The English language testing system (IELTS) is an exam designed to assess your understanding of English grammar, vocabulary, and phrasing in the English language per international standard. This test is meant for the people who want to carry their higher education or intent to migrate globally. This test is necessary for migration to a native English country. This test judges your knowledge of English on four aspects namely, speaking, listening, writing, and reading. The exam consists of 4 sections, which are required to be completed in 3 hours. this is a short guide for a complete understanding of the IELTS exam.
IELTS exam tests your English skills on four grounds i.e. speaking, listening, writing, and reading. Let’s go through the exam format of the IELTS exam.
The IELTS exam format
The IELTS exam consists of four sections. The total time allotted to complete these four tasks is 3 hours. Three sections of the exam i.e. listening, writing and reading are completed in one sitting, whereas the fourth section i.e. speaking is covered either that day or within 7 days from the exam. there are two types of IELTS exams: the academic IELTS test or the general IELTS test. IELTS general training exam is a basic IELTS test just for accessing the English language at a moderate level. IELTS academic is the graduation level exam and is of advanced level. You can go to the website of British Ielts Center to get free knowledge about everything related to the IELTS exam.
Let’s look at four sections of the exam:
Section 1: Speaking
Time limit: 30 minutes
Details: This section comprises three parts. In the first part, you introduce yourself in about 1 minute. In the second section, you have to discuss a topic in 2 minutes. In the third section, you and the invigilator have a further discussion on the topic.
Section2: Listening
Time limit: 30 minutes
Details: This section requires you to hear 4 recordings, 2 recordings are based on a monologue which could be a speech, a movie dialogue, an audio clip, etc. the other 2 recordings consist of a conversation between 2-4 people. You are made to listen to the recordings only once and then you are supposed to answers 10 questions per recording. There are a total of 40 questions.
Section 3: Reading
Time limit: 60 minutes
Details: This section has three reading passages or prose. You are required to read three passages which may come from books, magazines, newspapers, journals, etc. after reading the text you are supposed to answer 40 questions based on the three texts you read.
Section 4: Writing
Time limit: 60 minutes
Details: This is the most lengthy question comprising of two writing tasks. Task 1 involves you in writing a 150 words description on the picture, graph, illustration, drawing, etc. task 2 involves you in writing a 250 words essay on any topic or situation that has been given to you.
Grading in the IELTS exam:
All IELTS scores are between 1-9. You are graded based on your performance in the four sections. Grade 1 is the lowest rank and grade 9 is the highest. You need to get at least a 6 grade to qualify and clear this exam. if you are an expert candidate and your answers meet the marking criteria you score a 9 band.
