IELTS Exam
The International English Language Testing System, which is abbreviated as "IELTS" is owned and jointly managed by the British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia, and Cambridge Assessment English. It is one of the major English language tests in the world. IELTS exam is designed to assess a candidate's ability to handle English and his/her proficiency in the English language. Though the native English speakers can take this test, it is primarily designed for the non-native English language speakers who want to enrol in a college/ university or want to migrate to a country where English is necessary.
More than 3 million test takers take IELTS in more than 140 different countries and the number is increasing! IELTS is recognised worldwide and your IELTS score is important to get admitted to a university/college or to migrate to a country where English is used for academic or immigration purposes.
There are 2 different test formats in IELTS: Academic IELTS and General Training (GT) IELTS. Academic IELTS is recommended for students who want to get admitted to a foreign college or university. General Training IELTS is mainly designed for people who are planning to undertake non-academic training or to gain work experience, or for immigration purposes.
The IELTS test can be taken either on a computer or using pen-and-paper. The computer-based version of IELTS, also called computer-delivered IELTS, is taken on a computer whereas the pen-and-paper based IELTS requires the candidate to use the pen/pencil and papers to complete the test.
The speaking part of the IELTS is not conducted on a computer; rather that is managed by a human examiner who takes the interview face-to-face both in paper-based and computer-delivered IELTS tests.
IELTS test has 4 sections: Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking. The Academic and GT IELTS have the same listening and speaking formats whereas the reading and writing (only task1) sections of the IELTS vary depending on whether a candidate is taking GT IELTS or Academic IELTS.
The IELTS exam lasts for 2 hours and 45 minutes (the speaking test duration may vary but usually lasts for 11-15 minutes). After the test, the result is published in two weeks and the result (also called Test Report Form or TRF) comes with a score from band 1 to band 9. Band score is given for individual modules as well as an average score.
If you are planning to take IELTS or prepare for it, you are advised to learn details of each module of the IELTS from the following links.
Click on the corresponding section or module to learn details about this module.
IELTS Listening
IELTS Reading
IELTS Writing
IELTS Speaking
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