Contact Us
What is IELTS Exam Pattern – You may be looking for what is IELTS exam pattern. So we are here to give you the best information regarding the following topic. A lot of people are giving the IELTS exam every year but very few are able to clear it. You need to be proficient in English. IELTS helps you in getting the visa. So answer to what is IELTS exam pattern is in the discussion below.
People are willing to study, work or live in abroad. IELTS will help you in getting the study or work visa. You have to clear the IELTS exam. Either you will be able to get a study visa or work visa. There are the different IELTS training institutes or coaching centers all over the world. Around 1,200 IELTS exam centers are there in 140 countries. This exam helps in checking the English proficiency.
Table of Contents
All About IELTS
Two main bodies who designs the IELTS exam pattern are ETS ( Educational Testing Service) and British Council. IELTS helps in testing the reading, writing, listening and speaking skills. This test contains band system for scoring which ranges from 0-9. There are different ways of assessing the scores in different countries. You need to be able to speak in the language of the country, you are flying to. The most important is to interpret the message of the native people of that country. If you are not able to understand the language of the country you are planning to go, your survival is difficult there.
IELTS Exam Pattern
IELTS exam is having two versions. One is IELTS Academic and the other one is IELTS General Training. IELTS academic is for undergraduate or postgraduate study or for professional purpose in abroad. It assesses the fluency over academic language. While IELTS general training includes the persons who are willing to go to foreign countries for secondary education, internship purpose or for any other training program. This IELTS general training helps you in survival in other country’s social environment.
As you are aware of the fact that, IELTS exam mainly consists of 4 parts i.e., reading, writing, listening and speaking skills. IELTS exam pattern is same in case of listening and speaking context in both the versions ( IELTS academic and IELTS general training). The exam pattern differs in reading and writing.
Time and Task Distribution in IELTS Exam Pattern
| Category | Time Allotted | Task Description |
| Reading | 60 minutes | 3 sections (40 items) |
| Writing | 60 minutes | 2 tasks |
| Listening | 30 minutes | 4 sections (40 items) |
| Speaking | 13-14 minutes | one-to-one conversation |
Reading
Reading component of IELTS exam pattern includes 3 sections with 40 questions. to complete this exam, you have 60 minutes with you. It includes3 passages. It includes
- MCQ ( multiple choice questions).
- Identifying information.
- Identifying writer’s view or claims.
- Information matching.
- Heading matching.
- Features matching.
- Matching sentence endings.
- Sentence completion.
- Summary, note, table, flow-chart completion.
- Diagram level completion.
- Short answer questions.
It includes IELTS academic as well as IELTS general training. Former one will include 3 long passages with increasing difficulty having academic topics. The latter one will be having 4 short passages with normal social and work-related topics.
Writing
Writing also involves IELTS academic and IELTS general training differentiation. There are two tasks in the writing section of IELTS exam. Candidate will be having 60 minutes overall. They divide the time slot, task 1 for 20 minutes and task 2 for 60 minutes.
- Task 1 includes the IELTS academic and IELTS general training versions. In IELTS academic, you have to describe and analyze bar chart, line graph, pie chart, table, and diagram. While in IELTS general training, you have to write a letter which can either be formal, semi-formal or informal. The time given is 20 minutes to complete this task.
- In task 2 have no academic or general training difference. you have to complete this task in 40 minutes. It is an essay related task. You have to answer the questions accordingly.
Listening
Listening includes the testing of your listening skills. Here they check whether you are able to understand and interpret the message well or not. The time slot for this is 30 minutes. It includes 4 sections and 40 items, 10 in each. In this part, They play 4 recordings and the candidate has to answer 40 questions based on these recordings.
- Recording 1 will consist of two people conversation on a social topic.
- The 2nd recording will involve just one person talking on the same social topic.
- The 3rd recording will be of 3-4 people discussing some educational topic.
- Next recording will include monologue on an educational topic.
Speaking
Speaking test will be a one-on-one interview. Exam holding authority people divide it into 3 parts as an interview, presentation, and discussion. The time slot for this is 13-14 minutes. This is one of the hardest tasks to crack so make sure you showcase your best in the exam.
Conclusion
We hope this information regarding IELTS exam pattern must be valuable for you. These different components of IELTS exam have equal importance. Therefore, you need to be excellent in each area. IELTS academic, as well as IELTS general training, have the difference at some points or tasks, otherwise, there is the similarity in tasks.