Probably among the learners of English there are no people who have never heard of the IELTS exam. This name alone terrifies many and makes it feverishly recall times and the hated tablet of irregular verbs. However, there are those who have already experienced the intricacies of this exam more than once or at least thought about passing it either for work/ study or for immigration to another country.

But there are two options for IELTS, Academic and General. Which one to choose? What are their similarities and differences? And most importantly, how to avoid annoying mistakes when choosing an exam?

These and many other questions are answered at this article prepared by the Methodologist of English Language Studio Red Arrow, Natalia Diachenko.

Goals. First of all, in order to choose the right option of the exam, you need to clearly understand the goals for which you decided to take this test.

If you need to study or work abroad, then your choice is IELTS Academic.

If you decide to change your place of residence, that is IELTS General.

Similarities:

- both aspects of the exam last 2 hours 45 minutes and consist of 4 aspects - Speaking, Reading, Listening, Writing. Please note that the IELTS certificate is only valid for 2 years, so it is recommended to take the exam closer to your departure abroad.

- The tasks in the Speaking and Listening aspects are the same for General and Academic IELTS. (NB! Unlike many other exams, the audio recording for Listening is played only once (!) Time).

In both exams, Speaking consists of three types of assignments, lasting for 15 minutes.

Listening for Academic and General IELTS consists of four parts - 40 questions in 40 minutes.

Below you can see the correspondence between the score and the number of correct answers in the Listening (General / Academic) aspect:

Differences:

- Reading. This part of the exam has the greatest differences in Academic and General IELTS. While in Academic IELTS you will come across scientific texts on various topics - medicine, geography, history, sociology, etc., then in General IELTS you will see announcements, newspaper and magazine articles, instructions.

Thus, the texts for Academic IELTS look much more complicated. However, to get the same score in General IELTS, you will need to give more correct answers.

For example:

Reading Academic IELTS

Reading General IELTS

- Writing

Both exams consist of two tasks - Task 1 and Task 2 (60 minutes).

Task 2 for General and Academic IELTS is identical - you will need to write an essay. The topics will be different, but the volume of the essay is the same - 250 words, which stands out for 45 minutes.

Task 1 is fundamentally different for both aspects of IELTS.

For General IELTS in Task 1 (150 words) you need to write a letter (complaint, request, response to an announcement, a letter to a friend, employer, etc.) in official or informal styles.

In Academic IELTS Task 1 (150 words) you will come across a graph, table, or image of a process. Your task is to analyze the material and describe this process using the available data.

Despite the fact that a student may have a high level of knowledge of the English language, it is extremely difficult to prepare for this exam on your own. After all, not even every native speaker can get the highest score - 9. Therefore, with proper preparation, consultation of experienced teachers and knowledge of all the intricacies of this exam, a test like IELTS will no longer cause you horror and excitement.