IELTS: what it is, how much it costs, how to take it

A necessary step to immigrate to Canada is to pass a language test.

One of the requirements when immigrating to Canada or Austria, as well as when applying to English-speaking studies is language skills, which must be confirmed by passing special exams, the most popular of which is the IELTS.

International English L language T testing S system) is an international English language assessment system. The test is given to determine the level and skills of English proficiency of people whose native language is not English.

IELTS is the most popular English language test for study and immigration to Canada, UK, Australia and New Zealand. And in the U.S., for example, TOEFL test is more popular. Canadian Department of Immigration considers IELTS test results but does not accept TOEFL results. The IELTS certificate is valid for 2 years.

There are three versions of the test:

Academic IELTS (academic version)
General Training IELTS (General Version)
IELTS Life Skills (for UK visas)

Academic IELTS certificate is used for admission to schools, colleges and universities in Canada, the UK, Australia, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa, USA and other countries where education is conducted in English.

The General Training IELTS certificate is mandatory for anyone wishing to immigrate to Canada, Australia and New Zealand under the professional migration system.

IELTS Life Skills (mainly required in the UK only) equates to speaking (Speaking) and listening (Listening) at A1, A2 or B1 on the CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference) scale. The certificate is required when applying for a work visa to the UK and for other purposes related to studying, living or working in an English-speaking society.