In this tutorial you will learn:

* Specific differences between IELTS General Training and IELTS Academic tests in all the 4 exam sections (Listening, Reading, Writing, Speaking).

This will help you in your IELTS Speaking exam because:

* You will learn the purposes of General Training and Academic IELTS exams.

* You will see real examples of what the two exam types tasks look like

* You will learn how to prepare for the two test types and will get a useful list of resources to build your vocabulary and language skills.

Congratulations, you’ve just found out that you need to take the IELTS exam. 

Wait, but there are TWO of them: IELTS General Training and IELTS Academic. 

Which one do you actually need and why? And how different are they, if there are two?

We are going to explain all these in today’s tutorial. Believe me, it’s much easier when you can see the differences clearly.

Now, the IELTS General Training exam evaluates your English proficiency in an everyday context. You will need this type of test for emigration or work in an English-speaking country, or even in the process of obtaining citizenship in certain countries, like Canada. 

In other words, you are required to demonstrate that you can understand and handle daily life, leisure, employment and training related texts. This is why the exam materials, such as reading passages and listening excerpts, will reflect mostly workplace and social situations.

On the other hand, IELTS Academic assesses whether your English level is appropriate for an academic environment. So, if you intend to go to school (college, university bachelor’s, master’s or doctoral programs) in an in an English-speaking country you will have to take IELTS Academic. 

This exam tests your ability to survive the study loads, readings and methods in an English-language college or university. This is why the test materials will be full of academic vocabulary and comprise a wide range of academic, science-related topics.

SIMILARITIES

Both IELTS Academic and General Training Tests 

* Have four parts which come in this order: Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking

* Last about 3 hours which are broken down by exam section as follows

Listening

40 questions

40 minutes

Reading

40 questions

60 minutes

Writing

2 writing tasks (one shorter and one longer)

60 minutes

Speaking

3 sections

10-15 minutes

* Have NO DIFFERENCE in Listening and Speaking. Yes, this means that Listening and Speaking test sections in IELTS General Training and Academic tests are absolutely THE SAME. Isn’t that a relief!

* Can be taken in two formats: paper-based and computer-based.

DIFFERENCES

Now, it’s obvious that the differences can be found in only the Reading and the Writing sections. 

Differences between the IELTS Reading Sections in IELTS General Training vs Academic

The two types of Reading test are mainly different in reading passage numbers and topics; there’s also a very slight difference in question types but is tiny.

Differences in Reading Passage NUMBERS

In the IELTS Academic Reading test the number of reading passages in each section is the same.