Private IELTS preparation · Riyadh
IELTS Preparation in Riyadh with Private 1-to-1 Lessons
If you know the IELTS score you need but one part of the test keeps holding you back, doing more practice papers may not be the answer. The lessons are private and online, so we can spend more time on the parts of Writing, Speaking, Reading or Listening that are giving you trouble.
This is private online preparation for IELTS candidates in Riyadh, not a physical test centre or a group IELTS course.
The short answer
Good English does not automatically produce the IELTS band you need
IELTS tests your English, but it also asks you to perform very specific tasks under time pressure. You can communicate comfortably at work and still lose marks because an essay only partly answers the question, a Speaking response is underdeveloped, or too much time disappears in Reading.
This is one of the first things we try to work out. Is English itself the problem, or are you losing marks because of the way you are handling the test? Quite often, it is a mixture of both.
When the score stops moving
Why does someone keep getting 6 or 6.5?
A candidate can study regularly, use English every day and still get almost the same IELTS result more than once. When that happens, simply increasing the amount of practice is rarely enough. We need to look at what is happening inside each section.
The essay sounds good but doesn’t quite answer the task
Grammar and vocabulary may be quite good while Task Response is still holding the Writing score down. If part of the question has not really been answered, or an idea is mentioned but never developed, correcting a few sentences will not solve the bigger problem.
Speaking is fluent but the answers run out too soon
A candidate may speak comfortably in everyday life and still give answers that are too short in the test. This often becomes clearer when the question asks for an explanation, comparison or a more developed opinion.
Reading turns into a race against the clock
The problem may not be reading speed itself. Some candidates spend too long trying to prove one answer, return to the same passage several times or use the same approach for every question type.
There is plenty of practice, but not enough feedback
Writing another essay can help when you know what you are trying to improve. Writing ten more in exactly the same way can simply make the same habits harder to change.
If you have taken IELTS more than once and the result barely changes, bring us the previous scores. They often give us a much better place to start than simply doing another mock.
IELTS Writing
A corrected essay should help with the next one too
Candidates often expect Writing feedback to mean grammar correction. Grammar matters, but it is only part of what affects the score.
Suppose your Task 2 essay has good vocabulary and relatively few grammatical mistakes, but the argument circles around the topic instead of answering the exact question. You can polish individual sentences without fixing the reason the response is falling short.
So when we go through an essay, we don’t only mark individual sentences. We also look at whether your position is clear, whether the ideas have been developed enough, how the paragraphs fit together and which mistakes keep appearing from one piece of writing to the next.
IELTS Speaking
Speaking English every day does not always make IELTS Speaking easy
Some candidates are already comfortable using English at work. Then IELTS asks an unexpected question and the answer becomes short, repetitive or much less organised than their normal conversation.
Part 2 creates a different problem: keeping a response going without turning it into a memorised speech. Part 3 asks for more than quick personal answers. You may need to explain a view, develop it and deal with a question you had not expected.
That is why we need to hear you speak. We can stop after an answer, look at where it became difficult or lost direction, try it another way and then move to a new question. The important part is seeing whether you can do it again without rehearsing the answer first.
The four skills
One section may need much more attention than the others
Writing
We can work on Task Response, organisation, vocabulary and grammar, but also on the decisions you make before you start writing. Sometimes the problem begins with the way the question has been understood.
Speaking
Fluency, vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation all matter. So does being able to develop an answer when the examiner takes the conversation somewhere you did not expect.
Reading
We look at comprehension, question types, evidence and timing. If one difficult item is taking several minutes, we also need to understand why it is so difficult to leave it and move on.
Listening
A lost answer can come from comprehension, vocabulary, spelling or simply missing an important detail. Going back through the mistake usually tells us more than looking only at the final score.
Practice tests
Sometimes you need another mock. Sometimes you don’t.
Full practice tests are useful because they show what happens when you put the English, the clock and the concentration required for the whole exam together.
But imagine that your last two Writing tasks show the same problem. Another complete mock may simply confirm it for a third time. We would rather work on the problem and then see what happens when you try again.
The same applies to Reading and Listening. Sometimes another full test is useful. At other times, the last test has already shown us exactly what needs attention, so that is where the next lesson should go.
Inside the lessons
The first few lessons tell us a lot
Your target score gives us a destination, but we still need to see what your English and your test performance look like now. Previous scores help. So does hearing you speak, reading something you have written and going through questions you found difficult.
Start with your requirement
Tell us whether you need Academic or General Training, the overall band required, any minimum score you need in an individual skill and when you expect to take the test. If you already have an IELTS result, send that as well.
Then we look at what is behind the score
A 6.5 in Writing does not tell us why it is 6.5. We need to see the writing. A Speaking result becomes much more useful once we hear what happens when you answer different types of questions.
Work on the problem while it is in front of us
That might mean developing Task 2 ideas properly, working through Speaking Part 3, dealing with a grammar pattern that keeps returning or changing how you approach a difficult Reading question.
Change the question and try again
Then we change the question and try again. We want to see whether you can use the same idea without following the example we just worked through.
See what happens with the clock running
Later, timed work and practice tests help us see whether the improvement is still there when you have to make decisions quickly and manage the rest of the exam at the same time.
Academic or General Training?
Check which IELTS you actually need before you start
Do not choose between IELTS Academic and General Training because somebody online said one is easier.
Check what your university, professional regulator, migration pathway or other organisation requires. Once that is clear, we can prepare for the right version of the test.
Private IELTS lessons in Riyadh
A group course isn’t the only way to prepare
There are plenty of IELTS courses and training centres in Riyadh, and some candidates prefer that format.
Private lessons tend to make more sense when the problem is already quite specific. Maybe you have taken IELTS before and only one score needs to move. Maybe your work schedule makes a fixed class difficult. Or perhaps the test is close enough that you do not want to spend several weeks reviewing things you already know.
The useful part of 1-to-1 preparation is being able to spend Tuesday’s lesson on the problem that appeared on Monday.
About LBE School
We’ve been teaching English since 2014
Exam preparation has become a large part of our work. Some candidates contact us before their first IELTS attempt. Others arrive with an old result, sometimes after studying elsewhere, because one score simply will not move.
If you want to know more about the school before speaking to us, you can read the LBE School story here.
A few practical questions
Before you get in touch
Do you offer IELTS preparation for people in Riyadh?
Yes. The lessons are private and online, so you can prepare from Riyadh without attending a physical training centre.
Is this a group IELTS course?
No. The lessons are private and 1-to-1. We can therefore spend more time on the skills that need it and move faster through areas that are already in good shape.
Can I work only on IELTS Writing or Speaking?
Yes. If one skill is clearly below the others, we do not have to divide every lesson equally between all four parts of the test.
I’ve already taken IELTS. Should I send my scores?
Yes. Send the overall result and your Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking scores. If one result is noticeably lower than the others, that is useful for us to see straight away.
Do you prepare for IELTS Academic and General Training?
Yes. Before starting, check which version is required for your particular university, professional, migration or other application.
Can you help me book IELTS in Riyadh?
We teach IELTS preparation rather than handle exam bookings. For current dates, fees, locations and registration, check directly with an official IELTS test provider in Saudi Arabia.
How long will I need to prepare?
It depends on where you are now, the score you need, which sections need work and how much time you have before the exam. Someone trying to move one skill is in a different position from someone preparing for the whole test for the first time.
Already taken IELTS?
Send us your scores.
If you have a previous result, send us the four scores and tell us what you need. If this will be your first IELTS attempt, just tell us your target and when you are planning to take the test.
That’s enough for us to start the conversation.