The DLR Coaching Process
A personalised six-stage coaching process for private IELTS candidates — built around your target band, your current performance, and the specific areas holding your score back. Not a generic course; a structured path from where you are now to where you need to be.
Target
What band score do you need, and why? We start by understanding your target — whether it's for university, registration, immigration or a professional requirement — so every decision that follows is pointed at the right outcome.
- Define your required band and deadline
- Understand what the score is for
- Set a realistic preparation window
Assess
Where is your performance now? An honest assessment across all four IELTS skills gives us an accurate starting point — not a label, but a clear picture of where you are today.
- Current working level across Listening, Reading, Writing, Speaking
- Strengths to preserve
- A baseline to measure progress against
Diagnose
What's actually preventing you from reaching your target? Most candidates don't know. I identify the specific areas — task response, coherence, lexical resource, grammar, pronunciation — that are holding your score back.
- Pinpoint the band-descriptor areas costing you marks
- Separate real gaps from habits you can change quickly
- Prioritise what will make the biggest difference
Coach
Build preparation around those specific areas. Private 1-to-1 coaching sessions focused entirely on your priorities — targeted practice, examiner-style feedback, and strategy you can actually apply.
- Targeted sessions on your priority areas
- Examiner-style writing and speaking feedback
- Strategy built around your target band
Review
Monitor progress and adjust the strategy. We review regularly — what's improved, what still needs attention, and what to change next — so your preparation stays focused as your performance develops.
- Regular progress reviews against your target
- Adjust priorities as you improve
- Keep preparation focused, not open-ended
Prepare
Build the skills, strategy and confidence needed for test day. By the time you sit the test, you understand exactly what the examiner is looking for and how to deliver it.
- Exam-day strategy and time management
- Confidence under real test conditions
- Walk in knowing what to do
Personalised, not generic
Every candidate's path through this process is different. Your assessment, your diagnosis and your coaching are built around your individual performance and target — not a fixed syllabus. The process gives us structure; the content is yours.
No guaranteed band — just focused, honest preparation.