One-to-one online IELTS lessons for Saudi Arabia: the terms at a glance
Band Booster IELTS teaches IELTS online, one-to-one, to students anywhere in Saudi Arabia, from Riyadh and Jeddah to Dammam, Makkah, Madinah and Abha. It is one option to compare, not a ranking.
| Term | What applies for students in Saudi Arabia |
|---|---|
| Teacher | Mike, who holds the Cambridge CELTA (July 2017) and teaches every session himself from Hanoi, Vietnam. |
| Format and language | One-to-one, live on Google Meet, in English. Online only: no classroom or group class in Saudi Arabia. The website is also in Arabic. |
| Length and price | A regular lesson is 60 minutes; a paid 30-minute trial can be taken once, on your first booking. Your price shows in your own currency in the Price box on this page and on the booking page before you pay. |
| Payment | PayPal (cards work through PayPal guest checkout) or USDT (TRC20 or BEP20), charged as a US-dollar amount. |
| Changing a booking | Reschedule at no charge up to 12 hours before the slot. Cancellations inside 12 hours are not refunded. No subscription and no package. |
| Feedback and notes | Feedback during the lesson, recording on request, written progress notes in your account. |
| Outcome | No band, result or timeline is promised. |
| The IELTS test | Booked separately with IDP or the British Council. Band Booster does not register you or set test fees. |
Who teaches you: Mike
Every session is taught by Mike himself. He holds the Cambridge CELTA, a teaching qualification, has taught English and IELTS for 12+ years and has taught 500+ one-to-one sessions. He scored 8.5 in Speaking in his own IELTS. Band Booster is independent of IDP, the British Council and Cambridge University Press & Assessment. See about Mike (written for Vietnam, so ignore its prices).
What a session covers: Speaking, Writing, Listening and Reading
Speaking. Sessions follow the real three-part format, with feedback in the moment. According to ielts.org, the test takes 11 to 14 minutes: Part 1 is 4 to 5 minutes, Part 2 is 3 to 4 minutes including one minute to prepare, and Part 3 is 4 to 5 minutes. The four criteria carry equal weighting. See IELTS Speaking coaching and the Speaking Part 2 timer.
Writing. Task 1 and Task 2 are marked against the public band descriptors that ielts.org publishes (a PDF updated in May 2023). The test gives 60 minutes: Task 1 needs at least 150 words, Task 2 a minimum of 250, and Task 2 contributes twice as much as Task 1. Feedback comes during the lesson, not days later. See IELTS Writing feedback with Mike.
Listening and Reading are covered too (Listening, Reading).
The four skill pages above (Speaking, Writing, Listening and Reading) are written for Vietnam, so ignore the prices on them: your own price is on the booking page.
The time difference: Hanoi is 4 hours ahead of Saudi Arabia
Hanoi is on UTC+7. According to the IANA time zone database, Riyadh is on UTC+3, and neither Saudi Arabia nor Vietnam has a daylight-saving rule in its current period, so the gap is 4 hours all year, with Hanoi ahead. IANA's zone.tab lists a single time zone for Saudi Arabia, so the same gap applies whichever Saudi city you join from.
| Hanoi time (UTC+7) | Saudi Arabia (UTC+3) |
|---|---|
| 18:00 | 14:00 |
| 20:00 | 16:00 |
| 22:00 | 18:00 |
From the Saudi side, 09:00 in Riyadh is 13:00 in Hanoi. This is a conversion, not a list of open slots: no particular hours are promised, and the booking calendar shows what is open in your own time zone.
Booking and paying from Saudi Arabia
- Open the booking calendar. Slots show in your own time zone.
- Choose a 60-minute lesson, or on your first booking only, tick the paid 30-minute trial box above the calendar.
- See your price in your own currency, then pay by PayPal or USDT. The exact US-dollar amount is shown at checkout.
- With PayPal, a Google Meet link and calendar invite arrive by email straight after payment. With USDT, your slot is held until the transfer is confirmed.
You need a camera, a microphone and a stable connection, and should check that you can open Google Meet from where you are. Students under 18 can book, but a parent or legal guardian must read and agree to the consent letter before the booking is made. Questions? Message Mike on WhatsApp or Telegram at +84 383 390 963 (a Vietnam number) or email mkcenter007@gmail.com.
How to choose an online IELTS tutor from Saudi Arabia: six checks
These checks apply to any tutor. Notes marked "General advice" or "Our view" are ours; the rest comes from ielts.org, IDP and Ofqual pages read on 25 October 2026.
- How is Writing marked? ielts.org publishes the Writing band descriptors, and Writing is marked on four criteria: task achievement or response, coherence and cohesion, lexical resource, and grammatical range and accuracy. General advice: ask which criterion costs you marks, not only for a number.
- Is Speaking practised in the real format? The real test has three parts and a timed Part 2 with one minute of preparation. Our view: ask whether you will practise a timed Part 2 and get feedback on it.
- Which teaching qualification, and who awarded it? Ofqual's register lists the CELTA (Cambridge English Level 5 Certificate in Teaching English to Speakers of Other Languages), awarding organisation Cambridge English, number 501/1891/2. An entry shows the qualification exists, not who holds it, so ask any tutor for the name, awarding body and date. Our view: a tutor's own band shows what they achieved, not how well they teach.
- When does feedback arrive? General advice: ask whether it comes during the lesson or later, and whether you get written notes.
- What are the terms before you pay? General advice: get in writing the price in your own currency, the notice needed to move a lesson, whether late cancellations are refunded and whether anything renews automatically.
- Which red flags appear? A promised band or timeline (our view: a tutor does not mark the real test, so no tutor can guarantee a band). Memorised templates (IDP says it is never advisable to memorise answers). Offers to sell results or papers (IDP says anyone claiming to sell you an IELTS certificate is trying to scam you; ielts.org says not to trust anyone selling results or test papers). Both warnings concern fake results, not tutors in general.
Band Booster IELTS is one option to compare, not a ranking: the terms table answers checks 3 to 6 for Mike's lessons, and the session section answers checks 1 and 2. A longer guide: how to choose an online IELTS tutor.
Who online lessons with Mike do not suit
One-to-one online lessons may not suit you if:
- you want a teacher in the same room: there is no in-person lesson in Saudi Arabia;
- you want classmates or a fixed timetable: there are no group classes and no hours are promised (see private tutor or group course, written for Hanoi);
- you want lessons in Arabic: lessons are taught in English, though the website is also in Arabic;
- you want to choose between several tutors: Mike teaches every session himself;
- you want a promised band or a predicted score: none is offered;
- you cannot open Google Meet from where you are.
Before you book the IELTS test: what the providers say about Saudi Arabia
Band Booster IELTS is a private tutor, not a test centre: it does not register students, set exam fees or dates, or issue results, and this page quotes no exam fee or test date. The table gives what the providers' pages said on 25 October 2026; their own pages decide, and they change.
| Question | What the sources said | Where to read more |
|---|---|---|
| Which test centres? | The British Council says it has 17 test centre locations. IDP says 31 test centres but lists 27. The ielts.org finder showed 87 results, many repeated. No count is final. | IELTS test centres in Saudi Arabia |
| Which ID? | The British Council names a passport or national ID card for Saudi nationals and a passport or Iqama for non-Saudi nationals; digital IDs are not accepted. IDP has its own pages. | Booking IELTS: ID and Iqama |
| Computer or paper? | The British Council says you can take IELTS on computer at its centres in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam yet lists paper for 11 cities; ielts.org's 5 March 2026 notice says no paper-based IELTS from mid-2026, timelines varying by market. Confirm your format. | Computer-delivered IELTS in the Gulf |
| Women-only or men-only centres? | The ielts.org finder labels some centres Females Only or Males Only. Rely on the label on the provider's booking page, not on a venue's name. | Women's and men's centres |
| IELTS for UKVI? | The British Council offers it in Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam and Al-Ahsa and says it no longer offers paper, yet its booking page still lists paper. ielts.org says UKVI accepts only tests taken in person at an official IELTS for UKVI test centre. | IELTS for UKVI in Saudi Arabia |
| Speaking and results? | The British Council says results typically arrive within two days and Speaking is face to face or by video call at your centre; ielts.org says computer results take 1 to 5 days and describes Speaking as face to face. Ask your centre. | Results and TRF in Saudi Arabia |
| One Skill Retake? | ielts.org: once per original test, within 60 days, after a full IELTS on computer. Check that the organisation receiving your result accepts it. | One Skill Retake in Saudi Arabia |
IELTS guides for Saudi cities and regions
Test centres are not the same everywhere: the ielts.org finder's city menu runs well beyond Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam (Abha, Hail, Tabuk, Taif and Yanbu among them).
- Tutor pages: Riyadh and Jeddah (Arabic versions: Riyadh, Jeddah). There is no Dammam tutor page, only the test-centre guide below.
- Test-centre guides: Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam and Al Khobar, Makkah and Taif, Madinah and Yanbu, and Abha, Hail, Tabuk and more.
- Wider region: Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman and its Speaking tutor page; in the UAE, see the UAE page.
- This page in Arabic: معلم آيلتس (IELTS) أونلاين في السعودية.
Check the requirement with the organisation that sets it. This page states no score requirement for any university, employer, regulator or visa (see IELTS scores at Saudi universities). Ask the organisation that will receive your result which test it accepts and what score it needs. For IELTS for UKVI, ielts.org says UK Visas and Immigration accepts only tests taken in person at an official IELTS for UKVI test centre; this page gives no visa advice.