Leap Scholar Review: An NIT Rourkela Student’s IELTS Band 7.5 in Under Two Months

Studying mining engineering wasn’t really a choice for this NIT Rourkela student; it’s a family trade going four generations deep. But moving abroad for a master’s was entirely her plan, one she’d been carrying since her first year. Here’s her Leap Scholar review on cracking IELTS in under two months and turning a 6.5 university cutoff into a comfortable 7.5.

Q1. When did the idea of studying abroad first come up for you?

A) I first thought about studying abroad in my first year. I even tried for a BS abroad in my first year, but it didn’t work out, so I continued my BTech. I always had it in my mind that I’d pursue a master’s from abroad, so as soon as I got into my third year, I started preparing for IELTS and my other exams.

Q2. How did you end up choosing mining engineering as your specialization?

A) I did my 11th and 12th from Rourkela while preparing for JEE, and like most JEE aspirants, my first target was getting into an IIT. That didn’t happen. During my counseling process I researched colleges like IIT Roorkee, IIT BHU, IIT Warangal, and the top NITs. I also belong to a coal belt area; my whole family is in the mining sector, and I’m the fourth generation in mining engineering. I got mining at NIT Rourkela according to my rank, and when I researched further, I found out that branch is actually very prestigious there, with strong placements and scope, so I stuck with it.

Q3. What was the first real hurdle once you started looking into studying abroad?

A) If you study in India, it's fairly simple; you crack one exam like JEE and gain admission. Going abroad is a much longer process with a lot of document work, LORs, SOPs, and everything. I had no idea about any of that going in. On top of that, I found out I needed IELTS and GRE. When I started researching IELTS, I came across Leap Scholar. To put it simply, IELTS was a major hurdle, and so was the overall documentation process.

Q4. How did you actually come across Leap Scholar?

A) I was searching for IELTS coaching online, and I typed it into ChatGPT. Leap Scholar came up as one of the top five platforms in India for IELTS coaching, so I researched the institution further from there.

Q5. Did you verify Leap Scholar before enrolling, maybe with a free test or reviews?

A) I searched for reviews on YouTube and also on Quora and Reddit. The reviews were pretty good for Leap Scholar, so I didn't overthink it before enrolling in the course.

Q6. You used the AI speaking evaluation tool. How did that go?

A) There were 16 attempts available in total, and I gave around 8 to 9 of them. It was quite good. The AI predicted my band score around 6 to 7 across the mock tests, and in my final actual exam, I got a 7 in speaking, so it lined up well.

Q7. What were your final scores across all four sections?

A) Reading and listening were my strongest; reading was 8.5 and listening was 8. Speaking and writing were both 7. My overall band came out to 7.5 out of 9.

Q8. How was your experience with the live classes and your teacher?

A) I was enrolled with Rupali Kanwal ma'am. She's a really nice teacher, and she covered every small detail, whether it was reading or writing. Techniques such as skimming and scanning through text, using different keywords and synonyms for commonly used words. That was very helpful, particularly in writing, as using less common words genuinely improves your score. She told us early on which common words we use daily and gave us synonyms so we wouldn't keep repeating ourselves. Overall it was a really nice experience.

Q9. Which section came easiest to you, and which was the toughest?

A) Reading was the easiest for me. If you can skim and scan through the text properly, it's honestly the easiest of all four sections; you can score 8, sometimes even 9 in reading. Listening was tougher than the other three because of the pacing. Occasionally it moves fast, and it's quite challenging to catch the exact word being said and write it down in that short window.

Q10. What did a typical week of preparation look like?

A) Apart from the study material, we had doubt-solving classes from 8 to 9 pm at least twice a week, plus vocabulary and grammar classes. There were around 18 to 19 AI speaking evaluation tests, section-wise mock tests for reading, writing, listening, and speaking, and a considerable number of full-length mock tests too. All of that really helped.

Q11. How long did your whole preparation actually take?

A) My course itself was one month, and then I spent another 15 to 18 days on practice. So it was roughly two months total. I think that's the average duration, provided you join a good coaching program and have good mentors guiding you. Honestly, I went in expecting IELTS prep to take six or seven months, so finishing in under two was a nice surprise for me too.

Q12. Walk me through your actual exam day.

A) My college is in Rourkela, but my nearest test center was the IDP office in Bhubaneswar. Everything there was white, the walls, the desks, all of it. There were three or four other candidates besides me. As soon as I entered, I got an ID card, had to remove my watch, keep my bag aside, and go through a registration process where they took my face and fingerprint biometrics. After waiting 10 to 15 minutes, I was called in for the speaking test first, which happens in a noise-cancellation room with just a desk, laptop, pen, paper, and headphones, conducted over a high-quality conference call. My examiner was Indian, though I'm not sure which country he was actually sitting in. After speaking, I got a full hour's break before the other three sections.

Q13. How did that one-hour break feel?

A) It was actually really beneficial. You receive a kind of trailer of the test from the speaking section, and that break lets you mentally prepare for the other three parts. It helped a lot rather than adding pressure.

Q14. What was it like getting your results?

A) I was fairly confident about reading, and speaking felt fine too, but I doubted listening since I consciously missed two or three questions; either I misheard the word or just couldn't catch it in time. My personal target was 7.5 or 8, so when 7.5 came through, I was genuinely relieved, and so was my family.

Q15. How many universities have you applied to, and where do things stand?

A) I applied to four: University of Adelaide, UNSW Sydney, University of Western Australia, and Curtin University, all for a two-year master's in mining. So far I've received offers from Adelaide and Curtin, and I'm confident I'll hear back positively from at least one more. Both offers are conditional; I need to complete my bachelor's first and submit my final grade card before I can accept.

Q16. How much did your IELTS score actually help your applications?

A) The cutoff for all four universities was around 6.5 overall. My 7.5 was well beyond that, and a stronger IELTS score genuinely improves your chances at your dream universities. It definitely worked in my favor.

Q17. Looking back, would you do anything differently?

A) If I got another shot at IELTS, I'd focus on learning more vocabulary and new words and actually use them in my writing section. I got a 7 in writing; if that had been 7.5 or 8, my overall band could have gone up to 8 or 8.5.

Q18. What advice would you give future IELTS aspirants?

A) Step one is to get in touch with a good academy, Leap Scholar or otherwise, though I'd obviously recommend Leap Scholar. After the course starts, you need to practice every single day, focusing even more on the section that feels hardest for you. It might sound cliché, but practice is essential.

From a family legacy in mining to a 7.5 IELTS band that cleared her target university's cutoff by a full point, this journey shows how far a focused two-month sprint can go with the right structure behind it. For anyone wondering whether IELTS prep really needs to eat up half a year, this Leap Scholar review says otherwise.