IELTS Exam Explained: Test Format, Band Scores & How to Prepare

If you want to study a postgraduate course in an English-speaking country like the UK, US, Canada or Australia, you might have to give an English language test to prove that you have a grasp on the language. There are a number of different kinds of English language tests but the IELTS is the most popular and the most commonly accepted both by universities and immigration authorities. The IELTS is also widely accepted in non-English-speaking countries which offer English language courses. We're going to be covering which type of IELTS exam is right for you, how it's structured, how it's scored and what you can expect from the entire process. I did my masters in the UK and gave an IELTS for it so I'm going to pull from my experience about how it was like to actually sit for the exam. Getting the basics out of the way, the IELTS helps you prove that you have the standard of English required by universities, immigration authorities and employers in the country you want to study in. It tests your grasp in four different areas which are listening, speaking, writing and reading and we'll be getting into all of the details in just a bit. Before we delve into what the actual exam looks like, you need to know that there are a few different kinds of IELTS exams available. They are all slightly different and built for different immigration purposes so it is important that you need to know which one you need to take. If you're an international student, you'll probably need to take the IELTS academic exam. It is meant to test your language skills specifically in an academic setting so there'll probably be vocabulary which is used specifically at university. Now that you know you're going to need to take the IELTS academic, what exactly are you going to be asked? The IELTS is broken down into four different sections. Each section tests an aspect of proficiency in a language. The four sections are listening, reading, writing and speaking. The entire test will take you two hours and 45 minutes and it can be taken either on pen and paper or online. The speaking section of the exam is taken separately from the listening, reading and writing sections. This can either be taken on the same day or a few days prior. It does not matter when you take your speaking test so you can pick from the dates and times available at your test centre to suit your preferences. Let's take a deep dive into each of these sections and what you're likely to be asked. The speaking test is the shortest to follow the sections lasting only about 11 to 14 minutes. You will have a face-to-face conversation with your examiner but if you're taking the test online, your speaking test will be via a video call. You start with introductions and questions about home, study, work or interests. So both you and your examiner will introduce yourselves and your examiner will check your identity. They will then ask you some familiar questions like where do you currently study or work, what course are you studying, how many family members do you have, what are your hobbies etc. This section usually lasts about four to five minutes. In the next section, you will be given a task card which will have a topic and some talking points that you have to cover. You have to speak on the topic for two minutes. You will get a minute to prepare and the examiner will hand you a piece of paper in case you want to take notes. Once that minute is up, you have two minutes to talk about the topic. You should be able to structure your talk so you use up the entirety of the two minutes and cover all of the talking points that were mentioned on the task card. Once your time is over, the examiner will then ask you one or two questions related to the topic. The last part is a four to five minute discussion on issues related to the topic that you talked about in the previous section. The discussion can be facilitated by questions from the examiner but you'll usually talk about issues in a more general way. The examiner may also ask you to explain some of the aspects in more detail. The test, whether in person or on video call, is recorded for marking purposes. When marking, the examiner will assess you on aspects like vocabulary, fluency, pronunciation and grammatical accuracy. I found the speaking test to be fairly simple. Even though it is structured in a sense, it felt like having a conversation with someone on the day. That said, I would highly recommend that you stick to time. In the second section, when you have the one minute to prepare, I highly recommend taking notes even if they are single word pointers just for yourself. The listening section of the test takes about 30 minutes with 10 extra minutes to transfer your answers to the answer sheet. There are four parts to this section, each with 10 questions. In all the four sections, you will listen to voice recordings of native English speakers in different settings. Part one and two are based on everyday situations. You will listen to two people having a conversation in part one but only one person will speak in part two. Similarly, part three and four will have a conversation in the first part and a monologue in the next, but this time in an academic scenario discussing topics related to academia. Each part is followed by 10 questions. There are some particular type of questions that you can expect in the IELTS listening exam. These are multiple choice, diagram labelling, fill in the blanks, sentence completion and short answer type. Now, you can get any of these kinds of questions on the day, so make sure you're well versed in all of them beforehand. You will get 10 extra minutes after you have heard all of the recordings to transfer your answers to the answer sheet. Make sure you use these 10 minutes wisely. You will lose marks for any grammatical or spelling mistakes on your answer sheet. Remember, the questions are in the same order as the information, so in the recording, the answer to question one will be given before the answer to question two. In my experience, tech plays a very important role in this section, so make sure your headphones are working properly, there is no static and you can hear everything clearly. I was given fill in the blanks questions in one of the sections and what got me out was that I could see just one blank on the answer sheet, but the question said that they need to be two word answers, so make sure you read the questions up top very carefully and use those 10 extra minutes wisely. I would say concentrate on the recordings till the time that they're on and then transfer your answers in those 10 extra minutes. Taking a total of 60 minutes, the reading section has 40 questions divided into three parts. Each part has a text which can be taken from books, magazines, journals or newspapers and can even contain diagrams or graphs. The texts are built for non-specialist audiences, which means even if you don't have expert knowledge in the topic, you should be able to understand the text. Sometimes if the text does include some specific technical terms, there will be definitions provided. Just like the listening section of the test, there are some specific questions that you can expect. These are true or false, identifying the views or claims of the author, matching, diagram labelling, fill in the blanks or short answer type. Again, you can get any of these kinds of questions on the day, so make sure you're well versed with all of them. However, you will not be provided any extra time in the reading section, so make sure you leave enough time of the given 60 minutes to transfer your answers and as always, you will lose marks for any spelling or grammar mistakes in your answer sheet. I found the reading section of the test to be the easiest because the information is all right there in front of you and you can go between the questions and the text as much as you want. When I was practicing for the reading test, I got into the habit of reading the questions first, so I had a little idea of some key terms to look out for when I'm reading the text. This reduced my time on the reading section by a lot, giving me enough time to go through my answers and transfer them onto the answer sheet. The IELTS writing test is made up of two parts and both have to be completed. You have 60 minutes to complete both the tasks. You are free to manage your time on your own, but you can expect the first section to be shorter and take about 20 minutes and the second section to be longer and take about 40 minutes. In task one, you have to describe a given visual in your own words. You could be given a graph, diagram, chart or table and you have at least 150 words to explain the image. All the information that you need is given in the image. In task two, you have to discuss a problem, point of view or argument in at least 250 words. The question is only supposed to be a prompt and you should be able to develop your response on your own. You have to write in full sentences and paragraphs and you must not write in notes or bullet points. You will be asked to write your answers in the answer sheet directly, but you can use your question paper to take notes, but remember these will not be marked. You will be penalized if your answers are shorter than the minimum word limit, are not in fully connected sentences or are copied from someone else's. You'll get a total of 60 minutes to complete both the tasks, but the second task is worth twice as much as the first task. My tip is to not get carried away when doing task one and leave enough time for the longer and more weighted task two. I remember being the most anxious going into the writing section and thinking, what if I don't have any ideas on the day? What helped me was dedicating one paragraph to one idea. So when I got the question paper, I wrote down two or three ideas that I want to tackle on the question paper and then only dedicated one paragraph to each. It helped me stay in time and in the word limit. We're almost there. You know what the IELTS is, you know what the actual exam looks like and what to expect, but there is just one more thing to consider before we leave you to go make your study abroad dreams a reality. If you've come across the IELTS UKVI academic in your initial Google search and don't know what it is, don't panic. It is essentially the same IELTS test, but built to meet certain immigration requirements laid out specifically by the UK government. So who needs the IELTS UKVI? Only students who are planning to come to study in the UK need the UKVI specific tests. The test itself is exactly the same as the standard IELTS academic, but your mark sheet, also known as the test report form, might look slightly different. This is to meet the requirements set down by UKVI. Also, you can only give the IELTS UKVI on pen and paper at specific UKVI approved test centres. This is just to ensure the greater security parameters laid out by the UKVI are met. So if you want to study in the UK, make sure you book the IELTS academic for UKVI. The IELTS test is marked on a scale of zero to nine points with 0.5 point increments. Each of the four papers is marked individually, and your final score is an average of the four papers. You'll get your result and test report form 13 days after you take the test. You can then share your score with the universities that you have applied to and the relevant government authorities. Remember, your IELTS score is valid only for two years. So that's an overview of the IELTS exam for you. Remember, at the end of the day, the IELTS is a test, and you will be required to meet the minimum requirements laid out by your university and the country's immigration authorities. So you've got to practice as much as you can and get yourself used to the questions and get yourself used to what is expected of you to get a good score. Treat it like any other school or university examination. We have guides on our website which give you much more information, and we'll also link resources like practice tests from the official IELTS website down in the description below. All the very best!