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What is IELTS?
IELTS is the high-stakes English test for study, migration or work.
IELTS is a task-based test covering the four language skills
(listening, reading, writing and speaking).

Which IELTS test is right for me?

There are two types of the IELTS test: IELTS Academic and IELTS
General Training.

IELTS Academic:
The IELTS Academic test is for people applying for higher
education or professional registration in an English speaking
environment. It reflects some of the features of academic
language and assesses whether you are ready to begin studying or
training.

IELTS General Training:

The IELTS General Training test is for those who are going to
English speaking countries for secondary education, work
experience or training programs. It is also a requirement for
migration to Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK. The
test focuses on basic survival skills in broad social and workplace
contexts.

Individual organisations have different requirements. Make sure

you check which IELTS test the organisation you are applying to
recognise.

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IELTS on Paper or Computer
IELTS can be taken on Paper or Computer.

TEST FORMAT
The IELTS test assesses your abilities in listening, reading, writing and
speaking – in less than three hours.
The Listening and Speaking are the same for both IELTS Academic
and IELTS General Training tests, but the subject matter of the
Reading and Writing sections differs depending on which test you
take.
The Listening, Reading and Writing sections of all IELTS tests
are completed on the same day, with no breaks in between them.
The Speaking section, however, can be completed up to a week
before or after the other tests. Your test centre will advise.
The total test time is 2 hours and 45 minutes.

Prepare for the test

Once you are familiar with the IELTS test format, you will need
to undertake a number of focused preparation activities. This
material will provide you with the IELTS test format and focused
preparation activities.

Test format – Listening

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30 minutes

You will listen to four recordings of native English speakers and

then write your answers to a series of questions.

Recording 1 – a conversation between two people set in an

everyday social context.

Recording 2 - a monologue set in an everyday social context, e.g.

a speech about local facilities.

Recording 3 – a conversation between up to four people set in an

educational or training context, e.g. a university tutor and a
student discussing an assignment.

Recording 4 - a monologue on an academic subject, e.g. a

university lecture.

Assessors will be looking for evidence of your ability to

understand the main ideas and detailed factual information, the
opinions and attitudes of speakers, the purpose of an utterance
and evidence of your ability to follow the development of ideas.

IELTS Listening description:

There are four parts with ten questions each. The questions are
designed so that the answers appear in the order they are heard in
the audio.
The first two parts deal with situations set in everyday social
contexts.
In Part 1, there is a conversation between two speakers (for
example, a conversation about travel arrangements), and
In Part 2, there is a monologue in (for example, a speech about
local facilities). The final two parts deal with situations set in
educational and training contexts.

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In Part 3, there is a conversation between two main speakers (for
example, two university students in discussion, perhaps guided by
a tutor), and
In Part 4, there is a monologue on an academic subject.
The recordings are heard only once. They include a range of
accents, including British, Australian, New Zealand, American
and Canadian.

Timing:
Approximately 30 minutes (plus 10 minutes transfer time).
No. of questions: 40.

Marks:
Each question is worth 1 mark.

Test format – Speaking

11–14 minutes

The speaking section assesses your use of spoken English. Every

test is recorded.

Part 1 - the examiner will ask you general questions about

yourself and a range of familiar topics, such as home, family,
work, studies and interests. This part lasts between four and five
minutes.

Part 2 - you will be given a card which asks you to talk about a
particular topic. You will have one minute to prepare before

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speaking for up to two minutes. The examiner will then ask one or
two questions on the same topic.

Part 3 - you will be asked further questions about the topic in

Part 2. These will give you the opportunity to discuss more
abstract ideas and issues. This part of the test lasts between four
and five minutes.

IELTS Speaking description:

The Speaking test consists of an oral interview between the test takers'
and an examiner. All Speaking tests are recorded.
Timing
11–14 minutes.

Test format – Reading

60 minutes

The Reading section consists of 40 questions, designed to test a

wide range of reading skills. These include reading for gist,
reading for main ideas, reading for detail, skimming,
understanding logical argument and recognising writers' opinions,
attitudes and purpose.

IELTS Academic test - this includes three long texts which range
from the descriptive and factual to the discursive and analytical.
These are taken from books, journals, magazines and newspapers.
They have been selected for a non-specialist audience but are
appropriate for people entering university courses or seeking
professional registration.

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IELTS Academic Reading description
Paper format
Three reading passages with a variety of questions using a number of
task types.
Timing
60 minutes
No. of questions
40
Task types
A variety of question types are used, chosen from the following;
multiple choice, 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 and short-answer questions.
Sources
Texts are taken from books, journals, magazines and newspapers, and
have been written for a non-specialist audience. All the topics are of
general interest. They deal with issues which are interesting,
recognisably appropriate and accessible to test takers entering
undergraduate or postgraduate courses or seeking professional
registration. The passages may be written in a variety of styles, for
example narrative, descriptive or discursive/argumentative. At least
one text contains detailed logical argument. Texts may contain non-
verbal materials such as diagrams, graphs or illustrations. If texts
contain technical terms a simple glossary is provided.
Answering

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Test takers are required to transfer their answers to an answer sheet
during the time allowed for the test. No extra time is allowed for
transfer. Care should be taken when writing answers on the answer
sheet as poor spelling and grammar are penalised.
Marks
Each question is worth 1 mark.

IELTS General Training test- this includes extracts from books,

magazines, newspapers, notices, advertisements, company handbooks
and guidelines. These are materials you are likely to encounter on a
daily basis in an English-speaking environment.

IELTS General Training Reading description

Paper format
There are three sections. Section 1 may contain two or three short
texts or several shorter texts. Section 2 comprises two texts. In
Section 3, there is one long text.
Timing
60 minutes
No. of questions
40
Task types
A variety of question types are used, chosen from the following:
multiple choice, identifying information, identifying 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.
Sources

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The first section, ‘social survival’, contains texts relevant to basic
linguistic survival in English with tasks mainly about retrieving and
providing general factual information, for example, notices,
advertisements and timetables.

The second section, ‘Workplace survival’, focuses on the workplace

context, for example, job descriptions, contracts and staff
development and training materials.

The third section, ‘general reading’, involves reading more extended

prose with a more complex structure. Here, the emphasis is on
descriptive and instructive rather than argumentative texts, in a
general context relevant to the wide range of test takers involved, for
example, newspapers, magazines and fictional and non-fictional book
extracts.

Answering
Test takers are required to transfer their answers to an answer sheet
during the time allowed for the test. No extra time is allowed for
transfer. Care should be taken when writing answers on the answer
sheet as poor spelling and grammar are penalised.
Marks
Each question is worth 1 mark.

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Test format – Academic Writing
60 minutes

Topics are of general interest to, and suitable for, test takers entering
undergraduate and postgraduate studies or seeking professional
registration. There are two tasks:

Task 1 - you will be presented with a graph, table, chart or diagram

and asked to describe, summarise or explain the information in your
own words. You may be asked to describe and explain data, describe
the stages of a process, how something works or describe an object or
event.
Task 2 - you will be asked to write an essay in response to a point of
view, argument or problem. Responses to both tasks must be in a
formal style.

IELTS Academic Writing description

Paper format
There are two Writing tasks and BOTH must be completed.
Timing
60 minutes
No. of questions
2
Task types
In Task 1, test takers are asked to describe some visual information
(graph/table/chart/diagram) in their own words. They need to write
150 words in about 20 minutes. In Task 2, they respond to a point of

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view or argument or problem. They need to write 250 words in about
40 minutes.
Answering
Answers must be given on the answer sheet and must be written in
full. Notes or bullet points are not acceptable as answers. Test takers
may write on the question paper but this cannot be taken from the
examination room and will not be seen by the examiner.

Test format – General Training Writing

60 minutes

Topics are of general interest. There are two tasks:

Task 1 - you will be presented with a situation and asked to write a

letter requesting information, or explaining the situation. The letter
may be personal, semi-formal or formal in style.
Task 2 - you will be asked to write an essay in response to a point of
view, argument or problem. The essay can be fairly personal in style.

IELTS General Training Writing description

Paper format
There are two Writing tasks to complete.
Timing
60 minutes

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No. of questions
2
Task types
In Task 1, test takers are asked to respond to a situation, for example,
by writing a letter requesting information or explaining a situation.
In Task 2, test takers write an essay in response to a point of view,
argument or problem.

Answering
Answers must be written in full in the answer booklet. Notes or bullet
points in whole or in part are not acceptable as answers. Test takers
may write on the question paper but this cannot be taken from the test
room and will not be seen by the examiner.

IELTS BAND SCORES AND MARKING

IELTS Band Scores: How they are calculated

The IELTS band score tables below explain the scoring that will help
you calculate and understand your score.

How the IELTS Band Scores are Calculated

All IELTS scores are between 0 and 9. You can also get .5 scores as
well (for example, 6.5 or 7.5). You will get a band score for each skill
(listening, reading, writing and speaking) and also an overall band
score. The overall band score is the average score of all the skills.

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The Overall Band Score is the average of the four component scores,
rounded to the nearest whole or half band. The component scores are
weighted equally.

If the average of the four components ends in .25, the Overall Band
Score is rounded up to the next half band, and if it ends in .75, the
Overall Band Score is rounded up to the next whole band. If the
average ends with a fraction below .25 or .75, the overall score is
rounded down.

Some examples:

Reading 6.5 + Writing 5 + Speaking 7 + Listening 6.5 = 25

Divide 25 by 4 = 6.25
Ends in .25 so round up to the next half band
Overall band score = 6.5

Reading 6.5 + Writing 5.5 + Speaking 6.0 + Listening 6.5 = 24.5

Divide 24.5 by 4 = 6.125
Ends with a fraction below .25 so round down to the next whole band
Overall band score = 6.0

Reading 3.5 + Writing 4.0 + Speaking 4.0 + Listening 4.0 = 19.5

Divide 19.5 by 4 = 3.875

Band Score Descriptions

The table below gives a description of each band score with
information about the level of English required for band scores 0 to
9.

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 Band Skill level Description
score

Band Expert user You have a full operational

9 command of the language. Your
use of English is appropriate,
accurate and fluent, and you
show complete understanding.

Band Very good You have a fully operational

8 user command of the language with
only occasional unsystematic
inaccuracies and inappropriate
usage. You may misunderstand
some things in unfamiliar
situations. You handle complex
detailed argumentation well.

Band Good user You have an operational

7 command of the language,
though with occasional
inaccuracies, inappropriate
usage and misunderstandings in
some situations. Generally you
handle complex language well
and understand detailed
reasoning.

Band Competent Generally you have an effective

6 user command of the language

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 Band Skill level Description
score

despite some inaccuracies,

inappropriate usage and
misunderstandings. You can
use and understand fairly
complex language, particularly
in familiar situations.

Band Modest user You have a partial command of

5 the language, and cope with
overall 5 meaning in most
situations, although you are
likely to make many mistakes.
You should be able to handle
basic communication in your
own field.

Band Limited user Your basic competence is

4 limited to familiar situations.
You frequently show problems
in understanding and
expression. You are not able to
use complex language.

Band Extremely You convey and understand

3 limited user only general meaning in very
familiar situations. There are

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 Band Skill level Description
score

frequent breakdowns in
communication.

Band Intermittent You have great difficulty

2 user understanding spoken and
written English.

Band Non-user You have no ability to use the

1 language except a few isolated
words.

Band Did not You did not answer the

0 attempt the questions.
test

Listening and Reading Band Scores

Your listening and reading scores are calculated by the number of
correct answers you have out of the 40 questions in the test. You do
not lose points for incorrect answers.

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HOW IS THE IELTS WRITING TEST MARKED?
The IELTS Writing test is marked by qualified IELTS examiners who
are intensively trained and monitored to ensure consistency and
quality of marking, no matter where in the world the test is taken. A
minimum of two examiners will mark your Writing test, and
sometimes even up to three or four. This is done to ensure the highest
level of accuracy and fairness possible.

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Your Writing test response is scored in the areas of ‘task response’,
‘coherence and cohesion’, ‘lexical resource’, and ‘grammatical range
and accuracy’. To understand what each of these mean, view the
Writing band descriptors below, which have detailed information
about each phrase and how they relate to the different band scores that
are possible.

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HOW IS THE IELTS SPEAKING TEST MARKED?
The Speaking test in IELTS is just like a conversation that you would
have in everyday life. In the test, you will sit in a private, quiet room
with a qualified examiner who will engage you in a conversation.
While it can be difficult to speak to a stranger, make the most of it!
With IELTS, the examiner can slow down for you, speed up or even
repeat or rephrase a question if you like – all you have to do is ask.
The examiner is there to enable you to perform at your best.

Your speaking skills are marked against a number of criteria,

including ‘fluency and coherence’, ‘lexical resource’, ‘pronunciation’,
‘grammatical range’ and ‘accuracy’. To understand what each of
these mean view the Speaking band descriptor below, which has
detailed information about each phrase and how they relate to the
different band scores that are possible.

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