Test Structure: Academic IELTS

1. Listening

• Time: 30 minutes + 10 minutes (paper-based only)
  
• Format: 4 recordings (monologues & conversations)
  
• Questions: 40
  
• Skills Tested: Understanding main ideas, specific details, opinions, and purpose
  

2. Reading

• Time: 60 minutes
  
• Format: 3 long academic texts from books, journals, or magazines
  
• Questions: 40
  
• Skills Tested: Reading for gist, detail, logical flow, and interpreting arguments
  

3. Writing

• Time: 60 minutes
  
• Tasks:
  
  • Task 1: Describe visual data (graph, chart, table, map, process)
    
  • Task 2: Write an essay in response to a point of view, argument, or problem
    
• Word Count: 150 words (Task 1), 250 words (Task 2)
  
• Skills Tested: Clarity, coherence, argument development, vocabulary, grammar
  

4. Speaking

• Time: 11–14 minutes
  
• Format: Face-to-face interview with an examiner
  
• Sections:
  
  • Part 1: Introduction & general questions
    
  • Part 2: Individual long turn (1–2 minute speech)
    
  • Part 3: In-depth discussion
    

Skills Tested: Fluency, coherence, pronunciation, lexical resource, grammatical accuracy