2 posts tagged with "study-tools"

I made a free, open-source desktop app for English exam practice (reading, listening & AI-graded writing)

Hey everyone 👋

I've been self-studying English for a while, and the thing that kept tripping me up was practice material. Most of the good stuff is behind a subscription, gives you two free tests and then asks for your card, or just doesn't match the format of the exam you're actually preparing for.

So I built my own tool and made it free for everyone. It's called IELTS Mastery Hub — a desktop app for Windows, Linux, and macOS, open source under the MIT license. No account, no paywall, no ads.

Quick demo video:

What it does:

• 📖 Reading — timed, split-screen passages with the standard question types, auto-scored so you get instant feedback
• 🎧 Listening — audio sections that get progressively harder
• ✍️ Writing — a dual-pane editor that gives you AI feedback across the official scoring criteria (task response, coherence, vocabulary range, grammar)
• 📊 Dashboard — tracks your results over time so you can actually see whether you're improving or plateauing

Even if you're not sitting IELTS specifically, the reading/listening drills and the writing feedback work fine as general B2–C1 practice. Writing is usually the hardest skill to self-study because you need someone to read what you wrote — getting structured feedback on why a paragraph is weak has been the most useful part for me by far.

Try it:

macOS / Linux:

curl -fsSL https://open-lingua.github.io/ielts-mastery-hub/install/install.sh | sh

Windows (PowerShell):

irm https://open-lingua.github.io/ielts-mastery-hub/install/install.ps1 | iex

Or build it yourself: git clone https://github.com/open-lingua/ielts-mastery-hub.git

Repo: https://github.com/open-lingua/ielts-mastery-hub Docs: https://open-lingua.github.io/ielts-mastery-hub/docs/intro/

Disclaimer: this is an independent, non-commercial educational project. It's not affiliated with or endorsed by the British Council, IDP Education, or Cambridge Assessment English — IELTS is a registered trademark of its respective owners. The practice content is AI-generated for study purposes, so use it as practice, not as official material, and don't treat the scores as a real band prediction.

I'd genuinely love feedback from other learners here — especially on whether the writing feedback feels useful or too generic, and what other skills or languages you'd want to see added. Bug reports and ideas are welcome on GitHub, and I'm happy to answer anything in the comments.

Good luck with your studying 🍀

I built a free, open-source desktop app for IELTS practice (Reading, Listening & AI-graded Writing)

Hey everyone 👋

While prepping for IELTS I got frustrated that almost every decent practice tool is either behind a subscription, locked to a few free tests, or just doesn't look/feel like the actual exam. So I ended up building my own — and I'm putting it out there free for anyone who wants it.

It's called IELTS Mastery Hub. It's a desktop app (Windows, Linux, macOS), completely free, and open source under the MIT license. No account, no paywall, no "upgrade to see your score."

Quick demo video:

What's in it right now:

• 📖 Reading — split-screen layout like the real thing, covering the official question types, with auto-scoring
• 🎧 Listening — audio sections with progressive difficulty
• ✍️ Writing — dual-pane editor with AI feedback based on the official IELTS scoring criteria (Task Achievement, Coherence, Lexical Resource, Grammar)
• 📊 Dashboard — tracks your scores over time so you can actually see if you're improving

The Writing feedback has honestly been the most useful part for me personally — getting some structured feedback on band criteria beats writing essays into the void while waiting for a tutor.

Install:

macOS / Linux:

curl -fsSL https://open-lingua.github.io/ielts-mastery-hub/install/install.sh | sh

Windows (PowerShell):

irm https://open-lingua.github.io/ielts-mastery-hub/install/install.ps1 | iex

Or build from source: git clone https://github.com/open-lingua/ielts-mastery-hub.git

Repo: https://github.com/open-lingua/ielts-mastery-hub Docs: https://open-lingua.github.io/ielts-mastery-hub/docs/intro/

Important disclaimer: this is an independent, non-commercial educational project. It is not affiliated with or endorsed by the British Council, IDP Education, or Cambridge Assessment English — IELTS is a registered trademark of its respective owners. The practice content is AI-generated for study purposes, so treat it as practice material, not as official past papers. It won't be 100% accurate, and your real band score is decided by real examiners.

I'd really love feedback from people actually sitting the test — especially on whether the Reading/Listening timing and question formats feel close enough to the real exam, and whether the Writing feedback is actually helpful or just generic. If you find something wrong or missing, open an issue (or a PR, if that's your thing).

Happy to answer questions in the comments. Good luck to everyone testing soon 🍀