What is the IELTS Test – Academic Or General: Did you know that there are two different types of IELTS? IELTS Academic and IELTS General. The pre-prepared question is IELTS Academic or General and what is the difference between IELTS Academic and General? The most important difference between these two is the purpose of participating in them.
Of course, the first difference that is more visible in these two types of IELTS is the content of their Reading and Writing sections. In this article, the main differences between Academic and General IELTS, the comparison of scoring, and answers to the question ” Which one is easier?” We will pay. Academic and General IELTS are different based on the purpose of the test. We will talk about this in more detail below.
What are the objectives of IELTS Academic? (Academic IELTS)
You may know that the purpose of conducting Academic IELTS is to apply for various universities and enter them or any English-oriented training course. However, getting into university is not the only goal of conducting academic IELTS.
In the professional and business world, many employers require an academic IELTS score to hire their employees. One of these career fields is entering the medical profession in some countries. If you intend to enter the medical profession professionally in countries such as Ireland, Australia, England, New Zealand, or Canada, you must have an IELTS academic qualification.
Applying for a wide range of fields in the medical field such as medicine, nursing, pharmacy, and even hospital laboratory technician is required to receive this certificate.
What are the objectives of IELTS General? (General IELTS)
For actions such as employment and immigration to Canada, America, Ireland, England, New Zealand, Australia, etc., the applicant is required to have the IELTS General certificate. For example, for people who plan to stay in Australia with their children and grandchildren, getting an IELTS General is enough for them.
But this test is not only for immigration; Many reputable companies and organizations around the world use the General IELTS test to evaluate their employees’ English language proficiency.
Also, in most of these types of organizations, having this degree is considered one of the essential factors for hiring people. The IELTS General test is not conducted on a computer, so if you intend to take this version of the IELTS test, you should go for the traditional paper IELTS method.
Academic or General IELTS format, two different versions, four skills
Both versions of this test have the same format and overall shape. In both of these versions, the four skills of Reading, Speaking, Writing, and Listening are tested in four separate sections. There is no difference even in their Listening and Speaking sections. All topics and questions of the Speaking section are the same in both versions and may be tested.
In the remaining two sections, i.e. Reading and Writing, the general format of the questions is the same. There are two different texts in the Writing section in both versions, and a total of 40 questions are asked in the Reading section. The differences between these two sections, however, can be seen in the contents and types of tasks, which we will discuss further. have you checked What is the TOEFL Test?
IELTS academic or general, comparison in terms of content
University students and professionals, and all academic IELTS applicants in general, should be prepared to deal with specialized and academic materials in various professional fields such as specialized books, journals, and reputable newspapers, because the reading materials of the academic IELTS version are directly from these sources.
It is taken to test the understanding of applicants in more professional fields. We recommend you IELTS resources: 10 must-read IELTS books! read the
In the same way, the writing section of IELTS Academic asks you for writing samples. Each text of Writing in this version is designed to ensure the knowledge of the applicant to write professional and specialized academic articles.
On the other hand, General IELTS test takers are exposed to content from less professional places such as advertising, daily magazines, manuals, and instructions, and generally content that people deal with daily. The Writing section of IELTS General also focuses on general writing skills such as letter writing and basic points in essay writing.
Scoring Comparison between IELTS General and IELTS Academic
Perhaps the biggest difference between these two versions is how they are graded. Consider that the scoring in the Listening, Speaking and Writing sections is the same in both versions. But in the Reading section, which includes a total of 25% of your total score, there is a big difference between the two different versions of IELTS.
For example, suppose that you were able to answer 30 out of 40 questions in the Reading section correctly. This means that your raw score in this section is 30. In IELTS General, your IELTS band is 5 in this section, but in IELTS Academic, with correct answers to 30 out of 40 questions, your IELTS band is considered 6. So remember that depending on the version you are applying for, your raw score can mean something different.
Comparison of scoring charts in academic and general IELTS
To compare and convert raw scores to IELTS band in the Reading section, you can visit the official IELTS website. On this website, you can also read and compare the differences in scoring methods in each version in detail.
There is also an unofficial chart that compares the scoring differences in the Listening and Reading sections in the two versions of IELTS.
This chart, which is available on the Wikipedia website with the address of the Wikipedia article on the IELTS, is more complete and comprehensive than the chart available on the IELTS website. Although this article is not official, it is taken from the online IELTS score calculator website and is very accurate.
Which one is difficult – General vs Academic?
The two tests are so similar that it’s really hard to decide which one is easier. Also, people’s skills in different sections and materials are not the same, and this affects their opinion on how difficult or easy each of these versions is.
But with all these interpretations, the answer to the above question is that the IELTS General test is probably easier than the academic version. Almost all IELTS applicants believe that IELTS Academic is more challenging than other versions. For example, summarizing a specialized chart or graph is certainly more difficult than writing a short letter.
The designers of IELTS questions completely agree with this opinion. For example, in the Reading section, getting a score of 30 out of 40 in IELTS General is equal to getting a score of 23 out of 40 in IELTS Academic. It is for this reason that a score of 30/40 in IELTS General and a score of 23/40 in IELTS Academic are both equal to paragraph 6.
Of course, you should not think that this case is the same in other sections such as Listening and Speaking. The format and content of these sections in both IELTS versions are completely the same and have the same level of difficulty.
Finally, never choose IELTS General just because it is easier than Academic, these two tests are completely similar up to 70%, so be sure to think about your purpose of passing this test before choosing the IELTS version.
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