Objective:
International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is designed in such a way that can be sometimes challenging to comprehend. IELTS is categorized into Academic and General. One of the major differences lies between these the IELTS Writing and Reading training tests for the Academic and General comprise topics that are based on general interests such as advertisements, newspapers, and notices. The Academic tests have topics that are suited to the study at university or professional institutions, like journals. Most of the students consider the General training test a little harder.
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The major differences between IELTS Academic and IELTS General
| IELTS General Training | IELTS Academic Training |
| The IELTS General test assesses English proficiency in an everyday context. This test can be used for work or emigrating in an English-speaking country, and can even be in the process of getting citizenship in some countries like Canada. | IELTS Academic Training evaluates whether your English level of proficiency is suitable for the educational environment. If you are willing to school or university in an English-speaking country, then you need to take IELTS Academic. |
| IELTS General Test has four parts: Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking which needs to be finished in 3 hours. | IELTS Academic test also has four parts: Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking that lasts about 3 hours |
| The Listening and Speaking sections of IELTS General and Academic are absolutely the same, the only difference lies in only the Reading and the Writing sections. | The IELTS Academic and the IELTS General Listening and Speaking sections are identical. Than Reading and the Writing sections differ. |
| The Reading section in the IELTS General Training test has a number of reading passages that are a little different in each section. Section 1: Up to 3 short texts Section 2: 2 texts Section 3: One long text |
The IELTS Academic Reading test has many numbers of reading passages in every section the same. Section 1: One short article Section 2: One long article Section 3: One long article |
| IELTS General Training Reading Section 1: Everyday life based on up to 3 texts are given, about college brochures, accommodation lists, newsletters, travel leaflets, advertisements, noticeboards, etc. Section 2: Professional training or works related 2 texts about job descriptions, guidelines, manuals, work policies, etc. Section 3: General interest-based one long text about book extracts, newspaper/magazine articles, business, culture, history, transport, people, etc. |
IELTS Academic Reading section has all texts are about topics based on general interest based on different academic subjects like Plant/animal/human biology, Mathematics, Computer science, Medicine, History, Psychology, Education, Law, Language and Linguistics, Business, economics, marketing, Management, etc. |
| The IELTS General Training Writing section has two tasks. Task 1: You are supposed to write a letter that is formal or informal. For example, you need to explain or inform about a situation. Then you need to write no less than 150 words and, ideally not more than 250 words in about 20 minutes. Task 2: You would have to write an essay based on a task on a general interest topic that needs a point of view, an argument, or a problem that you need to explain and discuss in it. Write it in 250 words or less, preferably, not more than 350 words in about 40 minutes. |
The IELTS Academic Writing section has two tasks. Task 1: You need to describe and narrate a visual in your own words. This visual can be either a graph, line, pie chart, diagram, table, or map. You will need to write 150 words or less and, ideally, not more than 250 words in about 20 minutes. Task 2: need to write an essay that is based on a topic that is related to an academic issue which includes a point of view, argument, or problem which is to be discussed. You need to write not less than 250 words and, main importantly, not more than 350 words in about 40 minutes. |
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