IELTS

IELTS General and IELTS Academic: Purpose and Formats

IELTS General Training is best suited for people who wish to live and work abroad in an English-speaking country. It mainly focuses on assessing a person’s proficiency, confidence and comfort when communicating in English in daily situations that they are likely to encounter.

IELTS Academic on the other hand is for students who are interested in pursuing their higher education overseas. Hence, it is designed to assess whether a test taker is ready and able to use English as a medium of study.

Both the Academic and General Training versions of IELTS require the same Listening and Speaking examinations but have different Reading and Writing components. It is essential to prepare for the appropriate test type. The Listening, Reading, and Writing portions of all IELTS exams are taken on the same day without any interruptions. However, the Speaking exam may be conducted up to a week before or after the other exams. If you have registered for IELTS Online, the Speaking test is usually scheduled before the other exams. The overall duration of the test is 2 hours and 45 minutes.

Listening: 30 minutes

Test takers listen to four recorded texts, monologues and conversations by a range of native speakers, and write their answers to a series of questions.

Reading: 60 minutes

The Academic test includes three long texts which range from the descriptive and factual to the discursive and analytical. The texts are authentic and are taken from books, journals, magazines and newspapers and are on academic topics of general interest. All have been selected for a non-specialist audience.

The General Training test requires test takers to read extracts from newspapers, advertisements, instruction manuals and books. These are materials test takers could encounter on a daily basis in an English-speaking country.

Speaking: 11–14 minutes

The Speaking test is carried out face-to-face with a trained IELTS examiner, as we believe this is the most effective way of assessing a test taker’s speaking skills. This section takes between 11 and 14 minutes to complete. Every test is digitally recorded and consists of three parts:
Part 1
Test takers answer general questions about themselves and a range of familiar topics, such as their home, family, work, studies and interests. This part lasts between four and five minutes.
Part 2
Test takers are given a booklet which asks them to talk about a particular topic. They have one minute to prepare before speaking for up to two minutes. The examiner may ask one or two questions on the same topic to finish this part of the test.
Part 3
Test takers are asked further questions which are connected to the topic in Part 2. These questions give the test taker an opportunity to discuss more abstract issues and ideas. This part lasts between four and five minutes.

The format of the Speaking test is common across both the Academic and General Training tests. It is structured in such a way that does not allow test takers to rehearse set responses beforehand.
IELTS Writing

Writing: 60 minutes

Academic Writing:

The Academic test includes two tasks. Topics are selected to be of general interest and suitable for test takers entering undergraduate or postgraduate studies or seeking professional registration.
Part 1
Test takers are presented with a graph, table, chart or diagram and are asked to describe, summarize or explain the information in their own words. They may be asked to describe and explain data, describe the stages of a process, how something works or describe an object or event.
Part 2
Test takers are asked to write an essay in response to a point of view, argument or problem.
Responses to both tasks must be written in an academic or semi-formal neutral style.

General Training Writing:

The General Training test also includes two tasks and is based on topics of general interest.
Part 1
Test takers are presented with a situation and are asked to write a letter requesting information or explaining the situation. The letter may be personal, semi-formal or formal in style.
Part 2
Test takers are asked to write an essay in response to a point of view, argument or problem. The essay can be slightly more personal in style than the Academic Writing Task 2 essay.
Contact Us

Achieve the Scores You Desire.

Start your language journey from here!