The Importance of Listening

In Mexico, I was a couple years older and I lived with a host family and they didn't speak English. After a month of speaking Spanish every day all the time, I felt like a thousand times more fluent. That's what it's all about: immersing yourself in a new culture and a new language. What can we do if we're preparing for IELTS and we want to stop this rehearsing way of speaking?