IELTS (International English Language Testing system) is becoming an increasingly popular exam, and there is an increasing number of textbooks being published to help students to prepare for it. This book is one of the more specialized, since it only offers help with the academic module. (The other module is the General Training module - perhaps we can expect a textbook for this also.) Here listening and reading are covered, (audio cassettes are available for the listening) as well as writing and speaking.

The book has nine units, each of about 20 pages. Each unit is divided into a further 12 parts, four of listening and reading (two of each, but they are grouped together because they require many of the same skills) and another four of writing, and the final four on speaking. Each exercise is followed by a 'Point of Impact' which is actually a tip on how to deal with the question. These tips are very useful. They keep to particular points, offer good advice, and avoid silly generalizations like 'try to concentrate' - our only complaint is that they are sometimes rather short where an even longer discussion would help.

The book is colourful, not least because all reading and listening exercises are in reddish-brown boxes, writing in grey and speaking in orange. There are particular themes to each unit (e. g. Cultural Concerns, Back to School) and particular skills are targeted - (e.g. timing, dealing with multiple choice questions). Usually a guide time is given for how long it should take to do each exercise. Longman claim that the book has a total of 250 hours of tuition, starting with general preparation for the test right up to what to do the night before.

Who is this book for? Both teachers and students will find this a very helpful guide to the IELTS exam. The exercises are designed to be used in the classroom, or by students studying alone, and they provide practical advice as well as practice. The book is focused very tightly on the academic module of IELTS exam, and therefore is not much use for general English studies.

Verdict: Excellent for a very specialized topic.
Assessment 9/10