ACADEMIC and GENERAL

ACADEMIC form is mainly for students trying to study abroad in an English language country

GENERAL is for ordinarily people which try to immigrate to English language speaking countries.

It has a score ranging from 0 to 9 with 9 been the best and 0 given when you are absent at the test day.

It’s score is in full or half I mean 0, 0.5, 1, 1.5 … 7.5, 8, 8.5, 9

It has 4 sections: listening, reading, writing and speaking. In the first 2 you could get half scores but in the last 2 you only get full scores.

The overall score is the average of the 4 marks you get and is rounded to the bigger half or full.

The differents between them is in the REDING and the WRITING section. which in the GENERAL format you are tested on ordinarly things you might accoure to during living in an english language speaking country like you might have a reading whith a subject on how to cook a sertian food or in the WRITING section they might ask you to write a letter to your children’s teacher eplaining why he /she has been abssent during the past week. But in the ACADEMIC format you are tested on understanding facts from a reading and aswering the question which is nearlly harder than the GENERAL format. Or in the WRITNG section you have two tasks in the first task you should talk about a tabel or a graph or…. comparing different parts and facts it gives you and in the second task you should write about a certion subject giving your ideas and comparing different views on the subject.

As far as I know in IRAN there are 2 places takin the exam the BRITISH COUNCIL (where I took the ACADEMIC format 4 month ago) which is closed right know, and the australian embassy (IELTS TEHRAN) which I think they dont take the GENRAL format much and must of the exams is in the ACADEMIC format.

Mail me if you need some advice on how to study for the exam. I haven’t taken the GENERAL format but as I said before I took the ACADEMIC format about 4 month ago so I’m still up to date

Generally, the Academic module is designed for individuals who are planning to study in higher education or those seeking professional registration. For example, nurses who want to practice their profession in Australia. The Academic module evaluates how ready the candidate is to begin studying and working in an English-speaking environment. The General Training, on the other hand, measures ones fluency in practical, everyday English context. These candidates usually wants to study or train in secondary education or migrate to an English speaking country.

What are the differences between the two modules?

When it comes to listening and speaking, the content for both modules are the same. The listening consists of four different sections with four separate recordings. A total of forty questions is given for the candidate to finish in thirty minutes. The challenge with the listening section is that audio recordings are only played once. Listening skills and note-taking skills are essential to get a good band score in this subtest.

The speaking section for both modules is a one-on- one interview. It is composed of three different tasks. The speaking test is expected to last for only ten to fourteen minutes. The first task is more of an introduction as the examiner asks very familiar questions to the examinee. In the second task, a cue card is given to the examinee where he or she has to make a response based on the given question. The final task is a conversation where the examiner throws questions related to the topic in the previous task.

The difference in the two modules is in their reading and writing sections. The academic reading is composed of three long reading passages with about fourteen questions each. There are forty questions to be answered in an hour. Candidates taking the academic reading should expect academic topics in this part of the test.

The General Training has three sections to be completed in an hour as well. Like in the academic reading, there are about fourteen questions in each test. The reading passages are quite easier since their ability is measured on how well they operate in an English environment on topics concerning work and training.

The writing section of both modules has two different tasks. The candidates are given an hour to complete writing an essay as a response. In academic writing, task 1 asks the candidate to describe information presented in graphs, data or process diagram. The candidate has to come up with an essay with at least 150 words. The general training writing task 1 requires the candidate to write a letter in response to a given situation or information. The number of words in this task is the same with the academic. Both task 2 focus on writing an essay based on a topic of general interest. A 250-word essay is expected from the candidate.

Candidates taking the IELTS examination should be aware on which module to take for their visa applications. Further, practice on the different skills in English is essential to hit the candidate’s score requirements.

General training : it is those who want to go abroad for working and some vocational training course, work experience.it is also used for immigration. weather they are graduate or not….