The IELTS is generally divided into types the Academic and general tests

• The IELTS academic is specially made for students who intend to take up an under graduation or post-graduation program in any English speaking nation.
• The IELTS general is taken by potential immigrants who aspire to migrate to English speaking countries.

The IELTS score is reported as a band ranging from 0 to 9. You will be assigned a score from 1 to 9 for each section individually and the average of all segments will be considered as your overall score. Generally band 9 indicates expert in the segment and band 1 is considered as having low comfort level with the segment and all other bands falling in between.

IELTS examination is divided into the following segments

• Listening Section
  Listening consists of 40 questions divided among four sections. The total duration for all the sections together is 30 minutes and an additional 10 minutes are given for the test taker to transfer his answers to the answer sheet.
• Reading Section
  The reading section is comprised of 40 questions which are set around three passages. The section has to be completed within 60 minutes and aims at evaluating the reading and comprehension of reading matter in many different areas. The section has passages from many different genres of reading from both non-fiction and fiction
• Writing section
  The writing section consists of two tasks
  Task 1: interpretation of a diagram for the academic test and the other which involves writing a letter to an imaginary person for the general test. The letter should contain 150 words approximately and should be completed within 20 minutesM
  Task 2: of writing a 250 word essay on a given topic which should be completed within 40 minutes
• Speaking section
  This section is held as a personal interview and is of 11 minutes in duration. The test is not held on the actual day of IELTS but either a day before or after. The segment consists of three parts which are classified as personal, long talk and discussion. The test is interactive in nature and you will be talking to an examiner. The personal section consists of the interviewer introducing himself and asking you a few questions about yourself. The long talk involves speaking at length on a given topic. In the discussion segment you will have an interactive talk with the interviewer regarding the topic you have spoken about.