5

minute
guide

How to prepare?

IELTS has more than 1,000 test centres

and locations in more than 140 countries

Make sure you take the

right ID and photographs
with you.

Read the IELTS terms

and conditions for
important information
about your test day.

Familiarise yourself with

each part of the IELTS test
and get to know the
dierent types of
questions you may be
asked.
Take the free IELTS practice
tests to familiarise yourself
with the test format!

Check the English

prociency requirements
for the university youre
applying to and prepare
accordingly!

Check the start time

and location of your
IELTS test and make
sure you know how to
get there on time.

Follow instructions
carefully during the test.

YOUVE
MADE IT

Watch your timing! Dont

spend too much time on
one part of the test.

If you havent already,

check out the material
from Road To IELTS.

TEST DAY

2 WEEKS
BEFORE

Take practice tests under

timed conditions to know
what will be expected of
you on the test day.

Register for your IELTS test

well in advance to make
sure you get a place!

3 MONTHS
BEFORE

Start speaking, listening,

reading and writing in
English as much as
possible. Consider taking a
preparation course.

6 MONTHS
BEFORE

Do you know the format of the test?

LISTENING
30 minutes - 4 recordings

SPEAKING
11 to 14 minutes
3 sections face to face

READING
60 minutes 3 reading passages
40 questions

You will take the Listening, Reading and Writing

tests all on the same day. There are no breaks
between them.
There are no breaks between the rst three tests.
Understand the IELTS test format!

LISTENING
Listen to and read the
instructions very carefully.
Remember, you will hear
each passage only once.
There are 30 seconds between
each passage and often about
20 seconds between each set of
questions within a listening.

READING
Remember you wont be
reading in the way you
normally do for pleasure but
trying to extract information
from the texts as quickly as
possible.
Matching headings make
use of the topic sentence(s).
Remember headings are
like super topic sentences.

WRITING
60 minutes 2 tasks 150 words for the rst
250 words for the second

WRITING
Organise and prioritise. Which
ideas go together in a
paragraph? Which ideas should
be rst, second, third, etc.
Make sure you have written a
minimum of 250 words for the
essay.
Read your essay and check for
mistakes in grammar or
spelling.

SPEAKING
The examiner will ask you to
answer questions about a
number of everyday topics, e.g.
your work/studies, your
hometown, free time, holidays,
music, books, lms etc.
If you make a grammar mistake,
try to correct it but dont worry
too much. We all make grammar
mistakes when were talking,
even native speakers.