What is IELTS Academic? Should I take IELTS Academic or General Training?

IELTS is considered as a versatile key to open up many different opportunities for different destinations such as study, work, or settlement. Before starting the journey to conquer the IELTS exam, everyone will surely wonder about between IELTS Academic and IELTS General Which test should I choose?

Let'sDOL English Through this article learn more about the basic differences between the two types of IELTS Academic and IELTS General tests, and take a closer look at the characteristics and IELTS Academic test structure this is it!

DOL IELTS Dinh Luc

Nov 07, 2022

2 mins read

1. What is IELTS Academic? For which audience?

IELTS Academic (IELTS Academic) IELTS is an IELTS test that assesses the academic level of candidates in terms of English language proficiency and knowledge.

Who needs IELTS Academic?

Subjects suitable for IELTS Academic

• As an entry condition for all undergraduate and graduate courses in the country and abroad, or study to improve specialized skills for your job.
• It is a measure of whether an applicant is ready or not for an educational program taught entirely in English.
• It is a necessary and sufficient condition to help you apply for a scholarship for your own study abroad orientation.

If you take the IELTS test at a test centre, you can request to send your IELTS results to up to five institutions for free - there will be a fee for sending results to other organisations. You can ask the test center to send your results to the institutions of your choice.

2. IELTS Academic and General, which is more difficult?

IELTS Academic test andIELTS General are used to assess a person's level of English in all 4 skillslistening speaking reading writing.

As introduced in the previous section:

• IELTS Academic are intended for specific target groups to achieve their goals.
• IELTS General (idp IELTS General) suitable for all those preparing to go to English speaking countries to complete high school, training programs or for immigration purposes.

Thus, with the specific function for subjects who need to prepare for settlement and study below university, IELTS General will be somewhat "easier" when placing usability test requirements. test taker's everyday English and less relevant in terms of academic depth.

ExamIELTS Academic more difficult than General also due to the purpose of screening and checking language conformance to standards. For those of you who want to study and study abroad, the exam is compulsoryIELTS Academic and if only to communicate and work with simpler content, you choose General.

3. Structure of IELTS Academic

As a general rule,IELTS Academic và IELTS General relatively similar organization will have

• The Listening and Speaking sections are the same.
• The Writing and Reading sections will be slightly different in both academic and general forms.

The following part, DOL will introduce to youThe structure of the IELTS Academic test:

Listening	Listening time: 30 minutesNumber of questions: 40 questionsAfter completing the listening lesson, you will have:10 minutes left to write your answers on the IELTS Answer Sheet (for the paper test), or2 minutes after completing the listening time to check the answers. In this part, candidates listen to 4 audio recordings (4 sections) of native English speakers on a variety of topics from everyday life to academic contexts. The questions will follow the sequence of the listening passage.
Reading	Time: 60 minutesNumber of questions: 40 sentencesConsisting of 3 long texts written in different styles such as narrative, descriptive, argumentative, informative… These articles are taken from books, magazines, journals and newspapers. Readings are specifically screened for non-specialists.
Writing	Time: 60 minutesNumber of questions: 2 sections of IELTS Writing testTask 1: Ask students to describe the data in the chart. Charts come in many forms like columns, lines, circles, maps, and more. Candidates need to write 150 words in about 20 minutes.Task 2: Candidates write an essay expressing their opinion with a point of view or problem. Candidates need to write 250 words in approximately 40 minutes.Note: Task 2 has twice as many points as Task 1.
Speaking	Time: 15 minutesNumber of exams: 3 partExam forms: 1 judge and 1 contestantIELTS Speaking Part 1: The examiner will ask candidates about 3-5 familiar topics from daily life, family, activities, study, work, etc.IELTS Speaking Part 2: Candidates will receive a topic card/cue card on a certain topic with ideas that need to be expressed in the talk.Time to prepare and record ideas: 1 minutePresentation time: 1-2 minutesAt the end of Part 2, the examiner may ask you 1-2 follow-up questions about your presentation.IELTS Speaking Part 3: The examiner will ask you about topics related to IELTS Speaking Part 2 and are more general in nature.

4. How to calculate IELTS Academic score

4.1 How to calculate IELTS Overall score

Overall score (overall score) of the IELTS test is average of each skill's score and rounded up (to the nearest and higher 0.5).

Eg:

• If you score in Reading 7.0, Writing 6.5, Speaking 6.0 and Listening 8.0, your overall score will be (7.0 + 6.5 + 6.0 + 8.0) ÷ 4 = 6.875, rounded to 7.0.
• If you score in Reading 7.0, Writing 7.0, Speaking 6.0 and Listening 7.0, your overall score will be (7.0 + 7.0 + 6.0 + 7.0) ÷ 4 = 6.75, rounded to 7.0.

You can use the tool below to calculate the accuracyband score IELTS Academic overall it's yours:

DOL IELTS Caculator

Listening0

Reading0

Writing0

Speaking0

Calculate IELTS Overall Score

0

OVERALL

You need to enter a scale from 0 to 9.0 for each skill of Speaking, Writing, Reading, Listening.

Overall Score (overall score) of the IELTS test is the average of the scores for each skill and rounded up (to the nearest and higher 0.5).

4.2 IELTS Reading and Listening Scales

Reading and Listening skills are called input skills and do not require candidates to use the output language. Therefore, for these 2 skills, all candidates' work will be graded based on the number of correct sentences and converted to the corresponding band score (0 - 9). The scoreboard for converting IELTS Reading and Listening scores is as follows:

Reading (Academic)		Listening (Academic & General Training)
Correct Answers	Band Score	Correct Answers	Band Score
39 - 4037 - 3835 - 3633 - 3430 - 3227 - 2923 - 2620 - 2216 - 1913 - 1510 - 127 - 95 - 63 - 4	9.08.58.07.57.06,56.05.55.04.54.03.53.02.5	39 - 4037 - 3835 - 3633 - 3430 - 3227 - 2923 - 2620 - 2216 - 1913 - 1510 - 127 - 95 - 63 - 4	9.08.58.07.57.06.56.05.55.04.54.03.53.02.5

• 
  How to get band score of Listening 8.0? Find out now: https://www.dolenglish.vn/blog/linearthinking-trong-listening
• Reading 9.0 is possible? Let's find out right here: https://www.dolenglish.vn/blog/linearthinking-trong-reading

4.3. IELTS Speaking and Writing Scales

IELTS Speaking Score Scale

IELTS Speaking will be scored based on 4 criteria, namely:

• Fluency and Coherence (fluency and coherence)
• Pronunciation (pronunciation skills)
• Lexical Resource (vocabulary)
• Grammar (grammar)

IELTS Speaking Band Descriptor

• How to learn Speaking properly? Click the link below to watch it now:https://www.dolenglish.vn/blog/linearthinking-trong-speaking

IELTS Writing Score Scale

For IELTS Writing, although there are different formats for Task 1 and Task 2 and Task 1 General and Academic, candidates' tests will be scored on the same criteria, namely:

• Task Achievement (Complete correctly and fully the requirements)
• Coherence and Cohesion (Coherence and coherence)
• Lexical Resource (Vocabulary)
• Grammar (Grammar)

IELTS Writing Band Descriptor

• Is writing as scary as you think? Find out now how to learn "truth" no!

5. Compare IELTS Academic and IELTS General

Friends and DOL look back at the general comparison between the two English tests IELTS General and IELTS Academic Please.

	IELTS Academic	IELTS General
The nature of the test	Academic	Using simple working communication language
Scope of application	Undergraduate and graduate entry conditions in the country and abroad, or study to improve specialized skills for work.Apply for a scholarship for your own study abroad orientation.	Subjects need to complete high school, training programs or for immigration purposes.

6. How to prepare & do well for IELTS Academic test

After you have basic knowledge about the subject of application, the test structure and the required nature of the academic language ability of IELTS Academic, let's learn together with DOL the preparation and practice.IELTS Academic test the most effective way through a few tips shared below

Answering my “WHY” question - Why do I need to take IELTS Academic?

Understanding why you have to choose the journeyIELTS Academic will help you create inner motivation to strengthen your inner strength. By mastering the structure of the IELTS exam, the strategies for doing IELTS Reading, IELTS Listening, IELTS Speaking and IELTS Writing will help you to be more confident to answer Why questions.

Determine your IELTS level

After firmly grasping the motivation to conquer the IELTS test, you need to recognize your strengths and points to practice to determine your current IELTS level. What level of knowledge am I on with the IELTS level? For your current level, have you been keeping up with your IELTS language output at that level?

Set goals and action plans for yourself

Once you understand what stage you are at, you need to set a specific goal and action plan according to the unit of time you have.

Let's start with the overall IELTS score goal. You need to achieve the IELTS goal of 6.5 Overall Score and your current level is in the intermediate level at an output score of 6.0+. What do you need to do and how will you do it?

DOL suggests that you need to practice at least 54 more hours of study with the time allotted for 4 skills evenly and reasonably and strictly follow the daily learning plan.

What skills do I need to practice every day, what knowledge and how to think about IELTS?

Learning methods

To conquer the IELTS journey, you need to make sure you spend enough time consolidating evenly on the 4 skills and at the same time strengthening your grammar and vocabulary fluently.

DOL gives you some tips on how to learn each skill as follows:

• Grammar:You need to make sure you have a solid foundation in grammar knowledge. And don't forget to check it outDOL IELTS GRAMS to consolidate knowledge and have the opportunity to practice advanced exercises.
• Listening: You need to know the strategies and secrets to conquer the IELTS Listening test types. “Practice makes perfect”, do not be discouraged, my friend.
• Reading: You need to apply strategies and thinking to complete the types of IELTS Reading and do a lot to fluently listen. Please try the application experienceDOL's Linear Thinking method on Reading skills.
• Speaking: You need to practice speaking regularly through the varied and accurate use of vocabulary fields as well as grammatical structures. You should patiently practice and experience all 3 parts of the IELTS test.
• Writing: Constantly and patiently practicing your writing skills will help you get the score you want. When practicing writing, you need to pay attention to apply the specific grammatical structures and phrases for IELTS Writing Task 1 and IELTS Writing Task 2.

When you need some advice for your writing, come to DOL's IELTS course to ignite and recharge your IELTS knowledge. Don't forget DOL is always there waiting for you with the archive:

• When you need more sample speaking answers, go to DOL's website:https://www.dolenglish.vn/category/tong-hop-bai-mau-ielts-speaking-sample
• Refer to the article IELTS Writing Sample:https://www.dolenglish.vn/category/tong-hop-bai-mau-ielts-writing-sample
• Don't forget the book series "Nine syllables true sutras" IELTS Cambridge 10-17. Let's practice IELTS Cambridge Practice Test with DOL here:https://tuhocielts.dolenglish.vn/luyen-thi-ielts

7. Optimizing the IELTS Academic document store

The system of articles to share knowledge of learning English at dolenglish.vn is a huge repository of articles classified in detail by skill and level by the teachers themselves atDOL IELTS Dinh Luc and a team of dedicated academic editors.

The articles will:

• Provide you with the most accurate knowledge.
• Analyze the mistakes you are making yourself.
• Provide solutions to make your progress faster.
• Updated according to actual IELTS exam questions

Not only providing samples, dol.vn also provides you with a detailed comment according to the grading factors of that sample paper so that you can understand how to score as well as learn for yourself.

You can learn more aboutDOL English come over here:

8. Frequently Asked Questions

Is it possible to get an Australian student visa with IELTS Academic?

What cannot candidates bring into the IELTS Academic test room?

What are the common topics in the IELTS Academic test?

Vocabulary suggestions for common topics in IELTS Academic

Hope all the above sharing has helped you understand aboutIELTS Academic, how to learn and doIELTS Academic test Effectively get high scores for each skill and overall for the whole IELTS exam.

In addition, you can see more useful information for your IELTS exam in other DOL articles!