The IELTS exam pattern 2020
comprises of four sections, Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking. The
candidates are tested on these four parameters. The International English
Language Testing System (IELTS exam) can be given in two formats namely IELTS Academic
and IELTS General Training Test. Candidates should check the requirement of the
college/university they are applying to and then prepare accordingly. IELTS
Academic is accepted by universities worldwide where candidates apply for
pursuing undergraduate or postgraduate courses. The IELTS test pattern includes
4 sections that evaluate the candidates' ability on various parameters.
IELTS Paper Pattern
Candidates should keep in mind that Reading, Listening and Writing sections of the exam are tested in one sitting. However, a Speaking section can be tested either on the same day or it can take up to seven days before or after other tests
IELTS Listening
This section is conducted to check the listening ability of the candidate. Test taker has to answer 40 questions within a stipulated time period of 30 minutes. In IELTS listening section, there are 4 tasks to be completed. Audio clips will be provided to the test takers and audio can be played only once.
- Section 1: 10 questions (General conversation between 2 English natives)
- Section 2: 10 questions (Monologue on general topic)
- Section 3: 10 questions (Conversation between 2-4 people around academics)
- Section 4: 10 questions (Monologue on academic topic)
- 40 questions to be answered in 30 minutes
IELTS Speaking
This section is like a face to face interview between the test taker and examiner. Total time allotted for IELTS speaking is 11-14 minutes. Examiners mark the test takers on presence of skills like usage of grammar, accuracy, coherence and fluency, lexical resource and pronunciation. For each criterion, test taker will have a weightage value of 25%.
- Test takers have to complete 3 tasks in this section
- In Task 1, test taker has to give a general introduction like education, home, family and work
- For Task 1, test taker gets 4-5 minutes
- Test taker has to pick up a task card for choosing a topic to talk about with the examiner for Task 2
- For Task 2, test taker gets 3-4 minutes (including preparation time)
- In Task 3, the examiner will discuss whatever said by the test taker in Task 2.
- For Task 3, test taker gets 4-5 minutes
IELTS Reading
Test takers get 60 minutes to complete this section of IELTS Reading. For IELTS Academic and IELTS General Training, reading section is different for test-takers. 40 questions to be answered after reading 3 passages taken from different books, newspapers, magazines, handbooks or advertisements. Examiners measure comprehensible skills of the test taker.
IELTS Writing
This section like IELTS Reading is different for both Academic and General Training test takers. In this section, test takers have to complete 2 tasks in 60 minutes. Word limit for Task 1 is 150 words and Task 2 is 250 words respectively.
