General Training · the work & migration module

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

Skill
Academic
General Training
Listening
Same
Same
Speaking
Same
Same
Reading
Academic passages
Everyday & workplace texts
Writing Task 1
Describe a chart
Write a letter
Writing Task 2
Essay
Essay (shared)

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

GT Writing

GT Task 1: the letter

The three registers, the structure every letter follows, the functional language that lifts it, and ten drills.

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GT Reading

Everyday texts

Notices, adverts and workplace documents, with the question types that go with them.

Coming soon
GT Writing

Interactive letter papers

Full letter tasks: a scenario, a timer, a model letter, and self-assessment.

Coming soon

Shared with Academic (use these too)

Writing Task 2

Essay questions

Task 2 is the same essay in both modules. Questions sorted by topic and type, each with the structure it wants.

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Speaking

Speaking, identical

Speaking does not change between modules. Practise Part 2 by type, with Band 6 and Band 8 models.

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Grammar

The grammar section

The grammar that caps your band is the same whichever module you take. Twenty-plus interactive topics.

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Understand IELTS

How you are scored

The nine-band scale, how your overall band is worked out, and the criteria examiners mark against.

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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 →