IELTS Test Format and How Long It Takes

This page does not list test dates. Your date and start time come from your booking. IELTS fees and booking shows where to find them.

The four skills side by side

Listening and Speaking are the same on Academic and General Training. Reading and Writing differ source: ielts.org.

source: ielts.org source: ielts.org source: ielts.org

These are the times on computer source: ielts.org. The sections below cover Writing on Paper and IELTS Online.

Listening, Reading and Writing: one session

The session runs in this order, with no breaks: Listening, Reading, Writing source: British Council. The three take 2 hours 40 minutes together source: ielts.org.

The Academic test takes 2 hours 45 minutes in all source: ielts.org. Reading's 60 minutes include time to transfer your answers source: ielts.org. On General Training, Listening has 10 more minutes to transfer answers to an answer sheet source: ielts.org.

The three section times add up to 2 hours 30 minutes. The 10 transfer minutes on General Training would bring that to 2 hours 40 minutes. We found no IELTS page that says the session is counted that way.

The Academic test page gives no transfer time for Listening. Ask your test centre when your session will end. What to expect on IELTS test day covers the rest of the day.

Answer sheets and transfer time

Listening transfer time

Where paper is still offered, you write your answers in the question booklet and copy them to the answer sheet at the end. You get ten minutes for that source: British Council. The ielts.org pages do not agree on it, as the section above shows.

On computer you type each answer as you hear it. No extra time is given, and you have two minutes at the end to review source: IDP. The Listening format guide has the detail.

Reading answer sheet

Both ielts.org test pages give Reading as 60 minutes, including transfer time (ielts.org, ielts.org).

On computer you answer on screen. The text sits on the left and the questions on the right, and you can start anywhere and change an answer source: IDP.

Each skill

Listening

You hear each recording once only source: ielts.org. The Listening format guide covers the parts, the question types and the marking. The Listening hub links its other guides.

Reading: sections and timing

Reading has three sections and 40 questions in 60 minutes source: ielts.org. The texts add up to 2,150 to 2,750 words on Academic and 2,150 to 2,375 words on General Training (ielts.org, ielts.org).

On General Training the sections get harder. Section 1 has short everyday texts, such as notices, advertisements and timetables. Section 2 has two work texts, such as job descriptions and contracts. Section 3 has one long text on a topic of general interest source: ielts.org. On Academic, at least one text has a detailed logical argument source: ielts.org.

ielts.org gives no time for each section. Aim for no more than 20 minutes on each source: IDP.

Academic texts may use harder words or a more complex style, and the same band usually needs more correct answers on General Training source: ielts.org. Academic or General Training compares them. The Reading question types guide shows what the questions look like. The Reading hub lists the question types.

Writing

Task 1 takes about 20 minutes and Task 2 about 40 source: ielts.org. Task 1 is a graph, table, chart or diagram on Academic source: ielts.org. It is a letter on General Training source: ielts.org. The Writing hub leads to the guides for Task 1 and Task 2.

Speaking

The examiner talks with you and records the test source: ielts.org. Each part takes this long:

source: ielts.org

Each part has its own guide: Part 1, Part 2 and Part 3. The Speaking hub covers the criteria.

When is Speaking?

Speaking can be on the same day as the other three skills, or on another day up to one week before or after. This holds on paper and computer tests source: British Council.

On a computer test, Speaking is on the same day, before or after the other three source: IDP. On IELTS Online it is usually held before them source: ielts.org.

The British Council and IDP differ on computer tests. So the day depends on your centre and how you take the test. Your test centre tells you yours. What to expect on IELTS test day has more.

Computer, paper and online

On computer, the Listening, Reading and Writing questions are shown on screen and you enter your answers there. Speaking stays face to face source: ielts.org.

With Writing on Paper, you take the test on computer and write your Writing answers by hand. The time allowed for Writing does not change source: ielts.org. The option is planned for selected countries from mid-2026, and not for IELTS for UKVI source: ielts.org.

IELTS Online is currently for the Academic test only. It has the same format and timing as the test at a centre: Listening 30 minutes, Reading 60 minutes and Writing 60 minutes source: ielts.org. Speaking is an online video call with an examiner source: ielts.org.

IELTS announced that from mid-2026 it would no longer offer a paper-based test, with exact dates varying by market source: ielts.org. We found no IELTS page that says the change is finished. Computer or paper IELTS covers the change and when results arrive.

Where to go next

To see how the four skill scores make your overall band, use the band score calculator. To see what makes each skill hard, read Is IELTS hard?.

Most times and counts above come from ielts.org. The Academic and General Training test pages, the Writing on Paper page and the Academic Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking format pages give the section details. The General Training Writing page gives the letter task. The session time comes from ielts.org's test day advice, the shared skills from its test types page, the Reading marks point from IELTS scoring in detail, and the delivery options from Ways to take IELTS, IELTS Online and the announcement on test delivery. The order and the Speaking day also come from the British Council's test day advice and IDP's test day page. All were last checked on 14 October 2026, except Ways to take IELTS and the pages below, which were read on 19 October 2026. The Reading section counts and texts come from the ielts.org Academic Reading and General Training Reading format pages. The 20 minute advice comes from IDP's Reading article, dated 22 June 2023. The answer sheet details come from the British Council's paper or computer article, marked as last updated on 24 December 2023, and IDP's article on how IELTS on computer works, dated 23 December 2021. Dates, start times and the Speaking day differ by centre, so confirm yours when you book.