IELTS

International English
Language Testing System
Listening

 Approx. 30 min.
 40 questions
 4 sections
 Sections 1 and 2: everyday social context
 Sections 3 and 4: academic context
 Recordings are heard only once

 Different accents, including British, Australian,

New Zealand, American and Canadian.
Speaking

 Face-to-face interview
 11-14 min
 3 parts
 Assessment criteria:
• Fluency and coherence
• Lexical resource
• Grammatical range and accuracy
• Pronunciation.
 Reading

Academic General Traning

60 min
40 questions
3 sections
Texts are taken from books,
journals, magazines and
newspapers and have been
written for a non-specialist
audience.
60 min
40 questions
3 sections
Section 1 may contain two or
three short texts or several
shorter texts. Section 2
comprises two texts. In Section
3, there is one long text.
 Writing

Academic General Training

60 min – 2 tasks 60 min – 2 tasks
Task 1: Task 1:
• Report on a chart • Letter
• Over 150 words • Over 150 words
• No more than 20 min • No more than 20 min
• Worth 33% of total writing marks • Worth 33% of total writing marks

Task 2:
• Essay
• Over 250 words
• No more than 40 min
• Worth 66% of total writing marks
Assessment criteria:
• Task achievement/response
• Coherence and cohesion
• Lexical resource
• Grammatical range and accuracy
 Paper-based test

Computer-based test
 Practice
In each
Match
asking
pair, the
what
and
What
sentences
answering
is the
aremost
the
according
the
appropriate
questions?
questions
to their
answer?
you’ve
topics.
created.
Why?

1. I spend lots of time around a. I grew up in a small town and I

children because I’ve got two – lived in a small house. It was really
well one is only a toddler. My kids boring.
are very entertaining but they can
also be naughty.

2. I’ve never moved out. I still live in
the same neighbourhood I grew up
in. It used to be a bit boring but
now there are loads of shops and
restaurants.
b. Even though I love all kinds of
food, I prefer savoury dishes to
sweet ones. In restaurants I tend to
choose spicy meals and avoid
anything too greasy.

3. I really like food. My favourite food c. I often play with children because
is chicken and rice. I don’t like my sister has 3. They are nice
vegetables very much but I try to children but sometimes they are
eat them because they’re healthy. bad.
 Look at the task card below and some extracts from how a
candidate answered the question.

Describe a memorable trip you took.

You should say:
when you took the trip
where you went
what you did
and explain why this trip was memorable for you.

Past

Present

Future
Now think about your most memorable trip and make
some notes about what you could say.

Describe a memorable trip you took.

You should say:
when you took the trip
where you went
what you did
and explain why this trip was memorable for you.
Discuss:

 How important is it for families to go

on holiday together?
 Why do some people go on holiday
alone?
 Is it better to travel around your own
country or in a foreign country? Why?
 What problems can people have while
travelling in a foreign country?