I took the IELTS on the 27th of August It was my first time so I was extremely nervous =)
Preparation time: about 2 months (I spend about 60 - 90 mins. night doing IELTS practice exams)
Books used : CAMBRIDGE IELTS 7, CAMBRIDGE IELTS 8, PRACTICE TEST PLUS 2, IELTS TEST BUILDER 2, KAPLAN IELTS(bought it but didn't use it)
Recommendation : PRACTICE TEST PLUS 2 <-- SUCH A GOOOOOOOOOOOD BOOK! I LOVE THIS ONE SO MUCH! A MUST BUY xD
The way I study : I didn't do a whole test a time. But rather, it's like a section per day. So day 1:LISTENING. DAY 2:READING etc. Because due to my limited time each night after school, I couldn't spend 2 hours or more on it because I have homeworks as well, so I couldn't do the whole test.
I don't recommend you to do what I did because it won't give you the feel of the real exam. ... Also, you won't be made accustomed to the order of the sections =).
MOREOVER, HIRE A TUTOR OR SOMETHING, I got only 2 feedbacks overall for my writing =(
Time spent revising on each section : Listening>Reading>Writing>Speaking (This may say why I achieved such a low score in writing=w=")
<I was expecting lower scores in both listening and reading because I was SOO sleepy(slept at 2am and woke up at 7am), and a higher score in writing
>LISTENING : 8.5
READING : 8.0
WRITING : 6.5 < a very PATHETIC score despite my other scores =w='' I'm surprised they didn't protract my results time to double check all my works =w=. This is quite ridiculous but I went hysteric when I got my result sheet and saw the writing score, because it was so conspicuous against all others =w=''>
SPEAKING : 8
OVERALL : 8
I might not get the best scores but any questions are welcomed =)