IELTS Academic Practice Test Online — Computer-delivered Format (2026)
What you get and what it costs
ExamStep sells IELTS Academic practice online: 10 full mock tests and 51 single-skill practice tests, with Listening and Reading marked against the key, and Writing (both tasks) and Speaking marked on the four official criteria as an estimated band. You can start free. Full access costs from CA$12.49 for 7 days, or one full mock test costs CA$7.99 on its own (one-time, in CAD, no auto-renewal).
- One free practice test in each skill (Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking), fully marked
- One free full mock exam in which Listening and Reading are scored, and Writing Task 1 and Speaking Part 2 are marked (a partly marked mock gives no overall band)
- One full mock test on its own: CA$7.99 (About 2 h 45 min · all four skills · band report)
- One Writing practice test on its own: CA$3.49 (60 min · 2 tasks marked on the official criteria)
- One Speaking practice test on its own: CA$3.99 (11–14 min · 3 parts, marked on the official criteria)
Every pass: All 10 full tests · 51 single-skill tests · 130 drills · Writing & Speaking marked
One-time payment · no auto-renew · all sales final, with the exceptions in our Refund policy
Prices in CAD · pay with just your email · every price
Sit a complete, timed IELTS Academic practice test in the computer-delivered format: Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking in the order of the real test day, on a screen modelled on IELTS on computer — passage beside the questions, highlight and notes tools, and the clock. ExamStep has ten full tests and 51 single-skill practice tests across the four sections, with Writing and Speaking assessed on the four official criteria and reported as a band score.
What a full IELTS practice test includes
A full test is 40 Listening questions in four parts, 40 Reading questions across three academic passages, two Writing tasks in one 60-minute sitting, and a three-part Speaking test led by a recorded examiner with a British accent. Every recording plays once, Listening ends with the two-minute check the computer test gives you, and Reading shows the passage on the left and the questions on the right, the layout IDP describes for IELTS on computer.
How it is scored
Listening and Reading are marked the moment you finish, and your raw score out of 40 is converted to an indicative band: ielts.org publishes the marks for Bands 5 to 8 and notes they vary slightly between test versions, and the steps in between follow the commonly used conversion. Writing and Speaking are evaluated on the public assessment criteria — task achievement or response, coherence and cohesion, lexical resource, grammatical range and accuracy, and for Speaking fluency and pronunciation — and returned as an estimated band with specific feedback. The overall band is the average of the four sections rounded to the nearest half band, as IELTS does.
Why timed practice matters
IELTS on computer runs Listening, Reading and Writing back to back — about two and a half hours without a break, with Speaking on the same day or up to a week before or after — and the clock is the same for everyone. Reading gives no extra time to transfer answers, Writing shares one hour between two tasks of different weight, and the timer warns you at ten and five minutes. Sitting the whole paper under those rules is how you find out whether your pacing holds.
How to use full tests in your prep
Sit one full test early to find the section holding your band down, work on it with the single-skill practice tests, then sit another full test close to your date. Aim for the same band in every section: many universities and professional bodies set a minimum per section as well as an overall band.
What a report looks like
This is a sample: the numbers are made up to show the layout, not taken from a real learner.
- Task 1 report: no overview sentence, so the main trend was never stated.
- Task 2 essay: the second body paragraph gave a reason but no example.
- Lowest criterion in Writing: Grammatical range and accuracy (articles and verb tenses).
How our IELTS Academic test compares with the official one
The left column says only what the official source says. The right column is ours.
| The official test | ExamStep's practice test | |
|---|---|---|
| Time per section | Listening about 30 minutes, Reading 60, Writing 60, Speaking 11–14. | Listening: About 30 min · 4 parts, 40 questions · auto-marked. Reading: 60 min · 3 passages, 40 questions · auto-marked. Writing: 60 min · 2 tasks marked on the official criteria. Speaking: 11–14 min · 3 parts, marked on the official criteria. |
| What differs by module | Listening and Speaking are the same in Academic and General Training; Reading and Writing are different. | Academic Reading and a Task 1 report on a graph, table, chart or diagram. Listening and Speaking come from the shared bank. |
| Writing | Task 1 describes visual information in at least 150 words (about 20 minutes); Task 2 is an essay of at least 250 words (about 40 minutes). Task 2 counts twice as much. Four criteria: Task achievement/response, Coherence and cohesion, Lexical resource, Grammatical range and accuracy. | Both tasks are marked by our AI on the same four criteria, with a band and notes per criterion; Task 2 counts twice in the Writing band. It is an estimate to study from, not an examiner's mark. |
| Speaking | 11–14 minutes. | A recorded examiner asks the questions in the three parts of the real test; you answer into your microphone and the recording is marked on the four Speaking criteria. |
| Where | At a test centre or remotely online; the format is the same either way. | Online in your browser, on a screen modelled on IELTS on computer. |
Official column: ielts.org, IELTS Academic test format; ielts.org, Academic Writing, checked 28 September 2026. ExamStep is not affiliated with the test owner.
Frequently asked questions
Is this the computer-delivered IELTS format?
Yes, as far as the test makers describe it. IELTS can be taken on computer or on paper, and the content, timing and marking are the same either way. IDP describes the computer version — the passage on the left and questions on the right in Reading, highlighting and notes, a timer that flashes in the last ten and five minutes, and two minutes to review at the end of Listening — and these tests are modelled on that; the finer details of our screen are our own design. On the real test Speaking is face to face with an examiner.
How is the band worked out?
Listening and Reading are marked against the key, then your raw score is converted to an indicative band. ielts.org publishes the marks for Bands 5 to 8 — 30 correct out of 40 is Band 7.0 in Listening and in Academic Reading — and says the exact marks vary slightly between test versions; the steps in between follow the commonly used conversion. Writing and Speaking bands are estimates produced by our AI marker on the official criteria; treat them as a guide, not a result. The overall band follows the official rounding rule: the mean of the four sections to the nearest half band.
Is IELTS Academic the right test for me?
It depends what the score is for. Academic is the version universities and most professional bodies ask for. Immigration to Canada is different: IRCC accepts IELTS General Training for Express Entry and for citizenship, not Academic. Check what your programme asks for before you book.
Which accent are the recordings?
British. The real test mixes British, Australian, New Zealand and North American speakers, so expect a wider range on the day.
Is the Speaking test with a real examiner?
No. A recorded examiner asks the questions in the three-part structure of the real test — including the one-minute preparation and two-minute talk in Part 2 — and you answer into your microphone. Your recording is transcribed and assessed on the four Speaking criteria.
Are these real IELTS questions?
No. Every passage, recording and task is written for ExamStep to the published test specification. IELTS is a registered trademark of the British Council, IDP IELTS and Cambridge University Press & Assessment; ExamStep is not affiliated with them.
How much is an IELTS Academic mock test online?
One full mock test and one practice test in each skill are free with an account, with the free mock partly marked. After that, one full mock test costs CA$7.99 on its own, or a pass opens everything from CA$12.49 for 7 days (7 days CA$12.49, 30 days CA$23.49, 90 days CA$45.99). Every price is one-time, in CAD, no auto-renewal.
Will my IELTS Writing be corrected?
Yes. Each task comes back with a band for each of the four criteria and notes on what held it back, and a Writing practice test on its own costs CA$3.49. The first Writing practice test is free and fully marked. The band is an estimate from our AI marker, not an examiner's mark.
Do I need an account to buy?
No. Type your email and pay; a new account is made for you and signed in straight away. If that email already has an account, you are asked to log in to it.
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