In early 2022, Australia’s border re-opened for international students to return back to study.
As a result, there are a lot of preparations you need to make once you choose your university, and the IELTS requirements you need to pass to be accepted into your chosen course
To make sure you don’t waste time in your IELTS preparation, we put together the details on how long and what you should expect when sitting the IELTS test
How can I prepare for IELTS in Australia?
Since Australia’s government re-opened the border in early 2022, many international students are returning to Australia, as the cost of study is cheaper than in other countries, and there are many job opportunities in Australia after finishing courses. The chance to become a permanent resident or citizen to live in Australia is also high.
Some students start with learning English to improve their language and then enter into the main course they desire.
There are certain requirements for IELTS scores in each course that you will need to pass to be accepted into your chosen course. Once you choose the University and the course that you are going to study in Australia you will know your IELTS score requirement.
Next step, it’s time for you to get serious and think about the IELTS Preparation process and how to get the score that meets your university’s requirements.
By the end of this article, you will learn and use this knowledge to prepare well for your IELTS test.
The summaries below are what you will learn:
- What type of exam that you need to take
- How the exam score works
- How long you will need to spend on each test
- How many tasks for the speaking test, what topic, how long for you to prepare and how many minutes do you need to answer each question
- What accents did they use to record the listening test
- What variety of question types are used for the reading test
- How long The Academic Writing test lasts
- How many writings task you will need to do and how many words you must write within a certain time limit?
Let’s dive into it, but first
What does IELTS mean?
“International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is an English language test for study, migration or work. Over three million people take our test every year. IELTS is accepted by more than 11,000 employers, universities, schools and immigration bodies around the world.” – https://www.ielts.org
How the IELTS is scored?
Nobody fails an IELTS test, you may just not get the results you needed. Everybody receives a band score, with the highest being 9, which is the native speaker standard.
Most test takers are taking the test for a purpose and will know what band they need to get. Band 7.5 requires high English skills and cannot be reached easily without a lot of hard work
Which IELTS test do I need – are they different?
Understand the two IELTS tests format:
- IELTS Academic – tests if an individual’s English language skills are suitable for an academic environment, such as a university setting.
- IELTS General – tests an individual’s English language skills in a practical setting, reflecting both workplace and social contexts.
Both Academic and General students take the same Listening and Speaking tests, but different Reading and Writing tests.
Before we deep dive into the details of IELTS preparation.
When you study for the IELTS test online with ENGLISH SPEAKER we prepare an IELTS online course that covers both the IELTS general course and the IELTS academic course.
I’m Mike, a native speaker tutor (Australian) who will be taking the IELTS online classes. This course is suitable for those who are just starting to prepare for their IELTS general test and for those who are preparing for IELTS Academic for a high band for university entrance.
I am an experienced professional English tutor at ENGLISH SPEAKER. I have the best materials to teach General English and IELTS online.
You can choose your own specific time to come and learn with me at your speed. I guarantee you will have fun and learn English online with no stress.
Many people ask – Are IELTS exams hard?
Some more information about the IELTS and the test format
How is the IELTS test setting?
- The Listening, Reading and Writing sections of all the IELTS tests are completed on the same day, with no breaks between them,
- But the Speaking section can be completed up to a week before or after the other tests.
- The total test time is 2 hours and 45 minutes.
The Four main test sections detail
Test 1 – IELTS Speaking Test
The Speaking test is an oral interview between the test taker and an examiner. It has three parts and goes for 11–14 minutes
Part 1 – lasts 4-5 minutes and is an introduction and interview, where the examiner asks general questions on familiar topics such as home, family, work, studies and interests.
Part 2 – lasts 3-4 minutes and has a longer speaking turn, where the examiner gives the test takers a task card with a topic to talk about. After one minute to prepare, the test taker must talk for 1 to 2 minutes and then answer one or two questions from the examiner on the same topic.
Part 3 lasts for 4-5 minutes and is a discussion, where the examiner and the test taker discuss things related to the topic in Part 2.
The features assessed are: fluency and coherence, lexical resource, grammatical range and accuracy, and pronunciation
Test 2 – IELTS Listening Test
The listening section includes four recordings of native English speakers. You will hear the recordings once and must then write down your answers.
For each section, you will need to answer ten questions, making 40 questions worth one mark each.
Time for Listening:
30 minutes, plus 10 minutes to write your answers onto the answer sheets
Examples of the recording
- Recording 1 – is a conversation between two people set in an everyday social context.
- Recording 2 – is a monologue, such as a speech, set in an everyday social context.
- Recording 3 – is a conversation between up to four people.
- Recording 4 – is a monologue on an academic subject, such as a university lecture
What accents you will hear – in a variety of tasks
- The recordings include a range of accents, including British, Australian, New Zealand, American and Canadian.
- A variety of tasks are used and chosen from:
- multiple choice
- matching
- plan/map/diagram labelling
- form/note/table/flow-chart/summary completion
- sentence completion
Test 3 – IELTS Reading Test
Academic Reading
The Academic Reading test lasts for 60 minutes and is made up of 40 questions, each worth one mark, and taken from three long texts.
These texts come from books, journals, magazines and newspapers and are suitable for a non-specialist audience entering university or seeking professional registration.
The questions will test reading for gist, reading for main ideas, reading for detail, skimming, understanding logical argument and recognising writers’ opinions, attitudes and purpose.
A variety of reading question types are used and chosen from
- multiple choice
- identifying information
- identifying the writer’s views or claims
- matching information
- matching headings
- matching features
- matching sentence endings
- sentence completion
- summary completion
- note completion
- table completion
- flow-chart completion
- diagram label completion and
- short-answer questions
Important note: The test takers must transfer their answers to an answer sheet during the time allowed for the test.
General Training Reading
The General Training Reading test lasts for 60 minutes and is made up of 40 questions, each worth one mark, and taken from three reading sections.
- Section 1 – may contain two or three short texts or several shorter texts.
- Section 2 – is made up of two texts, and
- Section 3 – is one long text.
These texts include extracts from
- books,
- magazines,
- newspapers,
- notices,
- advertisements,
- company
- handbooks
The guidelines and materials you are likely to meet with on a daily basis.
The questions will test reading for
- gist
- reading for main ideas
- reading for detail
- skimming
- understanding logical argument and
- recognising the writers’ opinions, attitudes and purpose.
A variety of question types are used and chosen from
- multiple choice
- identifying information
- identifying the writer’s views and claims
- matching information
- matching headings
- matching features
- matching sentence endings
- sentence completion
- summary completion
- note completion
- table completion
- flow-chart completion
- diagram label completion
- short-answer questions
Again, the test takers must transfer their answers to an answer sheet during the time allowed for the test.
Test 4 – IELTS Writing Test
The Academic Writing
The Academic Writing test lasts for 60 minutes and is made up of two questions – one for each of the two sections, or tasks.
- Task 1 – is a graph, table, chart or diagram that you will be asked to describe, summarise or explain in your own words.
- You must write 150 words in about 20 minutes.
- Task 2 – you will be asked to write an essay in formal English, to respond to a point of view, an argument or a problem.
- You must write 250 words in about 40 minutes.
- Task 2 contributes twice as much to the final Writing band score as Task 1 does.
Topics are of general interest, and suitable for test takers starting undergraduate and postgraduate studies or seeking professional registration.
General Training Writing (60 minutes)
The General Training Writing test lasts for 60 minutes and is made up of two questions – one for each of the two sections, or tasks. The topics are of general interest.
- Task 1 – you are given a situation and asked to write a letter requesting information, or explaining the situation.
- The letter may be personal, semi-formal or formal.
- You must write 150 words in about 20 minutes.
- Task 2 – you will be asked to write an essay in response to a point of view, argument or problem.
- The letter may be personal, semi-formal or formal in style.
- You must write 250 words in about 40 minutes.
- Task 2 contributes twice as much to the final Writing band score as Task 1 does.
Wrapping up
Having taught all levels of IELTS Preparation classes, I cannot stress enough the importance of being properly prepared for your examination.
If you are concerned about getting the best possible band score. IELTS has many unusual features that the test taker may not be prepared for, which experienced teachers can help you with.
For example, in our IELTS general course online and IELTS academic preparation course we can practice the various types of tasks with realistic examples that suit your level.
I have heard other teachers say that even as native speakers they would not expect to get a perfect band 9 if they just walked in to sit the test without any serious preparation.
For example, most students are familiar with multiple choice questions, but when IELTS use this task type on their tests, there are often many answers to choose from and sometimes you must choose more than one correct answer.
The matching tasks are also unique; instead of being an equal number of items to match, there will be a few extra, so test takers who may know some of the answers, can’t just guess the remaining ones.
Also, the listening test will state, ‘NO MORE THAN THREE WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER,’ if you haven’t been trained to look for and read instructions like this carefully, you will be penalised if you go beyond THREE WORDS or more than A NUMBER.
Again, although it is a listening test, test takers are also penalised if they misspell their answers on the answer sheet.
Once more, I stress that it is essential to prepare carefully for this test. My IELTS English course online could make all the difference to you getting the band score that you need.