General Training: for work, training and migration.
If you are sitting IELTS to work, train or move to an English-speaking country, you are almost certainly taking General Training, not Academic. Most of it is shared with the Academic module. Two parts are not, and that is where to focus.
General Training and Academic are marked on the same nine-band scale and share two of the four skills outright. Listening and Speaking are identical. The difference is in the other two: Reading and Writing Task 1. Task 2, the essay, is essentially the same in both.
The one difference that matters
So if you have used the Academic resources on this site, most of them already serve you. The one genuinely different skill to prepare is the Task 1 letter, and Reading, where GT uses more everyday material.
Built for General Training
Scoring on this track
GT Reading demands more correct answers for the same band, and the letter is marked on its register. The conversion, the criteria, and the overall arithmetic.
Start →Listening on this track
The same four recordings play for everyone, lecture included. Your everyday-English front half, the academic ambush in the back half, and the GT order of attack.
Start →Speaking on this track
No easier interview exists for General Training: same examiner, same criteria, same bands. Your everyday-English advantage, and the Part 3 ambush to prepare for.
Start →GT Task 1: the letter
The three registers, the structure every letter follows, the functional language that lifts it, and ten drills.
Start →Everyday texts
Section 1: a residents’ notice, with True/False/Not Given, sentence completion and matching. Instant marking and a band estimate.
Start →Comparing adverts
Section 1, the multi-text version: four course adverts and an enrolment notice, with matching and sentence completion. Instant marking and a band estimate.
Start →Workplace texts
Section 2: a staff handbook, the work-related register that follows. Thirteen questions, marked on the page with an explanation for every answer.
Start →Job & training
Section 2, paper two: a job advertisement and the training policy behind it, with True/False/Not Given and sentence completion. Instant marking and a band estimate.
Start →Longer texts
Section 3: a longer general-interest article, the densest GT reading. Thirteen questions across True/False/Not Given, paragraph matching and completion.
Start →The repair café revival
Section 3, paper two: a seven-paragraph text with matching headings, multiple choice and completion. Instant marking and a band estimate.
Start →Night trains
Section 3, paper three: a seven-paragraph text on the sleeper revival, with matching headings, multiple choice and completion. Instant marking and a band estimate.
Start →Booking conditions
Section 1: the small print of a holiday rental, deposits, deadlines and cancellation terms, with True/False/Not Given, completion and matching. Thirteen questions, marked.
Start →Interactive letter papers
Full letter tasks: a scenario, a timer, a model letter, and self-assessment. Six papers, two in each register: formal, semi-formal and informal.
Start →Shared with Academic (use these too)
Essay questions
Task 2 is the same essay in both modules. Questions sorted by topic and type, each with the structure it wants.
Browse →Speaking, identical
Speaking does not change between modules. Practise Part 2 by type, with Band 6 and Band 8 models.
Practise →The grammar section
The grammar that caps your band is the same whichever module you take. Twenty-plus interactive topics.
Open →How you are scored
The nine-band scale, how your overall band is worked out, and the criteria examiners mark against.
Read →Preparing to work or migrate? That is who most of these lessons are for. If you would like your Task 1 letter or a Task 2 essay marked against the criteria, book a lesson →