What is the IELTS exam?
IELTS or the International English Language Testing System is an English language Certification test conducted by British Council and IDP. IELTS test is widely popular for foreign education or immigration purpose to English speaking countries.
Types of IELTS exam
There are 2 types of IELTS exam.
a. The Academic IELTS exam – This test is for students who want to study abroad. Most of the reputed universities need IELTS score above 6.5 in order to understand the student’s English level.
b. The General IELTS exam – This test is for immigrants or workers who want to migrate or go for a job in an English-speaking country. This test is designed in such a way to understand the persons English understanding capability.
IELTS exam Structure
IELTS exam is of 2 types, i. Academic and ii. General. Both the IELTS tests are similar but the question structure is different but the score is graded in exactly the same way.
In general, you will have Listening, Reading and Writing on the same of the exam and the Speaking part of the exam can happen on the same day or days before or after the exam, it entirely depends on the examination centre. For the Listening, Reading and Writing there are no breaks in between the exams, so please be prepared for the exam.
| IELTS Academic | IELTS General Training |
| IELTS Academic measures English language proficiency needed for an academic, higher learning environment. The tasks and tests are accessible to all test takers, irrespective of their subject focus. | IELTS General Training measures English language proficiency in a practical, everyday context. The tasks and tests reflect both workplace and social situations. |
| Listening* (30 minutes, plus 10 minutes extra to transfer your answer to your answer sheet) | Listening* (30 minutes, plus 10 minutes extra to transfer your answer to your answer sheet) |
| Reading (60 minutes)Three long reading passages with tasksTexts range from descriptive and factual to the discursive and analyticalIncludes non-verbal material such as diagrams, graphs or illustrationsAuthentic texts (e.g. taken from books, journals and newspapers) | Reading (60 minutes)Three reading passages with tasksSection 1 contains two or three short factual textsSection 2 includes two short, work-related, factual textsSection 3 contains one longer text on a topic of general interestAuthentic texts (e.g. taken from books, journals and newspapers) |
| Writing (60 minutes)Writing task of at least 150 words where the test taker must summarise, describe or explain a table, graph, chart or diagram250 words task for short essay | Writing (60 minutes)Letter writing task of at least 150 words250 words task for short essay |
| Speaking* (11 to 14 minutes)F2F interviewIncludes short questions, speaking at length about a familiar topic and a structured decision | Speaking* (11 to 14 minutes)F2F interviewIncludes short questions, speaking at length about a familiar topic and a structured decision |
| * For both the exams listening and speaking sections are exactly same. |
IELTS Score system –
This question does not have one single answer but a deep analysis behind.
The IELTS exam scoring system is called “Band” and the band ranges between 1 to 9, also the individual parts of the exam i.e. the Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking is also scored in-between 1 to 9. So, your overall band will depend on the band of the individual section.
In order to understand these score bands, let’s first look at the British Council’s official descriptions of different bands to get a general idea –
A good IELTS score depends on from country to country and also university to university, there is no perfect answer for what is a good IELTS score, it all depends on the institution.
Although, most of the reputed organisations require band higher than 6.5. But for general immigration purpose a band score 5 might be acceptable but again it will depend on the country.
After knowing about each aspect of the IELTS test, you might be thinking that what makes this IELTS test more reliable or popular?
It’s a very easy and important answer: Global Acceptance
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