IELTS Exam - The Basics
I love doing IELTS exam preparation with students. The structure of the exam is quite simple, and if you know what to expect, you can score highly.
If you want help preparing for IELTS, send me a message. I’ve support dozens of students to achieve the scores they need in this exam, and have so many resources to help you get high scores in all areas of Reading, Writing, Listening & Speaking.
But, the first thing you should do when preparing for this exam, is understand the structure -
Understanding the Structure of the IELTS Exam
The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is widely accepted for educational, immigration, and professional purposes.
There are two types of IELTS - Academic IELTS & General IELTS.
If you need to pass the exam for college or university, you will need to do the Academic IELTS. Most people do the Academic IELTS.
They are quite similar in most ways, but the content of the questions differs depending on which exam you choose to do.
The examples I give in this article focus on the style of questions used in Academic IELTS.
The exam consists of four main sections: Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking.
1. Listening (30 minutes)
The Listening section is divided into four parts, each with a different type of audio recording. The recordings feature native English speakers and cover a range of accents and speaking styles. You will listen to each recording once and answer a series of questions based on what you hear.
Part 1: A conversation between two people set in an everyday social context.
Part 2: A monologue set in an everyday social context (e.g. a speech about local facilities).
Part 3: A conversation between up to four people set in an educational or training context (e.g. a discussion between university students).
Part 4: A monologue on an academic subject (e.g. a university lecture).
Question Types: Multiple choice, matching, plan/map/diagram labeling, form/note/table/flow-chart/summary completion, sentence completion, and short-answer questions.
2. Reading (60 minutes)
The Reading section consists of three passages, with a total of 40 questions. The passages are taken from books, magazines, newspapers, and journals and are designed to test a range of reading skills.
Academic Reading: For those taking the IELTS Academic test, the passages are more complex and academic in nature.
General Training Reading: For those taking the IELTS General Training test, the passages are more practical and related to everyday life.
Question Types: Multiple choice, identifying information (True/False/Not Given), identifying the writer’s views/claims (Yes/No/Not Given), matching information, matching headings, matching features, matching sentence endings, sentence completion, summary/note/table/flow-chart completion, diagram label completion, and short-answer questions.
3. Writing (60 minutes)
The Writing section is divided into two tasks.
Task 1 (20 minutes):
Academic: You will be asked to describe visual information (e.g., graphs, charts, tables, diagrams) in your own words.
General Training: You will write a letter requesting information or explaining a situation.
Task 2 (40 minutes):
Both Academic and General Training: You will write an essay responding to a point of view, argument, or problem. You need to present and justify an opinion, discuss the topic, summarize details, outline problems, identify possible solutions, and support your answer with relevant examples.
4. Speaking (11-14 minutes)
The Speaking section is a face-to-face interview with a certified IELTS examiner. It is divided into three parts.
Part 1 (4-5 minutes): Introduction and interview. The examiner will introduce themselves and ask you to introduce yourself and confirm your identity. Then, the examiner will ask general questions about familiar topics such as home, family, work, studies, and interests.
Part 2 (3-4 minutes): Long turn. You will be given a task card with a topic and asked to speak for 1-2 minutes. You will have 1 minute to prepare your speech and can make notes. After your talk, the examiner may ask one or two questions.
Part 3 (4-5 minutes): Discussion. The examiner will ask further questions related to the topic in Part 2. This part of the test is designed to give you the opportunity to discuss more abstract ideas and issues.
Scoring
Each section of the IELTS exam is scored on a band scale of 0 to 9, with half-points possible. The overall score is the average of the individual scores for each section, to the nearest whole or half band.
Band Descriptions:
9: Expert
8: Very good
7: Good
6: Competent
5: Modest
4: Limited
3: Extremely limited
2: Intermittent
1: Non-user
0: Did not attempt the test
I will post more of my resources & IELTS practice exams soon. If you have any questions, get in touch!
If you want to learn the top ten subjects you need to practise for IELTS success, the article is here -
