IELTS Practice Tests: Official Free Tests and How to Use Them

Official IELTS practice tests are free from IELTS.org and IDP, and Cambridge University Press & Assessment publishes the official practice books and free paper-based sample tests. Free material usually comes as sample tasks by question type or as computer-delivered familiarisation tests, whereas the books supply whole papers, so a full timed mock normally combines the two.

Each official source includes an answer key or a published marking scheme for at least some papers, which lets a candidate working alone for study, work, professional registration or a UK visa check results against the same criteria examiners use. Listening and Reading can be scored exactly, and Writing and Speaking can be judged against the public band descriptors.

Which official bodies publish free IELTS practice material?

IELTS.org, IDP and Cambridge University Press & Assessment each publish official practice material, and every one of them is free in at least one form. IELTS.org offers sample test questions for IELTS Academic, IELTS General Training and IELTS for UKVI Life Skills, with answers included for the sample tasks.

IDP lists familiarisation tests on its Prepare page: Listening, Reading and Writing on computer, plus a Speaking Part 1 recording with a prompt and transcript. Cambridge lists downloadable free paper-based sample tests and an IELTS Guide for Test Takers alongside its priced books, which include IELTS 21 Academic, IELTS 21 General Training and The Official Cambridge Guide to IELTS with eight full practice tests.

What does each kind of practice material contain?

Official material falls into three kinds: sample tasks by question type, computer-delivered familiarisation tests and full practice tests in books. The IELTS.org sample pages run Listening and Reading tasks in an interactive player, and each task has an answer key, with a recording transcript for Listening.

Writing samples on the Academic page include a PDF of responses to Part 1 and Part 2 tasks with band scores and examiner comments, and a separate pair of paper-format Writing practice tasks is offered. Speaking is a downloadable PDF of sample tasks. IDP's Listening and Reading familiarisation tests carry downloadable answer keys, whereas its Writing test lists none. The IELTS Trial Test is a separate option taken at a participating Trial Testing location for Listening, Reading and Writing, marked by an official examiner who gives feedback; its scores are not official and cannot be used for academic, immigration or work purposes.

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How does a candidate sit a timed mock under test conditions?

A timed mock follows the real paper lengths in one sitting, with no pauses and no replaying of audio. Listening takes about 30 minutes across four parts of 10 questions, with recordings played once only. Reading takes 60 minutes for three sections and 40 questions, and Writing takes 60 minutes.

Within Writing, spend about 20 minutes on Task 1, which needs at least 150 words, and about 40 minutes on Task 2, which needs at least 250 words. The Speaking test lasts 11 to 14 minutes and is recorded, so record yourself with a partner or tutor reading the Part 1 questions, giving the Part 2 card one minute of note-making and then about two minutes of talk, and moving to Part 3 discussion.

Test rooms allow no food, no watches and no phones, and water only in a clear bottle, so copy those rules at your desk. Use a wall clock, take one session for Listening, Reading and Writing, and use paper or computer to match the format you booked.

How are Listening and Reading marked, and how are raw marks converted?

Each Listening and Reading question carries one mark, so a paper is marked by counting correct answers out of 40 and checking each one against the answer key. Spelling must be correct and answers must fit the word limit in the instruction, so check those two points before deciding an answer is right.

IELTS.org gives average raw scores for each band for Listening, Academic Reading and General Training Reading, and the figures are listed in the key facts. The thresholds vary slightly from one test version to another, so treat each conversion as an estimate.

The overall band is the average of the four section bands, rounded to the nearest half band. An average ending in.25 rounds up to the next half band, and one ending in.75 rounds up to the next whole band.

How are Writing and Speaking judged against the band descriptors?

Writing and Speaking are judged on four published criteria each, and the public band descriptors let a candidate compare a response with each one. Writing uses Task Achievement for Task 1 and Task Response for Task 2, together with Coherence and Cohesion, Lexical Resource, and Grammatical Range and Accuracy. Task 2 carries more weight in marking than Task 1, so it deserves the longer revision.

Speaking uses Fluency and Coherence, Lexical Resource, Grammatical Range and Accuracy, and Pronunciation, each weighted equally. To check your own work, score each criterion separately on a table of the descriptors, quote the phrase in the descriptor that you can point to in your answer, and compare the response with the sample answers and examiner comments on the IELTS.org Academic sample page, which apply to Writing only. Listening back to a recording of your Speaking practice shows hesitation and pronunciation that reading a transcript hides.

How many practice tests should be sat, and how far apart?

The official sources give no set number, so the useful pattern is one full baseline mock, then targeted practice, then another full mock to measure change. Sitting tests back to back tends to repeat the same errors, whereas leaving enough days between mocks to study the errors from the first gives the second one something to measure.

Keep some official material unused for later, because a paper you have already seen can no longer show your true level. Sample tasks by question type suit the weeks between mocks, and full papers suit the checks. If a Trial Test is available at a participating location, it gives Writing marked by a real examiner, which a self-marked mock cannot.

How can mock results be turned into a practice plan?

A practice plan starts from the paper and criterion where marks were lost, and ranks them by how many marks or band points they cost. In Listening, sort wrong answers by question type: choosing from options, matching, labelling a diagram, plan or map, completing forms, notes, tables or flow charts, filling gaps in sentences, or short answers. In Reading, do the same across the eleven types, such as True/False/Not given or matching headings.

For Writing, rewrite the weakest criterion first, using Task 2 before Task 1 because of its weighting, and reread against the descriptors. For Speaking, repeat the same recorded Part 2 topic and check Fluency and Coherence again. Then run a new timed section to see whether the changed habit holds under time pressure.

Related guides

• What is IELTS? Format, versions and scoring
• IELTS Speaking Part 1 questions
• IELTS Speaking Part 2 cue cards
• IELTS Reading question types
• IELTS for UKVI
• IELTS Life Skills A1, A2 and B1
• IELTS test fee in the UK

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