What’s the difference between the two types of IELTS tests?

 There are two IELTS test formats i.e IELTS academic and IELTS general training. Both the IELTS test formats are similar in the name of the format but different in content in the writing and reading modules section of the test.

This article will breakdown the major differences between the two types of IELTS tests:

PURPOSE: ACADEMIC IELTS vs. GENERAL TRAINING IELTS

IELTS ACADEMIC- The academic IELTS is meant for the students who want to apply for higher education in a foreign land. But that’s not all - many jobs applicants and professionals may also require to give scores for this version of the test.

IELTS GENERAL TRAINING- The general training IELTS is meant for all other employment and immigration, who want to enter the USA, the UK, Ireland, Canada, New Zealand, Australia, etc for general immigration.

FORMAT: TWO TYPES, FOUR MODULES

Both the IELTS tests (Academic IELTS & General training IELTS ) have an equivalent test format i.e. four skills in IELTS listening, reading, writing and speaking. All four modules are tested separately regardless of which type of IELTS test test-taker opts. Listening and Speaking modules are the same in both the IELTS tests. There is no difference in them as types of questions time duration to do it are also the same.

WRITING MODULE

WRITING TASK -1: The very First difference lies in Writing Task - 1. As in Academic Test, we will be asked to write a report on one of the given types

Writing Academic :

Describe and analyze data in one of the following:

Bar chart

Line graph

Pie chart

Table

Diagram

 

Writing General Training :

But for IELTS General Test the candidate is asked to go for Letter writing. Given are the types of letters :

Formal (to someone you do not know)

Semi-formal (to someone you know formally)

Informal (to friend or family)

You get 20 minutes to complete both of these tasks and must write at least 150 words for each.

READING MODULE

 Let's have a look at the difference between Reading Module of IELTS Academic & IELTS General Training.

Reading Academic :

3 long passages increasing in difficulty

Academic style texts (journal articles, textbook extracts)

Texts related to academic topics such as science, history, sociology

General

Reading General :

4 short passages increasing in length and difficulty

More general /everyday style texts

Texts related to social survival (advertisements, notices, etc.); workplace survival (job descriptions, employment contracts, etc.); general texts (newspapers, magazines, travel brochures, etc.)

BANDS AND SCORES

Listening, writing and speaking scores and bands are the same they’re scored as the way test is, but in reading which represents 25% of the score of the IELTS test is scored differently in both the test types.

Example: imagine a candidate gets 30 out of 40 in reading. If it is general training IELTSFree Web Content, then it will be 5.0 bands but if it is academic IELTS then it will be 6.0 bands.

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