IELTS Exam Syllabus Pattern

There are two types of  IELTS:  Academic and General Training.
The Academic test if you wish to study at university or college as an undergraduate or postgraduate student. Or, if you want to join or gain entry into a professional institution.
The IELTS General Training test has been developed to test your every-day, non-academic English. As a result, you can do IELTS General Training for migration to an English speaking country.

Listening and Speaking are the same for both tests, but the subject matter of the Reading and Writing sections differs depending on which test you take. The IELTS test has four sections: Writing, Reading, Listening and Speaking.
Test Format : paper based or computer delivered
Test Duration:2 hours and 45 minutes

Detailed Syllabus:
Listening : 30 minutes
You will listen to four recordings of native English speakers and then write your answers to a series of questions.
 Recording 1 – a conversation between two people set in an everyday social context.
 Recording 2 - a monologue set in an everyday social context, e.g. a speech about local facilities.
 Recording 3 – a conversation between up to four people set in an educational or training context, e.g. a university tutor and a student discussing an assignment.
Recording 4 - a monologue on an academic subject, e.g. a university lecture.
Assessors will be looking for evidence of your ability to understand the main ideas and detailed factual information, the opinions and attitudes of speakers, the purpose of an utterance and evidence of your ability to follow the development of ideas.
No. of questions :40
Task type 1 – Multiple choice
Task type 2 – Matching
Task type 3 – Plan, map, diagram labelling
Task type 4 – Form, note, table, flow-chart, summary completion
Task type 5 – Sentence completion
Task type 6 – Short-answer questions
Answering :Test takers write their answers on the question paper as they listen and at the end of the test are given 10 minutes to transfer their answers to an answer sheet. Care should be taken when writing answers on the answer sheet as poor spelling and grammar are penalised.
Marks :Each question is worth 1 mark.

Reading (Different for Academic and General Training) : 60 minutes
No. of questions     40
Task type 1 – Multiple choice
Task type 2 – Identifying information
Task type 3 – Identifying writer’s views/claims
Task type 4 – Matching information
Task type 5 – Matching headings
Task type 6 – Matching features
Task type 7 – Matching sentence endings
Task type 8 – Sentence completion
Task type 9 – Summary, note, table, flow-chart completion

Writing (Different for Academic and General Training): 60 minutes
No of questions: 2
Task 1 - you will be presented with a graph, table, chart or diagram and asked to describe, summarize or explain the information in your own words. You may be asked to describe and explain data, describe the stages of a process, how something works or describe an object or event.
Task 2 - you will be asked to write an essay in response to a point of view, argument or problem. Responses to both tasks must be in a formal style.
The assessment of Task 2 carries more weight in marking than Task 1.

Speaking : 11–14 minutes
The speaking section assesses your use of spoken English. Every test is recorded.
Part 1 - the examiner will ask you general questions about yourself and a range of familiar topics, such as home, family, work, studies and interests. This part lasts between four and five minutes.
Part 2  - you will be given a card which asks you to talk about a particular topic. You will have one minute to prepare before speaking for up to two minutes. The examiner will then ask one or two questions on the same topic.
Part 3 - you will be asked further questions about the topic in Part 2. These will give you the opportunity to discuss more abstract ideas and issues. This part of the test lasts between four and five minutes.

IELTS results validity period
While it is up to each organization to set a validity period that works for their purposes, the IELTS partners recommend a 2-year validity period for IELTS test results

IELTS Score: IELTS results are reported on a 9-band scale.