Last Week Before the Exam

Your 7-Day Final Preparation Plan

The week before your exam is not the time to learn new content. It is the time to consolidate, practice under exam conditions, and manage your mindset. Students who try to cram new vocabulary and grammar rules in the final week often perform worse than those who simply practice and review.

Day 7 (One Week Before)

Write one full practice test under exam conditions — both tasks, 60 minutes, no breaks, no checking your notes. Submit both essays using the Writing Evaluator and review the feedback carefully. Identify your two biggest weaknesses from the results. These are what you will focus on this week.

Days 6 and 5

Focus specifically on your two identified weaknesses. If Task Response is weak, practice writing introductions and conclusions for ten different question prompts without writing full essays. If Lexical Resource is weak, review the vocabulary bank for the topic categories most likely to appear — environment, technology, health, education.

Days 4 and 3

Write one Task 2 essay per day under timed conditions (40 minutes). Get AI feedback on each. Focus on implementing your targeted improvements. Also review your Task 1 by writing one academic and one general response.

Day 2

Light practice only. Write one paragraph — not a full essay — on any topic. Review your most common grammar mistakes from your practice history. Do not try to learn anything new. Read two or three Band 9 sample essays to internalize the style and rhythm of high-scoring writing.

Day 1 (The Day Before)

Do not practice writing. Rest your brain. Review your planning technique — remind yourself of the structure for each essay type. Prepare everything you need for the exam: ID, stationery, exam location confirmation.

Exam Day Morning

Arrive early. Do not discuss the exam with other candidates — hearing about topics they are expecting can distract you. When the exam starts, spend the first 30 seconds reading both tasks before deciding which to tackle first. Most candidates start with Task 1 but if Task 2's topic is very familiar to you, the order does not matter.

Managing Exam Anxiety

Anxiety is normal and actually improves performance at moderate levels. If you feel nervous, take three slow breaths before you start writing. If you go blank on a topic, write your plan first — the act of writing any words breaks the mental block.

Remember: the examiner wants to give you a high score. Their job is to find evidence of your ability, not to catch you making mistakes. Show them what you can do.