Talk to a person who is willing to go abroad and the next things which most people ask is ‘Are you preparing for IELTS’? Or have you given IELTS exam? There are many people out there who equivalent language proficiency exam to IELTS, which well of course, is true! But for them IELTS is only the language proficiency test that is taken by all for their immigration, work and study purposes.In this blog, we will be going to discuss about everything related to IELTS, what is IELTS, the segments, the paper format, the kind of questions asked and every possibly related thing.

Introduction of IELTS

IELTS stands for The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) that checks the language proficiency of people who want to study, or work in an English speaking country. The marking is done on the 1-9 band scale which identifies the level of proficiency. The first band signifies non-user English language and band nine signifies expert level.

Categories of IELTS

IELTS is available in two test categories namely IELTS Academic and IELTS General.

IELTS Academic is for those applying for higher educational or professional registration, whereas, IELTS General is for those people who wants to migrate to Australia, Canada, and UK for training programs and work purposes. Mostly give IELTS General for migration purposes only.

Both the test versions give an accurate assessment of the four language skills- Listening, Reading, Speaking, and Writing.

IELTS exam is conducted with supreme fairness and sincerity by actively avoiding cultural bias, and accepting all standard varieties of English native speakers. The exam centres are located at more than 1,200 locations worldwide.

How To apply for Australia PR without IELTS?

IELTS for Migration!

IELTS is widely accepted as an evidence of English language proficiency for study, work and migration in Australia, Canada, New Zealand and UK.

Australia accepts IELTS General for many visa categories, as well as for the Australian Permanent Residency. There are some accessing bodies which require IELTS General and sometimes Academic also for the skill assessment test.

What is the IELTS test format?

The IELTS test format is same for both the test versions i.e. IELTS General and IELTS Academic.

As discussed, there are four modules- Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speaking. For both test versions, listening and speaking is same and there is a change in the subject matter of reading and writing for both the tests.

The overall test duration for IELTS is 2 hours and 45 minutes.

Now, let us discuss the test format which includes four sections in detail.

  • Listening
  1. This test lasts for 30 minutes and is divided into four recordings of the native English speakers.
  2. The first recording is a conversation between two people set in an everyday social context
  3. The second recording is a monologue (Individual)set about speech and local facilities
  4. The third recording is a conversation between up to four people set in an educational or training context
  5. The fourth recording is a monologue on an academic subject

In this section, you will be basically judged by 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 understand things.

  • Reading

This test is of 60 minutes duration consisting of 40 questions that is designed to test a wide range of reading skills. The test includes a gist, reading of main ideas, detail reading, skimming, understanding local argument and writer opinion.

  1. IELTS Academic test consists of three long texts which range from the descriptive and factual to discursive and analytical. The content is taken from books, magazines, and newspapers.
  2. IELTS General Training test includes extracts from books, magazines, newspapers, notices that we encounter on a daily basis in an English-speaking environment.
  • Writing

This test has time duration of 60 minutes that has general topic of interest, and suitable for test takers seeking professional registration. There are two tasks:

IELTS Academic Training

  1. In first task, you will be shown a graph, table, chart or diagram and you will be asked to describe or summarise the pictorial representation in your own words.
  2. In second task you will be asked to write an essay in response to a point of view, argument or problem.
  3. IELTS General Training
  4. In first task, you will be presented with a situation and asked to write a letter requesting information, or explaining the situation. The letter may be personal, or semi-formal in style.
  5. In second task, you will be write to ask an essay explaining your point of view or argument or problem
  • Speaking

This has the shortest test duration of 11-15 minutes that asses yours spoken English and every test is recorded.

There are three parts where examiners ask the general questions first followed by a particular topic discussion and finally concluding with asking more questions from the second question.

Therefore, if you wish to know more about the language requirement and different language test available apart from IELTS, connect to the visa experts of Aptech Global.

Free IELTS Material for Australia PR