Glossary
Academic
Also written as IELTS Academic
One of the two IELTS tests, taken for university study and professional registration. Listening and Speaking match General Training, but Reading and Writing differ.
Guides that use this term
IELTS Listening Map Labelling: Plans, Maps and Diagrams
You hear someone describe a place and match it to a plan, map or diagram. Find the layout and the starting point before the recording begins. Then follow the speaker one place at a time.
Listening
Multiple Choice in IELTS Reading: Four Options, and the Variant That Wants Several
Reading multiple choice gives four options and asks for one answer. The Academic paper also has a form where you choose more than one. The question tells you how many.
Reading
Matching Sentence Endings: An Academic-Only Type That Follows the Text
This type is on the Academic paper only. The sentence beginnings follow the order of the text, so you can work forward through the passage and never search backwards.
ReadingAcademic
Checked against ielts.org's test types page on 8 September 2026.