Exam
Two modules, one band scale, and a choice you cannot change on test day. How to pick the right one.
IELTS comes in two modules. Academic is normally used for university study and for professional registration. General Training is normally used for migration, for work, and for some vocational courses. Listening and speaking are identical in both. Only reading and writing differ.
The choice is made when you book, and the wrong choice means a wasted test fee. It is worth ten minutes now.
The difference
Two of the four papers, and only two.
Same four sections, same forty questions, same recordings played once. Nothing changes between modules.
Same three parts, same criteria, same examiner. Your speaking band is unaffected by which module you sat.
Academic reading uses three long texts from journals, books and broadsheet newspapers. General Training reading uses notices, adverts, handbooks and workplace documents first, then one longer general interest text.
Academic Task 1 asks you to describe a chart, graph, table, map or process. General Training Task 1 asks you to write a letter. These are different skills and different preparation.
Both modules write a 250 word essay. General Training prompts tend to be a little more everyday, and the marking criteria are identical.
The same number of correct reading answers can produce a different band in each module, because the texts differ in difficulty. Do not compare raw scores across modules.
Method
In this order, and stop at the first one that applies.
The only answer that matters is the one from the university, regulator or immigration authority you are applying to. Their requirement decides it.
Undergraduate and postgraduate courses almost always require Academic, and so do most professional registration bodies.
Most skilled migration and family visa routes accept General Training, but several also accept Academic, so check rather than assume.
Some visa applications require a version taken at an approved centre for that purpose. Book the exact test named in the guidance, not something close to it.
General Training is not an easier route to the same band. The scales are set separately for exactly this reason.
Sit the module that satisfies the harder requirement, or take both if the deadlines allow. An Academic result is accepted more widely than a General Training one.
No. The texts and tasks differ, and the band scales are set separately, so the same performance does not become a higher band by switching.
Policies vary by centre and there is usually a deadline. Contact your test centre as soon as you realise, because after that date the fee is normally lost.
Some foundation and vocational courses do. Degree programmes almost always require Academic. Check the specific course.
Yes. Those two papers are identical in both modules.
Academic, if you have no requirement in hand. It is accepted for more purposes, so it keeps more doors open.
Full membership
Everything on this site is free, and it will take you a long way. What it cannot do is tell you whether your writing and speaking are where they need to be.
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