考试概览

IELTS is one of the English tests Chinese students most often sit before studying abroad. It is not a test of what you know about English; it is a test of whether you can use it — listen to a lecture, read an argument, write a case, and hold a conversation with a stranger.

• There are two tests, and you choose one when you book. IELTS Academic 学术类 is for study at degree level and above, and for professional registration 职业注册 in fields such as medicine and nursing. IELTS General Training 培训类 is for migration 移民 and for study below degree level.
• Almost every Chinese student applying for a Bachelor's or Master's degree needs Academic.
• Four skills are tested on one day: Listening, Reading and Writing back to back, then Speaking, which may be the same day or a few days either side.
• Most candidates now sit it on computer at a test centre; the IELTS partners announced a move away from fully paper-based tests from mid-2026, with dates that vary by market (see the supplement, and check your centre). The questions and the marking are the same either way. Computer results arrive within days rather than about two weeks, and — this matters later — only a computer test qualifies for One Skill Retake.

• The whole test takes about 2 hours 45 minutes.
• On computer you type answers straight in and get 2 minutes to check at the end of Listening. Where a paper test is still offered, Listening adds 10 minutes to copy answers onto the answer sheet 答题卡.
• Reading gives you no extra time at all. You write on the answer sheet as you go. Students who plan a transfer 誊写 at the end lose marks discovering this on test day.
• Writing Task 2 is worth twice as much as Task 1, so budget 20 minutes for Task 1 and 40 for Task 2 — and if you run out of time, run out of it on Task 1.

• Each skill is reported as a band 分数档 from 0 to 9, in whole and half steps: 5.5, 6.0, 6.5.
• The overall band 总分 is the average of the four skills, rounded to the nearest half band. An average ending in .25 rounds up to the next half band; one ending in .75 rounds up to the next whole band.
• So 6.5, 6.5, 5.0 and 7.0 averages 6.25 and is reported as 6.5.
• ⚠ Universities usually set a minimum overall band and a floor on each skill. An overall 7.0 with a 5.5 in Writing does not meet an offer that asks for 7.0 with no skill below 6.5 — a single low skill can sink the result. Work on the lowest number, not the average.
• In Listening and Reading each correct answer earns one mark, and your mark out of 40 becomes a band. IELTS publishes only four points on that scale — on Academic Reading, 15 marks reaches band 5, 23 reaches band 6, 30 reaches band 7 and 35 reaches band 8 — so a practice score tells you which band you have reached, not a precise number.
• Writing and Speaking are judged by a trained examiner 考官 against four criteria 评分标准 each, which are set out in the Writing and Speaking sections of these notes.

Worked example: does this result meet the offer?

An offer asks for overall 6.5 with no skill below 6.0.

• Bo's 6.25 rounds up to 6.5. Lin's 6.125 is closer to 6.0 than to 6.5, so it stays at 6.0.
• Mei has the highest average and still fails the offer: one skill below the floor is enough.

• Listening and Speaking are exactly the same test in Academic and General Training. Two of your four skills need no separate preparation at all.
• Reading differs. Academic uses three long texts from books, journals and newspapers written for a general reader. General Training starts with everyday notices and advertisements, moves to workplace texts, and ends with one longer general text.
• Writing Task 1 differs. Academic asks you to describe a graph, table, chart or diagram. General Training asks you to write a letter. Task 2 is an essay in both.
• IELTS for UKVI is the same test again — same questions, same format, same difficulty, same scoring. Only the administration differs: a UKVI session, and a Test Report Form 成绩单 that says so. If a UK university or visa route asks for it, book that session and prepare identically.
• IELTS Life Skills is a different, much smaller test: Speaking and Listening only, at CEFR A1, A2 or B1, marked Pass or Fail rather than banded. It is for certain visa routes, never for university study.

This rule should change how you prepare, so it is worth knowing before you book.

• If one skill lets you down, you may retake that skill alone instead of the whole test.
• Any one of Listening, Reading, Writing or Speaking — one skill, once for each full test.
• Two conditions: the full test must have been IELTS on computer at a centre that offers the service, and the retake must be within 60 days of it.
• You then receive a new Test Report Form carrying the new score for that skill and the original scores for the other three.
• ⚠ The practical consequence: find out which single skill is short of your target and repair that one. For many candidates it is Writing, and the repair is a few weeks of marked essays rather than a whole second test.

• Book the computer test unless you have a reason not to. Faster results, and the retake option exists only there.
• Learn the question types until they are automatic, then practise under the clock. The task types are stable; it is the topics that keep changing.
• Write your target for each skill on the first page of your notebook. Prepare against the lowest number, not the average.
• Sources, checked on 19 September 2026: IELTS Academic, General Training, scoring in detail, One Skill Retake, IELTS for UKVI.

Vocabulary card meanings

Academic: The module for people who want to study at university. professional registration: Legal permission to work in a regulated job. General Training: The module for work, training or migration rather than university. answer sheet: The printed grid for listening and reading answers. transfer: Copying answers onto the official form before the time ends. band: A score step from 0 to 9. examiner: The trained person who scores speaking or writing. criteria: The official points on which a score is decided. Test Report Form: The official document that records the scores.