Ielts Step-By-Step | Mastering Reading & Writing

Learn everything you need for the Reading & Writing exams — get that IELTS 7+!

What you'll learn
Improve your IELTS Listening grade significantly to a 7+
Do 24 real Reading past papers & more than 20 Writing tasks, and review them in detail
Learn tips and tricks to immediately improve your grade
Learn skills that are essential for getting a 7+
Learn useful vocabulary and structures to immediately improve your writing
Learn about every type of IELTS Reading task
Learn about the four typical essay structures, as well as writing for Task 1 (Academic and General Training)
Improve your reading and writing skills in general
Requirements
Intermediate (B1) English
Description
From ex-IELTS examiner James Castleden's YouTube channel IELTS Step-by-step comes a COMBO course dedicated to improving both your reading and writing skills — your confidence, understanding and time management in the IELTS Reading & Writing exams will be greatly improved. Together you and James will complete 12 Academic and 12 General Training past papers for the Reading exam and then review them in detail.  You'll also do more than 20 essays, reports and letters (if you're preparing for General Training), and you'll be able to get feedback on them on the IELTS Step-by-step Facebook group.You'll also learn hundreds of tips, tricks, skills and techniques that will significantly improve your IELTS Listening & Reading grade in more than 50 videos focusing on your personal needs to get that 7+ in Listening!• Reviews for the Reading part of this course: •★★★★★ "Really helpful content. By the end of the course, I was able to score 39-40 in a few tests. Thanks a lot!"—Lovy★★★★★ "Took my IELTS test on march 12th 2022 and I got 8 band ,wouldn't be possible without the help of this course. The tips and tricks which you taught for every type of questions asked in IELTS was very useful. The amount of practice test included in this course definitely helped me out in improving my score gradually. Would highly recommend IELTS aspirants to take up this course and also the course "MASTERING LISTENING" by James Castleden. Thank you James and keep continuing the great work."—Krishnukumar★★★★★ "Excellent tricks to resolve questions quickly."—Mohammed★★★★★ "A Big Thanks, this course helped me a lot to achieve 9 Bands in reading module of GT."—Sharanjeet★★★★★ "First of all, James, thank you very much for putting this course together. Today, I got my IELTS results and I have managed to score a perfect score of 9. I am a working professional and never had enough time to prepare for IELTS. This course is designed to deliver as much information as you need in the shortest amount of time, and not to mention the practice tests were a huge help. My advice, If you listen to the lectures, follow the tips and tricks and apply them in the mock tests, you will score high for sure."—Ovais★★★★★ "Amazing, above expectations. I am now a band 8"—Sandra★★★★★ "Thank you James , With great sound knowledge, tips and information of this course I achieved 7 bands in an official IELTS exam recently."—Muhammad• Reviews for the Writing part of this course: •★★★★★ "Holy! This course is the best of all writing courses. I'd enrolled then studied for only 2 days without any essay writing experience. I only studied section 2-4(first day) & 9-12(second day), which were not all he taught, and I got 6.5. If I had studied everything he taught, I could have got 7 or above!!! ps thank you James :)"—TW★★★★★ "Excellence doesn't come from everyone .But this goes above that boundary!"—Deepika★★★★★ "This course is super-organized and it is helping me to learn everything I need to improve my writing skills. Within a month I improved my score from band 5.5 to 8. Highly recommended!"—Ardian★★★★★ "I am learning how to write down properly an essay for tasks 1 and 2. I think grammar and vocabulary tips are been essential to developing a great text in the IELTS exam."—Ana★★★★★ "Thanks, James. It is a very informative course. Sure, I can say that this called (All-in-one)."—Taha★★★★★ "Wow, it is so great, the way he explaining every step is easy to understand."—Nyugen • ABOUT ME •I have a masters degree in Applied Linguistics from the University of Leicester in the UK, and a Diploma in English Language Teaching to Adults (DELTA) from Cambridge University. I've been teaching for over 20 years, the last 10 of which have been predominantly focussed on teaching the IELTS exam. When I was an IELTS examiner, I was fortunate to have access to important aspects of the exam that many teachers and candidates are not aware of — these I can reveal to you in my courses.

Overview

Section 1: Introduction to the Reading and Writing COMBO Course

Lecture 1 Introduction to the COMBO course

Section 2: READING (PART 1) — Introduction to the Reading course (Lesson Pack I)

Lecture 2 READING | Welcome Video

Lecture 3 IELTS Academic — Reading Test #1

Lecture 4 Feedback | IELTS Academic — Reading Test #1

Lecture 5 IELTS General Training — Reading Test #1

Lecture 6 Feedback | IELTS General Training — Reading Test #1

Lecture 7 General Info about the IELTS Reading Exam

Lecture 8 IELTS Reading Exam FAQs

Lecture 9 IELTS Exam in General FAQs

Section 3: READING | Lesson Pack II

Lecture 10 Lesson Pack Two | The Details

Lecture 11 Task Type: Matching Headings

Lecture 12 Tips & Tricks: Working out the Context

Lecture 13 Learner Training: Previewing, Skimming & Scanning

Lecture 14 IELTS Academic — Reading Test #2

Lecture 15 Feedback | IELTS Academic — Reading Test #2

Lecture 16 IELTS General Training — Reading Test #2

Lecture 17 Feedback | IELTS General Training — Reading Test #2

Section 4: READING | Lesson Pack III

Lecture 18 Lesson Pack Three | The Details

Lecture 19 Task Types: True/False/Not Given (and Y/N/NG)

Lecture 20 Tips & Tricks: Dealing with Distractors

Lecture 21 Learner Training: Speed Reading

Lecture 22 IELTS Academic — Reading Test #3

Lecture 23 Feedback | IELTS Academic — Reading Test #3

Lecture 24 IELTS General Training — Reading Test #3

Lecture 25 Feedback | IELTS General Training — Reading Test #3

Section 5: READING | Lesson Pack IV

Lecture 26 Lesson Pack Four | The Details

Lecture 27 Task Type: Categorisation

Lecture 28 Tips & Tricks: Underlining Key Words

Lecture 29 Learner Training: Collocations

Lecture 30 IELTS Academic — Reading Test #4

Lecture 31 Feedback | IELTS Academic — Reading Test #4

Lecture 32 IELTS General Training — Reading Test #4

Lecture 33 Feedback | IELTS General Training — Reading Test #4

Section 6: READING | Lesson Pack V

Lecture 34 Lesson Pack Five | The Details

Lecture 35 Task Types: Summary Completion

Lecture 36 Tips & Tricks: Understanding the Rubric

Lecture 37 Learner Training: Lexical Sets

Lecture 38 IELTS Academic — Reading Test #5

Lecture 39 Feedback | IELTS Academic — Reading Test #5

Lecture 40 IELTS General Training — Reading Test #5

Lecture 41 Feedback | IELTS General Training — Reading Test #5

Section 7: READING | Lesson Pack VI

Lecture 42 Lesson Pack Six | The Details

Lecture 43 Task Type: Sentence Completion & Endings

Lecture 44 Tips & Tricks: Knowing your Synonyms

Lecture 45 Learner Training: Honey Lexis

Lecture 46 IELTS Academic — Reading Test #6

Lecture 47 Feedback | IELTS Academic — Reading Test #6

Lecture 48 IELTS General Training — Reading Test #6

Lecture 49 Feedback | IELTS General Training — Reading Test #6

Section 8: READING | Lesson Pack VII

Lecture 50 Lesson Pack Seven | The Details

Lecture 51 Task Type: Multiple Choice

Lecture 52 Tips & Tricks: Taking Notes

Lecture 53 Learner Training: Answering True/False/Not Given Questions

Lecture 54 IELTS Academic — Reading Test #7

Lecture 55 Feedback | IELTS Academic — Reading Test #7

Lecture 56 IELTS General Training — Reading Test #7

Lecture 57 Feedback | IELTS General Training — Reading Test #7

Section 9: READING | Lesson Pack VIII

Lecture 58 Lesson Pack Eight | The Details

Lecture 59 Task Type: List Selection

Lecture 60 Tips & Tricks: Double Check your Spelling

Lecture 61 Learner Training: Topic Sentences and Note Taking

Lecture 62 IELTS Academic — Reading Test #8

Lecture 63 Feedback | IELTS Academic — Reading Test #8

Lecture 64 IELTS General Training — Reading Test #8

Lecture 65 Feedback | IELTS General Training — Reading Test #8

Section 10: READING | Lesson Pack IX

Lecture 66 Lesson Pack Nine | The Details

Lecture 67 Task Type: General-training Only — Selecting a Title

Lecture 68 Task Type: General-training Only — Matching Section Information

Lecture 69 Learner Training: Checking Your Answers

Lecture 70 IELTS Academic — Reading Test #9

Lecture 71 Feedback | IELTS Academic — Reading Test #9

Lecture 72 IELTS General Training — Reading Test #9

Lecture 73 Feedback | IELTS General Training — Reading Test #9

Section 11: READING | Lesson Pack X

Lecture 74 Lesson Pack Ten | The Details

Lecture 75 Task Type: Table Completion

Lecture 76 Tips & Tricks: Don't Try to Understand Everything

Lecture 77 Learner Training: Vocabulary & Grammar

Lecture 78 IELTS Academic — Reading Test #10

Lecture 79 Feedback | IELTS Academic — Reading Test #10

Lecture 80 IELTS General Training — Reading Test #10

Lecture 81 Feedback | IELTS General Training — Reading Test #10

Section 12: READING | Lesson Pack XI

Lecture 82 Lesson Pack Eleven | The Details

Lecture 83 Task Type: Flow Chart

Lecture 84 Tips & Tricks: Write in the Letter

Lecture 85 Learner Training: Know your Weaknesses

Lecture 86 IELTS Academic — Reading Test #11

Lecture 87 Feedback | IELTS Academic — Reading Test #11

Lecture 88 IELTS General Training — Reading Test #11

Lecture 89 Feedback | IELTS General Training — Reading Test #11

Section 13: READING | Lesson Pack XII

Lecture 90 Lesson Pack Twelve | The Details

Lecture 91 Task Type: Diagram Labelling

Lecture 92 Tips & Tricks: Live in the 'Now'

Lecture 93 Learner Training: Resources for Further Practice

Lecture 94 IELTS Academic — Reading Test #12

Lecture 95 Feedback | IELTS Academic — Reading Test #12

Lecture 96 IELTS General Training — Reading Test #12

Lecture 97 Feedback | IELTS General Training — Reading Test #12

Section 14: READING | Lesson Pack XIII

Lecture 98 Lesson Pack Thirteen | The Details

Lecture 99 Task Type: Short Answers

Lecture 100 Learner Training: Testing Yourself

Section 15: READING | Conclusion and Summary

Lecture 101 Conclusion and Summary

Section 16: WRITING (Part 2) — Introduction to the Writing course

Lecture 102 WRITING | Introduction to the course

Section 17: WRITING | An advantages-and-disadvantages essay

Lecture 103 Introduction to this section

Lecture 104 Unit preparation — test yourself

Lecture 105 Model answer — Analysis

Lecture 106 Writing an introduction to an advantages-and-disadvantages essay

Lecture 107 Writing a conclusion to an essay

Lecture 108 Learner Training: Generating ideas for your essays

Lecture 109 Learner Training Practice: Writing Topic Sentences

Lecture 110 Learner Training: What is 'hedging'?

Lecture 111 Grammar & lexis practice: Hedging I

Lecture 112 Writing Criteria for Task 2

Lecture 113 Check your progress — compare essays

Section 18: WRITING | A problem-and-solution essay

Lecture 114 Introduction to this section

Lecture 115 Unit preparation — test yourself

Lecture 116 Model answer — Analysis

Lecture 117 Lexis: Phrases to write about solutions

Lecture 118 Lexis: Discourse markers — contrasting ideas

Lecture 119 Lexis: Word building

Lecture 120 Grammar and Lexis: Introductions

Lecture 121 Grammar and Lexis: Conclusions

Lecture 122 Grammar: Advanced explanations

Lecture 123 Learner Training: Building a good paragraph

Lecture 124 Check your progress — compare essays

Section 19: WRITING | An opinion essay

Lecture 125 Introduction to this section

Lecture 126 Unit preparation — test yourself

Lecture 127 Lexis: Crime and punishment

Lecture 128 Lexis: 'make', 'let' and 'allow'

Lecture 129 Model answer — Analysis

Lecture 130 Lexis: Degrees of opinion

Lecture 131 Structure: Supporting Arguments & Opinions

Lecture 132 Writing an introduction for an opinion essay

Lecture 133 Building a good main-body paragraph

Lecture 134 Check your progress — compare essays

Section 20: WRITING | A discussion essay (a type of opinion essay)

Lecture 135 Introduction to this section

Lecture 136 Unit preparation — test yourself

Lecture 137 Model answer — Analysis

Lecture 138 Formal language: the passive voice and nominalisation

Lecture 139 Expressing someone else's opinion

Lecture 140 Check your progress — compare essays

Section 21: WRITING | Another advantages-and-disadvantages essay

Lecture 141 Intro to this section

Lecture 142 Unit preparation — test yourself

Lecture 143 Lexis: Employment

Lecture 144 Model answer — Analysis

Lecture 145 Grammar and Lexis: Hedging II

Lecture 146 Grammar: Gerund phrases

Lecture 147 Discourse markers — contrasting linkers: despite / in spite of

Lecture 148 Structure: Using pronouns to link ideas and avoid repetition

Lecture 149 Grammar practice: The passive voice II

Lecture 150 Lexis: Strengthening adverbs — alternatives to 'really'

Lecture 151 Lexis: Comment adverbs

Lecture 152 Check your progress — compare essays

Section 22: WRITING | Another problem-and-solution essay

Lecture 153 Introduction to this section

Lecture 154 Unit preparation — test yourself

Lecture 155 Model answer — Analysis

Lecture 156 Lexis: Explaining why something is done

Lecture 157 Lexis: Other ways of making your writing more formal

Lecture 158 Lexis: Writing about solutions

Lecture 159 Grammar and Lexis: Developing a topic sentence further

Lecture 160 Grammar: The 2nd conditional

Lecture 161 Learner training: Getting feedback

Lecture 162 Check your progress — compare essays

Section 23: WRITING | Another opinion essay

Lecture 163 Introduction to this section

Lecture 164 Unit preparation — test yourself

Lecture 165 Lexis: Qualifying your opinion

Lecture 166 Lexis: Giving an opinion about future trends

Lecture 167 Model answer — Analysis

Lecture 168 Lexis: 'Instead (of)'

Lecture 169 Grammar: Relative Clauses

Lecture 170 Learner Training: Error checking

Lecture 171 Grammar: Noun phrases

Lecture 172 Check your progress — compare essays

Section 24: WRITING Task 1: Graphs and charts with a trend (IELTS for Academic ONLY)

Lecture 173 Introduction to this section

Lecture 174 Writing criteria for Task 1 Academic

Lecture 175 Unit preparation — test yourself

Lecture 176 Grammar and Lexis: Re-wording the introduction

Lecture 177 Writing an overview for a graph

Lecture 178 Lexis: Verbs and adverbs for describing changes

Lecture 179 Model answer — Analysis

Lecture 180 Grammar and Lexis: Joining two changes together

Lecture 181 Grammar: Prepositions for Task 1

Lecture 182 Lexis: Commenting on data in a graph

Lecture 183 Grammar: Writing about graphs with a future trend

Lecture 184 Check your progress — compare responses

Section 25: IELTS Task 1: Comparative graphs (IELTS for Academic ONLY)

Lecture 185 Introduction to this section

Lecture 186 Unit preparation — test yourself

Lecture 187 Grammar: Comparative structures

Lecture 188 Lexis: Describing numbers

Lecture 189 Model answer — Analysis

Lecture 190 Lexis: Numerical comparatives

Lecture 191 Lexis: Ranking information

Lecture 192 Dealing with more than one graph

Lecture 193 Check your progress — compare responses

Section 26: IELTS Task 1: Processes (IELTS for Academic ONLY)

Lecture 194 Introduction to this section

Lecture 195 Unit preparation — test yourself

Lecture 196 Model answer — Analysis

Lecture 197 Grammar: The Present simple passive

Lecture 198 Lexis: Linking stages together

Lecture 199 Grammar: Using relative clauses to give extra information about a stage

Lecture 200 Writing the introduction and overview

Lecture 201 Describing a process: Further practice

Lecture 202 Check your progress — compare responses

Section 27: WRITING Task 1: Maps (IELTS for Academic ONLY)

Lecture 203 Introduction to this section

Lecture 204 Unit preparation — test yourself

Lecture 205 Lexis & Grammar: Describing changes

Lecture 206 Lexis: Nominalisation and noun phrases for maps

Lecture 207 Model answer — Analysis

Lecture 208 Describing a map: Further practice

Lecture 209 Check your progress — compare responses

Section 28: WRITING Task 1: Letters (IELTS for General Training ONLY)

Lecture 210 Introduction to this section

Lecture 211 Writing criteria for Task 1 General Training

Lecture 212 Letter writing: The task and planning

Lecture 213 Letter writing: Paragraphing and salutations

Lecture 214 Letter writing: Formality and opening statements

Lecture 215 Writing a letter of complaint

Lecture 216 Writing a letter of request

Lecture 217 Writing a letter of advice

Lecture 218 Writing a letter of instruction

Lecture 219 Writing a letter of recommendation

Lecture 220 Writing an application letter

Lecture 221 Writing a letter of apology

Lecture 222 Writing a thank-you letter

Lecture 223 Writing a letter of acceptance

Lecture 224 Writing a letter of resignation

Lecture 225 Writing a letter to a friend

Section 29: WRITING | Conclusion

Lecture 226 Conclusion and thank you

People who need to take an IELTS test (General Training or Academic)