booking confirmation email and register. It adds that the offer is valid with bookings at participating test centres only, so ask the centre before you book if the course matters to you.

IDP Canada's two pages on this offer are not identical. A second page describes a 30-day module of your choice with up to 25 hours of online study time, a free practice test in that module, and a partnership with Macquarie University. That page is dated 19/08/2024 and still talks about studying "during this challenging time", so treat it as older wording. Our reading: both describe the same idea, one free course per booking. Read the terms in your own confirmation email, since they can change.

IDP's preparation page also points to free practice tests, preparation courses and support tools like IELTS Progress Check. IDP says its free practice tests help you get familiar with the format, get used to real test time conditions, experience tasks similar to test tasks and review your answers against model answers.

The British Council, which runs IELTS at ielts.ca, builds its free offer around IELTS Ready. It has two levels. The British Council says you can sign up for IELTS Ready Member without booking your test in advance. Booking with the British Council gives you Premium.

The page shows the Progress Check at $65 without naming the currency, so check the price and currency when you register. It shows no price for the Coach or EnglishScore Tutors, so ask what they cost before you commit. Another British Council Canada page describes its free IELTS Ready tier as a 50-minute Mini Mock Test and two full mock tests, so the free content is described differently on different pages. Check what you get when you sign up.

Our reading: Premium looks like a large free offer, with 40 full practice tests. But it depends on who you book the test with. If you book with IDP, you get IDP's course instead. See our IDP or British Council page for how the two compare, and our IELTS promo codes page for the venue discounts the British Council shows.

This table sums up quotes from the sections above. It does not say that one company's course is better. Both say the test is identical. Pick the test centre first on date, place and price, and treat the free course as a bonus.

Many people who ask for IELTS practice mean the Cambridge practice books, and some search for one particular test inside a numbered book. Cambridge University Press & Assessment, which co-owns IELTS, publishes these. Its catalogue lists:

IDP's global books page says the Official IELTS Practice Materials 2 book, with a DVD, can be bought from Cambridge.org or your nearest IELTS test centre, and that it includes answer keys and answer sheets. IDP says that book is for people taking IELTS Academic, IELTS General Training or the UKVI versions. That is IDP's global page, not its Canadian one, and it does not mention Cambridge IELTS 19, 20 or 21, so check which tests any book covers before you buy.

We do not host or copy test papers, audio or answer keys from these books. If you need the audio or the answers, get them from the publisher or from the edition you bought. Our reading: be wary of sites that offer free downloads of the audio or answer key. They may be unauthorised copies, and the audio may not match the book. Free official sample tests from IDP and the British Council are a safer way to practise without paying.

E2Language is an online provider with a course for IELTS General Training, the version IRCC requires for Express Entry. E2 describes it like this:

E2 shows prices in US dollars, so expect a currency conversion if you pay from Canada. It says you can open a free account and start studying at once, with a Score Calculator, sample lessons and a live class free. It also says its teachers mark against the official IELTS band descriptors and return feedback within 48 hours.

Read the guarantee terms on E2's page before you pay. They cover three packages and depend on you following the course. E2 describes Gold as guaranteed to help you get your target score, but the terms offer your money back if your score does not improve, not a promised score.

Tutors are the main route to marked Writing and Speaking feedback when you are not taking a class. Each platform says something different:

We do not rank tutors or platforms. A tutor's price tells you little about the quality of marking. Ask any tutor how they mark Writing, and whether they use the public band descriptors. Try one lesson before you buy a block.

IRCC says Express Entry applicants must take the IELTS General Training option, so many people preparing for Canadian immigration practise its two Writing tasks. IELTS describes Task 1 like this:

The task gives you three bullet points to cover, and you do not need to write addresses at the top. The letter may be personal, semi-formal or formal in style. 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 Canadian practice-test page links to free General Training Writing sample questions.

Four letter prompts to practise with

These prompts are our own. Each has the same three-bullet shape as the real task. Write for 20 minutes, 150 words or a little more.

1. The lift in your apartment building has been out of order for a month, and you live on the sixth floor. Write to the building manager. Say who you are and which flat you live in. Describe how the broken lift affects you. Ask for a repair date.
2. A colleague helped you finish a big project. Write a short thank-you message. Say what the colleague did. Explain what difference it made to you. Invite the colleague for coffee.
3. You ordered a table online and a leg arrived broken. Write to the shop. Describe the order. Explain what is wrong. Say what you want the shop to do.
4. You will miss an evening class next week. Write to the teacher. Say why you cannot come. Ask what work you will miss. Ask whether you can send your homework early.

IELTS.org says examiners mark each Writing task on four criteria: task achievement, coherence and cohesion, lexical resource, and grammatical range and accuracy. Our reading: for the letter, task achievement means a clear purpose, every bullet point covered and a tone that suits the reader. Before you write, decide the tone: a building manager or a shop gets a formal letter, a colleague a friendly one. After you write, check each bullet point off. Then ask a tutor or teacher to mark it against the Writing band descriptors on our IELTS band score chart.

This table is our reading, not an owner's.

Questions to ask any course or tutor

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

This page is not immigration advice. For Canadian immigration, IRCC decides which test and which scores count, and our Academic vs General Training page says which version to prepare for.

Common questions