24–48 hour crash plan

The final-hours checklist. Tick items as you complete them — the ticks survive refresh. Block 1 is tech setup and comes first; Blocks 2–4 are the drill circuits; the rest carry you to the test itself.

Plan progress

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Block 1 - Environment and Tech Check (15 minutes, do first)

[ ] Test your microphone: record thirty seconds of speech on your phone or laptop and play it back - your voice must be clear at arm's length.
[ ] Choose and lock your equipment: the laptop or desktop you will actually use, with a wired internet connection if possible.
[ ] Pick the room: quiet, echo-free, door that closes, no fan or AC blowing directly at the mic.
[ ] Charge or plug in everything; keep a phone charger within reach.
[ ] Keep your ID document ready where you can find it in ten seconds.
[ ] Set phone to silent - not vibrate - and plan for zero interruptions for seventy minutes.
[ ] Keep a bottle of room-temperature water at the desk.

Block 2 - Voice Warm-Up Routine (5 minutes before every practice session)

[ ] Hum gently for sixty seconds, up and down your comfortable range.
[ ] Say each vowel - a, e, i, o, u - stretched and exaggerated, three times.
[ ] Run one tongue twister slowly, then at speed: "Red lorry, yellow lorry" and "She sells seashells".
[ ] Read any paragraph aloud at 100-120 words per minute, standing up, shoulders back.
[ ] Say one full answer to a random question from Part 2, listening for a clean start and a clean finish.

Block 3 - The Drill Circuit (repeat 2-3 times across your remaining hours)

One circuit takes about forty minutes. Complete each item aloud, with the recording running, and tick it off. Two clean circuits beat four exhausted ones.
[ ] Reading: eight sentences from Part 2 (rotate Sets A, B, C) - target 12 of 16 or better.
[ ] Repeat: three sentences from each level - target all content words in order.
[ ] Q&A: twenty questions answered aloud, started within two seconds - target 16 of 20 clean starts.
[ ] Jumbled: ten items - target 8 of 10 correct, spoken fluently.
[ ] Story: one retell, scored against its five points - target 4 of 5 plus clean past tense.
[ ] Topic: one full minute from a skeleton only - target no silence over two seconds.
[ ] Email: one situation planned and written in twenty minutes - target all seven frame parts present.
[ ] Playback: audit the recording with Block 4 before starting the next circuit.

Block 4 - Playback Audit (after every circuit, 10 minutes)

[ ] Count your filler words across the whole circuit - write the number down; the target is a downward trend, not zero.
[ ] Listen for dropped endings: -s, -ed, -t on the last word of sentences.
[ ] Check every answer began with speech, not silence.
[ ] Note your pace on the long sentences: could you still hear individual words?
[ ] Pick the single worst moment, and drill exactly that pattern for five minutes - not everything, just that one.

Block 5 - Grammar Ten-Minute Refresher (once, the evening before)

Block 6 - Email Frame Refresher (five minutes, the morning of the test)

Recite the seven parts from memory, then check yourself against this list: subject line with the action in it, correct salutation, purpose sentence in line one, two or three facts, one dated ask, polite close, formal sign-off. Then recite your three safety phrases: "I am writing to...", "Could you please confirm... by...", "Please let me know if you need any further information."

Block 7 - Rest and Day-Of Protocol

[ ] Sleep seven hours or more the night before - tired speech loses more marks than unpolished speech.
[ ] Learn nothing new in the final six hours; only revise what you have already practised.
[ ] Eat light before the test; sip room-temperature water rather than very cold drinks.
[ ] Log in fifteen minutes early and redo the microphone check seriously.
[ ] In the final thirty minutes: voice warm-up (Block 2), email frame recital (Block 6), and no note-reading panic.

Block 8 - During the Test: The Do-Not List

[ ] Do not go silent - ever. Restart the sentence calmly instead of freezing.
[ ] Do not switch out of English for even a word.
[ ] Do not answer in one word - answer plus one sentence, always.
[ ] Do not chase a lost item; the next question is a fresh start.
[ ] Do not race the easy sentences - hold 100-120 words per minute throughout.
[ ] Do not over-plan the topic task; start with your runway sentence and structure while speaking.
[ ] Do not submit the email without proofreading the subject line and the ask.
[ ] Do not dwell on any section after it ends - the assessment scores your next answer, not your last regret.
Final word: you have prepared with more structure than most candidates will ever have. Walk in with the five universal rules running in your head - never silent, commit and move on, stay in English, use the time, protect the signal - and let the practice do the rest.