AI-powered IELTS speaking preparation platform with personalized coaching

The Need

IELTS test takers worldwide struggle with the speaking component, often lacking access to qualified tutors for regular practice and personalized feedback. BandScore9 identified an opportunity to democratize IELTS speaking preparation through artificial intelligence, making high-quality coaching accessible to anyone with an internet connection.

They needed a comprehensive platform that could provide real-time, personalized feedback on fluency, pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary based on official IELTS Band 9 standards. The challenge was to create an AI-powered system that could simulate authentic IELTS speaking tests, provide detailed score analytics, and offer multiple learning pathways—from self-paced video lessons to live one-on-one sessions with expert tutors.

Additionally, the platform needed to address the psychological barrier of public speaking anxiety through innovative features like anonymous peer conversation rooms, creating a safe environment where learners could build confidence before taking the actual exam.

The Solution

We developed a comprehensive AI-powered IELTS speaking preparation platform that combines cutting-edge speech recognition technology with human expertise to create a complete learning ecosystem.

The Personalized AI Speaking Coach represents the core innovation of the platform, delivering real-time feedback on fluency, pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary based on official IELTS Band 9 standards.

As students practice speaking, the AI analyzes their responses in real-time, identifying specific areas for improvement and providing actionable feedback. This immediate, personalized coaching replicates the experience of working with a human tutor while being available 24/7 at a fraction of the cost, making quality IELTS preparation accessible to students regardless of their location or budget.

The Mock Tests & Score Analytics module provides simulated IELTS speaking tests that mirror the actual exam format and conditions.

After completing mock tests, students receive detailed score breakdowns across all assessment criteria, time management tips to help them pace their responses effectively, and personalized improvement guides that prioritize areas needing the most attention. This data-driven approach helps students understand exactly where they stand and what they need to do to reach their target band score.

We implemented a Hybrid Learning Model that combines the flexibility of technology with the irreplaceable value of human expertise. Students can access video-based lessons for self-paced learning, take AI-proctored mock tests for practice and assessment, and book one-on-one face-to-face sessions with expert tutors for personalized coaching on challenging topics.

This blended approach accommodates different learning styles, budgets, and schedules while ensuring students have access to human support when they need it most.

The innovative Speaking Club Rooms feature creates anonymous, real-time peer conversation spaces where students can practice speaking English without fear of judgment. These virtual rooms help learners overcome public speaking anxiety and build confidence in a supportive, low-pressure environment.

By providing opportunities for authentic conversation practice with peers worldwide, the speaking clubs complement the structured learning and assessment features, addressing both the technical and psychological aspects of IELTS speaking preparation.

The platform has achieved significant scale, with over 60,000 tests taken online and more than 20,000 users onboarded, demonstrating strong market validation for the AI-powered approach to IELTS speaking preparation.

The Challenge

The primary challenge was developing AI speech assessment capabilities that could accurately evaluate nuanced aspects of spoken English—fluency, pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary—according to official IELTS Band 9 standards.

The AI needed to handle diverse accents, speaking speeds, and linguistic variations while providing feedback that was both accurate and pedagogically valuable. Training and refining the speech recognition and assessment models required extensive data collection, annotation, and iterative testing to ensure reliability across different user profiles.

Creating mock tests that genuinely simulated the IELTS speaking exam experience required careful attention to question types, difficulty progression, timing constraints, and scoring rubrics. The platform needed to generate diverse practice questions adaptively based on IELTS topic categories while ensuring consistent difficulty levels and avoiding repetition for users taking multiple tests.

Building the hybrid learning model with seamless integration between self-paced video lessons, AI-powered mock tests, and live one-on-one sessions with human tutors presented significant technical and operational challenges.

The platform needed to handle video streaming, real-time AI assessment, scheduling and video conferencing for live sessions, and payment processing—all while maintaining a cohesive user experience across these different learning modalities.

Implementing the Speaking Club Rooms feature required real-time audio communication infrastructure that could support anonymous peer conversations at scale while maintaining audio quality and minimizing latency.

The system needed to intelligently match users for conversation practice, moderate rooms to ensure appropriate usage, and provide a comfortable environment that genuinely helped reduce speaking anxiety.

Hosting the platform on AWS to ensure scalability and reliability while managing the computational demands of real-time AI speech assessment for thousands of concurrent users required careful infrastructure architecture and optimization.

The system needed to deliver immediate feedback without noticeable delays, as latency would undermine the learning experience.

The Partnership

Our collaboration with BandScore9 was driven by a shared mission to democratize access to quality IELTS preparation through technology innovation.

We worked closely with their team of IELTS experts and educators to understand the assessment criteria, common student challenges, and effective teaching methodologies that would inform the platform's design.

The partnership involved extensive research and development to create AI models capable of assessing spoken English with accuracy approaching human evaluators.

We collaborated with linguists and IELTS specialists to train the AI on authentic test responses, calibrate scoring algorithms against official band descriptors, and design feedback that would genuinely help students improve.

We designed user experiences that would be intuitive for students with varying levels of digital literacy and technical access, ensuring the platform could serve users in diverse markets worldwide.

The hybrid learning model was architected to provide multiple pathways to success, recognizing that students have different learning preferences, budgets, and preparation timelines.

Our team developed the complete technology stack—from the Flutter-based Android app providing mobile access, to the React.js web frontend, .NET backend APIs, SQL Server database, and AWS cloud infrastructure.

We integrated AI-driven speech assessment capabilities and implemented real-time interaction features for speaking clubs and live tutoring sessions.

The measurable success—60,000+ tests taken and 20,000+ users onboarded—demonstrates how this collaborative approach created a platform that genuinely helps students achieve their IELTS goals while building a sustainable, scalable business model for BandScore9.

The Tech Stack

We built the platform using Flutter for Android app development, React.js for the web frontend, .NET for the backend, SQL Server for the database, and hosted the infrastructure on AWS. Flutter enables a high-performance mobile experience with native-like interfaces for on-the-go learning and practice. React.js delivers a responsive, dynamic web application for desktop users.

The .NET backend provides robust APIs for handling complex business logic including user authentication, test generation, scoring calculations, tutor scheduling, and payment processing. SQL Server ensures reliable data management for user profiles, test results, lesson content, and analytics.

AWS cloud infrastructure provides the scalability needed to support thousands of concurrent users and the computational power required for real-time AI speech assessment.

The platform features AI-driven speech assessment technology that analyzes spoken responses for fluency, pronunciation, grammar, and vocabulary, video streaming capabilities for lessons and live tutoring sessions, real-time interaction infrastructure for speaking club rooms and one-on-one sessions, and scalable cloud architecture that maintains performance as the user base grows—all working together to deliver personalized IELTS speaking preparation at scale.