Review: My Experience with British Council’s ‘IELTS Ready’ Practice Platform
If you’re preparing for the IELTS, you may have heard of British Council’s ‘IELTS Ready’—an official, free online resource that provides practice across all four English skills. I recently completed most of the materials on the platform and wanted to share the pros and cons based on my experience. I hope this helps fellow learners who are just getting started! This post includes similar points to my earlier write-up, but it’s written from a more experience-based perspective.
⭐️ Pros
Covers All Four Skills
As expected, the platform allows you to practice Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking—all essential for the IELTS. In addition, it provides updated Writing tasks, such as interpreting graphs and data. Even going through the content once gives you a clear idea of the IELTS format. There are tips and techniques built into the exercises to help you learn the logic behind each answer.
Automatic Scoring with Instant Feedback
Once you finish a section, your answers are scored automatically, and your accuracy is shown in percentages. This immediate feedback helps identify your weak points and motivates you when you see that 100%! It’s also a time-saving and efficient way to study.
Helps Identify Strengths and Weaknesses
As you go through more and more exercises, you begin to notice patterns in your performance. This allows you to plan your study more effectively, focusing on areas that need the most improvement—much better than studying blindly.
Simple PC Interface and Mobile-Friendly
One of the best features is that you can study entirely on your computer—easy to operate and quick to access. If you’re out and about, you can study on your smartphone too, which makes use of short breaks throughout the day.
It’s Completely Free!
Yes, it’s 100% free. Even better, once you finish the core course and book your IELTS exam, you gain access to IELTS Ready Premium, which offers additional resources. (I’ll review that in another post!)
😞 Cons
No Explanations Provided
Unlike traditional textbooks with detailed explanations in your native language, IELTS Ready doesn’t offer explanations for why an answer is correct. If you don’t understand something, you’ll need to look it up yourself—perhaps by asking ChatGPT or using an English-English dictionary.
Screen Fatigue from Long Sessions
This isn’t unique to IELTS Ready, but spending long periods on a screen can be tiring. I recommend using a 25-minute timer to give your eyes and brain regular breaks. According to neuroscientist Nobuko Nakano, stopping mid-task rather than at a “good stopping point” actually increases your motivation to return. So use time, not task, as your cue to stop!
📝 Final Thoughts
British Council’s ‘IELTS Ready’ is a generous and reliable platform, especially for beginners. It’s packed with practice materials and completely free—plus, it’s run by an official IELTS organization, so you can trust the quality. If you’ve worked your way through most of it, you’ve already grasped the test format well. The next step? Try a full mock test to simulate the real exam! Let’s keep learning and growing together.
We can do it—nyaon! 🐾
