The British Council and IDP Education system provide the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) as an English language competence exam to determine eligibility for employment, education, and permanent residency (PR) in nations like Australia, Canada, the UK, New Zealand, and others. The International English Language Testing System is known by its full name, IELTS. Over 5 million individuals apply annually to take the IELTS exam 2024.

The IELTS exam is of 2 types one is IELTS General and the other is IELTS Academic. Candidates who are applying for abroad jobs, and studies can appear for the IELTS Academic, and people who are looking to settle in the other counties through PR can apply for the IELTS General exam. The IELTS 2024 will be conducted in both online and offline modes throughout the year.

ELGIBILITY CRITERIA

The IDP, which oversees the administration of the IELTS test in India, has not established any rigorous requirements for taking the test. On the other hand, applicants who wish to sit for the IELTS exam in India must be at least 16 years old. It may be noted that this is the only IELTS exam eligibility in India, where applicants must be 16 years of age or older to sit for the test, regardless of their gender, nationality, or origin. The organizing committee has not set a maximum age restriction.

The IDP, which administers the IELTS exam, has not established an upper age limit. It should be noted that in order to register for the IELTS, applicants must be at least 16 years old. There is no upper age limit for the IELTS exam.

According to IDP, the organization that administers the exam, there is no educational prerequisite for taking the IELTS.  Anyone who wants to work or relocate overseas, seek higher education abroad, or both can take the Academic and General Training IELTS exams. To understand admission requirements, candidates should consult the eligibility guidelines established by the organization or educational institution to which they are applying.

EXAM PATTERN

SYLLABUS

LISTENING- One of the sections of the IELTS exam is the listening section. The listening portion of the IELTS is the identical for the academic and general editions. IELTS listening takes roughly thirty minutes to complete. The IELTS listening test evaluates a candidate's comprehension of the main points and details of the material, the speaker's viewpoints and attitudes, and their capacity for concept growth. Four recordings of native English speakers with accents from Australia, New Zealand, Britain, and other countries will be sent to the candidate.

Recording 1- Conversation between 2 speakers in Social Situations.

Recording 2- Speech about local facilities

Recording 3- Conversation between 2 speakers in university contexts

Recording 4- Monologue on Academic topic.

Task Types

This section contains the following kinds of tasks: multiple choice, matching, labeling plan, map, and diagram, form, note, table, flowchart, summary completion, and sentence completion. As they listen, test-takers will need to jot down their responses on the question paper. They get ten minutes after the test to transfer their responses to an answer sheet. Misspellings and grammar errors are marked negatively. About thirty minutes, including ten minutes for the transfer.

READING- The exam's Reading part consists of 40 questions that are all meant to assess different reading levels. These include understanding logical reasoning, reading for details, and reading for main themes. Three lengthy chapters spanning a variety of subjects—from factual to descriptive to argumentative—make up the reading module. For university applicants, books, periodicals, journals, and newspapers are the sources of the contents.

WRITING- The subjects included in the exam's writing section are suitable for graduate and undergraduate applicants to universities.

Task 1- The test-taker has sixty minutes to complete the two tasks. Twenty minutes are needed for the first activity, and forty minutes for the second. In the first task of the IELTS Academic Module, candidates are required to write a minimum of 150-word summary of a table, graph, or procedure. Task 1 of the IELTS General Training Module requires candidates to write a letter that is at least 150 words in length.

Task 2- You are required to compose an essay of at least 250 words for Task 2 of the Academic and General Training Modules. Essay responses to a problem, argument, or viewpoint will be required of candidates. Make sure your response to the task is formal.

SPEAKING- During the speaking phase, the candidate's spoken English is observed, and every test is recorded.

Part 1- Open-ended questions about common topics such as job, school, and/or home will be posed to the test taker. Four to five minutes make up the initial section.

Part 2- The exam taker will receive a cue card with a question on a particular topic. After giving you a minute to prepare, you will talk for two minutes. Following that, the examiner will ask you a few questions around the topic of choice.

Part 3- There will be inquiries concerning the topic the test-taker covered in Part 2. Here, you will have the opportunity to discuss the ideas and issues in further detail. There are four to five minutes in this part.

CATEGORIES OF IELTS

The two main IELTS exam types are the Academic and General Training versions.

However, students must take the IELTS Academic Test in order to be admitted to a university for undergraduate or graduate studies. The majority of universities in the US, UK, Australia, Ireland, Canada, and NZ accept this exam and have minimum IELTS scores that applicants must reach in order to be admitted.

The purpose of this test is to assess your proficiency in the English language, which is necessary to work in an environment where English is the primary language of teaching. It follows that a high IELTS score is necessary if you want to flourish in a higher education environment, which naturally calls for a higher degree of English proficiency.

Both IELTS examinations assess your speaking, reading, writing, and listening abilities. Every test has distinct components for reading and writing, but the speaking and listening sections are always the same.