Free IELTS Practice Tests – British Council

By Mohamed Last updated May 3, 2020

Free IELTS Practice Tests – British Council

Practice makes perfect. Maximise your potential test results by getting yourself familiarised with the test strategies and questions. To help you in your IELTS, get our FREE IELTS Practice Test

FREE IELTS Practice Test which includes:

Official sample tests by the British Council
4 complimentary full practice test for both Academic + General Training module
Free download and practice even before you register for IELTS

Prepare for IELTS with our free practice tests and answers. Use these tests to carry out timed practice sessions and develop your test technique.

We strongly advise test takers to practice IELTS. By taking our free practice tests, you will get to know the test format, experience the types of tasks you will be asked to undertake, test yourself under timed conditions and review your answers and compare them with model answers.

Remember, you will take the Listening, Reading and Writing tests on the same day with no breaks in between, so it’s important to practise under similar conditions.

When taking the tests, remember that each test is presented over a number of web pages. Make sure you answer all the questions and carry out the tasks on each page in the correct order.

Listening Practice Tests

The IELTS Listening test will take about 30 minutes, and you will have an extra 10 minutes to transfer your answers to the answer sheet. Prepare with our free materials.

The four parts of this practice Listening test are presented over four separate web pages. Make sure you move swiftly from one page to the next so that your practice is as realistic as possible.

Download the question paper and blank answer sheet before you start, and write your answers on the question paper while you are listening. Use a pencil.
Listen to the instructions for each section of the test carefully. Answer all of the questions.There are 40 questions altogether. Each question carries one mark.

For each part of the test, there will be time for you to look through the questions and time for you to check your answers.When you have completed all four parts of the Listening test you will have ten minutes to copy your answers on to a separate answer sheet.

We can make special arrangements for test takers with disabilities. If you require a modified version of the test, for example, in Braille, contact your test centre three months in advance to discuss your requirements.

Instructions to Test Takers

In the actual test you will be given the following instructions:

do not open this question paper until you are told to do so
write your name and candidate number in the spaces at the top of this page
listen to the instructions for each part of the paper carefully
answer all the questions
while you are listening, write your answers on the question paper
you will have 10 minutes at the end of the test to copy your answers onto the separate answer sheet; use a pencil
At the end of the test you will be asked to hand in the question paper.

Review
Once you have completed the practice test, download the answers and see how well you have done.

Listening – Part 1
This is the first part of your Listening test. Listen to the audio and answer questions 1-10

Listening – Part 2
This is the second part of your Listening test. Listen to the audio and answer questions 11-20.

Listening – Part 3
This is the third part of your Listening test. Listen to the audio and answer questions 21-30.

Listening – Part 4
This is the fourth part of your Listening test. Listen to the audio and answer questions 31-40.

Reading Practice Tests

You will be allowed 1 hour to complete all 3 sections of the IELTS Academic or General Reading test. Prepare with our free materials.

Choose which test you need to prepare for:

Academic Reading test – paper
Practise for your IELTS Reading test with our free practice test.

General Training Reading test – paper

Practise for your IELTS General Reading Test with our free pactice test.

Speaking practice tests

Prepare for your IELTS Speaking test and familiarise yourself with the structure of the test.
The Speaking test is 11-14 minutes long and is in three parts.

Part 1: You will answer questions about yourself and your family.
Part 2: You will speak about a topic.
Part 3: You will have a longer discussion about the topic introduced in Part 2.

The Speaking test is the same for both IELTS Academic and IELTS General Training tests.

How to Practise

This practice material is designed for two people working together. Find a study partner to help you practise. This might be a teacher or a friend. Take the three parts of this practice test one after another without a break to make your practice as realistic as possible.

Remember, you need to speak fluently, clearly and accurately. It is important to say as much as you can and to be spontaneous. Do not prepare answers in advance.

Record yourself if you can so that you can go back and check your performance.

Review your Speaking test
Listen to your recordings and discuss your test with your study partner. Think about how you spoke. Were you fluent? Did your speech sound natural? Were you able to express yourself clearly?

Use the audio recordings and transcripts in each section to gain an insight into the test format. Note that these are not model answers, so do not try to imitate them.

There are no ‘answers’. You and your study partner will need to assess how well you do.

Speaking – part 1
In part 1 of the Speaking test the examiner will introduce him or herself and ask general questions on familiar topics.

Speaking – part 2
In the IELTS speaking part 2 test you will be given a task card on a particular topic, and this will include key points that you should talk about.

Speaking – part 3

In part 3 of the Speaking test the examiner will ask further questions which are connected to the topics discussed in part 2.