exam guide · English

IELTS Academic — International English Language Testing System

IELTS Academic is the version of IELTS for university study and professional registration, and over 13,500 institutions around the world accept IELTS (ielts.org). This page sets out the format, the band scores and how to prepare — with a free practice bank for reading and listening, plus grammar and vocabulary practice, which IELTS has no paper for.

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at a glance

Provider
Jointly owned by the British Council, IDP IELTS and Cambridge University Press & Assessment
Versions
IELTS Academic (study, professional registration) and IELTS General Training (migration, work, training). Listening and Speaking are the same in both; Reading and Writing differ
Parts
Listening (about 30 min, 4 parts, 40 questions) · Reading (60 min, 3 sections, 40 questions) · Writing (60 min, 2 tasks) · Speaking (11–14 min, 3 parts, face to face with an examiner)
Total time
2 hours 45 minutes. Listening, Reading and Writing are taken one after another in one session; on computer, the Speaking test is on the same day, before or after them
Scoring
Band 0–9 for each part, in whole and half bands; the overall band is the average of the four rounded to the nearest half band. No pass mark — each institution sets its own requirement
Listening & Reading marking
40 questions, 1 mark each, converted to a band: roughly 23 correct ≈ band 6, 30 ≈ band 7, 35 ≈ band 8 in Listening and Academic Reading
Validity
The IELTS partners recommend that a result be accepted for a maximum of two years
Delivery
On computer at a test centre — more than 4,500 locations in over 160 countries (ielts.org, September 2026). The IELTS partners announced on 5 March 2026 that the paper-based test ends from mid-2026, with the timing set market by market; selected countries offer Writing on Paper (only the Writing answers handwritten, not for IELTS for UKVI), and some offer IELTS Online at home
Retake
Book a new full test at any time, or, where your centre offers it, use IELTS One Skill Retake: one section again within 60 days of a computer-delivered test, once per original test
Where to register
Through a British Council or IDP test centre — find one at ielts.org. Fees are set per country; check your centre's page

What IELTS Academic is and who takes it

IELTS — the International English Language Testing System — is the English test jointly run by the British Council, IDP IELTS and Cambridge University Press & Assessment. It comes in two versions. IELTS Academic is for people who want to study at undergraduate or postgraduate level, or who need professional registration — doctors and nurses, for example. IELTS General Training measures everyday and workplace English and is used for migration, work experience and training.

The two versions share the same Listening and Speaking tests; only Reading and Writing differ, with the Academic papers using texts and vocabulary from an academic setting. Whatever you are applying for, check which version the receiving organisation wants before you book — they are not interchangeable.

Test structure: the four parts

The whole test takes 2 hours 45 minutes and its format is the same wherever you sit it. It is now a computer test: on 5 March 2026 the IELTS partners announced that the paper-based test ends from mid-2026, with the exact timing set market by market, and that what IELTS tests does not change. Listening, Reading and Writing are taken one after another; the Speaking test, face to face with an examiner, is on the same day, before or after them. In selected countries you can choose Writing on Paper — the Writing tasks appear on screen and you answer them by hand — which is not offered for IELTS for UKVI.

One thing to know before you start practising: a large share of the Listening and Reading questions are not multiple choice. Completion and short-answer items ask you to write words you heard or read, within a stated limit such as “no more than two words and/or a number”. Going over the limit or misspelling the word scores nothing for that item.

  • Listening — about 30 minutes, 4 parts, 10 questions each. Parts 1–2 are everyday, social situations; parts 3–4 are educational and training situations. You hear each recording once only, in a mix of British, Australian, New Zealand and North American accents. Question types: multiple choice, matching, plan/map/diagram labelling, form/note/table/flow-chart completion, sentence completion and short-answer questions.
  • Reading — 60 minutes, 3 sections, 40 questions, 2,150–2,750 words of text taken from books, journals, magazines, newspapers and online sources written for a non-specialist audience. Eleven question types, including True/False/Not Given, Yes/No/Not Given, matching headings, matching information and features, sentence and summary completion, diagram labelling and short answers.
  • Writing — 60 minutes, 2 tasks. Task 1 (about 20 minutes, at least 150 words) describes visual information such as a graph, table, chart or diagram. Task 2 (about 40 minutes, at least 250 words) is an essay responding to a point of view, argument or problem. Task 2 counts twice as much as Task 1.
  • Speaking — 11–14 minutes, recorded, face to face with an examiner. Part 1 (4–5 min) is an interview on familiar topics such as home, work, studies or interests; Part 2 (3–4 min) is a long turn on a task card, with one minute to prepare notes and up to two minutes to speak; Part 3 (4–5 min) is a more general, abstract discussion of the Part 2 topic.

How the band score works

Each of the four parts gets a band from 0 to 9, reported in whole and half bands. The overall band is the average of the four, rounded to the nearest half band: an average ending in .25 rounds up to the next half band and one ending in .75 rounds up to the next whole band. So 6.5, 6.5, 6.0 and 6.0 average 6.25 and are reported as 6.5.

Listening and Reading are marked out of 40, one mark per correct answer, and converted to a band. As a guide, around 23 correct answers give band 6, 30 give band 7 and 35 give band 8 in Listening and Academic Reading; General Training Reading needs more correct answers for the same band — about 30 for band 6 and 35 for band 7.

Writing and Speaking are rated by trained examiners against four public criteria each — for Writing: task achievement/response, coherence and cohesion, lexical resource, grammatical range and accuracy; for Speaking: fluency and coherence, lexical resource, grammatical range and accuracy, pronunciation.

There is no pass or fail. Universities, professional bodies and immigration authorities each set the overall band — and often a minimum per part — that they accept.

Booking, results and validity

You book through a test centre run by the British Council or IDP; when we checked (September 2026) ielts.org listed more than 4,500 locations in over 160 countries, and in some countries you can take IELTS Academic online, at home, with the Speaking test by video call — check that the organisation you apply to accepts an online result. Fees are set per country, so check your centre's page — we do not quote a price here. Results for the test on computer come 1–5 days after it, within 5 days with Writing on Paper and 6–8 days for IELTS Online (ielts.org, October 2026).

If one part lets you down, IELTS One Skill Retake lets you re-sit a single section — Listening, Reading, Writing or Speaking — within 60 days of the original test, once per original test, provided the original was taken on computer at a centre that offers One Skill Retake — check that before you book the full test. Results come within 3–5 days, and both the original and the updated Test Report Form stay valid. Check that the organisation you are applying to accepts a One Skill Retake result; UKVI, for instance, accepts it only in selected locations.

The IELTS partners recommend that a result be treated as evidence of your English for a maximum of two years, because language skills fade; an organisation can choose to accept results for longer, so check with the one you are applying to.

How to prepare

Your vocabulary and grammar are roughly what they are going to be a few weeks out; what moves an IELTS band in the last stretch is exam shape and retrieval under time. Sit a full paper, timed, early — not to measure your level, but to find out where you run out of time and which part you have been avoiding.

  • Read the questions before the passage. You are searching for specific information, and knowing what you need changes how you read the 2,000-plus words in front of you.
  • Predict the answer type in Listening — a number, a name, a place, a time — before the recording starts, and write fragments while it plays. You hear it once; you cannot rewind.
  • Rehearse taking down numbers, dates and spelled-out names at speed. They are a surprising share of Listening marks and the most commonly skipped part of practice.
  • Respect the word limit on completion questions and never leave a blank — there is no penalty for a wrong answer.
  • For Writing, plan Task 2 first: it is worth twice Task 1. Hit the minimum word counts: an answer that is too short may not show enough of your language for the higher bands.
  • For Speaking, record yourself answering a likely Part 2 card for two minutes and listen back once. Prepare flexible material about your work, town and studies rather than scripts — memorised answers collapse when the examiner asks something adjacent.

How wspell's practice maps to IELTS Academic

Our IELTS bank holds close to 800 practice items in four free sets: Reading (short notices, emails and academic texts, each with one comprehension question), Listening (short conversations and talks as transcripts with a comprehension question, so you drill the question logic before adding audio), Grammar and use of English, and academic Vocabulary. Every item is graded on the spot with an explanation, and a timed practice test draws a mix of all four so you rehearse under a clock: 20 reading questions, 15 listening questions — two thirds typed note completion, a third multiple choice from the Listening set, each recording played once as in the real test — and 24 grammar and vocabulary questions, which IELTS has no paper for, so they are practice and stay out of your band.

Be clear about what it is not. The real Reading is three long passages with 40 questions in many formats; ours are short texts with one multiple-choice question each, so practise the long passages and reading completion from the official sample papers. The mock turns your reading and listening into bands with the published conversion of correct answers out of 40 (our shorter paper is scaled to 40 first) and averages them the IELTS way — an estimate from two of the four parts, not an IELTS result. Writing and Speaking are not graded here: they need an examiner.

Grammar charts and cheat sheets

The grammar as tables you can take in at a glance — verb tenses, case endings, declensions, prepositions — each on one page to read, print and share.

English grammar tables →

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frequently asked questions

What IELTS score do I need?

There is no pass mark. Each university, professional body or immigration authority sets the overall band it requires, and often a minimum per part as well. Check the exact requirement of the programme or visa route before you book, then aim a little above it for safety.

How long is an IELTS result valid?

The IELTS partners recommend treating a result as valid for a maximum of two years after the test, because unused language skills fade, and they advise organisations to accept an older one only with proof that you have kept your English up. An organisation can still set its own limit, so check with it directly.

IELTS or TOEFL — which should I take?

Both are accepted by thousands of institutions, so start with what your target institution lists. IELTS is taken on computer at a test centre (its paper version ends from mid-2026) or, in some countries, online, and its Speaking test is a live interview with an examiner; the TOEFL iBT is computer-only (test centre or at home) with recorded speaking, and since January 2026 reports on a 1–6 scale. If you are more comfortable talking to a person than to a microphone, IELTS Speaking usually feels easier.

What is the difference between IELTS Academic and General Training?

Listening and Speaking are identical. Reading and Writing differ: Academic uses academic texts and a task describing a graph, table, chart or diagram; General Training uses everyday and workplace texts and a letter. Academic is for university study and professional registration; General Training is for migration, work and training.

Is the Listening recording played once?

Yes — once only, and the questions run in real time with it. That is why reading the questions in advance and noting fragments while it plays matters more in IELTS than in most other exams.

Can I retake just one part of IELTS?

Yes, with IELTS One Skill Retake, if your test centre offers it: within 60 days of a computer-delivered test you can sit any one section again, once per original test, and get a new Test Report Form 3–5 days later. Check that the organisation you are applying to accepts it.

How long does it take to prepare for IELTS?

It depends on the gap between your current band and the target, which is why the first step is a timed full paper rather than a course. Closing a small gap is often exam technique; a full band or more is real language growth and takes months of regular work rather than weeks.

sources

about this guide

IELTS is a registered trademark of the British Council, IDP IELTS and Cambridge University Press & Assessment. wspell holds no licence from the IELTS partners. The questions and passages in wspell's practice bank are original — written for wspell, not taken from any real or sample paper. The authoritative test information, sample papers and booking are at ielts.org.

The information here summarises official sources at the date shown and can change — confirm dates, fees and rules on the provider's official pages before you register.

facts verified on October 13, 2026 against the sources above