Every year, IELTS helps millions of people realise their dreams of working, studying or living abroad, or improving their opportunities at home.

The test has been developed by experts to evaluate your English skills in reading, writing, listening and speaking – and it’s trusted by organisations all over the world, from universities and immigration bodies to companies.

So the IELTS journey you start here at International House Trust Assessment could take you almost anywhere.

There are two main types of IELTS test:

IELTS Academic

Tests the English skills you’ll need in a learning environment like a university or college.

IELTS General Training

Tests the everyday language skills that you use at work or while socialising.

IELTS is accepted globally

How the test is structured

There are four sections to the test:

You can now take IELTS on paper or on a computer

If you would rather use a computer than writing out your answers on your paper, you can do that in Central London, Bristol, Cambridge, Chelmsford, Oxford and Cardiff.

(Oxford and Cardiff offer only  IELTS on computer).

When you take IELTS on computer, you take the Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking sections on the same day. You take the Speaking test face-to-face with an IELTS examiner – not on a computer, and you get the test results in 5 days.

When you take IELTS on paper, you take the Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking sections on the same day. You take the Speaking test face-to-face with an IELTS examiner and you get the test results in 13 days.

Everything else is the same whether you write or type your answers – from the questions and test timings to the results format.

Find more information about IELTS on computer test and how it works here.

Find more information about IELTS test format here.

IELTS is jointly owned by the British Council; IDP: IELTS Australia and Cambridge Assessment.