First: What is the IELTS exam and why is it important?
The name is an acronym for the phrase International English Language Testing System, which translates as “International English Language Testing System.” It is an exam to assess the English language for non-natives to check a person’s ability and mastery of the English language. It is considered one of the most accredited exams in the world, especially in Britain and Australia.
Second: Types of IELTS exam?
There are two types of IELTS exam:
1- Academic
And this is what you do to travel to study at a university in English-speaking countries, so if this is for the purpose of studying.
2- General
And this is the test that you will take if you will travel to work there or will migrate, and this will be for the purpose of working or migrating in an English-speaking country.
★ Note: There is no difference between the listening and speaking test in the two types, but the difference exists in the reading and writing test, and this is normal because there is one that measures academic skills and one that measures general skills.
Third: What are the IELTS scores?
- 9 — Expert user.
- 8 — very good user
- 7 – Good user.
- 6 – Competent user.
- 5 – a modest practitioner (modest user).
- 4 — limited user.
- 3 – Extremely limited user.
- 2 – intermittent user.
- 1 — non-practitioner (non user)
If you need IELTS in order to study at a university outside your country, you must enter the first university link and see if the exam is valid or not, and see what is the score that the university needs from you.
Fourth: Booking for the IELTS exam:
Through this link, you can know the places where the IELTS exam is taken in your country and apply through it:
Fifth: What are the components of the IELTS exam?
The IELTS exam is divided into 4 sections, and its duration is 2:45, two hours and forty-five minutes, distributed as follows:
1- Listening:
Duration of the exam: 30 minutes plus 10 minutes to transfer the answer on the paper.
There is no difference between this section in the general and academic IELTS. It consists of 4 audio clips recorded for some people whose English language is the mother tongue or the original language, and they are heard only once. This exam will be based on evaluating your ability to understand existing ideas, knowing the purpose of the conversations, and understanding the opinion of each one of the speakers.
The questions consist of 40 questions (the questions vary between choose- connect- complete- answer short answers… etc.) This link will give you more information and you will appreciate it Through it, you will download samples of listening from here.
Also, on this second site from here, and frankly, I see that it is very good and excellent, and it will benefit you a lot in training.
2- Reading:
The duration of the exam is :60 minutes.
The duration of the exam is 60 minutes. It consists of three different topics, each topic consists of approximately one page containing a total of about 2500 words, for the examinee to answer 40 questions related to the three topics (the questions vary between choose- connect- true or false- complete- answer Short answers.- General questions on items…etc.. The aim of this section is to measure your ability to read and understand the meanings of words. The most difficult subject and the one with the most grades is the third, so I advise you to start with it. You must bear in mind that you write your answer on the answer sheet, because you will not be able to transfer them after that.
Reading test in the Academic IELTS:
It consists of approximately 3 long texts that are taken from magazines, scientific books, and newspapers. This is why it is very suitable for people who will apply to study in universities, postgraduate studies, and academic and professional aspects in international bodies. Hence, you can find more information about this aspect and you can download test forms from it.
As for the general reading test in IELTS:
It is really general and inclusive of everything for someone living in a country. The English language is the language of this country, and there are pieces in it that take from many things in daily aspects, such as books, pages, magazines, and advertisements. We can know more about it and download forms for the general reading test in IELTS from here
3- Writing:
Exam duration: 60 minutes
It consists of two parts. The first part consists of writing 150 words that are a description of a specific shape shown to the examinee (the drawing is usually a graph or a drawing of certain proportions or an explanation of a specific process) and it takes you within 20 minutes. The second part of the exam is to write an essay topic consisting of 250 words on a topic that was specified in the exam paper. It will take you 40 minutes for a long meal.
The reading test in the academic IELTS:
the topics will be related and suitable for a person who is going to apply for a university, postgraduate studies, or a job in international bodies that he can afford. Les models and know Aktar from here
Writing test in IELTS General:
You will know about it and download the forms from here
4- Speaking:
The duration of the test is : from 11 to 14 minutes
It is a personal interview between the test taker and the examinee. The exam taker must answer the examinee’s questions and give his opinions on a particular topic. The interview is usually recorded, and its aim is to assess your ability to use English as a language that you can deal with and as a language for dialogue, and it consists of 3 parts.
- Part One: Questions about yourself, your family and your life in general. (5:4 minutes).
- Part Two: The examinee asks you to talk about a topic and leaves you for a minute to prepare for the topic and then talk about the topic for (1:2 minutes) and also asks you one or two questions.
- Part Three: The examiner will discuss with you the topic that you spoke about in the second part. During the discussion, do not try to change your words about what you said in the second part. (5:4 minutes).
You can learn more and download samples of the talk from here.
Sixth: IELTS exam tips
- You can take a course for someone who specializes in this field, but you must make sure that his grade was not less than 7.5, and that he has a certificate of teaching IELTS, otherwise you will waste time and money.
- You can study alone, and you will find a lot of IELTS study plans on the Internet, and you will find a lot of materials, but the best person who can help you is studying alone is the translator Michael Youssef, who makes very good plans. This is the link of his IELTS plan from here, and it is very good
- You can buy books or download them as pdfs. For Egyptians, if you are going to buy books, the best person in this matter is Ayman Mohamed Gouda.
- As for reading, the most difficult subject and the one with the most grades is the third, so I advise you to start with it. You must bear in mind that you write your answer on the answer sheet, because you will not be able to transfer them after that.
- Enter the first on the link of the university in which you will apply, and add whether the exam is required or not, and see what grade is required of you.
- The IELTS test can be taken more than once if you do not get the score that you need or are required of you, so don’t worry and every time try to develop yourself.
- Sites that provide you with IELTS exams, solve them, and evaluate your answers so that you can know your level
- www.IELTS-Exam.net
- www.ielts-blog.com
- www.goodluckielts.com
- www.ielts-simon.com
- www.ielts-mentor.com
- www.ielts-writing.info
- www.ieltsbuddy.com
- www.ieltsnetwork.com
A collection of free resources to prepare for IELTS step by step
- A course to prepare for IELTS for the beginner level, click here.
- To work on the writing skill, click here.
- To work on speaking and listening skills, click here.
- To work on reading skill, click here.
- To get financial support from Coursera, follow all the steps here
There is also a set of exams to prepare for IELTS, click here
Cambridge Books to prepare for the IELTS exam
- Cambridge Grammar for IELTS, from here.
- Cambridge Vocabulary Book for IELTS, from here.
- Cambridge 13, here.
- Cambridge 14, here.
- Cambridge 15, here.
- Cambridge 16, here.
A collection of other resources that may interest you to prepare for the IELTS exam
- This site provides you with examples of speaking and writing topics, click here.
- A site that offers you tips for the four skills and also examples of writing at different levels, click here.
- To find out how to prepare and all information about this exam, click here.
- To learn the difference between academic and general writing, click here.
- To know the most famous 1200 words related to the listening skill, click here.
- To find out how scores are calculated in IELTS, click here.
If you missed the TOEFL article, you can see it here
