IELTS is a relevant exam if you are thinking of studying in dominant countries like New Zealand, America, Australia. It is led by the British Council or IDP in India. In IELTS, there are two modes: paper conveyed and PC conveyed. Based on your objective, two test examples of IELTS will be IELTS Academic and IELTS General Training.
IELTS Academic is intended for those who are happy to seek advanced education in English speaking countries.
IELTS General Training is for the individuals who need to relocate to English talking countries for business openings
Test assignments in IELTS have various degrees of multifaceted nature shifting from low to high. Test takers are estimated on abilities related to listening, reading, writing, and speaking skills.
IELTS Exam Structure- Comparison between Academic and General Training Exam
Factors | IELTS Academic | IELTS General training |
No. of sections | 4 | 4 |
Total time | 2 hrs 45 min | 2 hrs 45 min |
Registration | online/offline | online/offline |
Meant for | students | Skilled workers |
IELTS Speaking section | 3 sections of 11 to 14 min | 3 sections of 11 to 14 min |
IELTS Reading section | 3 passages having 40 questions to finish under 60 min | 3 passages having 40 questions to finish under 60 min |
IELTS Writing section | Two writing parts having a word limit of 150 and 250 words to be finished under 60 minutes | Two writing parts having a word limit of 150 and 250 words to be finished under 60 minutes. |
IELTS Listening section | There will be four recordings and 40 questions to be answered under 40 min | There will be four recordings and 40 questions to be answered under 40 min |
Which is a more Popular Form of Exam?
As these two formats are intended for two different groups of people, the material of the areas is subjective. It is evident in the material of the reading and writing segments. The sources of passages of IELTS reading are diverse for IELTS academic and IELTS general preparation.
Similarly, the IELTS writing section is also customized according to the users’ purpose. 76% of up-and-comers take the IELTS academic test and just 24% take the general training. In this way, it isn’t hard to comprehend that it is more mainstream among the up-and-comers who are wanting to study abroad. Let’s take a closer look at the general syllabus section wise.
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IELTS Listening Syllabus
There are 4 assignments to be completed in the IELTS Listening portion. There will be 1 recording with 10 questions. There are going to be 40 questions in total and the total time is 30 minutes. Applicants will have 10 minutes to move their responses to the answer sheet.
Recording details –
- Section 1: 10 questions(General conversation between 2 English locals)
- Section 2: 10 questions (The general subject monologue)
- Section 3: 10 questions (educational conversation between 2-4 people)
- Section 4: 10 questions( Monologue on an educational topic)
Below are the listed task type questions in IELTS Listening Syllabus
The questions consist of:
- Multiple choice
- Matching
- Plan, map, diagram labelling
- Form, note, table, flowchart, summary completion
- Sentence completion
- Short-answer questions
As far as the listening section is concerned, there is no difference between the academic and general training test.
IELTS Speaking Syllabus
This segment is like an interview between the test taker and the interviewer face-to-face. In IELTS Speaking, each candidate’s syntax, precision, coherence and fluency, lexical tools, and pronunciation are evaluated within 11-14 minutes.
Below is the Listed Task Types for IELTS Speaking Syllabus
In this part, test takers must complete 3 tasks. In task 1, a general introduction such as school education, home, family, and work must be provided by the test-taker. Period: 4-5minutes.
To choose a subject to chat about with the examiner for Task 2, the test taker has to pick up a cue card. Period: 3-4 minutes (with preparation time included).
The examiner will analyze in Task 3 whatever the test taker says in Task 2. Time: minutes 4-5. These tasks evaluate the candidates’ ability to express their opinions
Here is a list of IELTS Speaking Topics:
Topics in part 1 include diet, health, amusement, occasions, personalities. IELTS sample paper questions regarding this part could be-
- Do you stay in a flat or house?
- Where are you pursuing your course of study?
Topics in part 2 include communication, travel, hobbies, books, internet. Here is the list of IELTS sample paper questions :
- What is the content of the book?
- Describe the process of doing it.
Topics in part 3 are the same as topics in part 2, it’s just you have to give a more detailed answer. Take a look below at the sample questions:
- Do you think classrooms will become more digital in the future?
- Do you rely on all the news shared on the internet?
- What social issues are faced by our country?
This speaking section also remains the same for the academic and general training test.
IELTS Reading Syllabus
The reading section is different for test-takers for the IELTS Academic and IELTS General Training. To complete this portion of IELTS Reading, test takers get 60 minutes. 40 questions are to be answered in this chapter.
The reading passages are medium-length for IELTS Academic Reading, and they are taken from journals, books, magazines, and newspapers. For most of these reading excerpts, the writing style differs from descriptive, factual, discursive, and analytical.
A test-taker must recognize the intention, attitude, or opinions behind writing this in all these passages. The quotes from journals, books, magazines, guidelines, ads, handbooks, and notices are in 3 parts for IELTS General Training Reading. The test taker has to write on “social survival” for Task 1. The test taker must write about “workplace survival” for Task 2, and it is a general reading passage with a slightly complicated layout for Task 3.
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The Task Types of Reading for IELTS
Questions include:
- Multiple choice
- Identifying info
- Identifying the opinions/claims of the writer
- Matching the details
- Headings matching
- Characteristics matching
- Matching ends of sentences
- Completion of sentence
- Summary, note, table, completion of the flow-chart
- Completion of Diagram label
As the kinds of passages in IELTS Academic and IELTS General Training are different, the levels of difficulty are also different. These tasks often evaluate the candidate’s emphasis on detail and their ability to consider the relationships between two variables and analytical abilities.
List of IELTS Reading Topics
For the academic portion | For the general training portion |
Sports | Employment |
Crimes | Leadership qualities |
Immigration issues | Business deals |
Health & fitness | Social issues |
Let us move on to the last portion of the IELTS Syllabus that is the IELTS writing section
IELTS Writing Syllabus
IELTS Writing, like IELTS Reading, is different for test-takers in both academic and general training. Test takers have to complete 2 tasks in 60 minutes in this segment. For the IELTS Academic Writing Exam, to find out essential information inside passages, the test takers need to skim and search the reading passages. The test taker gets a minimum of 20 minutes for Task 1. To complete Task 1, the word limit is 150 words. Similarly, the test taker gets a minimum time of 40 minutes for Task 2. For the 2nd phase, the word limit is 250 sentences.
The Task Types for IELTS Writing
- Viewpoint (agree or disagree)
- Benefits and Drawbacks
- Solution and Dilemma
- Discussion (Address all opinions)
- Two-part question
Conclusion
By discussing the IELTS general format and syllabus, you now have a better understanding of the IELTS general syllabus. Your next move now should be trying out the sample questions and answers related to each section in order to excel in this test.
Also Read : IELTS Accepted Countries: How Many Countries Accept IELTS? Which Countries Require IELTS?
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