Lesson 8 · Lesson guide
Academic IELTS at a Glance
Hello, my dear student!
Hello! In the Starter level you met IELTS for the first time. Now you are at band 4, and it is time to look inside the test properly: what happens in each paper, minute by minute, and how your answers become a band.
Students who know the format lose fewer marks for silly reasons. They do not write three words when the instructions say two. They do not spend 40 minutes on Writing Task 1. They know that the Reading test has no extra time to copy answers.
By the end of this lesson you will be able to describe the whole Academic test in English, work out an overall band, and plan your time in every paper.
See you in the exercises,Your teacher
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Four papers, one morning
Listening, Reading and Writing are done together, with no breaks. Speaking is on the same day or within a week before or after.
30 minutes · 40 questions
Listening: four parts
Part 1: an everyday conversation (often a form). Part 2: one person talks about an everyday topic. Part 3: students and a tutor discuss a study topic. Part 4: a lecture. You hear each recording once.
- Write NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER.
60 minutes · 40 questions
Reading: three long texts
Texts from books, journals and newspapers, each harder than the last. There is no extra time to copy your answers, so write them on the answer sheet as you go.
- about 20 minutes for each passage
60 minutes · 2 tasks
Writing: Task 1 and Task 2
Task 1: describe a chart, table, map or process in at least 150 words (about 20 minutes). Task 2: an essay of at least 250 words (about 40 minutes). Task 2 counts twice as much.
- Start with Task 2 if you like: it is worth more.
11–14 minutes · 3 parts
Speaking: a conversation with an examiner
Part 1: questions about you (4–5 minutes). Part 2: a talk of up to 2 minutes, after 1 minute to prepare. Part 3: a discussion of bigger ideas (4–5 minutes).
- Describe a teacher who helped you.
Remember!
Listening 30 min · Reading 60 min · Writing 60 min · Speaking 11–14 min = about 2 hours 45 minutes.
How the band scale works
Each paper gets a band from 0 to 9, in whole or half bands. The overall band is the average of the four.
Listening and Reading
Correct answers → band
Each correct answer is one mark out of 40, and a table turns your marks into a band. About 30 correct answers is band 7; about 23 is band 6.
- 30 / 40 ≈ band 7
Writing and Speaking
Four criteria each
Writing: Task Achievement or Response, Coherence and Cohesion, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range and Accuracy. Speaking: Fluency and Coherence, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range and Accuracy, Pronunciation.
- Vocabulary and grammar count in both.
The overall band
Average, then round
Add the four bands and divide by 4. An average ending in .25 goes up to .5; one ending in .75 goes up to the next whole band.
- 6.5 + 6.5 + 5 + 7 = 25 → 25 ÷ 4 = 6.25 → band 6.5
Format mistakes that cost marks
Not: The instructions say TWO WORDS. I write “the big library”.Say: I write “big library” or “library”.
Too many words = wrong, even if the meaning is right.
Not: I will copy my Reading answers at the end.Say: I write Reading answers on the answer sheet as I go.
Listening on paper gives 10 minutes to transfer answers. Reading gives no extra time.
Not: Task 1 and Task 2 are worth the same, so I spend 30 minutes on each.Say: About 20 minutes on Task 1 and 40 minutes on Task 2.
Task 2 is longer and counts twice as much.
Not: In Part 2 of Speaking, I stop after 30 seconds.Say: I keep talking until the examiner stops me (up to 2 minutes).
A very short answer does not show your English.
Check yourself
How many parts does the Listening test have?
Bands: Listening 5, Reading 4.5, Writing 4, Speaking 4.5. Overall?
Which papers are the same in Academic and General Training?
Now it’s your turn!
8 short parts, each a little harder than the one before. Take your time: mistakes are how we learn.
— Your teacher