IELTS General Training is the version of IELTS used for immigration and work. It’s the IELTS test Immigration, Refugees and Citizenship Canada (IRCC) accepts for Express Entry, and it’s one of the tests Australia accepts for visas. This guide explains what’s in each section, how band scores work and how to prepare.

This site is an independent practice site. It isn’t affiliated with the IELTS partners (the British Council, IDP IELTS and Cambridge University Press & Assessment), and nothing on it is official IELTS test material.

Who takes it

• Canadian permanent residence. For Express Entry (Federal Skilled Worker, Canadian Experience Class and Federal Skilled Trades), IRCC accepts IELTS General Training, not IELTS Academic. It doesn’t accept the IELTS One Skill Retake for Express Entry.
• Australian visas. The Department of Home Affairs accepts IELTS General Training and IELTS Academic, including the One Skill Retake for eligible visas, as long as the test is taken at a test centre. It doesn’t accept IELTS Online.
• Work, training and study below degree level in English-speaking countries. Check with the organization asking for your results.

The four sections

Listening and Speaking are the same for General Training and Academic. Reading and Writing are different. You take Listening, Reading and Writing in one sitting, with no breaks between them. Speaking is a face-to-face interview with an examiner, which may be on the same day or a different day, depending on the test centre.

Section	What you do	Questions or tasks	Time
Listening	4 recordings of everyday and training situations	40 questions	About 30 minutes
Reading	3 sections of everyday, workplace and general-interest texts	40 questions	60 minutes
Writing	A letter and an essay	2 tasks	60 minutes
Speaking	An interview with an examiner in 3 parts	3 parts	11 to 14 minutes

The whole test takes about 2 hours and 45 minutes. On the paper-based test, Listening is followed by 10 minutes to transfer your answers to the answer sheet. On the computer-delivered test, you type answers as you go and get a short time to check them instead.

Listening

Four parts, ten questions each. Parts 1 and 2 are everyday social situations: a conversation, such as booking travel, then a talk by one speaker, such as an announcement about local facilities. Parts 3 and 4 are about education and training: a conversation between two main speakers, such as students and a tutor, then a talk by one speaker. You hear each recording once, with British, Australian, New Zealand and North American accents. Question types include multiple choice, matching, labelling a map or plan, form and note completion, sentence completion and short answers. See the IELTS Listening tips.

Reading

Three sections that get harder as you go:

• Section 1: two or three short texts, or several very short ones, on everyday topics such as notices, advertisements and timetables.
• Section 2: two texts about work, such as job descriptions, contracts and staff training material.
• Section 3: one longer, more complex text on a topic of general interest, from sources such as newspapers, magazines and books.

There are 40 questions, including multiple choice, True/False/Not Given, matching information to paragraphs, matching headings, sentence and summary completion, and short answers. The 60 minutes include transferring your answers. Try the General Reading practice.

Writing

Task	What you write	Suggested time	Minimum length
Task 1	A letter responding to an everyday situation, covering three bullet points	About 20 minutes	150 words
Task 2	An essay discussing a point of view, argument or problem	About 40 minutes	250 words

Task 2 counts twice as much as Task 1 towards your Writing band. Letters can be personal, semi-formal or formal, depending on who you’re writing to. See the letter writing samples and the Task 2 essay guide.

Speaking

Part	What happens	Time
Part 1	Questions about yourself and familiar topics such as home, work, studies and interests	4 to 5 minutes
Part 2	A task card with a topic: 1 minute to prepare, then speak for up to 2 minutes	3 to 4 minutes
Part 3	A discussion of broader questions linked to the Part 2 topic	4 to 5 minutes

The interview is recorded. See the Speaking practice questions.

How scoring works

There’s no pass or fail. You get a band from 0 to 9 for each section, in whole or half bands, and an overall band that’s the average of the four, rounded to the nearest half band. An average ending in .25 rounds up to the next half band, and one ending in .75 rounds up to the next whole band.

• Listening and Reading: one mark per correct answer, out of 40, converted to a band. IELTS says General Training Reading usually needs more correct answers than Academic Reading for the same band.
• Writing: rated on Task Achievement (Task 1) or Task Response (Task 2), Coherence and Cohesion, Lexical Resource, and Grammatical Range and Accuracy.
• Speaking: rated on Fluency and Coherence, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range and Accuracy, and Pronunciation.

For what each band means for immigration, see IELTS band scores for Canada PR and Australia.

What Canada asks for

For the Federal Skilled Worker Program, IRCC’s minimum is CLB 7 in all four abilities, which in IELTS General Training is 6.0 in each section. Higher CLB levels earn more Comprehensive Ranking System points. Results must be less than two years old when you create your Express Entry profile and when you submit your application. Confirm current requirements on canada.ca before you book.

Results and retakes

Computer-delivered results usually arrive within a few days of the test; paper-based results are released 13 days after the test. You can take the whole test again as many times as you like. The One Skill Retake lets you resit one section, but IRCC doesn’t accept it for Express Entry.

How to prepare

1. Learn the format first, so nothing on test day is new.
2. Take a timed practice test in each section to find your weakest skill. For Express Entry, each skill is judged on its own, so your lowest band matters most.
3. Practise each section on its real clock. One hour of Reading, 20 and 40 minutes of Writing, a single play of each Listening recording.
4. Compare your writing and speaking with sample answers, and check that you answered every part of the task.
5. Aim above your target in practice, so a hard day doesn’t cost you the band you need.

More help: time management tips for every section, IELTS General vs Academic and IELTS vs CELPIP. Then start practising on the home page.