What is IELTS General?

The IELTS Academic test is suitable for those wanting to  study in an English-speaking environment or university (higher  education). You can also take IELTS Academic for professional  registration purposes.

Students can request to send their IELTS results to up to  five organisations free of charge.  There is a fee for sending results  to additional organisations. You can request your centre to send your  results as long as your IELTS scores are valid.

IELTS test assess your English language skills in listening, reading, writing and speaking.

The Listening, Reading and Writing sections of all IELTS tests  are completed on the same day, with no breaks in between them.

You will listen to four recordings of native English speakers  and then write your answers to a series of questions.    

1. Recording 1 – a conversation between two people set in an everyday social context.
2. Recording 2 – a monologue set in an everyday social context, e.g. a speech about local facilities.
3. 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.
4. 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.

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 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.

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.