Types of IELTS test
Understanding the IELTS syllabus is one of the first and most important steps in your success journey with IELTS.
IELTS tests can be divided into two main types based on your goal or purpose.
1 IELTS Academic
IELTS Academic is used for applying for admission to various universities, colleges and institutions.
2 IELTS General Training
IELTS General Training on the other hand is used for immigration purposes or applying for various visas.
IELTS Academic
| Listening (30 minutes) The Listening part has four recordings of native English speakers. You will have to listen to them and then answer the questions asked. |
| Reading (60 minutes) 1. Three reading passages with tasks. 2. Texts may include diagrams, graphs or illustrations. 3. Texts are derived from books, journals, magazines and newspapers. |
| Writing (60 minutes) 1. The test taker is required to describe a table, graph, chart or diagram in 150 words. 2. Short Essay task of 250 words. |
| Speaking (11-14 minutes) 1. Face-to-face interview with an examiner. 2. The test taker is required to answer short questions. Speak about a familiar topic at length and structured discussion. |
IELTS General training
| Listening (30 minutes) The Listening part has four recordings of native English speakers. You will have to listen to them and then answer the questions asked. |
| Reading (60 minutes) 1. Three reading sections with tasks. 2. Texts deal with everyday topics, office topics and general topics. |
| Writing (60 minutes) 1. Letter writing task of 150 words. 2. Essay writing task of 250 words. |
| Speaking (11-14 minutes) 1. Face-to-face interview with an examiner. 2. The test taker is required to answer short questions. Speak about a familiar topic at length and structured discussion. |
Parts of an IELTS test
The IELTS test has four main parts, which test the four main skills of the English language. To understand the IELTS syllabus you must understand each part in detail.
- Listening
- Reading
- Writing
- Speaking
Listening and Speaking parts are the same for both the IELTS Academic and IELTS General Training.
Listening
This part has four task or question types. There are a total of forty questions across the various task types. For each correct answer, you will get 1 mark. You will get 30 minutes to complete the Listening part.
Pay complete attention to the recording as it will play only once. The information in the recording that will help you answer the questions is in the same order as the questions, so you will get the information for question 1 and then question 2 and so on.
The recordings will be in different accents like American, British, Australian, etc.
| Section | Situation | Conversation type | No. of questions |
| 1 | Everyday or social situations | Conversation between 2 speakers | 10 |
| 2 | Everyday or social situations | One person speaks | 10 |
| 3 | Educational or training situations | Conversation between 2 main speakers | 10 |
| 4 | Educational or training situations | One person speaks on an academic topic | 10 |
Reading
The Reading part requires the test takers to read 3 passages and answer the questions based on the information from those passages. The reading part is different for IELTS Academic and IELTS General Training.
| Parameters | IELTS Academic | IELTS General Training |
| No. of questions | 40 | 40 |
| Duration | 60 minutes | 60 minutes |
| Sections | 3 | 3 |
| Marking | One mark for each correct answer | One mark for each correct answer |
| Task types | multiple-choice questions identifying information identifying the writer’s views/claims matching information matching headings matching features matching sentence endings sentence completion summary completion note completion table completion flow-chart completion diagram label completion short-answer questions. | multiple-choice questions identifying information identifying the writer’s views/claims matching information matching headings matching features matching sentence endings sentence completion summary completion note completion table completion flow-chart completion diagram label completion short-answer questions |
| Source | Books, magazines, newspapers | Topics of everyday life in an English-speaking country, work-related issues, general topics from newspapers , magazines, official documents notices, etc. |
Writing
| Parameters | IELTS Academic | IELTS General Training |
| No. of questions | 2 | 2 |
| Duration | 60 minutes | 60 minutes |
| Marking | Task 2 contributes twice the marks in comparison to task 1 | Task 2 contributes twice the marks in comparison to Task 1 |
| Task types | Describe a graph/chart/table/diagram in 150 words in 20 minutes Respond to a point of view, argument or problem in 250 words in 40 minutes. | Write a letter in 150 words in 20 minutes Write an Essay in 250 words in 40 minutes |
Speaking
The speaking test is a face-to-face interview of 11-14 minutes with an IELTS examiner. There are 3 sections in the speaking test. The speaking test is the same for IELTS Academic and IELTS General Training.
1. Speak about yourself and some familiar topics such as your family, home, etc.
2. You will be shown a card, which will have a topic. You will get a minute to prepare for this topic and then speak for about two minutes on this topic.
3. You will be asked some questions about this topic.