Listening: 30-40mins, 40 questions, 4 sections.

Reading: 60mins, 40 questions, 3 sections.

Writing: 60mins, 2 questions.

Speaking: 10-12mins, 3 sections.

The Listening and Reading components are marked out of 40 and you'll receive a band score between 1-9. 40/40 is a band 9.0.

To get a 6.0 in each test, you need between 23-25 in the Listening and 23-26 in the Reading.

Section 1: Listen to a conversation between two people about an everyday scenario (booking an appointment, etc). It usually features names, dates, phone numbers, etc.

Section 2: Listen to one person speaking about an everyday scenario. It's usually a speech or an explanation about facilities.

Section 3: Listen to a conversation between two or more people about an academic assignment or something similar.

Section 4: Listen to someone talk about an academic subject.

Practice listening to things like TED talks, podcasts and radio programmes related to topics which commonly feature in IELTS Academic exams (the environment, education, transportation, etc.).

Do practice papers. You can find these on the official IELTS website.

Keep a vocab book and record items related to common IELTS topics. Make sure to record synonyms and antonyms, other forms of the word, and write example sentences.

Before attempting practice tests, make sure to read the questions carefully and underline key words. Then, think of what synonyms or paraphrases could be used in the audio.

You could be asked to complete the following tasks:

- Form, note, flow chart, table. summary completion.

This task tests your ability to accurately write down information as you listen (like recording a telephone number or how to spell someone's surname).

- Sentence completion.

This tests your ability to correctly identify important information in a recording.

- Multiple choice questions.

These test your understanding of specific points in the audio.

- Matching questions.

These test your ability to listen for detailed information, follow a conversation between two people, and recognise how facts in the recording are connected.

- Plan, map, and diagram labelling.

These questions test your ability to understand a description of a place and things like directions and prepositions.

- Short answer questions.

These test your ability to listen for facts (place names, prices, or times, for example) in a recording.

You're required to read 3 passages (totalling between 2150 and 2750 words) and answer questions related to each.

You could be asked to complete the following question types:

- Multiple choice.

These questions test your detailed understanding of the passage.

- True, false, not given (identifying information).

This question type tests your ability to recognise specific information in a text.

- Yes, no, not given (identifying writer's claims).

This tests your ability to recognise opinions or ideas.

- Matching information.

In these questions, you need to scan a text to find specific information. This could be details, an example, a summary, a comparison or an explanation.

- Matching headings.

With these, you're being tested on identifying the topic of a paragraph and recognising the difference between the main and supporting ideas.

- Matching features.

You're expected to recognise the relationships and connections between facts in the text and recognise theories and opinions. You need to skim and scan for this task.

- Matching sentence endings.

This type of question tests your ability to understand the main ideas in a text.

- Sentence completion.

With these questions, you're being tested on your ability to find specific details and information within the text. You should use your scanning skills.

- Summary, note, table, flow chart completion.

These questions test your understanding of the details and/or main ideas in a text.

- Diagram label completion.

These test your understanding of detailed descriptions within a text. You're then asked to relate that information to the information given in the diagram.

- Short answer questions.

With these, you need to find and understand specific information within a text.

You can find past papers on the official IELTS website.

You can also practice by reading about the different topics that commonly occur in the test and recording unknown vocabulary along with synonyms, antonyms and an example sentence. Articles on the BBC website, National Geographic and The Guardian can be good sources.

Also try extensive reading. All this means is reading something you're interested in in your free time. Extensive reading builds your vocabulary and because you read something you like, it isn't boring.

Remember that throughout the IELTS exam, you're being tested on your knowledge of vocabulary? The questions throughout will involve the use of paraphrasing so knowing different word forms and things like synonyms is important.

The Writing test is split into two tasks.

Task 1:

You have to describe some visual information (graph, table, chart or diagram) in roughly 150 words.

Task 2:

You need to discuss a point of view, argument or problem in around 250 words.

For both tasks, it's important that you read the question carefully, underline key information and plan your writing. You'll be judged on:

- Task achievement/response

- Coherence and cohesion

- Lexical resource

- Grammatical range and accuracy

The test is split into 3 sections.

Part 1:

You'll be asked for your personal information and then about general topics like your hometown, family, studies and hobbies.

Part 2:

You'll be given a task card with some prompts on it. For this task you'll have 1 minute to prepare your answer and then 2 minutes to talk about everything on the prompt card.

Part 3:

Here, the examiner will ask follow up questions related to Part 2. You'll be given the opportunity to discuss more abstract ideas related to the topic.