How to prepare for IELTS with AI: a self-study plan from Azerbaijan

How IELTS works and what band you need

IELTS comes as Academic, for university, or General Training, for work, migration or school. Listening (about 30 minutes, 40 questions) plays each recording once; Reading is 60 minutes for 40 questions. In 60 minutes of Writing, Task 1 (at least 150 words) describes a chart or process, or is a letter in General Training, and Task 2, an essay of at least 250 words, counts twice as much as Task 1. Speaking is an 11 to 14 minute interview with an examiner.

Each skill gets a band from 0 to 9 in half steps; the overall band is their average, rounded to the nearest half. There is no pass mark: universities set their own requirement, often with a minimum per skill. IELTS recommends treating results as valid for two years.

In Azerbaijan, the British Council and IDP run IELTS in Baku; check dates and fees on their official sites.

Speaking Part 2: practising the two-minute answer

In Part 2 you get a topic card, one minute for notes and up to two minutes to talk, marked on fluency and coherence, vocabulary, grammar and pronunciation. Talking for two full minutes takes practice.

A chat AI works from a transcript of what you said, not from the sound itself, so its pronunciation feedback is weak: listen back to your recordings and talk to people too. In OrujovAI's chat (/chat), the waveform button starts Voice conversation mode: you speak and it answers aloud, so it can play the examiner for Parts 1 and 3. The free IELTS Speaking Part 2 lesson on /tutor shows how to plan the two minutes. A daily drill:

1. Ask for a Part 2 card, such as a person you admire or a place you visited.
2. Take one minute to write five keywords: what, when, who, why, how you felt.
3. Talk for two minutes without stopping, record it, then paste or dictate what you said.
4. Ask for feedback: where you paused, which words you repeated, any tense mistakes, and three better phrases.
5. Answer the same card again tomorrow, then move on.

Writing Task 1 and 2: getting useful feedback

IELTS publishes its Writing band descriptors, so you can check your work against the examiners' criteria: task achievement or response, coherence and cohesion, lexical resource, and grammatical range and accuracy. Paste the task and your essay and ask: “Assess this Task 2 essay against each criterion, quote the sentences that hold me back, list my three biggest problems and don't rewrite it.” Then fix them yourself.

In Task 1 Academic, open with an overview of the main trends and compare key figures without opinions. In Task 2, answer every part of the question and keep one position throughout.

AI band estimates can land above or below an examiner's mark: use them for direction, not as a score. Write every essay yourself, since in the exam you write alone; use AI to learn, not to cheat. OrujovAI's chat gives this feedback, in Azerbaijani or Russian if you like, and the free IELTS Writing Task 2 lesson on /tutor shows an essay's structure.

Reading and Listening: a daily routine

Time yourself on official practice tests from IELTS, the British Council or IDP; AI-written passages suit extra practice but may not match the real difficulty.

• Reading: a passage a day in 20 minutes; for each mistake, find the line that proves the right answer, and learn how False differs from Not Given.
• Listening: one section a day, played once, then again with the transcript to catch missed numbers, names and spellings.
• Vocabulary: 8 to 10 words a day, each in a sentence, reviewed after one day, three days and a week. OrujovAI's chat turns word lists into flashcards, and the camera-on quizzes on /tutor can earn Kleos, OrujovAI's own coin.

Preparing without a tutor: an eight-week plan

Many people prepare without a tutor; it works with a schedule, real formats and honest self-marking. A teacher helps where AI is weak: live conversation, careful essay marking and a push when you're stuck. Plan 60 to 90 minutes a day:

1. Week 1: a full timed practice test; note your band per skill and your target.
2. Weeks 2–3: learn every question type; daily Reading or Listening and a Speaking card.
3. Weeks 2–7: one Task 1 and one Task 2 weekly, with feedback and a rewrite.
4. Weeks 4–5: add Part 1 and Part 3 speaking practice twice a week.
5. Week 6: a second full test, then more time for your weakest skill.
6. Weeks 7–8: timed sections, your mistake list, a final test early in week 8, then light review and rest.

SAT, TOEFL and Duolingo English Test with AI

The digital SAT has Reading and Writing (54 questions, 64 minutes) and Math (44 questions, 70 minutes), each in two modules, the second adapting to the first; scores run from 400 to 1600. The College Board's Bluebook app has free full-length practice tests, and DİM is one of the SAT test centres in Baku. After each practice test, have AI explain every mistake and write similar questions; OrujovAI has free SAT Math and SAT Reading and Writing lessons on /tutor, and Solve (/solve) works through maths from a photo.

TOEFL iBT moved to a 1 to 6 score scale in January 2026, with a comparable 0 to 120 score during a two-year transition; you take it at a centre or at home, and its interview and email tasks are easy to rehearse with AI.

The Duolingo English Test is an hour-long adaptive test taken online at home, scored 10 to 160, with a free practice test. Check which tests your university accepts before choosing.