When you listen to a podcast or news broadcast at native speed with no subtitles, how much do you follow?

Very little - I need subtitles to follow anything

The general topic, but I lose the details

Most of it; I miss the occasional detail or fast speaker

Almost all of it, including accents I am not used to

Have you practised writing answers while the audio plays once, with no pausing or replaying?

Several full sections under timed conditions

Regularly - and I no longer lose my place when I miss an answer

How comfortable are you with the range of accents used in the test (British, Australian, North American, New Zealand)?

I have only really trained on one accent

Two accents feel fine, the rest throw me

Most are fine; one or two still slow me down

Accent makes little difference to how much I understand

Can you finish three long passages and 40 questions within 60 minutes?

I have never completed a full section in time

I run out of time with a passage still to go

I finish, but with no time left to check

I finish with a few minutes to spare

How do True / False / Not Given questions go for you?

I get the obvious ones and guess the rest

Usually right, but Not Given still catches me out

I can consistently tell Not Given from False

What happens when you hit unknown vocabulary in a passage?

I stall and lose the thread of the passage

I infer from context and keep moving most of the time

Unknown words rarely affect my answers

Have you written full Task 1 and Task 2 answers inside the 60-minute limit?

Once or twice, spread over time

Several times, mostly within the limit

Regularly - I hit the word count with time left to check

Has anyone given you band-scored feedback on your writing?

A teacher has marked a few pieces

A trained IELTS marker scores my writing regularly

How confident are you describing data in Task 1 - trends, comparisons, the overview sentence?

I would not know how to structure it

I can describe the chart but not summarise the trend

I write a clear overview and pick out the key features

I do it quickly and vary the language so I am not repeating myself

How often do you speak English out loud for more than five minutes at a stretch?

Daily, with someone who corrects me

Part 2 gives you one minute to prepare and asks you to talk for two. How does that go?

I have never tried the long turn

I can fill the two minutes, but it wanders

I plan in a minute and speak for two with a clear structure

What happens when you do not know a word mid-sentence?

I stop and switch to my own language

I pause, then find a way around it

I paraphrase smoothly without breaking the flow

Do you know the band score you need, and what it is for?

Yes, and I know which skill is furthest from it

Yes, and I track each skill separately against that target

How is the test-day admin - booking, ID, paper or computer format, getting to the centre?

I have not looked into any of it

I know roughly when I will book

Booked, and I have practised in the format I will sit

Booked, practised in format, and I know the centre and the timings

IELTS Readiness Scorecard: Are You Ready to Book Your Test?

Most people book their IELTS test date by guessing. This 15-question scorecard replaces the guess with a number.

You will score your readiness across all four skills - listening, reading, writing, speaking - plus exam strategy, and see which one is holding your band score down. Takes about 4 minutes.