The four most essential skills of any language include listening, reading, writing, and speaking. Hence, these are the four grounds on which the test measures the ability of the test takers. To understand how these four skills are tested you can study the IELTS paper syllabus given below:
Listening
The listening section of the test includes four subparts. The first audio is a conversation between two people on a generic topic. The second audio is a monologue also on a generic topic. The third and fourth audio are both academic-specific between four people and a monologue, respectively. Each audio will only be played once.
Reading
This section has 40 questions. The questions are in the form of texts ranging from short to long. The test taker has to read the texts attentively and answer the questions related to these texts. The questions may require one to paraphrase the text, write down its key points, explain the purpose and logic of the text, etc. All the texts are for a non-specialist audience and in regards with English used on a daily basis by the natives.
Writing
In the writing section, the individual is presented with two tasks. First task is letter writing. Test takers have to write a 150 word letter either invoking for information or describing a circumstance. The second task, on the other hand, is essay writing. You will be given an argument, opinion, or statement. Your task is to present your response to the topic in a formal, semi-formal or informal style.
Speaking
The speaking test resembles an interview. The examiner and the test taker have one-on-one sessions where the latter is required to give a brief introduction and cover other aspects such as area of interests, hobbies, background or other non-specific topics. The other task includes speaking a minute or two on a specific topic. The topic is provided at the end of the first task and the individual has one-minute to prepare the content he intends to speak. The examiner will ask a few questions apposite to the content prepared in the second task.
