IELTS Academic vs General Training: which one do you need?

IELTS comes in two forms, Academic and General Training, and booking the wrong one is an expensive mistake: a university or immigration office will not accept the other. This article explains who needs which, what the two share, where they differ, and how the overall band is calculated.

Who needs which

• IELTS Academic is for university study and for professional registration, for example as a doctor or nurse abroad.
• IELTS General Training is for work, training below degree level, and migration to countries such as Canada and Australia.

Two examples of how much this matters:

• Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada accepts General Training, not Academic, for economic immigration programmes.
• For most UK visas that need an English test, the test must be a Secure English Language Test from an approved provider; IELTS for UKVI is the IELTS form that qualifies.

Always check the exact test and band your university, employer or immigration programme asks for, on their own website, before you book.

What is the same in both

Listening and Speaking are identical in both forms. Speaking may be on the same day as the other parts, or up to a week before or after. Listening, Reading and Writing are taken in one sitting. The whole test takes about 2 hours 45 minutes, on paper or on a computer at a test centre.

Where they differ: Reading

Both Reading tests are 60 minutes with 40 questions, but the texts differ. Academic Reading uses three long texts of the kind found in books, journals and newspapers. General Training Reading uses texts from everyday life and work, in three sections.

Because the General Training texts are easier, it takes more correct answers for the same band. IELTS gives these approximate figures, which vary slightly between test versions:

So a candidate who is used to Academic practice tests should not assume the same raw score gives the same band in General Training.

Where they differ: Writing

Both Writing tests are 60 minutes with two tasks, and Task 2 counts for more than Task 1 in both. They are marked on the same four equally weighted criteria: task achievement or task response, coherence and cohesion, lexical resource, and grammatical range and accuracy.

The difference is in the tasks. In Academic, Task 1 asks you to describe visual information such as a graph, table or diagram. In General Training, Task 1 is a letter. Task 2 in both is an essay; General Training topics tend to be of more general interest.

How the overall band is worked out

Each of the four skills gets a band from 0 to 9 in half bands. The overall band is their average, rounded to the nearest half band, where an average ending in .25 goes up to the next half band and one ending in .75 goes up to the next whole band.

For example, Listening 7, Reading 6.5, Writing 6 and Speaking 6.5 average 6.5, so the overall band is 6.5. Listening 6.5, Reading 6.5, Writing 5.5 and Speaking 6 average 6.125, which rounds down to 6.

There is no pass or fail. Each university, employer or government sets the band it needs, often with a minimum for every skill as well as the overall band. Our IELTS page has a calculator that applies this rule.

Other tests you may be offered

Many universities and immigration programmes accept other English tests as well, with different formats: PTE Academic, TOEFL iBT, and for Canada, CELPIP-General. Check which ones your target accepts before choosing.

Preparing

• Sit full timed practice tests for the form you need, especially Reading, because the raw-score-to-band conversion differs.
• Practise Writing Task 2 more than Task 1, since it counts for more.
• Record yourself answering Speaking questions, and listen back for hesitation and repetition.

Mockrooms has IELTS practice tests and a band calculator, with the format details kept up to date from the official IELTS pages.