IELTS Academic: format and time management

You hear four recordings and answer 40 questions in total. Each recording plays once — there is no replay. On the paper test you get an additional 10 minutes at the end to transfer answers to the answer sheet; on the computer test you type answers directly and there is no transfer time.

Read the questions before each part starts; the recording gives you a short window. Move on if you miss an answer — the audio keeps playing and you cannot catch up while worrying about a lost item.

Three long passages, roughly 700 to 1,100 words each, with 40 questions across them. There is no separate transfer time — write directly onto the answer sheet as you go.

A reasonable budget is 20 minutes per passage: about 3 minutes to skim, 15 minutes to answer, and 2 minutes to double-check. Questions generally follow the order of the text — if an answer appears later than where you are reading, you have probably skipped it.

Task 1 (150+ words) is worth one-third of the Writing band; Task 2 (250+ words) is worth two-thirds. The recommended budget is 20 minutes for Task 1 and 40 minutes for Task 2. Task 2 is the higher-value piece, so if you must sacrifice something, sacrifice a few minutes on Task 1, not on the Task 2 essay.

Save the last 2 to 3 minutes of each task for editing: articles, verb agreement, plurals, and spelling. Small accuracy gains from a quick edit can move a band.

Part 1 (4 to 5 minutes) is a warm-up interview about familiar topics. Part 2 (3 to 4 minutes including 1 minute of preparation) asks you to speak for 1 to 2 minutes on a cue-card topic. Part 3 (4 to 5 minutes) is a discussion of abstract ideas related to the Part 2 topic.

Do not try to hit an exact target time in Part 2 — speak until the examiner stops you. Under-speaking hurts your Fluency and Coherence score; over-speaking is fine.

Set two internal checkpoints per section: halfway and 5 minutes remaining. If you are behind at the halfway mark, move faster and come back to skipped items only if there is time. Never leave answers blank in Reading and Listening — a guess still has a 1-in-4 chance in multiple choice and costs nothing.