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Unit 04
How Long Does It Take to Prepare for YDS? A 12-Week Plan
a realistic timeline and a week-by-week plan
How Long Will It Take?
*With about 10–12 hours of focused study a week. These are estimates based on teaching experience, not guarantees. Take our placement test to find your level.
| Your level now | Target | Realistic time* |
|---|---|---|
| A2 (basic) | 55 | 6–9 months |
| B1 (intermediate) | 60–70 | 3–4 months |
| B2 (upper-intermediate) | 75–85 | 2–3 months |
| C1 (advanced) | 85+ | 4–6 weeks of exam practice |
A 12-Week Plan
| Weeks | Focus | Use these units |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Take Practice Exam 1 as a diagnostic; learn the format | YDS Guide, Practice Exam 1 |
| 2–4 | Grammar: tenses, conjunctions, relative clauses, prepositions | Grammar Questions, Cloze Test; B1–B2 grammar units |
| 2–12 | Vocabulary every day: 15–20 words | Academic Words 1–6, phrasal verbs, flashcards |
| 5–7 | Sentence completion and translation | Sentence Completion, Translation Questions |
| 8–9 | Reading, closest meaning, paragraph questions | Reading Comprehension, Restatement, Paragraph Completion, Irrelevant Sentence |
| 10 | Dialogues; Practice Exam 2 under exam conditions | Dialogue Completion, Practice Exam 2 |
| 11 | Review your weakest question types | your mistakes in the tests |
| 12 | Practice Exam 3; time management; rest before the exam | Practice Exam 3 |
Five Habits That Make the Difference
- Study a little every day rather than a lot once a week.
- Keep a notebook of your mistakes and review it every weekend.
- Read one short English text a day (news, popular science) — YDS passages come from the same kind of sources.
- Solve every practice exam in one sitting, with a timer.
- Do not leave any question blank: wrong answers do not reduce your score in YDS.
Ready to Start?