They come in all kinds of shapes and sizes and generally you get what you pay for.
Free courses – these will generally be more of a ‘taster’. Quite a few teachers offer free help (especially during any lockdown when they are not working) which is good of them but once they return to their jobs this will go – it’s hardly ever sustainable.
Online self-study – you will generally sign up, be taken to a website and the course is laid out. It may have lots of bells and whistles, it may be well designed and attractive but it will give you what you can find in a course book but more interactively and perhaps with more enjoyment. You’ll discover your mistakes and the course will usually have explanations but there is no clarification if you are uncertain or meaningful assistance if you flounder.
Marking and correction services – the clue is in the word ‘services’ generally you send your work, it’s corrected and you receive feedback. The IELTS teacher may provide excellent feedback or very limited feedback it probably depends how much you pay. It is a service – the teacher is not invested in you.
Classroom courses (face to face and online) – now you have a real live person who is an expert in IELTS and they will be interacting directly with you. You will meet fairly regularly and they will correct your work and give you feedback. Hopefully, you will be able to ask for clarification when you don’t understand or need more help. I know that not all classroom based courses are great and some with a lot of students may not offer enough personal interaction. Also, if you are looking for Band 7 and 8 you may find that they don’t address this specifically.
Private, one to one courses – these meet you where you are and support you totally to get to where you want to be. There is dialogue, so you should, when working with your own teacher, know exactly how you are doing and the progress you are making. This is coaching – hands on, tailored to you and very individual. This may be the best approach for bands 7&8 and also if you have taken the exam a few times and not got what you want. You need someone to laser into the difficulties you are having, diagnose the problems and then help you to focus on these to fix and improve them.
You’ll pay more for coaching than for an online course but think about what you really need to help you be successful. Think about your IELTS as part of your plan for the future and invest in it. After all without the IELTS band your future plans will not happen.
Most of my work is coaching but I do have an online course and offer some group courses.
All courses involving teachers should get you to your goal much faster.
Ideally choose the one that you need to reach your score, but whatever you invest in for your IELTS success, it has to be cheaper than 30 IELTS Tests!!