Most of the economic sectors of the world are affected by the unembellished outspread of Covid-19. The economy of Bangladesh could not go beyond its adverse effect. This study tries to determine the complications of the SME sector of Cumilla district due to the outbreak of the Covid-19 pandemic situation and to indicate some strategic choices to adapt to the hostile Covid-19 situation. Setting three possible strategies of the SMEs to adapt adverse Covid-19 conditions, the binary logistic model is used in this study and found that asset level and labor force management have a significant impact on the decision making of the SMEs. Kendall’s W shows that ‘a decrease in revenue earnings’ is the most pressing constraint faced by the SMEs during the period. To survive in the market, individual attempts of the SMEs may not be fruitful at all, stakeholders should come forward soon.

Test preparation programs namely coaching, mock tests, and repetitive test-taking aid students in achieving language skills and comprehending the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) test procedure. This paper attempted to find out the influence of test preparation programs on candidates’ IELTS test performance. A quantitative method was used, and an online questionnaire survey was conducted to obtain the data. The population of the study was the Bangladeshi students at Universiti Putra Malaysia. Probability sampling, specifically simple random sampling techniques were used to draw the sample. Data were collected from a total of 100 students, and SPSS was employed to analyze the data. The finding showed that mock test (r = 0.450), coaching (r = 0.496), and repetitive test-taking (r = 0.369) have a positive and moderate correlation with IELTS test performance. In contrast, the mock test, coaching, and repetitive test-taking have 23.4%, 35.3%, and 21.3% influence on IELTS test performance, respectively. This study has implications for candidates’ teaching and learning opportunities for competitive English language test programs. Furthermore, it will deliver a diverse viewpoint on the preparation programs and show their effectiveness for future reference. This study can be used as a guideline for future research to improve test preparation programs for better test performance.

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