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IELTS Progress Check Review – Is It Worth It? 

 December 12, 2022

By  Chuky Ofoegbu

young business lady smiling at the camera while working on a computer

When it comes to preparing for the IELTS, it's commonly advised that students prepare with practice material that is similar (in format and difficulty level) to what one can expect to see on the real IELTS exam.

As is the case for most standardized tests like the IELTS, the gold standard practice material is always the one created and endorsed by the makers of the exam. These are usually called "official practice material".

So, when we learned about an online platform created by the makers of the IELTS exam where you can take a practice IELTS exam and receive feedback from "official" graders, we got excited to review this platform.

In this in-depth review article, we share our experience using the IELTS Progress Check and compare our experience on the platform to other top IELTS prep courses to help you decide if the IELTS Progress Check is worth using as you prepare for the IELTS exam. 

Is the IELTS Progress Check Right for You?

Who we recommend the IELTS Progress Check for? 

  • People in their final phase of preparation for the IELTS exam
  • People who don't need to learn much from the feedback
  • People who only need a score to gauge where they stand with their IELTS prep

Who we don't recommend the IELTS Progress Check for?  

  • People who are just starting their IELTS preparation
  • People who need detailed feedback on their work
  • People who need step-by-step guidance in improving their IELTS prep
  • People who haven’t attempted any other practice test in the past

Video Review

Check out our in-depth video review of the IELTS Progress Check where we show you exactly what you get when you use this platform.

IELTS Progress Check Overview?   

The British Council runs the IELTS Progress Check prep website, which means this is an official resource to prepare for IELTS. The IELTS Progress Check was first launched in Australia in 2017 and is now available to test-takers across the globe.

The IELTS Progress Check practice tests are available for purchase directly from the website here. Whether you're going for the IELTS Academic or IELTS General Training, you can purchase a practice test that applies to you. Both tests have the same features, with the only difference being the actual content on the test.

You also have the option to choose between a timed test or an untimed test. The timed test gives you an authentic feel of how attempting an IELTS test is since there is no option to pause the test. You have to do it all in one go.

On the other hand, the untimed version can be broken down into parts and taken as per your convenience. 

No matter which test you choose, IELTS Academic or IELTS General Training, the cost for a single test is the same at $49.95 (AU$75.90 for Australia). 

Buying an IELTS Progress Check practice test can be beneficial since this is one of the few IELTS online practice test opportunities offered by the makers of the IELTS. Official IELTS graders check these practice tests, which means your score report is on par with what you could expect after completing a real IELTS exam.

IELTS Progress Check vs IELTS Indicator  

IELTS Progress Check practice tests are different from the IELTS Indicator, and both these tests do not serve the same purpose. IELTS Indicator was an initiative by the British Council that allowed test-takers to attempt an official IELTS exam online during COVID-19. However, institutions didn't necessarily accept these scores instead of the in-person IELTS exam.

The scores from the IELTS indicator would only act as a way to gauge the student's abilities. 

Since COVID-19 restrictions have eased, the British Council has stopped offering the IELTS Indicator in almost all countries. Now, you can sign up for the Official IELTS exam wherever you are.

As far as the IELTS Progress Check practice tests are concerned, they are only there to help you improve your preparation for the IELTS. The scores from these tests can't be used officially and are only for your knowledge.

How the IELTS Progress Check Works   

Once you purchase a practice test, either General or Academic, you can log in to your IELTS Progress Check dashboard to view your practice test. If you have signed up for an untimed practice test, you can access it whenever you like and attempt it with no time restrictions. If you've bought a timed test, you'll have to complete it in a single attempt, meaning you'll have to set aside almost 3 hours of your time.

IELTS Progress Check Dashboard

IELTS Progress Check Dashboard

There are four sections that you will attempt in order. These are listed below with their durations:

  1. Listening: 30 Minutes
  2. Reading: 60 Minutes
  3. Writing: 60 Minutes
  4. Speaking: 11-14 Minutes

The test environment closely resembles the real IELTS, so it's a great way to prepare for test day. However, there are some slight differences, which we will mention later. 

What to Expect in Each IELTS Section

Here, we will dive deeper into how taking the IELTS Progress Check practice test feels from one section to the next. We'll be talking more specifically about a timed, academic IELTS Progress Check practice test since this seems to be the most popular choice.

Once you click on the Start Test Button, you land on another screen where you can see a bunch of instructions regarding the test. Once you've gone through these, you can begin your practice test with the listening section.

Listening Section Experience  

In the listening section, the recording runs only once, and thus, you should pay close attention to filling in your answers. If you miss any information, it's best to move on, or else you'll put all your answers ahead in jeopardy.

At the end of this section, you have 2 minutes to check all your answers and make corrections if needed. A timer is also running on the screen, and you can switch between questions using the buttons displayed.

When attempting the real IELTS on-paper exam, the audio is played once like it is in the IELTS Progress Check practice test. However, at the end of the audio, you're given 10 minutes to transfer your answers to an answer sheet. 

When attempting the real IELTS on a computer, you don't get the 10 minutes at the end since all your answers are directly input into the blanks. In this case, you only get 2 minutes to review your answers.

Reading Section Experience  

Once the listening section is over, you move on to the reading section. Here, you have three passages to work through with several different questions. These include Match The Heading, True/False/Not Given, Fill In The Blanks, etc.

You can switch between the questions as well. So, if you have completed your answers, you can come back and review them as well once you get done. The timer counts down from 60 minutes, and the system automatically submits your answers once the time is over.

Whether you're taking the reading section of the IELTS on paper or on a computer, the experience remains the same as that of the IELTS Progress Check Practice Test. You have 60 minutes to read through the passages and answer all questions. 

Writing Section Experience  

Next up, there is the writing section. You have to attempt two tasks just like on the official IELTS exam. The prompts are similar to what you will see on the official IELTS. The first one shows you a graphical representation of any statistics and asks you to evaluate it. The second one gives you a discussion-based topic and asks you to present your opinion on the statement. 

You can choose to write either one of the tasks first. But know that task #2 is worth two times the credit compared to task #1. Hence, allocating enough time is vital. After 60 minutes, the time runs out, and your writing tasks are automatically submitted.

If you take the real IELTS on paper, you will have to write down both writing prompts on paper. In this case, it becomes slightly difficult to figure out the appropriate length for your essays because there is no word count.

On the other hand, if you opt for taking the IELTS on a computer, you'll be typing your writing response directly into the system. And this will allow you to see how many words you've written. The IELTS Progress Check follows this pattern since everything is done online.

Speaking Section Experience  

Finally, we move on to the last section of the IELTS Progress Check practice test, which is the speaking section. This section has three main tasks, all of which require you to record your answers through your microphone.

Question 1 has short questions that ask you to record 20-second responses. For Question 2, a task card shows you instructions, and you get 60 seconds to plan your answer. After this, you need to speak for 90-120 seconds. Lastly, question 3 builds further on the topic discussed in question 2, and each question requires a 30-second answer.  

The speaking experience on the real IELTS exam is different from the IELTS Progress Check practice tests. Whether you're going for the IELTS on paper or IELTS on a computer, the speaking section is done in person with a marker. And this experience can prove to be quite different from speaking into a microphone on your computer.

Quality of Feedback from IELTS Progress Check

Attempting a practice test is one thing, but the real benefit you get is through feedback. Without good feedback, you can never know which questions you got wrong or what mistakes you made. And if you don't get to know either of these two things, you can't work to improve your score!

The feedback from IELTS Progress Check was honestly below our expectations. Yes, the scores you get are from an official IELTS marker, but a lot of information is missing. Let's look into what feedback you get on each of the four sections once you submit your answers. Please note that it takes up to 5 days for IELTS Progress Check to send back your scores.

Your overall band score is the first thing that you see. With it, you get a couple of generalized remarks on your overall performance. This score shows your overall performance on the   IELTS Progress Check IELTS practice test, but it would have been better to have some personalized comments here. Especially considering you're paying almost $50 for it.

IELTS Progress Check Overall Band Score Report

IELTS Progress Check Overall Band Score Report

Let's move on to section-wise feedback!

Feedback on IELTS Listening Section  

After your overall score, the next score you can see is your listening section. There is no breakdown about which questions you did wrong and no personalized feedback either. You can only see your overall score followed by a general remark on your performance in this section. 

IELTS Progress Check Listening Band Score Report

IELTS Progress Check Listening Band Score Report

There are also tips related to the listening section, but these aren't tailored to your performance either. So, even though they might be useful in general, they aren't particularly helpful in fixing your mistakes. In the end, you can see another set of remarks on How To Improve your performance in the listening section. Sadly, these remarks are once again very disconnected from your performance on the test and are barely helpful.

Overall, the feedback is quite disappointing, and we believe personalized and detailed feedback should've been present. 

Feedback on IELTS Reading Section  

The feedback in the reading section follows a similar pattern to the listening section. First, you can see your overall score, followed by some general tips for the reading section and comments on how you can improve your performance.

IELTS Progress Check Reading Band Score Report

IELTS Progress Check Reading Band Score Report

Since we obtained a perfect 9.0 band score while attempting this section, the How To Improve box didn't provide any insight into improving. It just congratulates you for performing perfectly. So, we see that the content in the How To Improve box just depends on your band score. If you get a 9.0, there are no tips for you. If your score lies in the lower bands, preset tips for people with those scores are displayed.

However, there is still no personalized feedback for each question, which is a big drawback.

Feedback on IELTS Speaking Section  

Next up, we have the speaking section results. You can see your overall band score at the top, followed by a description of 4 rubrics based on which you get your score. These include:

  1. Fluency and Coherence (25%)
  2. Lexical Resource (25%)
  3. Grammatical Range and Accuracy (25%)
  4. Pronunciation (25%)

For all these rubrics, there's a comment based on your performance. However, these comments again seem generic and don't provide any direct reference to your work. You can not listen to your recorded answers or view any questions you attempted.

 IELTS Progress Check Speaking Band Score Report

IELTS Progress Check Speaking Band Score Report

Following this, there's a small block with the Marker's Feedback. These include a few personalized remarks related to your performance and can help improve your weak areas. Again, there is no direct association between these comments and your answers. So, you can't see where you made the mistakes.

Finally, a How To Improve box provides some content on improving your speaking abilities. Even though the feedback here was slightly more helpful than in the listening and reading sections, it still lacked depth. 

Feedback on IELTS Writing Section  

IELTS Progress Check Writing Task 1 Band Score Report

IELTS Progress Check Writing Task 1 Band Score Report

The last one on the list is the writing section. The feedback given here is quite similar to that in the speaking part above. Following your band score, you can see your results split into two parts. The first block provides comments on task 1 and the second block on task 2. You get feedback for each of the four writing rubrics. These are:

  1. Task One - Task Achievement | Task Two - Task Response (25%)
  2. Coherence and Cohesion (25%)
  3. Lexical Resource (25%)
  4. Grammatical Range and Accuracy (25%)
 IELTS Progress Check Writing Task 2 Band Score Report

IELTS Progress Check Writing Task 2 Band Score Report

For each task, you get two separate sets of Marker's Feedback which are somewhat tailored to your response. And even though they include personalized comments on your writing style, there is no reference to your written work. This incomplete feedback makes it difficult to judge where you went wrong while attempting the task.

In the end, you can see some general tips on how to improve your performance in the writing section. 

That sums up all the feedback you get from the IELTS Progress Check. Let's move on and find out if there are any competitive alternatives to   IELTS Progress Check! 

IELTS Progress Check Alternatives?   

Even though IELTS Progress Check is an official resource that gives you an idea of where you stand with your preparations for the IELTS, there are many better resources available! Although these resources might be from unofficial sources, their content can help you prepare well for your IELTS exam.

Most of these unofficial sources are very credible in what they do. Some of them offer much better feedback and support as compared to   IELTS Progress Check. Let's dive in and check them out one by one!

IELTS Progress Check vs Magoosh IELTS prep   

The Magoosh IELTS prep practice test is one of the more difficult tests compared to others in the same category. However, the detail they provide in their feedback is quite impressive!

The feedback from the listening and the reading sections includes detailed video and text explanations for all answers. On the other hand, submitting your writing and speaking responses for review by an expert gets you a personalized review with a ton of specifics! Let's look into each of these below!

The results page gives you an overview of all the questions attempted plus their difficulty level for the listening section.

Magoosh IELTS Prep Listening Section Score Report

Magoosh IELTS Prep Listening Section Score Report

You can click on any of the questions you got wrong, and you'll be able to see your answer and the correct answer.

Magoosh IELTS Prep Listening Section Wrong Answer Screenshot

Magoosh IELTS Prep Listening Section Wrong Answer Screenshot

If you want a more detailed explanation of the answer, you can scroll further down on this page. Here, you'll find text and video explanations that dig deep into the audio file and find the correct answer from the recording. This detailed feedback is extra-helpful since you can gain more knowledge and rectify your mistakes simultaneously.

Magoosh IELTS Prep Listening Section Text Explanation Screenshot

Magoosh IELTS Prep Listening Section Text Explanation Screenshot

Moving on to the reading section, you can expect the same level of detailed feedback as in the listening section. 

 Magoosh IELTS Prep Reading Section Score Report

Magoosh IELTS Prep Reading Section Score Report

Clicking on any of these questions will take you to its corresponding passage. Here, you can see the correct answers for each question. 

Magoosh IELTS Prep Reading Section Wrong Answer Screenshot

Magoosh IELTS Prep Reading Section Wrong Answer Screenshot

And if you need a more detailed explanation, you can refer to either the video or the text explanation by scrolling down.

Magoosh IELTS Prep Reading Section Text Explanation

Magoosh IELTS Prep Reading Section Text Explanation

Magoosh IELTS Prep Reading Section Video Explanation

Magoosh IELTS Prep Reading Section Video Explanation

As seen from the details above, the feedback provided by Magoosh is far superior to that from the IELTS Progress Check. There's much more information to absorb, which can help improve your IELTS score! 

Let's move on to the Writing and Speaking sections!

Writing and speaking scores are sent to you a couple of days after you've sent your responses for review. Once the marker reviews your work, you'll get detailed feedback on your performance. Let's look at the writing feedback first!

At the top, you can see your overall band score. Following this, you can see your scores in all four subsections of the Writing Task. There's also an option to check out the Official IELTS Rubric for this writing task and see on what basis you've got your score. The best part comes next. You get to see what you did well and can do better. That too with specific examples from your essay. This kind of feedback is very beneficial for test-takers and can help them improve their writing significantly.

Magoosh IELTS Prep Writing Section Feedback

Magoosh IELTS Prep Writing Section Feedback

Similarly, the feedback from your submitted speaking responses is heavily detail-oriented. You can see your overall score and section-wise score for each part of the rubric.

Magoosh IELTS Prep Speaking Section Feedback 1

Magoosh IELTS Prep Speaking Section Feedback 1

Moving on, you get deep insights into your speaking abilities with personalized feedback based on excerpts of your audio recording. The first part tells you what you've done well with hyperlinks to your actual voice recordings. The second part gives you critical feedback on what you can do to improve your speaking abilities. Again, some portion of your audio where you lagged is also referenced to explain things in a better way.

Magoosh IELTS Prep Speaking Section Feedback 2

Magoosh IELTS Prep Speaking Section Feedback 2

Well, that sums up our take on Magoosh IELTS prep. It's surely a resource worth checking out! 

Further Reading: Check out our detailed review of the Magoosh IELTS prep course.

IELTS Progress Check vs BestMyTest IELTS prep  

The BestMyTest (BestMyTest) IELTS prep is another helpful resource for IELTS test-takers. Let's look into how the feedback from BestMyTest lines up with that from   IELTS Progress Check. 

Starting with the listening section, we can see that there are two tabs that you can access. Diagnostic Results and View My Answers. The diagnostic results tab gives you a general insight into your performance, along with some tips and resources to help you improve your weaker areas. The questions you have attempted are categorized based on different question types, and this statistic can help you identify which type of questions you need to focus more on.

BestMyTest IELTS Prep Listening Section Diagnostic Results

BestMyTest IELTS Prep Listening Section Diagnostic Results

The other tab is the View My Answers tab, which allows you to see the correct answers for all questions in the section. However, there is no extra insight given into each question. If you have any queries, you can use the Ask An Instructor button to reach out to an instructor to help clarify.

BestMyTest IELTS Prep Listening Section Diagnostic Results - Image Credit Sojourning Scholar

BestMyTest IELTS Prep Listening Section Diagnostic Results - Image Credit Sojourning Scholar

The reading section provides feedback in an identical way to the listening section. The Diagnostic Results tab gives general feedback on your overall performance, whereas the View Answer tab shows you the correct answers. You can see both of these in the screenshots below.

BestMyTest IELTS Prep Reading Section Diagnostic Results - Image Credit Sojourning Scholar

BestMyTest IELTS Prep Reading Section Diagnostic Results

BestMyTest IELTS Prep Reading Section View My Answers - Image Credit Sojourning Scholar

BestMyTest IELTS Prep Reading Section View My Answers - Image Credit Sojourning Scholar

It takes a couple of days to get your writing and speaking scores back once you've done the test. You get back a ton of data regarding your writing submission. Let's look into it one by one! 

The first page you see is the Diagnostic Results tab, where your overall score is broken down into sections and shown.

BestMyTest IELTS Prep Writing Section Diagnostic Results - Image Credit Sojourning Scholar

BestMyTest IELTS Prep Writing Section Diagnostic Results 

The next tab is Review Results which shows your essay with corrections done by the marker. These include corrections, Academic language suggestions, and general comments. This detailed feedback is extremely helpful in making you understand all your mistakes, allowing you to improve your writing.

BestMyTest IELTS Prep Writing Section Review Results - Image Credit Sojourning Scholar

BestMyTest IELTS Prep Writing Section Review Results - Image Credit Sojourning Scholar

Lastly, the Test Data tab shows you the writing prompt once again. But this time, you get to see a sample answer and your answer side by side. Such an example can help you significantly improve your approach to these writing prompts.

BestMyTest IELTS Prep Writing Section Test Data - Image Credit Sojourning Scholar

BestMyTest IELTS Prep Writing Section Test Data 

Next up, we have the feedback from the speaking section, which is formatted almost the same as the writing section. The Diagnostic Results tab gives you an overview of your performance based on the speaking rubrics.

BestMyTest IELTS Prep Speaking Section Diagnostic Results - Image Credit Sojourning Scholar

BestMyTest IELTS Prep Speaking Section Diagnostic Results 

The Review Results tab uniquely provides feedback. There is an audio that contains the questions you were asked, your response to those questions, and finally, what you could've done better. Hearing feedback like this is super beneficial and can majorly help improve your English speaking abilities.

BestMyTest IELTS Prep Speaking Section Review Results - Image Credit Sojourning Scholar

BestMyTest IELTS Prep Speaking Section Review Results 

Finally, the Test Data tab provides three audio files for each question. The first file is the question itself. The second file is your answer, and the third file is a sample answer. Altogether, this detailed feedback can help you understand what you can do better while speaking.

BestMyTest IELTS Prep Speaking Section Test Data - Image Credit Sojourning Scholar

BestMyTest IELTS Prep Speaking Section Test Data - Image Credit Sojourning Scholar

With this, we wrap up our comparison between BestMyTest and IELTS Progress Check. We can easily see that BestMyTest is a much more helpful resource than IELTS Progress Check, solely based on the detailed feedback you get after taking a practice test. 

Further Reading: Check out our detailed review of the BestMyTest IELTS prep course.

IELTS Progress Check vs E2language IELTS prep   

Lastly, we're going to talk about the E2language IELTS prep. This resource is yet another way to further your English language skills for the IELTS and provides some helpful feedback for a few of its sections. Let's dive deeper into this resource and see how it can help you get a better score on the IELTS!

For both the listening and the reading sections, the only feedback you get is the correct answers for the questions you've attempted wrongly. There's no detailed explanation for why the correct answer choice is indeed correct. This lack of detailed answer explanation makes the practice material for the listening and reading sections of the course unsatisfactory.  

Here's how the answers look from the listening section.

E2Language IELTS Prep Listening Section Feedback - Image Credit Sojourning Scholar

E2Language IELTS Prep Listening Section Feedback

And here's how the answers look from the reading section.
E2Language IELTS Prep Reading Section Feedback - Image Credit Sojourning Scholar

E2Language IELTS Prep Reading Section Feedback - Image Credit Sojourning Scholar

Even though the listening and reading feedback is a bit disappointing, the insight provided in the writing and speaking sections is extremely helpful. You get a separate report card for the two prompts in the writing section. Each report code gives you an overall score and a score for each of the four subsections. You can see these scores here.

E2Language IELTS Prep Writing Section Overall Score - Image Credit Sojourning Scholar

E2Language IELTS Prep Writing Section Overall Score - Image Credit Sojourning Scholar

E2Language IELTS Prep Writing Section Score Breakdown - Image Credit Sojourning Scholar

E2Language IELTS Prep Writing Section Score Breakdown - Image Credit Sojourning Scholar

After this, you can see the prompt of your writing task, followed by comments and suggestions from your marker. Your marker suggests improvements to your writing and corrects the errors in your essay. These suggestions can help you gain insight into what you were doing wrong and how you can improve.

E2Language IELTS Prep Writing Section Feedback- Image Credit Sojourning Scholar

E2Language IELTS Prep Writing Section Feedback

The diagnostic feedback at the end can help you understand how your performance ranks according to the rubrics and what you can do to improve your writing.

E2Language IELTS Prep Writing Section Diagnostic Feedback- Image Credit Sojourning Scholar

E2Language IELTS Prep Writing Section Diagnostic Feedback

The speaking section on the E2language IELTS is unlike others. You have to set up an appointment in advance with a marker, and your speaking test is conducted live over a video call. The best part is that you get feedback from your marker directly at the end of your speaking test, followed by a detailed report sent shortly after.

This detailed report gives you your overall score and sub-section score to start.

E2Language IELTS Prep Speaking Section Overall Score - Image Credit Sojourning Scholar

E2Language IELTS Prep Speaking Section Overall Score

Since you get most of your feedback live during your video call, the comments in the report are a reiteration of what the marker has explained earlier. This is how the comments are shown.

E2language IELTS Prep Speaking Section Feedback - Image Credit Sojourning Scholar

E2language IELTS Prep Speaking Section Feedback

All in all, the E2language IELTS is a great resource. Especially when it comes to writing and speaking, the feedback you get from E2language IELTS is far more significant than that from IELTS Progress Check.

Further Reading: Check out our detailed review of the E2Language IELTS prep course.

Should You Pay for The IELTS Progress Check? 

Well, we'd say it depends on your situation. 

Are you just starting your IELTS preparation journey? Then, this might not be the ideal time to buy the IELTS Progress Check practice test, simply because the results would be meaningless to you without any concrete feedback. At this point, you would be better off going with one of the unofficial resources such as Magoosh, BestMyTest, or E2language IELTS. These resource providers have much better support and can help you learn better.

Alternatively, if your official IELTS exam is coming up soon, taking the IELTS Progress Check might be an accurate way to gauge where you stand since it's the closest to an official IELTS test. Your scores will allow you to determine where you're still falling behind, and you can use this information to plan your last few days of preparation. 

FAQs About IELTS Progress Check    

Is the IELTS Progress Check free?  

The IELTS Progress Check practice test is not free. It costs $49.95 to purchase a test (AU$75.90 for Australia).

Is the IELTS Progress Check worth it?  

Not really. Even though it comes from the British Council, making it an official resource, paying almost $50 for a single practice test doesn't make it worthwhile. 

Is the IELTS Progress Check reliable?  

The IELTS Progress Check is definitely reliable. Since it's an official resource from the IELTS test-makers, it's a highly accurate representation of the official IELTS exam.

How many times can I take the IELTS Progress Check?  

You can only take the IELTS Progress Check practice test once. Once completed, it is submitted to graders for checking and can’t be accessed again.

Are IELTS Progress Check scores accepted for admissions?  

The scores from IELTS Progress Check aren't accepted anywhere officially. For that purpose, you need to take the official IELTS exam.

Chuky Ofoegbu


Chuky Ofoegbu is a thought leader and founder of Sojourning Scholar, a platform that empowers international students with the tools and knowledge for success in U.S. higher education.


With extensive experience and a profound understanding of the academic landscape, his insights shape the future of student advising. He has been quoted in major publications including Forbes, CNN, Yahoo, and MSN.


He holds degrees in Engineering from The Ohio State University and The University of Texas at Austin. For a deeper dive into his influential work and strategies, visit the About Page.

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