IELTS Paper Format

In the IELTS test, you will get four papers (Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking), each paper has its own IELTS Paper format.

And in today’s article, we are going to explain the Paper format for each section of the IELTS test.

IELTS Paper format

In this part, we are going to learn about the paper test format of each part of the IELTS test.

IELTS Listening Paper format

From 4 January 2020, some small changes were introduced to the instructions and layout of the paper-based Listening test:

  1. The word ‘Sections’ was changed to ‘Parts’ – The paper-based test will now be divided into Part 1, 2, 3, 4.
  2. The Part 1 example was removed.
  3. We have also removed the page number references.

There are four parts with ten questions each. The questions are designed so that the answers appear in the order they are heard in the audio.

  • The first two parts deal with situations set in everyday social contexts.
    1. In Part 1, there is a conversation between two speakers (for example, a conversation about travel arrangements),
    2. and in Part 2, there is a monologue in (for example, a speech about local facilities).
  • The final two parts deal with situations set in educational and training contexts.
    1. In Part 3, there is a conversation between two main speakers (for example, two university students in discussion, perhaps guided by a tutor),
    2. and in Part 4, there is a monologue on an academic subject.

The recordings are heard only once. They include a range of accents, including British, Australian, New Zealand, American and Canadian.

IELTS Reading Paper format

  1. IELTS Academic Reading

    Three reading passages with a variety of questions using a number of task types.

  2. IELTS General Training Reading

    There are three sections.

    1. Section 1 may contain two or three short texts or several shorter texts.
    2. Section 2 comprises two texts.
    3. In Section 3, there is one long text.

IELTS Writing Paper format

  1. IELTS Academic Writing

    There are two Writing tasks to complete.

    1. In Task 1, test takers are asked to respond to a situation, for example, by writing a letter requesting information or explaining a situation.
    2. In Task 2, test takers write an essay in response to a point of view, argument or problem.

  2. IELTS General Training Writing

    There are two Writing tasks and BOTH must be completed.

    1. In Task 1, test takers are asked to describe some visual information (graph/table/chart/diagram) in their own words. They need to write 150 words in about 20 minutes.
    2. In Task 2, they respond to a point of view or argument, or problem. They need to write 250 words in about 40 minutes.

IELTS Speaking Paper format

The Speaking test consists of an oral interview between the test takers’ and an examiner. All Speaking tests are recorded.