IELTS Test Format: Academic & General Training

The IELTS (International English Language Testing System) exam is designed to assess the English language proficiency of individuals who wish to study or work in English-speaking countries. The exam is widely recognized and accepted by universities, employers, immigration authorities, and professional bodies worldwide. Here's an overview of the IELTS format:

1. **Listening (30 minutes):**
   - The listening test consists of four recorded conversations or monologues.
   - The recordings cover a range of accents and topics.
   - Test-takers listen to each recording only once and answer a series of questions as they listen.
   - Answers are recorded on the question paper as the test progresses, and then transferred to an answer sheet at the end of the test.

2. **Reading (60 minutes):**
   - The reading test is designed to assess a wide range of reading skills, including reading for gist, reading for main ideas, reading for detail, skimming, understanding logical argument, and recognizing writers' opinions, attitudes, and purpose.
   - It consists of three long passages with a variety of question types: multiple choice, identifying information, identifying writer's views, 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.

3. **Writing (60 minutes):**
   - The writing test requires candidates to complete two tasks.
   - Task 1: Candidates are presented with a graph, table, chart, or diagram and are asked to describe, summarize, or explain the information in their own words. They may be asked to explain data, describe the stages of a process, how something works, or describe an object or event.
   - Task 2: Candidates are presented with a point of view, argument, or problem. They need to provide general factual information, outline and discuss the problem, present and justify an opinion, evaluate and challenge ideas, evidence, or arguments.

4. **Speaking (11–14 minutes):**
   - The speaking test is a face-to-face interview with a certified examiner.
   - It is designed to assess the candidate's spoken English across four criteria: fluency and coherence, lexical resource, grammatical range and accuracy, and pronunciation.
   - The test is divided into three parts:
     - Part 1: Introduction and interview (4-5 minutes)
     - Part 2: Long turn - where the candidate speaks for 1-2 minutes on a particular topic (3-4 minutes)
     - Part 3: Discussion - a discussion between the examiner and the candidate on themes related to the topic in Part 2 (4-5 minutes)

Overall, the IELTS exam aims to provide a fair, accurate, and reliable assessment of English language proficiency, reflecting real-life usage of English in academic and everyday contexts.