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IELTS guides
Every guide on the site, written around the official band descriptors. Narrow the list by skill or by test type, or search for a word.
Writing
IELTS Writing Task 2: Question Types and How to Approach Each
Task 2 gives you a point of view, an argument or a problem. This guide shows seven question types and what each one asks your essay to do.
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General
IELTS Fees and Booking: Where to Find Your Price
Your IELTS fee depends on your country and test. This guide shows where the British Council and IDP show it. It covers how to book and what to check before a change.
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General
Using AI to Prepare for IELTS
AI tools and writing checkers can help you spot mistakes. They cannot give a real IELTS band, and you should not use one in the test. Examiners mark Writing and Speaking.
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General
IELTS Preparation Books and Materials
Start with the free official tests. If you want a book, the test owners name a study guide, practice-test books and a course. Pick by what you need and by your test.
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Speaking
IELTS Speaking Topics: How to Prepare
The test owners give examples of Speaking topics, not a list. This guide shows how topics link across the parts. It also shows how to prepare for a topic you cannot predict.
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General
IELTS vs TOEFL: Key Differences in 2026
The updated TOEFL takes about 2 hours, adapts to your answers and is scored from 1 to 6. IELTS Academic takes 2 hours 45 minutes and is scored from 0 to 9. TOEFL changed in January 2026, so check the date of any comparison.
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General
IELTS vs PTE Academic: Key Differences
PTE Academic takes about 2 hours, only at a test centre, and its results usually come within 48 hours. IELTS Academic takes 2 hours 45 minutes. The two also differ in who marks you.
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Writing
IELTS Linking Words That Help, and Ones That Hurt
Linking words help when each one shows how two ideas connect. They hurt when they are added by habit. This guide helps you pick a word by its job and compares what Writing and Speaking reward.
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General
IELTS vs Duolingo English Test
The Duolingo English Test takes about an hour at home and adapts to your answers. IELTS Academic takes 2 hours 45 minutes, and its Speaking is a face-to-face interview. Check which test your organisation accepts.
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General
IELTS Test Format and How Long It Takes
Listening, Reading and Writing take 2 hours 40 minutes in one session with no breaks. Speaking is a separate interview of 11 to 14 minutes. Reading and Writing take 60 minutes each.
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General
Is IELTS Hard? What Makes It Hard
IELTS has no pass mark, so how hard it is depends on the score your organisation asks for. Every version of the test is built to be about equally hard. Each skill is hard in its own way.
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Writing
Does Handwriting Matter in IELTS Writing?
Handwriting matters only if you write by hand. IELTS publishes no handwriting rule in its Writing descriptors, but the examiner must read your answer. Capital letters are allowed if your sentences stay clear.
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Writing
IELTS Paraphrasing and Synonyms
Paraphrasing means saying the same thing in other words. Speaking names it, and Writing rewards synonyms that avoid repetition. This guide shows how to rewrite the Task 1 opening without changing a fact.
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Speaking
Do You Need Idioms in IELTS Speaking?
Not for band 6. From band 7, the Speaking descriptors mention idiomatic items. No set number of idioms is required. This guide shows the wording band by band and how to learn idioms without a list.
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Listening
IELTS Listening Form Completion: Forms, Notes, Tables and Flow Charts
You fill gaps in a form, notes, a table or a flow chart as the recording plays. You can hear the answer and still lose the mark. The word limit, spelling and plurals all count, so check every word you write.
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Speaking
IELTS Speaking Part 1: What Happens and How to Answer
Part 1 is a few minutes of short questions about you and familiar topics. Give a direct answer, add one reason or example, and stop.
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Listening
IELTS Listening Matching Questions
You match each item you hear about to an option in a list, and your answer is a letter. The items follow the order of the recording, but the options may not. Read the instructions and the whole list before you listen.
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Listening
IELTS Listening Sentence Completion
Each question is a sentence with a gap, and you fill it with words you hear. Stay inside the word limit. An extra word, a missing plural or a spelling error can cost the mark even when you heard the answer.
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Listening
IELTS Listening Short Answer Questions
You read a question and write a short answer using what you hear. Stay inside the word limit and spell every word correctly. Some questions ask for two or three answers, so count them.
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Writing
IELTS Writing Task 1: What It Asks and How to Answer It
Task 1 asks for at least 150 words in about 20 minutes. On Academic you describe a graph, chart, table, map or diagram. On General Training you write a letter.
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General
How Long Does It Take to Prepare for IELTS?
There is no fixed figure. The ranges the IELTS owners publish run from a few weeks to several months. The time depends on your level, your target and how often you study.
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General
How to Prepare for IELTS
Learn the format first, then use the free official practice tests. Learn how each section is marked and practise under the real time limits. Give the most time to your weakest skill.
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Speaking
IELTS Speaking Part 2: The Cue Card and the Long Turn
In Part 2 you get a task card and one minute to make notes. Then you talk alone until the examiner stops you. You may then answer one or two short questions.
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Speaking
IELTS Speaking Part 3: The Discussion
Part 3 is a discussion with the examiner about bigger questions from your Part 2 topic. Answer first, then give a reason and an example. Speak about people in general, not just yourself.
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Listening
IELTS Listening Question Types, and How Each One Works
IELTS Listening has six question types. In some you choose a letter, and in others you write words you hear. Learn what each one asks, then work on the type that costs you the most marks.
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Listening
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.
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Listening
IELTS Listening Multiple Choice
Each question has three options and one answer, or a longer list where you choose more than one. You hear the recording once, and the wrong options are often mentioned too. Listen for the option the speaker settles on, not the first one you hear.
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General
IELTS Remark (Enquiry on Results): How It Works and How Long It Takes
A re-mark, officially an Enquiry on Results, is a second marking of one or more sections of your test. The answer comes within 21 days at most. With the British Council and IDP, you apply within six weeks of your test date.
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Improvement planReading
How to Improve Your IELTS Reading Score
Academic and General Training Reading turn the same marks into different bands. This plan gives the gap for each step up that IELTS publishes marks for. It links the guide for each type that costs you marks.
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Improvement planListening
How to Improve Your IELTS Listening Score
Listening has one band scale for everyone, on Academic and General Training. This plan gives the extra correct answers each step up takes. It also shows what to change when you hear each recording only once.
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Improvement planWriting
How to Improve Your IELTS Writing Score
Find the criterion that holds your Writing band down. Then read what the next band adds for it. Start with Task 2, because it counts twice as much as Task 1.
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WritingAcademic
How to Describe a Map in IELTS Writing Task 1
Compare the two maps before you write. Your overview names the biggest changes, and the body groups the changes by area or by type, with the position of each place.
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WritingAcademic
How to Describe a Process Diagram in IELTS Writing Task 1
Describe a process stage by stage, in the order the diagram shows. Your overview gives the number of stages and where the process starts and ends. Sequencing words then carry the reader from each stage to the next.
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Improvement planSpeaking
How to Improve Your IELTS Speaking Score
Find which of the four Speaking criteria holds your band down. Then work on what the next band adds in that criterion, and practise it out loud.
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Listening
How to Write Numbers, Dates and Times in IELTS Listening
The recording says the number, but your mark depends on what you write. Digits are safer than words. Going over the word limit loses the mark, and so does a spelling error.
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Listening
IELTS Listening Test Format: Length, Questions and Scoring
Four parts, ten questions each, forty marks, about thirty minutes. The recording plays once, and the questions follow its order. Academic and General Training use the same Listening test, and your score out of 40 converts to a band.
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General
What Is IELTS UKVI? How It Differs From Academic and General Training
IELTS for UKVI is the Academic or General Training test, taken at an approved centre under extra security. What changes is the centre you sit it at and your Test Report Form. Life Skills is a separate Pass or Fail test of Speaking and Listening.
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General
What to Expect on IELTS Test Day
You sit Listening, Reading and Writing in one sitting with no breaks. Speaking may be on the same day or up to a week before or after. Bring the ID you booked with, and leave every electronic device outside the room.
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General
How Long Does It Take to Get Your IELTS Results?
Computer results take 1 to 5 days, IELTS Online 6 to 8 and paper up to 13. A One Skill Retake takes 3 to 5 days. A re-mark takes up to 21 days.
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General
How Long Are IELTS Results Valid?
Two years is advice for the organisations that accept results. It is not an expiry date on your form. Some organisations accept older results with proof of your English. UK visa applications use a hard two year rule.
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General
How to Send Your IELTS Results to Universities
You do not post your own Test Report Form. You ask for it to be sent, through your booking portal or your test centre. Each organisation picks postal mail or e-delivery. Postal is free for up to five organisations, and e-delivery has no limit.
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Reading
Short Answer Questions: Where Spelling Costs the Mark
Answer each question with words taken from the text, inside the word limit. The questions follow the order of the text, and a spelling error costs you the mark.
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Reading
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.
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Reading
Diagram Label Completion: Turning a Description Into a Picture
You complete the labels on a diagram using a description in the text. The answers may not follow the text's order. They usually come from one part of it.
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Reading
Summary, Note, Table and Flow Chart Completion: One Type, Four Shapes
A summary, notes, a table and a flow chart are one question type. Fill the gaps with words from the text, inside the word limit. The answers may not follow the order of the text.
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Reading
Sentence Completion: Words From the Text, Inside the Word Limit
Fill a gap in each sentence with words from the text, inside the word limit. On the Academic paper the questions follow the order of the text. On General Training the answers may not.
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Reading
Matching Information: How It Differs From Matching Headings
This type asks where in the text a fact or detail is, not what a paragraph is about. One paragraph can be the answer to more than one question.
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ReadingAcademic
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.
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Reading
Matching Features: When an Option Repeats and When It Is Not Used
Some options are never used, and others are used more than once. The answer is the person who makes the claim, not the name nearest the words you know.
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Reading
Matching Headings: Finding the Main Idea, Not a Supporting One
A heading must match what the whole paragraph is about, not one detail in it. A wrong heading is often true of just one part of the paragraph.
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ReadingAcademic
Yes, No, Not Given: How It Differs From True, False, Not Given
Yes, No, Not Given asks if a statement agrees with what the writer thinks, not with the facts. A fact the writer reports is not the writer's view. A view the writer reports from someone else is not the writer's view either.
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Reading
IELTS Reading Question Types: What Each One Tests and Which Paper Uses It
Every Reading question is worth one mark, but the types test different skills. Find the type that costs you the most marks, and start there.
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Reading
True, False, Not Given: How to Tell False From Not Given
False means the passage contradicts the statement. Not Given means the passage does not say either way. Only the passage counts as evidence, not what you already know.
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Speaking
Lexical Resource in Speaking: Why Paraphrase Is a Scored Skill
Lexical resource in Speaking is not only the size of your vocabulary. Paraphrase, style and word pairs are marked too. This guide shows the bands, and what changes from band 6 to band 7.
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Speaking
Pronunciation in Speaking: Why Band 7 Has No Wording of Its Own
In the Pronunciation column, bands 7, 5 and 3 have no wording of their own. Your accent counts only through how easily you are understood. This guide shows the bands, and what band 7 needs.
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Speaking
Fluency and Coherence: What Counts as Fluent, and What Does Not
Fluency and coherence covers two things: how smoothly you speak, and how well your ideas connect. Speed is not what the descriptors reward. This guide shows the bands, and what changes from band 6 to band 7.
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Speaking
Grammatical Range and Accuracy in Speaking: How Errors Are Counted
This criterion has two halves, the range of your grammar and its accuracy. A few basic errors are allowed even at band 8. This guide shows the bands, and what changes from band 6 to band 7.
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General
IELTS Academic vs General Training: Which Test Do You Need
Listening and Speaking are the same on both tests. Only Reading and Writing differ, and the organisation asking for your score decides which one you take.
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General
Computer or Paper IELTS: What Is Changing and What It Means
IELTS announced that from mid-2026 it would stop offering a paper test. It also announced a Writing on Paper option for selected countries. A paper result you already hold is not affected.
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General
IELTS One Skill Retake: Who Can Use It and How It Works
You can sit one section again instead of the whole test. Your full test must have been IELTS on computer, and you must retake within 60 days, once only.
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Improvement planGeneral
How to Get Band 7 in IELTS When You Are Stuck at 6.5
An overall 6.5 is an average of four section bands. This plan shows how to find the section and the criterion that hold yours down. Then it shows what band 7 asks for there.
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General
Band 6 vs 6.5 vs 7: What Actually Changes in the Descriptors
There is no band 6.5 descriptor. This guide shows what changes between band 6 and band 7 in each skill, and where a score of 6.5 comes from.
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Speaking
How IELTS Speaking Is Marked: The Four Criteria Explained
Four criteria decide your Speaking band, and each one counts equally. This guide explains what each one measures. It also shows how the four scores combine, and what changes from band 6 to band 7.
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Writing
Grammatical Range and Accuracy: Range Without Errors
Grammatical range and accuracy asks how varied your sentences are, and how accurate they are. This guide shows the bands, and what changes from band 6 to band 7.
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Writing
Lexical Resource: Why a Bigger Vocabulary Is Not the Answer
Lexical resource measures how well you use the words you know. Precise, natural word choice matters more than rare words. This guide shows the bands, and what changes from band 6 to band 7.
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Writing
Task Response: What Examiners Are Actually Looking For
Task response checks whether you answered the question you were given. Your position must be clear and your ideas developed. This guide shows the bands, and what changes from band 6 to band 7.
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Writing
Coherence and Cohesion: The Criterion Most Candidates Misread
Coherence and cohesion measures how well your writing is organised and how clearly your ideas connect. More linking words is not the fix. This guide shows what band 7 asks for instead.
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Listening
IELTS Listening Raw Score to Band Score
How your IELTS Listening mark out of 40 becomes a band score. This guide gives the published marks for each band. It shows how to work out your own band, and which small errors cost marks.
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Writing
How IELTS Writing Is Marked: The Four Criteria and How They Combine
Four criteria decide your Writing band, and Task 2 counts twice as much as Task 1. This guide explains each criterion and how the task scores combine.
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Reading
IELTS Reading Raw Score to Band Score: Academic and General Training
How many correct answers out of 40 you need for each IELTS Reading band. This guide gives the published marks for both tests. It also explains why Academic and General Training differ.
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Writing
How to Structure IELTS Writing Task 2 for a Band 7+
Four paragraphs work for every Task 2 question. This guide shows what goes in each one, with the plan applied to a real prompt. It also covers the rules on length.
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General
IELTS Band Scores Explained: What Your Score Actually Means
IELTS reports each section and your overall result as a band from 0 to 9. This guide explains what each band means and how the overall band is calculated. It also covers pass marks and CEFR levels.
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