I am Teacher J, IELTS and PTE Academic specialist

Why I still sit these exams

I teach these tests, but I also sit them myself. I periodically go back into the real test experience so I can see what has changed, what the pressure feels like now, and whether the advice I give students still matches the test they are actually walking into. PTE added two new speaking tasks in August 2025, for example. Sitting the tests myself gives me something preparation materials cannot: firsthand experience of how the current test feels under real conditions, with the real screen and the real timer. I use that alongside official updates and scoring guidance to keep what I teach current.

I also keep reviewing official updates, scoring guidance and task changes, rather than teaching from the same notes year after year.

So when I tell you what the Speaking Part 2 card feels like, or how fast the Repeat Sentence audio moves, I am not reading it from a book. I have been in that seat. That is what lets me prepare you for what you will actually see on the day.

How I teach

1. I find out where your marks are going

Some people come to me before their first test. Others already have a score they need to change. Most have already worked hard: they have watched the videos, used AI, written the essays and sat the practice tests. Those tools are useful. What they have not had is someone look at their own work and say: this is the thing to fix first.

Every skill loses marks in its own way, so I look at each one separately, starting from your last score report or a diagnostic test. Only then do we plan your lessons, around the skill that is really holding you back.

2. You improve the English you already have, step by step

Examiners are not looking for a script. In Speaking they can hear a memorised answer within seconds, and in Writing they can spot a template from the first line. What they reward is you: your ideas, your examples and your way of saying things, done clearly and accurately. So I do not give you answers to learn by heart. I help you say what you already think, better.

I do not want you to get one question right because you remember the answer. I want you to recognise what to do when I change the question. The content changes from test to test. The task types and the skills repeat.

Listening and Reading are different again. In Listening you hear everything once, so marks slip away on spelling, word limits and speakers who change their mind halfway through a sentence. In Reading the clock is the real test, and question types like True, False, Not Given catch people who answer from what they know instead of what the text says. PTE adds its own pressure, because a computer scores how smoothly you speak.

That is why I do not hand you a list of tips and leave you to it. I take you by the hand and walk you through each skill and each question type, one step at a time, until you can do it on your own.

3. You keep practising between classes

If I correct your essay today and the same problem appears on a different topic tomorrow, the correction has not become a skill yet. So between classes you keep working in the NextBand Room: targeted, timed practice on the skills and task types we are working on. Class is where we work on it together. The NextBand Room is where we find out whether you can do it without me.

4. I tell you honestly when you are ready

I look for consistent target level performance under timed conditions before I recommend that you book or rebook. Mock results are one part of that. I also look at whether the quality of your work holds up under time. If you are not there yet, I will tell you, because a wasted exam fee helps nobody.

What I will not do

• Promise you a band score. Nobody honest can do that. What I can promise is a clear plan and a teacher who reads your work properly.
• Sell you memorised answers or essay templates that examiners have seen a thousand times.
• Put you in a class with people sitting a different exam. IELTS and PTE groups are always separate.

Where my students come from

I have taught more than 1,837 students online, with a 4.95 star rating. They join from all over the world, including:

Group times are shown in your own time zone in the class times section, and Duo and 1:1 students choose their own times.

My qualifications

Qualified Teacher Status (QTS), England	The professional status required to teach in state schools in England.
Registered Teacher, TRCN	Registered Teacher, Teachers Registration Council of Nigeria.
120 Hour TEFL, TeacherRecord	A 120 hour course in Teaching English as a Foreign Language.
PGDE, Sociology	Postgraduate Diploma in Education.
M.Ed, Guidance and Counselling	Master of Education.
HND, Mass Communication	Higher National Diploma.
ND, Mass Communication	National Diploma.