IELTS Exam 2022 (Academic & General Test): Exam Dates, Registration, Fees, Eligibility, Syllabus, Results

IELTS Highlights

Exam Name	IELTS
IELTS full form	International English Language Testing System
Official Website	https://www.ielts.org/
Most popular for	Study, work, and migration to English speaking countries like Australia, New Zealand, and the UK
Also accepted by	Canada and USA
Conducted by	IDP Education Ltd.
Mode of Exam	Computer and Paper – delivered test
IELTS Fee	Rs. 14,700 for registrations from 11th-July-2021
Score Range	On a scale of 1 (the lowest) to 9 (the highest)
IELTS Contact	British Council 0120-4569000 / 0120-6684353, Mon-Sat 09.00 to 18.00 Email: ExamsCustomerCare@britishcouncil.org IDP Head Office +91-124-4445999/ 1800-102-4544 Email: ielts.india@idp.com

What is IELTS ?

IELTS stands for International English Language Testing System. The IELTS exam measures the English comprehension of people who are trying to work or study in an English-speaking country.

The IELTS test is similar to the TOEFL, which is another common English comprehension exam. The IELTS tests your proficiency in four main areas:

Reading
Writing
Speaking
Listening

There are two versions of the IELTS:

They’re searching for a job. If you’re applying for a job in an English-speaking country, but speak another language as your native tongue, you may need to take an English-language comprehension exam like the IELTS to prove that you have the proficiency to work effectively. IELTS General Test

They’re applying to university. If you’re applying to study at an English-speaking college or university, you may need to take the IELTS to prove your English-language comprehension. Your IELTS score will show whether or not you’ll be able to complete the coursework in English. At certain institutions, your acceptance is contingent on your ability to achieve a certain IELTS score.IELTS Acedemic Test

IELTS Eligibility

IELTS can be taken by anyone irrespective of age, gender, race, nationality, or religion, however, the IELTS test is not recommended for those under 16 years of age.

As such, there is no IELTS eligibility criteria set by the IDP, the conducting body of IELTS. Anyone who wishes to pursue higher studies abroad or wants to work abroad can attempt the IELTS IDP exam (both Academic and General Training). However, candidates should always check the eligibility criteria set by the educational institution or organization where they are applying.

IELTS : Age Limit

As such, there is no age limit set by the IELTS administrators (IDP or British Council), however, it is not recommended for candidates below 16 years. Although if they wish, they can also take the test.

IELTS Exam Fees

The IELTS fee for registration is Rs. 14,700 from 11th-July-2021.

IELTS Exam Fee	₹ 14,700
IELTS Cancellation Fee	₹ 2,325
IELTS Rescheduling Fee	₹ 3,300

What is IELTS Cancellation Fees?

If you cancel your IELTS application more than five weeks before the test date, you will receive a refund minus a 25% administrative fee.
If you cancel the IELTS exam less than five weeks ahead of the test date, you will receive no refund.
In case you fail to appear for the test, then also you will not receive any refund. This is also considered a cancelation.

Those who can produce a medical certificate within 5 days of the test date can receive a refund after deducting the local administrative cost.

What is IELTS Reschedule Fee?

If you want to change your test date, then you can request a test day transfer at least five weeks before your already booked test date after deducting your cancellation/postponement fee. Also, make sure the new test date must be within three months of the original test date. Candidates need to pay an administrative charge of INR 3,300 inclusive of all taxes for the transfer of the test date.

IELTS Exam Syllabus and Pattern

Candidates who want to do well in their IELTS test should thoroughly comprehend the IELTS Syllabus. The IELTS Syllabus is divided into four parts: reading, listening, speaking, and writing. Students are graded on these four components as well as their overall IELTS score. Aspirants demonstrate an understanding of how to approach each component of the IELTS. The total score is the sum of the four skill area scores. The entire test lasts 2 hours and 45 minutes.

Section	Description	Number of Questions	Duration	Marks
Listening	The module is divided into four sections that increase in difficulty. Each section, which can be a monologue or a dialogue, begins with a brief introduction about the situation and the speakers.	40	30 minutes	40
Reading	The reading test in the academic module is divided into three sections, with three texts typically followed by 13 or 14 questions for a total of 40 questions. The General test is divided into three sections as well. However, because the texts are shorter, there may be up to five to read.	40	60 minutes	40
Writing	There are two tasks in the Academic module: Task 1 requires candidates to describe a diagram, graph, process, or chart, and Task 2 requires them to respond to an argument. There are also two tasks in the General Training module: Task 1 requires candidates to write a letter or explain a situation, and Task 2 requires them to write an essay.	2	60 minutes	Variable
Speaking	The speaking test is divided into three sections. This final section is more abstract and is generally regarded as the most difficult.	Variable	11-14 minutes	Variable

IELTS Exam Syllabus (Section Wise)

IELTS Listening Syllabus

It consists of four aspects each with 10 questions.

The first two sections deal with scenarios that happen in everyday social situations.

Multiple choice, matching, plan/map/diagram labelling, form/note/table/flow-chart/summary completion, and sentence completion are among the question kinds employed.

As they listen, test takers write their responses on the question paper, and at the end of the test, they have 10 minutes to transfer their answers to an answer sheet.

Recording 1 – consists of a dialogue between two people in an everyday social setting.

Recording 2 – a monologue set in a common social environment, such as a speech about local amenities.

Recording 3 – consists of a dialogue between up to four people in an educational or training situation, such as a university instructor and a student discussing an assignment.

Recording 4 – consists of a monologue about an intellectual subject, such as a university lecture.

IELTS Reading Syllabus

IELTS Reading Syllabus: IELTS Academic

The IELTS Academic test consists of three long texts ranging from descriptive and factual to discursive and analytical. There are multiple choices, identifying information, identifying the writer’s views/claims, 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. All of the topics are of general interest.

Exam takers who are commencing undergraduate or postgraduate courses or seeking professional registration will find them engaging, relevant, and understandable. The paragraphs might be written in a narrative, descriptive, or discursive/argumentative manner. At least one text contains a complete logical argument. Texts may include nonverbal resources such as diagrams, graphs, or drawings.

IELTS Reading Syllabus: IELTS General

The Reading part consists of 40 questions designed to assess a variety of reading abilities. Reading for gist, reading for major ideas, reading for detail, skimming, understanding logical arguments, and recognising writers’ perspectives, attitudes, and intent are examples of these. The emphasis here is on descriptive and informative texts, rather than argumentative texts, in a general context appropriate to the diverse spectrum of test-takers engaged, such as newspapers, periodicals, and fictional and non-fictional book extracts.

IELTS General Training exam consists of excerpts from books, periodicals, newspapers, notices, advertising, company handbooks, and guidelines. These are the kinds of resources students likely to come across on a regular basis if they live in an English-speaking country.

There are three parts.

Section 1 may include two or three brief texts or a collection of shorter texts.
Section 2 consists of two texts.
Section 3 contains a single long text.

The following types of questions are used in the exam multiple choice, identifying information, identifying writer’s views/claims, 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.

IELTS Writing Syllabus

IELTS Writing Syllabus: IELTS Academic

The topics are of general interest to and appropriate for test-takers beginning undergraduate or postgraduate courses or seeking professional registration. There are two assignments:

Task 1: Students will be given a graph, table, chart, or diagram and will be asked to describe, summarise, or explain the material in their own words. They may be requested to describe and explain data, process phases, how something works, or an object or event.

Task 2: It entails writing an essay in response to a point of view, argument, or problem. Responses to both assignments must be written in a formal manner.

IELTS Writing Syllabus: IELTS General

The subjects are of general interest. There are two assignments:

Task 1: Students will be given a situation and will be asked to compose a letter asking for information or describing the circumstance. The letter might be informal, semi-formal, or formal in tone.In Task 1, test takers are expected to respond to a circumstance, such as writing a letter requesting information or explaining a situation.

Task 2: entails writing an essay in response to a point of view, argument, or problem. The essay’s style might be quite personal.Task 2 requires test takers to compose an essay in response to a point of view, argument, or problem.

IELTS Speaking Syllabus

The speaking portion evaluates the ability to communicate in English. Every test is videotaped.

Part 1 – consists of the examiner asking general questions about themselves and a variety of familiar topics such as home, family, work, studies, and interests. This segment lasts four to five minutes.

Part 2 – It will be handed a card on which students will be asked to speak on a specific topic. Before speaking for up to two minutes, they will have one minute to prepare. The examiner will next ask one or two follow-up questions on the same subject.The task focus of this section of the test is the ability to communicate ideas and information about ordinary issues and common experiences or situations by answering a variety of questions.

Part 3 – They will be asked additional questions about the topic covered in Part 2. These will allow them to discuss more abstract concepts and issues. This section of the test lasts between four and six hours.This section of the test focuses on the ability to articulate and justify viewpoints, as well as analyse, discuss, and hypothesise on issues.

IELTS Exam Dates 2022-2023 in India

IELTS Exam dates for March 2022

Test Dates	Test Type
3rd-March 2022	Academic only
12th-March 2022	Academic and General Training
19th-March 2022	Academic only
26th-March 2022	Academic and General Training

IELTS Exam dates for April 2022

Test Dates	Test Type
9th-April 2022	Academic and General Training
21st-April 2022	Academic only
23rd-April 2022	Academic and General Training
30th-April 2022	Academic only

IELTS Exam dates in May 2022

Test Dates	Test Type
7th-May 2022	Academic and General Training
12th-May 2022	Academic and General Training
21st-May 2022	Academic only
28th-May 2022	Academic and General Training

IELTS Exam dates in June 2022

Test Dates	Test Type
4-June 2022	Academic only
11-June 2022	Academic and General Training
16-June 2022	Academic only
25-June 2022	Academic and General Training

IELTS Exam dates for July 2022

Test Dates	Test Type
7 July 2022	Academic only
9 July 2022	Academic and General Training
16 July 2022	Academic only
23 July 2022	Academic and General Training

IELTS Exam dates for August 2022

Test Dates	Test Type
6 August 2022	Academic and General Training
11 August 2022	Academic and General Training
20 August 2022	Academic and General Training
27 August 2022	Academic only

IELTS Exam dates for September 2022

Test Dates	Test Type
3rd-September 2022	Academic and General Training
10th-September 2022	Academic only
15th-September 2022	Academic only
24th-September 2022	Academic and General Training

IELTS Exam dates for October 2022

Test Dates	Test Type
8th-October 2022	Academic and General Training
13th-October 2022	Academic only
22nd-October 2022	Academic only
29th-October 2022	Academic and General Training

IELTS Exam dates for November 2022

Test Dates	Test Type
5th-November 2022	Academic and General Training
10th-November 2022	Academic and General Training
19th-November 2022	Academic and General Training
26th-November 2022	Academic only

IELTS Exam dates for December 2022

Test Dates	Test Type
3rd-December 2022	Academic and General Training
8th-December 2022	Academic only
10th-December 2022	Academic only
17th-December 2022	Academic and General Training

IELTS Online Registration

IELTS registration is now simple and quick. The IELTS exam may be booked in three phases. Candidates must first go to the official IELTS website and then:

Make an account
Determine an appropriate date slot based on the availability at the nearby IELTS testing locations.
Pay for your registration online to complete it.

IELTS Offline Registration

Candidates must get the IELTS exam registration form from the official website. Manually choose the test date and fill out the other form criteria. The candidate must then pay by demand draft (written in favour of “IDP EDUCATION INDIA PRIVATE LIMITED, Payable at New Delhi”) or cash (to pay cash to visit the nearest ICICI bank with a payment slip). On the registration form, the candidate must offer a Blue Dart courier operable address.

How to Check IELTS Result?

Once you are done with the IELTS, then comes your wait for the result. The good thing about these exams is that the results are usually declared within a fortnight. In this case, if you have given the computer-based exam, your results will be declared within 3-5 days or within a week.

Offline Mode: For offline or paper-based tests, you will receive your results within 13 calendar days from the day of your exam.
Online Mode: Candidates will receive the results of computer-delivered tests within 3-5 days. On the day of your result, you will receive an intimation from your Test Centre about the results. You can simply log in with your ID, password, passport number, and test date information to view your result. From the time of declaration of result, your results will be available online for the next 28 days

How is IELTS Scored & Score Band?

IELTS is designed to assess English language skills at all levels. Your total IELTS score will be a combination of the band scores from the four sections. You will receive IELTS scores based on each of the four skills on a band of 1 – 9, and you will also be awarded an overall band score. You can score whole (example 5.0, 6.0, 7.0) or half (example 5.5, 6.5, 7.5) bands in each part of the test. You need to have some idea about how the scoring pattern works to better understand how your IELTS score will be calculated.

Band score	Skill level	Description
Band 9	Expert user	You have a full operational command of the language. Your use of English is appropriate, accurate and fluent, and you show complete understanding.
Band 8	Very good user	You have a fully operational command of the language with only occasional unsystematic inaccuracies and inappropriate usage. You may misunderstand some things in unfamiliar situations. You handle complex detailed argumentation well.
Band 7	Good user	You have an operational command of the language, though with occasional inaccuracies, inappropriate usage and misunderstandings in some situations. Generally you handle complex language well and understand detailed reasoning.
Band 6	Competent user	Generally you have an effective command of the language despite some inaccuracies, inappropriate usage and misunderstandings. You can use and understand fairly complex language, particularly in familiar situations.
Band 5	Modest user	You have a partial command of the language, and cope with overall meaning in most situations, although you are likely to make many mistakes. You should be able to handle basic communication in your own field.
Band 4	Limited user	Your basic competence is limited to familiar situations. You frequently show problems in understanding and expression. You are not able to use complex language.
Band 3	Extremely limited user	You convey and understand only general meaning in very familiar situations. There are frequent breakdowns in communication.
Band 2	Intermittent user	You have great difficulty understanding spoken and written English.
Band 1	Non-user	You have no ability to use the language except a few isolated words.
Band 0	Did not attempt the test	You did not answer the questions.

IELTS Score validity period

From the time you obtain your IELTS result, your IELTS score is valid for two years.

IELTS Accepted Countries

The IELTS exam score is recognised in over 140 countries, including

The United Kingdom
Australia
New Zealand
The United States
Canada

You can take IELTS for study, job, or immigration, and if you get a strong score, you can apply to your preferred nation. Before taking the IELTS exam, it is a good idea to verify the university/country requirements.

IELTS Accepting Universities

Taking the IELTS test brings up a world of possibilities! IELTS is accepted by over 11,000 organisations in 140 countries. Professional groups, schools, colleges, and universities are examples of them. This exam will clearly monitor the aspirant’s usage of the English language at work and in school, which represents how the aspirant would manage communication overseas. It is the most popular English language test, with over 3 million IELTS examinations administered each year.

Name of the Institution	IELTS CutOff
MIT	7.0
Stanford University	7.0
Harvard University	7.0
California Institute of Technology	6.5
University of Oxford	7.0 with 6.5 in each band
Eth Zurich	7.0
University of Cambridge	7.0 with 7.-0 in each band
Imperial College London	6.5 with 5.5 in each band
University of Chicago	7.0
UCL	7.5

Difference Between TOEFL & IELTS

While the content is largely similar, with four basic areas of competency, the structures of the tests differ quite a bit. TOEFL questions are almost entirely multiple choice, while IELTS tests have many types of questions throughout, including short answer, small essays, and gap-filling tasks — where you’ll fill in missing words.

Further, TOEFL being entirely computer-based means you won’t have to interact with an actual human. IELTS speaking tests are done face-to-face with an examiner, which can be nerve-wracking for some. When performing writing tasks, TOEFL will have you use a keyboard, while IELTS is hand-written. In terms of length for the IELTS vs. TOEFL tests, The IELTS essay is a little shorter, at 250 words, compared to TOEFL’s 300.

In the listening portion, TOEFL will have you listen to and take notes on lectures from a university class, or snippets of on-campus conversation. You’ll then use your notes to answer multiple choice questions. For IELTS, you’ll listen to recordings and answer questions as you go, over a number of different, now-familiar question types.

IELTS vs TOEFL Which is Easier?

Is the TOEFL easier than the IELTS? Both IELTS and TOEFL are fundamental English proficiency assessments. Most test-takers believe that IELTS is easier than TOEFL.

Top 5 Best Books for IELTS

1. Barron’s IELTS Superpack

2. The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS

3. Cambridge IELTS 14 Academic Student’s Book with Answers with Audio

4. Official IELTS Practice Materials

5. Road to IELTS

Important Links

official website: click here

apply link: click here

Frequently Asked Questions ( FAQs)

Still, have doubts in mind? Read the IELTS FAQs to learn more about the IELTS exam.

What is the full form of the IELTS exam?

The full form of the IELTS exam is the International English Language Testing System.

Can I take IELTS online test from home?

Yes, you can take IELTS Indicator, the new IELTS online test introduced by the IELTS administration. You can take this exam online from your home, you just need to have the equipment set up as asked by the IELTS administrator.

Who conducts IELTS?

IELTS test is owned by IDP IELTS Australia (International Development Program) and Cambridge ESOL (English for Speakers of Other Languages). Earlier, IDP and British Council both conducted IELTS in India, however, now IDP has acquired a 100% stake from British Council and will solely be responsible for administering IELTS in India whether computer-based or paper-based.

How many times is the IELTS exam conducted in a year?

There is no fixed number of times for the IELTS exam to be held. It is conducted several times every year to allow its candidates to choose a date and attempt the test whenever they are ready. In addition to this, there is also no limit as to how many times you can attempt or re-take the exam. You just need to pay the exam re-taking fee and give the exam as many times as you want (given that you have to pay the fees for every attempt).

What is the validity of IELTS?

The IELTS exam score or IELTS Test Report Form (TRF) is valid for two years from the date of the result declaration. Check out more details on IELTS Exam Results and Scores.

Where can I book my IELTS slot?

The slot for the IELTS exam can be booked in two ways, online and in person. Know everything about registering for IELTS 2022. Check out the entire detail on IELTS Slot Booking 2022.

Can the IELTS test be rescheduled?

In case you wish to change the date of your IELTS Exam, you can do that and request a transfer up to five weeks before the originally booked test date. However, the availability of the next IELTS test date will be the decision of the test centre and it is subject to availability.

What are the best books for IELTS Exam 2022?

Apart from good command of the English language, you need to have clarity on what to prepare and how to prepare it. Since there is no fixed syllabus like there used to be in schools with specific chapters and grammar sections, you need to know how to score well in every section. Whether you prepare on your own or you choose a coaching centre to study, you need to have the appropriate study material to get started with. Coaching centres would often help you with the exact kind of books you need to prepare. However, in the case of self-study, you need to look for the study material on your own. Check out the best books and resources for the IELTS exam 2022.

How many IELTS Test Centers are there in India?

IELTS has its exam centres all over India. The test can be taken by you in 78 locations across India. You should choose your location wisely considering that your travel on the day of the exam should not be exhausting. Choose a centre with minimal commuting time so that you can remain fresh for attempting the exam. With so many locations, it would be easy to find a test centre near your residential place. Remember, you need to book the test centre in advance according to your suitable time. Check out the list of IELTS Test Centers in India.

How many IELTS attempts can be given?

There is no limit set by the conducting bodies of IELTS for taking the IELTS exam. You can take the IELTS test as many times as you want until you get your dream/target score. However, you have to pay the IELTS test fee for every attempt.

Which skills test can be taken in one day?

Reading, Writing, and Listening tests can all be taken in one day. The Speaking test can be taken on the same day of the test or the day before or after the test as well.

Are we allowed to take a watch or any electronic gadget while giving the IELTS exam?

Candidates are not allowed to take the watch or any other kind of gadget inside the test centre.