Learn IELTS
Understand the test before you practise it
IELTS rewards people who know exactly what each section asks for. These guides explain the test, every question type and the scoring rules in plain English, and say clearly where a rule is official and where it is only a convention.
Start here
What the test is, which version you need, and what happens on test day.
The four skills
One deep guide per section: the structure, every question type, the marking rules and the traps.
Listening
Four recordings heard once. How each part works, every question type, the spelling and number rules, and how distractors are built.
12 min read
Reading
Forty questions in sixty minutes. Every question type with a strategy, the logic of Not Given, the marking rules and a timing plan.
16 min read
Writing
Both tasks explained for Academic and General Training, the four marking criteria at bands 5 to 8, and what actually holds scores at 6.0–6.5.
16 min read
Speaking
What happens in each of the three parts, how to use the one-minute preparation, and what examiners listen for at bands 5 to 8.
11 min read
How scoring works
How raw marks and examiner ratings become band scores, and how much to trust a single result.
How scoring works
The 9-band scale, how raw marks become bands, how Writing and Speaking are averaged, the overall rounding rule, and how far to trust one result.
13 min read
Band calculator
Three instant tools: overall band from your four skills, marks to band for Listening and Reading, and a Writing band from criterion scores.
Interactive tool
These guides are independent and were checked against the IELTS partners’ own publications in September 2026. They are not official IELTS material. Always confirm score requirements with the organisation you are applying to.