LanguageThe ProfessorIntermediate
Fixing Common IELTS Mistakes, a free language course on Tomo

Fixing Common IELTS Mistakes

Break past the Band 6.5 plateau by diagnosing and correcting the most common traps across Writing, Speaking, Reading, and Listening. Learn to spot deceptive distractors, avoid robotic phrasing, and satisfy the exact grading criteria examiners look for.

Like Duolingo, but for Fixing Common IELTS Mistakes. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.

A short one: 11 levels across 2 sections, about 22 minutes end to end, roughly 4 days at five minutes a day. It moves through Polishing Productive Skills and Outsmarting Receptive Traps. It assumes you already know the basics.

11 bite-size levelsAbout 5 minutes each

Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android

Ian the Ibis, the guide who teaches the Fixing Common IELTS Mistakes course
Fixing Common IELTS Mistakes
with Ian the Ibis
11
Levels
2
Sections
5
Min/day
What you'll learn

Key ideas in Fixing Common IELTS Mistakes

  • Band 6 essays over-rely on mechanical fronted linkers like 'Moreover' or 'Furthermore'
  • Band 7+ IELTS cohesion relies on demonstrative reference phrases like 'this shift'
  • Using lexical chains links ideas through topic-specific vocabulary instead of roadsigns
  • IELTS examiners penalize forced synonym swaps that break natural native collocations
  • Words like 'punishment' collocate with 'impose' or 'inflict', never 'commit'
  • 'Damage' naturally pairs with 'cause' or 'inflict', whereas 'produce profound damage' sounds unnatural
  • Absolute claims like 'always' or 'everyone' weaken IELTS Task Achievement at Band 7+
  • Hedging with tentative verbs like 'tends to' or 'appears to' creates academic balance
  • Modal verbs like 'may' and 'can' qualify assertions to reflect realistic evidence
  • Band 7+ Task Achievement requires fully extending a central point rather than listing three points
  • A strong IELTS paragraph leads with a clear assertion before detailing its mechanism
  • Following the mechanism with an explicit real-world consequence completes the extension
  • Paraphrasing technical prompt terms into unnatural phrasing distorts the core topic
  • IELTS examiners expect candidates to repeat exact technical terms when no true synonym exists
  • Lexical Resource rewards accurate contextual flexibility, not distortion of prompt terminology
  • IELTS examiners easily identify textbook clichés like 'raining cats and dogs' as memorized fillers.
Why not just Google it

You've tried the other tabs

Wikipedia

Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.

YouTube

You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.

ChatGPT

One answer, then back to scrolling.

Online courses

Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.

Tomo gives Fixing Common IELTS Mistakes the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.

Try a question

Here's what playing it feels like

A real question from this course. Take your best guess.

Natural Flow for High Bands

You write: 'Cities are investing heavily in light rail networks.' How can you link the next sentence at a Band 7+ level?

Get it right to open this lesson and 10 more in the app.

Course map

How to learn Fixing Common IELTS Mistakes, step by step

Go in order. 11 short levels across 2 sections, about 22 minutes in all, five minutes a day.

  1. 1

    Polishing Productive Skills

    • Writing Task 2: Eliminating Mechanical Essay Traps
    • Speaking: Overcoming Robotic and Rehearsed Habits
  2. 2

    Outsmarting Receptive Traps

    • Reading: Navigating Logic and Qualifying Traps
    • Listening: Catching Pivots and Formatting Traps

2 sections · 4 units · 11 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.

Questions

Questions about Fixing Common IELTS Mistakes

  1. How do I learn Fixing Common IELTS Mistakes?

    Go in order: start with Polishing Productive Skills, then Outsmarting Receptive Traps. On Tomo that's 11 short levels, about 22 minutes in all, played five minutes a day. Start free and play the first level in under a minute.

  2. Is there a Duolingo-style app for Fixing Common IELTS Mistakes?

    Yes. Tomo works like Duolingo: short daily lessons, streaks and quick quizzes. Fixing Common IELTS Mistakes is one of its free courses, and you can type any other topic to get a course of your own.

  3. Is the Fixing Common IELTS Mistakes course free?

    Yes. Fixing Common IELTS Mistakes is playable on Tomo's free plan, which doesn't expire. No credit card, no waitlist. Download the app and start your first lesson.

  4. How long does it take to learn Fixing Common IELTS Mistakes?

    11 levels across 2 sections, about 22 minutes of play in total. It's built for five minutes a day, so you finish it a little at a time instead of all at once.

  5. Do I need any background to start Fixing Common IELTS Mistakes?

    No. It's pitched at an intermediate level, so it starts where you are and builds up. If you can tap a phone, you can start.

New

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How it's taught

You pick the voice

This course
The Professor

Fixing Common IELTS Mistakes is taught in the Professor style: clear, structured, thorough. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.

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