Four IELTS sections - listening, reading, writing and speaking - do have some important characteristics to know about. Some of them are explained below.
Before test begins
Prior to the test all candidates are required to turn off and surrender their cellphones and all other portable devices. Any cheating can result in being banned forever from sitting IELTS test.
Usually all desks in the test room are prepared beforehand by the administrators: pencil and paper are placed on every desk, as well as the tag with candidate's name. Candidates are to occupy their seats according to name tags.
 Listening section
Listening section is the very first in the test. A group of candidates in the test room are required to listen to an audio recording while answeing questions contained in their question-answer sheets.
Before the actual test begins, a reference audio sample will be played back to ensure that all candidates can hear it well; playback volume will be adjusted if requested.
After testing the playback, actual test begins and the timer starts at the same time. 4 audio fragments will be played, difficulty increasing from one to another. The first is usually a simple two person dialog, next can involve 3 persons in a more complex conversation, and other two usually represent discussion between several people, some with foreign accents.
After the playback begins, people in the test room usually begin making more noise with paper, chairs, coughing and so on. Therefore it is a good idea to ask test administrator to set playback volume a bit higher than it seems comfortable while listening to a sample. This can help recognize conversations easier in the noisy environment.
Typical questions to answer are:
- Which picture from above correctly shows the suitcase that was lost ?
- On what picture clock shows correct appointment time ?
- How far from Paris is Ajax city ?
- What is the phone number in the office ? (write it down)
- What is the street name ? (write it down)
Some questions are regular multiple choice ones, some containt pictures to choose from, and others require candidates to listen to and write down some pieces of information, like phone numbers, names, postal codes etc.
40 questions of this section are to be answered within 30 minutes, including some time to transfer answers from drafts to answer sheets.
 Reading section
Candidates proceed to this section immediately after audition; no break is given. Text topics are different for academic and general IELTS modules, but
the section is administered in exactly the same way: 60 minutes are
given to complete the section, and a total of 40 questions are presented to the candidates. There are three different texts in this section.
There are different types of questions to be answered. Besides typical multiple choice questions, usually there are:
"Fill in the blank". To fill in the blanks, an abstract is given after the text, with some
words missing in it. The candidates are required to write a correct
word in every gap, picking words from the list.
"Match the definitions". There is a list of descriptive
sentences, and the candidates are required to pick correct definition
for each of them from another list.
"Complete the set". Based on the example, candidates are required to write limited number of words (usually three) to complete the set of items. This task is somewhat similar to the "fill in the blanks" task, except that there are no word list to choose from.
"Match cause and effect". This is almost the same task as "match the definition". The main difference is that candidates are required to match causes and effects instead of terms and their definitions.
Special type of multiple choice questions are "true-false-not given" (or "yes-no-not given") questions. These contain a statement relevant to the passage, and three options are presented to choose from, which are "true", "false" and "not given". "True" or "false" should be chosen only if the statement is explicitly explained in the text. Otherwise, "not given" is the correct answer - for example, when either "true" or "false" seems to be the correct choice, but some inference is required to come to such a conclusion.
Typical questions in this section are:
- More advanced ... are being developed to protect the environment (fill in the blank).
- ... made using less poisonous type of phosphorus (match the definition).
- Why does the writer refer to Waterfront Trail ? (typical multiple choice).
- High Park trails are kept in very poor condition ("true-false-not given").
 Writing section
Before writing section a short break is given, so candidates have a good chance to skim their notes.
First task is to write a 150-word essay on a given topic. Usually it is either a sort of formal letter (for general module) or a description of data shown on charts or graphs (for academic module). Some examples of possible topics are:
- Write a note to your landlord to inform him that the dishwasher in your unit is not working; ask for a replacement or repairs.
- Write a letter to your Paris friend who was accompanying you during your trip around France. Express your gratitude for helping you during the trip in his country.
- Write a report describing the information processing system depicted in a block diagram below.
- Write a report about census data, shown in the charts below.
Next task is to write a longer, 250-word essay on a more general topic. This requires some reasoning skills to write on the topics like:
- Why music is important to us and what kind of music is of most importance - classical or modern ?
- What kind of energy production should be used more widely - wind or solar ?
- Why studying history at school is essential ?
It is very important to understand the task well before writing, because writing section scoring is based not only on grammar and syntax, but also on how reasonable the arguments are and how logically correct the entire essay is. It is a good idea to spend a few minutes thinking about the problem and planning the essay structure before taking the pencil.
Time allotted for writing section is 60 minutes; it is recommended that candidates spend about 20 minutes on smaller essay and 35 minutes on larger one, thus having 5 extra minutes to skim both essays correcting mistakes and counting words (it is considered a mistake and will affect section score if the word count is less than required).
 Speaking section
Speaking section is conducted in the form of a dialog with an English-speaking teacher. While listening, reading and writing sections must be completed on the same day, speaking section may be scheduled on any different day in the period seven days before or after other sections, at the discretion of test administrators. If it is scheduled on the same day as other sections, than it is the last section in the test.
Speaking section is usually 10 to 15 minutes long, depending on the dialog progress. First, the candidate and the teacher will introduce themselves, and the dialog will begin on some topic of a general interest. It may involve discussing countries, traves, holidays, weather, culture, music and so on. During the dialog a candidate is required to communicate freely with his partner, answering questions and following the topic. Then will be offered another topic, and the candidate will be given one minute to understand it and get prepared to speak. His task is to cover the given topic briefly in a short one-minute monolog without guidance.
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