IELTS Academic or General Training: which one do you need?
The two IELTS tests share half their papers and the same 0–9 band scale, but they aren't interchangeable. How they differ, who asks for which, and how to check before you book.
IELTS comes in two versions, and booking the wrong one is an expensive mistake: the result can't be converted from one to the other. The good news is that the choice rarely needs guessing. The organisation asking for your result almost always says which one it wants.
Who asks for which
IELTS Academic is for study at university, undergraduate or postgraduate, and for many professional registrations, such as doctors, nurses and engineers registering to work in another country.
IELTS General Training is for work, training below degree level, and migration. Many immigration authorities ask for General Training, but not all of them, and some professional bodies want Academic even for a work visa.
So the rule is simple: find the requirement in writing before you book. University admissions pages, professional bodies and immigration websites state the version and the band they need, often per skill ("6.5 overall, no band below 6.0").
What's the same
Half of IELTS is identical in both versions:
| Paper | Time | What's in it |
|---|---|---|
| Listening | 30 min | four recordings, each heard once, 40 questions |
| Speaking | 11–14 min | three parts: questions about you, a two-minute talk from a task card, a discussion |
Both versions also share the band scale. Every skill gets a band from 0 to 9, in half bands, and the overall band is the average of the four. There's no pass mark: each organisation decides the band it needs.
What's different
The differences sit in Reading and Writing, 60 minutes each.
Reading. Academic gives you three long passages of the kind found in books, journals and magazines. General Training starts with everyday material, such as notices and adverts, moves to two workplace documents, and ends with one longer text of general interest. Both have 40 questions. General Training texts are easier to read, so you need more correct answers for the same band.
Writing Task 1. In Academic you describe a chart, table, diagram or map in at least 150 words: trends, comparisons, the main features, no opinions. In General Training you write a letter of at least 150 words about an everyday situation, and the tone (formal, semi-formal or friendly) is part of the mark.
Writing Task 2 is an essay of at least 250 words in both versions, and it counts twice as much as Task 1. Many candidates spend too long on Task 1. Give Task 2 about 40 of your 60 minutes.
How to prepare for either
- Sit a full timed mock early. It shows which of the four skills is holding your overall band down.
- Train for one listening. IELTS plays each recording once. Practise reading the questions ahead and writing as you listen.
- Watch the word counts. Writing under 150 or 250 words costs marks on task achievement.
- Speak for the full two minutes. In Part 2, use your minute of preparation to note three or four points and an example for each.
You can sit full IELTS Academic and IELTS General Training mocks on certifyboost, timed like the real test, with Listening played once and writing and speaking marked as bands from 0 to 9. Mock 1 of each is free. IELTS Academic mock · IELTS General Training mock