IELTS Academic or General Training: which one do you need?
Every month someone books the wrong IELTS and pays twice. Here is how to pick the right one in two minutes.
Every few weeks a student tells us they booked IELTS Academic when their visa needed General Training, or the other way round. The fee is not refunded, and the new booking can push their plans back by weeks. So before anything else, let's get this right.
Start with one question: who is going to read your score?
Not which test is easier. Not which one your friend took. The only thing that matters is what the organisation receiving your score asks for. Open their website, find the English language page, and look for the exact words IELTS Academic or IELTS General Training. If the page only says IELTS, email them and ask. Keep their reply.
The usual answers
| Your plan | Usually needs |
|---|---|
| University or college study | IELTS Academic |
| Nursing, midwifery or medical registration | IELTS Academic, often with a minimum score in every skill |
| Canada through Express Entry | IELTS General Training. Academic is not accepted for this. |
| UK visas | The IELTS for UKVI version, taken at an approved centre |
| Work or migration to Australia or New Zealand | Often General Training, but some visas accept both. Check yours. |
"Usually" is doing a lot of work in that table. Check your own case.
Your plan: you are a nurse in Nigeria and want to register with the Nursing and Midwifery Council in the UK.
What is actually different on the day
Listening and Speaking are exactly the same in both versions. You hear the same kind of recordings and meet the same kind of examiner. The differences are in Reading and Writing.
- Academic Reading gives you three long texts, the kind you meet in journals and textbooks. General Training starts with short everyday texts such as adverts and notices, then workplace texts, then one longer piece.
- Academic Writing Task 1 asks you to describe a chart, table, map or process. General Training Task 1 asks you to write a letter.
- Writing Task 2, the essay, is the same type of task in both.
Which one is harder?
Students ask this a lot. Honestly, it depends on you. If charts make you panic, a General Training letter will feel friendlier. If you read academic articles for work, Academic Reading may feel natural. But you cannot choose on difficulty. You take the one your organisation asks for, and we train you for that one.
- IELTS test format, British Council
- IELTS Academic test format, IELTS.org
- IELTS for UKVI, IELTS.org
- Language test equivalency charts and accepted tests for Express Entry, Government of Canada
- Accepted English language tests, Nursing and Midwifery Council
Exam rules change. Always check with the exam provider and the organisation you are applying to.
Want help with this?
Book a class and we work on it together, build your free roadmap to see where you stand, or ask us a question first.
