What is
IELTS?
The IELTS is
jointly owned and managed by the British Council in partnership with IDP: IELTS
Australia and Cambridge University.
Know in
detail about the IELTS exam – its types, test format, assessment system,
registration process, TRF and OSR. Prepare for the test meticulously with the proper
learning resources and right guidance from the Tutor X community.
IELTS Types:
IELTS
Academic - This test
is mainly taken by students who are willing to apply for colleges and
universities or any other higher- education institution. In some countries, it
is also required for student visas where proficiency in English is required.
IELTS
General Training-
This test is intended for candidates who are applying for migration or for
work-related purposes in a country where they need to demonstrate their English
proficiency which is required to get adapted in English-speaking environments.
Test
format
Candidates
have the option to take the IELTS Test in paper-based or computer-based format
but depending on the options available at their chosen official test centre.
Sections
of the IELTS test:
- Listening
- Reading
- Writing
- Speaking
1. Listening
This test is
designed to see the candidate’s performance in understanding ideas, recognizing
the purpose or opinions of the speaker, and following the development of a
decent argument.
Candidates
will have to listen to four recordings, including conversations and monologues,
and then answer a set of questions based on those recordings.
Duration
of the test- Candidates
are given approximately 30 minutes but for the paper-based test, an extra 10
minutes time is given to transfer the answers to the answer sheet.
Number of
questions- 40
Types of
questions - MCQs,
Matching, labelling (plan/maps/diagram), completion (form/note/table/flow
charts/summary), sentence completion.
Marking
system- One mark is
given for each correct answer. The score will be given out of 40, which will then
be converted into IELTS scaling system (1 to 9 band scale).
2. Reading
This test is
to evaluate a candidate’s reading and understanding abilities of the main ideas,
recognizing opinions and following the developments of an argument. They will be
required to read three long passages, which will be descriptive as well as
factual, taken from books, journals, magazines and newspapers.
Duration
of the test- The
candidates are given approximately 60 minutes without any additional 10 minutes
because there is no need to transfer answers to answer sheet.
Number of
questions- 40
Types of
questions - Fill in
the gaps in the given passage or in a table, sentence completion, short
question answers, matching information, identify the writer’s views or claims
and MCQs.
Marking
system- One mark for
each correct answer and the score is out of 40, which will then be converted
into IELTS scoring system (1 to 9 band scale).
3. Writing
This test is
formulated to evaluate a candidate’s ability to organize thoughts, express
ideas and then transform them into words using appropriate vocabulary and
grammar effectively.
IELTS Academic
writing:
Task 1- Candidates will be provided with
some possible visuals (line graphs, pie charts, bar charts, tables, process
diagrams, or maps), which they have to analyse and compare the data,
describe the visible trends, and summarize the information they were able to
gather. This formal writing should be at least 150 words.
Task 2- Candidates will have to write an
essay consisting of at least 250 words. The types of essays that will be given
are basically opinion-based essays, discussion essays, argumentative essays or
problem-solving essays.
Duration: Total time-60minutes; Task 1- approximately
20minutes; Task 2 – approximately 40 minutes.
Number of
questions- 2
Marking
scheme: Task 2 has a
greater weightage and contributes twice as that of Task 1 in the writing test.
The marks or scores for this section is given by a certified IELTS examiner which
will be assessed based on some criteria like task achievement, lexical
resource, grammatical range and accuracy and more. The final score is reported
on the IELTS 0-9 band scale which includes whole and half bands.
IELTS General
Training writing:
Task 1- In this task, the candidates will have
to choose one of the three main types of letters: formal, semi-formal, or an
informal letter, depending on the context. The essay must be of at least 150
words which is to be completed within 20minutes.
Task 2- In this task, the candidates will
have to write an essay in response to opinion, discuss both views, advantages and
disadvantages and problem related. The essay must be at least 250 words, to
be completed in about 40 minutes.
Number of
questions - 2
Marking
scheme - Task 2 has
a greater weightage and contributes twice as that of Task 1 in the writing
test. The marks or scores for this section is given by a certified IELTS
examiner which will be assessed based on some criteria like task achievement,
lexical resource, grammatical range and accuracy and more. The final score is
reported on the IELTS 0-9 band scale which includes whole and half bands.
4. Speaking
This test assesses
a candidate’s ability to communicate effectively in English. It is a face-to-face
interview in which the candidates are required to speak to a certified IELTS
examiner and the test will be recorded. There will be no separate speaking test
for the IELTS Academic and IELTS General Training and the test is divided into
three distinct parts.
Part 1
(Introduction & Interview) - This is the introduction part in which the candidates have
to introduce themselves based on familiar topics like family, work, studies,
hobbies, home, travel, and interests. This is to assess their conversational
skills in English.
Part 2
(Individual Long Turn) - This is a more advanced stage in which the candidates will receive a cue
card (task card) with a particular topic written on it for them to talk about.
They will have one minute to prepare themselves for the points or ideas that
they are going to talk on. Then they will have to talk on the topic for one to
two minutes straight without any interruption.
Part 3 (Two-Way
Discussion) - Based
on the topic they were given in Part 2, the examiner will ask more abstract and
deeper analytical questions to assess how well they organize their thoughts and
ideas and are able to express those in greater depth.
Duration
of the whole session:
Approximately 10-14minutes.
Assessment
system: The examiner
will assess a candidate's performance based on four criteria - fluency and coherence,
lexical resource, grammatical range and accuracy, and pronunciation clarity. The
final score is reported on the IELTS 0-9 band scale, using whole and half
bands.
How to
register for IELTS exam?
- Visit the official IELTS website for registration.
- Choose the test type (Academic or General Training) and test format (computer-based or paper), if available.
- Select your preferred test, date, and centre from the given options.
- Fill out the registration form with the required information.
- Make the payment for registration using accepted payment methods.
- After the payment is completed, the candidate will receive a confirmation certificate, which should be kept for future reference.
IELTS Test
Report Forms (TRF):
Paper
TRF- If the IELTS
exam was taken on paper, then the candidates can receive the physical copy of
the result within 12 to 13 days after the IELTS exam has been conducted. The
result might be delivered by post or can be required to be collected from the
test centre, depending on the centre’s arrangements.
Electronic
TRF- If the
candidate has taken IELTS on computer, then the results will be in the form of
an electronic TRF (e-TRF) i.e, a digital version of the IELTS result. This can
be downloaded from the Test Taker Portal within 1 to 5 days after the IELTS
test has been conducted. The candidates will not be provided with any
additional Paper TRF. Candidates can either print the eTRF to send it to the
organization or institution they will be applying for, or send the eTRF via
email or through the Test Taker Portal.
NOTE: According to the IELTS announcement, the
traditional paper-based IELTS test is being discontinued globally from mid-2026
although there will be a “Writing on Paper” option for candidates to handwrite
the Writing component while the overall test remains computer-based.
Re-take
one skill of the test?
IELTS one
skill retake, or OSR, is crucial for candidates who could not perform well in
just one skill out of the four. Those candidates can retake only one of the
four skills: listening, reading, writing, and speaking, which means they don't
have to retake the entire test again for improving performance in one
particular skill. But the retake should be completed within 60 days of the
original IELTS test date. Candidates receive a new Test Report Form containing the
updated score for the retaken skill and the scores from the other three skills.
Note: Candidates
should first check with the organization they are applying to before booking
the OSR because not every university, immigration authority or employer accepts
One Skill Retake.
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