Test format: the four papers and how the day runs
You know what each paper asks of you and how your test day will run.
I'm Elita, and I'll be with you in every lesson of this course. We start with the test itself.
IELTS has four papers: Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking. Each paper gets its own band, a score from 0 to 9, and the four bands together give your overall band.
At the test centre, three of the papers are taken on computer, one after another, with no break. I'll show you how that day runs, and what changes between Academic and General Training.
Warm-up
The paper that can move
Three of the four papers are always taken together, in one sitting. Guess if you are not sure.
Which paper can be on a different day from the others?
How it works
The four papers
Four recorded parts and 40 questions, one mark each. You hear each recording once, and type or click your answers as you listen. Parts 1 and 2 are everyday situations, and Parts 3 and 4 are about education and training. The accents include British, Australian, New Zealand and North American.
Three sections and 40 questions, one mark each. Your answers go in on screen within the hour. The texts are different in Academic and General Training, as the cards further down show.
Two tasks in one hour, typed on screen, or handwritten where Writing on Paper is offered. Task 1 asks for 150 words or more and should take about 20 minutes. Task 2 is an essay of 250 words or more. It should take about 40 minutes, and it carries more weight in marking.
A conversation with an examiner, face to face and recorded. Part 1 is questions about familiar topics. In Part 2 you get a task card and a minute to prepare, then talk for up to two minutes. Part 3 discusses wider questions linked to Part 2.
Test day: one sitting, no break
- 30 min: Listening
About 30 minutes. Each answer goes in on screen while the recording plays, and there is a little time to check after each part.
- 2 min: Checking Listening answers
At the end of Listening, for checking all your answers.
- 60 min: Reading
No time is added at the end, so each answer goes in as you find it.
- 60 min: Writing
Both tasks share the hour, and you decide how to divide it.
Total: 152 min
The order is Listening, then Reading, then Writing. In Listening and Reading, every answer goes in on screen as you work, so there is nothing to copy across at the end.
Speaking is a separate appointment. It can be on the same day as the other three papers or on a different day, depending on the test centre. Your booking tells you which.
Academic or General Training
Listening and Speaking are the same in both tests, and Writing Task 2 is an essay in both. Two things change: the Reading texts, and Writing Task 1.
Side by side
Three long texts, taken from books, journals, magazines and newspapers.
Section 1 has short everyday texts, such as notices, adverts and timetables. Section 2 has two texts about work, such as a job description or a contract. Section 3 is one longer text on a topic of general interest.
A report on visual information: a graph, table, chart, diagram, map or process.
A letter about a situation you are given, covering three bullet points. It can be formal, semi-formal or informal.
Writing on Paper
Some countries offer one other way to do the Writing, called Writing on Paper. Listening and Reading stay on computer, and you read the two Writing tasks on screen. Then you write your answers by hand, in pen, on a Writing answer sheet. Nothing else changes: the tasks, the hour and the marking are the same. If you book this option, write your practice essays by hand too.
Watch me do one
I'll read one booking the way I'd like you to read yours: IELTS Academic. Listening, Reading and Writing: Saturday, 9 am. Speaking: Monday, 5.20 pm.
The test comes first. Academic means three long Reading texts, and visual information to describe in Writing Task 1, such as a chart or a map. Before anything else, I'd check that Academic is the test your university asked for.
Then Saturday. Listening, Reading and Writing run back to back on computer: about two and a half hours, with no break. So at home, sit all three in one go at least once before the day.
In Listening, your answers go in while the recordings play, so the 2 minutes at the end are only for checking.
Reading has no time at the end at all. When the hour is up, the answers on screen are the ones that count.
Speaking is a second trip, on Monday evening. That leaves the weekend for one more round of Speaking practice.
Practice with Elita7 questions
Seven questions, each on a fact that changes how you prepare or what you do on the day.
How many times?
Complete the sentence with one word.
In the Listening paper, you hear each recording .
Write no more than 1 word.
What stays the same
Academic and General Training share some papers and differ in others.
Which two papers are the same in both tests?
The Speaking test
Only one of these sentences about Speaking is true.
Which sentence is true?
Which test, which task?
Match each task to the place in the test where you would meet it.
Reading answers
Think about the time you get at the end of each paper.
When should your Reading answers go in?
Writing on Paper
Your test centre offers Writing on Paper, and you choose it.
What is different about your test?
Dividing the Writing hour
Writing gives you 60 minutes for both tasks, and you decide how to use them.
Which plan matches the way the two tasks are marked?
Words to keep
One session of a test, from start to finish. Listening, Reading and Writing make up one sitting.
One straight after the other, with no break. The three papers in the sitting run back to back.
The place where you go to take the test. At the test centre, you take Listening, Reading and Writing on a computer.
Written with a pen on paper. With Writing on Paper, you write both tasks by hand.
The card the examiner gives you in Speaking Part 2, with the topic and the points to cover. You get one minute to read the task card and make notes.
In the same room, talking directly to a person. The Speaking test is face to face with an examiner.
Count for more. The Task 2 essay carries more weight in the Writing band.
Before you go
Find out which test the organisation asking for your result accepts, and book that one.
Expect Listening, Reading and Writing back to back on computer, and practise a full sitting at home before the day.
Put each Reading answer in as you find it. Only Listening has time at the end, and it is 2 minutes for checking.
Give Writing Task 2 about 40 minutes of the hour, because it carries more weight.
Next: Next, you see how your answers become band scores, and work out an overall band yourself.