IELTS comes in two versions: Academic, for undergraduate or postgraduate study and professional registration, and General Training, for migration to an English-speaking country or study and training below degree level. Listening and Speaking are identical; Reading and Writing differ. Which one you take depends on the organisation you are applying to.
Who needs which
For a bachelor’s or master’s place abroad you almost always need Academic. The final word belongs to the organisation, though: check its official website for the version and band it requires.
| Academic | General Training | |
|---|---|---|
| Purpose | Undergraduate and postgraduate study, professional registration (for example doctors and nurses) | Migration (Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK), study or training below degree level |
| Who asks for it | Universities, professional bodies | Immigration authorities, some employers and colleges |
The four parts: what is the same, what differs
| Part | Academic | General Training |
|---|---|---|
| Listening | ~30 minutes, 4 parts, 40 questions | Same |
| Reading | 60 minutes, 3 long academic texts | 60 minutes, 3 sections: everyday, workplace, general text |
| Writing | 60 minutes: Task 1 graph or process, Task 2 essay | 60 minutes: Task 1 letter, Task 2 essay |
| Speaking | 11-14 minutes, 3 parts | Same |
How Reading differs
- Academic: 3 long texts (2,150-2,750 words in total) from books, journals, newspapers and online sources, written for a non-specialist reader but on university-level topics. At least one contains a detailed logical argument.
- General Training: 2,150-2,375 words in total. Section 1 is everyday life (notices, adverts, timetables), section 2 is work (job descriptions, contracts, training materials), section 3 is one longer general-interest text.
- Both have 40 questions and similar question types (True/False/Not Given, matching headings, completion).
How Writing differs
In both versions Task 2 counts twice as much as Task 1, and the four criteria are the same: Task Achievement / Task Response, Coherence and Cohesion, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range and Accuracy.
| Academic | General Training | |
|---|---|---|
| Task 1 | Describe a graph, table, chart or process, at least 150 words | A letter about an everyday situation (asking for information, explaining a problem), 3 bullet points, at least 150 words |
| Task 1 style | Academic or neutral | Personal, semi-formal or formal - depending on the reader |
| Task 2 | Essay, at least 250 words | Essay, at least 250 words |
The band tables: General Training needs more correct answers
General Training texts are easier, so Reading needs more correct answers for the same band. Average thresholds from ielts.org:
| Correct answers (of 40) | Academic Reading | General Training Reading |
|---|---|---|
| 15 | 5 | 4 |
| 23 | 6 | 5 |
| 30 | 7 | 6 |
| 35 | 8 | 7 |
Which one is easier?
- “General Training is easier” is half true: the texts and the Task 1 letter are closer to everyday life.
- But the scale is stricter: 30 correct answers is about 7.0 in Academic and about 6.0 in General.
- So reaching the same band is roughly as hard in both - choose by your goal, not by ease.
- One version cannot stand in for the other: where Academic is required, a General result will not be accepted.
What changes in your preparation
- Listening and Speaking preparation is identical - every exercise works for both versions.
- Academic: practise the language of describing data (rose, fell, accounted for) and reading academic texts.
- General: learn to tell formal, semi-formal and informal letters apart, with the right openings and closings (“Dear Sir or Madam / Yours faithfully”, “Dear Tom / Best wishes”).
- The Task 2 essay is the same in both - the structure in our Task 2 guide works for either version.
Frequently asked questions
- Is the format the same on paper and on computer? Yes, the questions and difficulty match; ielts.org says you can sit it at a centre or online from home and the format stays the same.
- Is the band scale different? No, both use bands 0-9 and the overall band is the average of the four parts.
- Can I enter a university with General Training? Usually not - but check the university’s own requirement.
