The 12 Best IELTS Books To Prepare For The Test

So you’ve decided to take IELTS, huh? 

I’m sure you know that you’ll have to prepare for it. There are hundreds of IELTS books and guides out there that can help you get the IELTS score you need.

What are some of the top IELTS preparation books?

Here are my suggested best IELTS books for self-study.

IELTS Exam Preparation Books

1. Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS

The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS is one of the most popular IELTS preparation books. 

It’s published by Cambridge English Language Assessment, the organisation that offers the IELTS test, and the guide is written by taking into consideration thousands of real IELTS candidates’ answers. 

What does this mean? 

It means the book can help you avoid common errors that IELTS students typically make.

You don’t need to have a specific level of English to use The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS  because this resource is for candidates of any level. 

It’s about 400 pages long and you can use it both for IELTS General Training and IELTS Academic as a self-study resource or as part of an IELTS preparation course. 

The book is also great for IELTS teachers.

It’s divided by skills (reading, listening, speaking, writing) and includes:

• Exercises to develop skills
• Exam and study tips
• Strategies to improve test performance
• Videos of the Speaking test
• 8 full Academic official practice tests
• 2 additional General Training sections
• Sample answers for IELTS Writing Task 1 and Task 2
• Answer keys with explanations
• Recording scripts

Check out The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS.

And this is a sample unit.

Best for

The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS is the perfect guide for IELTS candidates who are looking for comprehensive exam preparation that covers all aspects of the exams

2. The Complete Guide to IELTS by Bruce Roger and Nick Kenny

This book is exactly what it says on the front cover: a complete guide to IELTS. It teaches you everything you need to know about the exam. 

The guide is divided into 4 modules:

1. Listening Module
2. Academic Reading Module
3. Academic Writing Module
4. Speaking Module

In each one you’ll find task analysis, sample questions, tips and tactics, and skills-building exercises.

The book also includes:

• Vocabulary lessons about common lexical features of the IELTS reading passage types and listening sections
• A Grammar Resource Bank with practice exercises that cover all the grammar you need for the test
• National Geographic video lessons so you can familiarise yourself with the listening task types
• Speaking test videos and worksheets that show real students completing a full Speaking test interview
• Full practice tests
• Extensive additional practice in all four sections of the IELTS exam

You can use The Complete Guide to IELTS as a self-study book or as part of an IELTS preparation course. If you’re an IELTS teacher, make sure you buy the Teacher’s book too. 

Check out The Complete Guide to IELTS on Amazon.

Best for

Similar to The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS (the first one on this list), The Complete Guide to IELTS is perfect for you if you’re looking for comprehensive exam preparation that covers all aspects of the exams.

IELTS Test Practice

3. IELTS Trainer 2 Academic: Six Practice Tests by Amanda French, Miles Hordern, Anethea Bazin, and Katy Salisbury 

Preparing for the IELTS test also involves practising taking the exam. This book offers six of them.

IELTS Trainer 2 Academic also includes:

• Details of the test format
• Question types and scoring system
• Step-by-step guidance and tips
• Grammar, vocabulary and writing practice exercises
• Downloadable audio for the Listening tests
• Audioscripts
• Answer keys with clear explanations
• Model writing answers

There’s also a version for IELTS General Training. Check out IELTS Trainer 2 on the Cambridge official website.

Best for

Perfect for you if you want to practice taking the test.

4. Collins English for IELTS Series (2nd edition)

This series focuses on the 4 skills and includes the following books:

• Reading for IELTS by Els Van Geyte and Rhona Snelling
• Writing for IELTS by Anneli Williams
• Speaking for IELTS by Karen Kovacs
• Listening for IELTS by Fiona Aish and Jo Tomlinson

All these titles were written by experienced IELTS tutors and are ideal for learners with band score 5 – 5.5 who are aiming for band score 6 or higher on the IELTS test.

A great thing about this series is that the exam materials have been written using COBUILD, the world’s largest database of the English language!

Check out the Collins English for IELTS series.

Best for

Learners looking to work on specific parts of the exam.

5. Cambridge IELTS Series

Would you like to practise your exam skills by using real IELTS tests?  The Cambridge English IELTS series is the right one for you.

At the time of writing, the series includes 19 books. Each one is a collection of authentic examination papers that includes authentic listening, reading, writing, and speaking tests.

The books also include:

• Downloadable audio files for the Listening tests
• Speaking test videos
• Answer keys with extra explanations
• Recording scripts
• An introduction to the exam
• An explanation of the scoring system
• Photocopiable answer sheets 
• Sample IELTS Writing answers 

Some of the books are for IELTS Academic while others are for IELTS General Training. Make sure you buy the one you need. 

Check out IELTS 19, one of the books from the series. 

Best for

Each test you’ll find in these books is exactly like the real test. Keep in mind that you won’t find exam tips or strategies here, so the Cambridge English IELTS series is best perfect for you if you want to take authentic practice tests.

IELTS Books About Writing

6. ‘How to’ IELTS Writing e-books by Pete Jones

Pete Jones is an experienced IELTS tutor and his ‘How to’ IELTS Writing e-books is a great series that will help you answer IELTS Writing questions. 

The collection includes 4 e-books:

• How to answer IELTS General Training Writing Task 2 questions
• How to answer IELTS General Training letter writing tasks
• How to answer IELTS Academic Writing Task 2 questions
• How to answer IELTS General Training Writing Tasks 1 and 2

These guides include tasks where you’ll analyse the content and organisation of sample IELTS Writing answers written by experienced IELTS teachers. 

I’ve met many IELTS students who believe good writing is all about using correct grammar and advanced English vocabulary.  Sure, that’s true. But what about content and organisation? Those are two essential aspects to pay attention to as well, not least because they account for 50% of your assessment!

This series of e-books is perfect for that because they’ll help you understand how to organise and what to include in your writing when answering IELTS Writing Task 1 and IELTS Writing Task 2 questions. 

The e-books include:

• An introduction to the IELTS Writing Task question
• A step-by-step guide to writing your answer
• Sample answers 
• Answer keys
• An in-depth guide to writing an introduction and other paragraphs
• Tips for getting a higher IELTS band score

You can get the books on Pete Jones’ online store.

Best for

Perfect for students who want to understand how to write a successful IELTS Writing answer. Great for self-study.

7. Developing Writing Skills for IELTS: A Research-Based Approach By Sin Wang Chong and Xuejun Ye

What skills do you need to succeed in the two academic writing tasks in IELTS?

Developing Writing Skills for IELTS will help you answer that question.

The book includes an analysis of the assessment standards of the two academic writing tasks. 

You’ll find authentic sample answers written by English as a foreign language university students. These answers will show you examples of high (Bands 8–9), average (Bands 6–7), and low (Bands 4–5) performances in IELTS writing.

The book also includes 100 IELTS-style writing questions, which the authors designed by first analysing over 400 real IELTS writing questions.

Check out Developing Writing Skills for IELTS.

Best for

Candidates who want to get a high score in the two IELTS academic writing tasks.

IELTS Vocabulary And Grammar Books

8. Collins Vocabulary for IELTS by Anneli Williams

I have this book. This is what I read on page 4:

Vocabulary for IELTS helps you improve your vocabulary when preparing for the IELTS examination. You can use the book to study on your own or as supplementary material for IELTS preparation classes. 

It is suitable for learners at level 5.0 to 5.5 aiming for band score 6.0 or higher.

In each unit, you work towards an exam practice exercise which is modelled on the actual IELTS exam. Each unit contains activities that help you develop, step-by-step, the vocabulary knowledge and skills to help you tackle the exam. Exam tips throughout the book highlight essential vocabulary-related learning strategies and exam techniques.

The book is divided into 20 units that covers common exam topics (health, education, cities, global warming, and more) as well as general functions such as problem-solving and paraphrasing. 

Here’s a breakdown of the contents:

• Units 1 -9 cover vocabulary for topics that frequently appear in the exam.
• Units 11-19 cover words for general functions (e.g., describing problems and solutions, words for describing change, words for problems and solutions, and so on).
• In Units 10 and 20 you’ll find revision exercises. 

Each unit is structured in 3 parts:

• Part 1 introduces the vocabulary with definitions, parts of speech, and IELTS-style example sentences.
• Part 2 helps you practise the vocabulary through exercises that focus on applying vocabulary to specific exam papers.
• Part 3 offers exam practice exercises in a format that follows the actual exam. This gives you the opportunity to familiarise yourself with the kinds of questions you will encounter in the exam. 

As you can see, this is a book that focuses entirely on one specific aspect of the exam.

Check out Collins Vocabulary for IELTS.

Best for

Collins Vocabulary for IELTS is perfect for you if you’re aiming to improve your writing and speaking scores by using a wider range of vocabulary.

9. IELTS Vocabulary for Bands 6.5 and above: With Answers and Downloadable Audio by Pauline Cullen

This book is similar to Collins Vocabulary for IELTS. It helps you to extend and improve your vocabulary so you can become more confident using it when you’re taking the exam.

If you’re familiar with the StoryLearning method and my language learning philosophy, you may know how important it is to learn new words in context. 

This book helps you do that because it introduces vocabulary through listening and reading texts that are similar to the ones you’ll find in the IELTS exam.

There are 25 units, each one including vocabulary, listening, reading, writing, and speaking practice tasks. By the way, if you'd like to know more about the speaking part of the test, check out my post about IELTS speaking questions.

There is also a focus on pronunciation and test practice activities that include examples of all the different tasks in Academic Reading, General Training Reading, Academic Writing, General Training Writing, Listening, and Speaking.

Plus, IELTS Vocabulary for Bands 6.5 and Above includes:

• An answer key for each unit that includes model answers for each writing task
• Recording scripts
• Wordlists for each unit

Check out IELTS Vocabulary for Bands 6.5 and above where you’ll also find some free samples.

Best for: 

Students (including advanced ones) who want to revise and improve their vocabulary in preparation for the exam.

10. IELTS Grammar: For Bands 6.5 and above: With Answers and Downloadable Audio by Diana Hopkins and Pauline Cullen

IELTS Grammar for Bands 6.5 and above is a book where you’ll find explanations and extensive practice of all the grammar you need for the exam. 

This book (previously titled Grammar for IELTS) includes:

• Tasks from the IELTS Reading, Writing and Listening sections.
• An entry test to help you find your strengths and weaknesses to maximise your study time.
• Listening material, so your listening skills will develop while you study grammar.
• Downloadable audio.

Like  IELTS Grammar for Bands 6.5 and above is divided into 25 units, each one divided into 4 parts:

A: Context listening: This introduces the grammar of the unit in a context that is relevant to the IELTS test. It also gives you useful listening practice

B: Grammar: Here you’ll find grammar points with explanations and examples. This section prepares you for the next one.

C: Grammar exercises: Do the exercises and then check them in the answer key.

D: Test practice: This section helps you practise different sections of the IELTS exam and includes a grammar focus too.

Check out IELTS Grammar for Bands 6.5 and above.

Best for

As you can imagine, IELTS Grammar for Bands 6.5 and above is best for those students who want to improve, extend, and revise English grammar.

IELTS Books Other

11. Any Language You Want by Fabio Cerpelloni

Fabio is an English teacher and writer who speaks Italian as a first language. He was a learner of English and in Any Language You Want he tells you 18 short stories about everything he did to master it. 

Each story also shows you the best way to learn another language. But there’s a twist: each story disagrees with the next. 

In one of them – titled “Take Language Exams” – Fabio tells about his experience taking the IELTS exam. 

Here’s an excerpt from that story.

Because I’m a learning masochist, I then thought, “What other exams could I take?” I had always heard of the IELTS – the International English Language Testing System – but didn’t really know what it was. I just knew that it was a tough academic English exam – and knowing that it was tough was enough to motivate me to take it. What did I have to lose? Nothing. I only had new things to learn. So I enrolled in a three-month IELTS preparation course at the University of Westminster in London.

Fabio goes on by telling you how he prepared for the IELTS test and how the exam helped him improve his English language skills.

But because each chapter contradicts the next, in the following one he advises you against taking exams!

This is a really interesting read, which I’ve already talked about in other blog posts as well as on my Instagram account.

Check out Any Language You Want on Fabio’s website. 

Best for 

Any Language You Want is great for IELTS candidates who want to read interesting language learning stories written by a fellow English language learner and former IELTS candidate. 

12. All About IELTS by Fiona Aish and Jo Tomlinson

All About IELTS is for advanced speakers of English and first-language English speakers who’re planning to take the IELTS Academic test. 

Don’t expect to find practice exercises in this book because this isn’t a coursebook.

Instead, you’ll find information about the format of the exam, what you’ll be tested on during the exam, and how you can give good answers. 

It’s a detailed guide that shows you how the test works and what you need to do to get a good grade.

The book is divided into 5 chapters:

1. Overview of the IELTS exam
2. Listening test
3. Speaking test
4. Reading test
5. Writing test

And it includes:

• Test information and exam tips
• Practice tasks
• Glossary of grammatical terms and technical language
• Downloadable audio files for the chapter on Listening (you’ll find these on the publisher's website)
• Sample IELTS Academic Reading test

Check out All About IELTS on the Prosperity Education website.

Best for

IELTS candidates who want to learn more about the exam and how to answer exam questions.

FAQ About IELTS Books

Final Thoughts on The Best IELTS Preparation Books

All of these IELTS books provide an excellent mix of test strategies, practice materials, and skill-building exercises. I hope you’ve found at least one book that’s suitable for you!

I didn’t mention it before, but reading and listening are two excellent ways to improve your general English skills, which you’re going to need if you want to do well in the exam.

So why not try the StoryLearning method?

You’ll immerse yourself in short stories in English that will help you improve your listening, reading, grammar, and vocabulary. 

It’s not specific IELTS preparation, but it’s still helpful.

Whether or not you decide to try the StoryLearning method, I wish you the best of luck in the IELTS exam!

Olly Richards

Creator of the StoryLearning® Method

Olly Richards is a renowned polyglot and language learning expert with over 15 years of experience teaching millions through his innovative StoryLearning® method. He is the creator of StoryLearning, one of the world's largest language learning blogs with 500,000+ monthly readers.

Olly has authored 30+ language learning books and courses, including the bestselling "Short Stories" series published by Teach Yourself.

When not developing new teaching methods, Richards practices what he preaches—he speaks 8 languages fluently and continues learning new ones through his own methodology.