Academic IELTS You may need to take the IELTS Academic test if you plan to enroll in higher education or seek professional registration in an English-speaking nation.

The IELTS Academic test determines if you are ready to study at an undergraduate or postgraduate level or work in a professional context as a doctor, nurse, teacher, or lawyer.

The Academic test assesses your ability to communicate in English across four skill areas: listening, reading, writing, and speaking. The Academic and General Training versions of the test have the same Listening and Speaking sections, but the Reading and Writing sections are different.

What is the IELTS Academic test like?

IELTS Academic is more difficult than the regular version. The Listening and Speaking parts are the same for all candidates.

The test is divided into four sections:

Listening

30 minutes, 4 sections, 40 questions

The first section is about a chat between two persons.

Section 2 is a monologue set in a real-life social setting.

Section 3: a discussion among up to four participants in an educational or training setting

Section 4: a monologue about a scholarly topic (e.g. a university lecture)

Each part is only heard once.

Speaking

A 15-minute interview

1st part Interview and introduction

Part two Individual long turn (you must speak about a topic) Part 3 Two-way discussion (the examiner will ask you more questions related to the topic of discussion) Part

60 minutes, 3 long reading passages, 40 questions

There is one long text in each segment. The texts come from a variety of sources, including books, journals, periodicals, and newspapers.

Writing

Part 1: in a graph, table, chart, or diagram, describe, summarise, or explain the facts.

Part 2: respond to a point of view, argument, or problem with an essay.

Level and scores

Multi-level. You are given a score ranging from 1 to 9. Half-point scores of 6.5 are possible. An IELTS score of 6 or 7 is frequently required by universities. They might also set a minimum score requirement for each of the four areas.

To learn more about IELTS Band Scores, please visit here. You can convert your raw reading and listening scores using the IELTS Band Score Calculator on this site.

Click here to see a comparison of IELTS scores with other exams.