What is the IELTS exam pattern in 2026?

Only Reading and Writing differ (ielts.org). Choose Academic for undergraduate or postgraduate study and professional registration; choose General Training to migrate to Australia, Canada, New Zealand or the UK, or to train or study below degree level. More in IELTS Academic vs General Training.

These are the task types ielts.org lists for each section (Listening, Academic Reading, General Training Reading, Speaking). Gap-fill questions carry a word limit such as "NO MORE THAN TWO WORDS AND/OR A NUMBER", and going over it loses the mark. Each section has its own detailed guide: Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking.

In Listening and Reading each correct answer earns one mark, and the score out of 40 is converted to a band from 1 to 9 (ielts.org). Certificated examiners mark Writing on four criteria: task achievement or response, coherence and cohesion, lexical resource, and grammatical range and accuracy (ielts.org). Speaking is marked on fluency and coherence, lexical resource, grammatical range and accuracy, and pronunciation (ielts.org).

The overall band is the average of the four section bands, rounded to the nearest half band. See how the IELTS score is calculated, or convert a raw score with our band score calculator. There is no pass mark: see IELTS pass mark.

Not always. The British Council holds Speaking on the same day as the other sections or within 7 days before or after them, depending on the test centre; on IELTS Online, Speaking usually comes before the other sections (British Council). IDP India currently schedules Speaking on the same day as Listening, Reading and Writing for IELTS on computer and sends the time three days before the test (IDP India).

What to bring and what is banned is in IELTS test day rules.

The IELTS partners announced that from mid-2026 IELTS will no longer be offered on paper and all tests will be delivered on computer, with timelines that vary by market. In selected markets a "Writing on Paper" option lets you handwrite the Writing section. ielts.org says the change does not alter the skills assessed or the test construct, and IELTS for UKVI is available only in the fully digital format (ielts.org). The British Council already says it no longer offers IELTS on paper (British Council).

On paper, Listening had 10 extra minutes to transfer answers to an answer sheet (ielts.org); on computer you type answers as you go. Details in is the IELTS paper test ending? and IELTS online vs computer vs paper.