english teacher and this is an introductory video about the IELTS exam

So, what exactly is IELTS?

IELTS stands for International

English language testing system and this is what it actually does

it assesses your knowledge of the English language

There are two versions of the test: the Academic

and the General one. The Academic is for those who want to study abroad

in an english speaking country of course either for undergraduate

or for post-graduate studies and the General version of the

test is for those who want to

work abroad in an english-speaking environment

or in an english speaking country. As I said

IELTS assesses your knowledge of the english

language, so there is no fail or pass at least not in the traditional way

Instead, there are bandscores from 0 to 9

9 being the highest that describe your english ability

Most universities accept a 6.5 or

higher for under graduate studies and

a 7 bandscore or higher for post graduate studies

Again, it depends on the university, so before you take the exam you

might want to check this out for the university of your interest. As far as the

general version of the test is concerned,

again it depends on what purpose you take the exam

and what kind of bandscore is required

by those who originally asked you to take the exam. The test overall

lasts for 2 hours and 44 minutes and tests

your listening, reading, writing and speaking

skills. There's great likelihood that speaking,

the speaking section will take place a different day

but the other three: listening, reading, and writing will take place the

same day one after the other and in this exact same

order. Now, listening lasts for 30 minutes

and it is the same for both Academic and General

Reading lasts for 60 minutes and it's not the same

in the Academic version of the test, Reading

is a little bit harder because it is for academic

purposes. Writing again as Reading

lasts for 60 minutes and it is different the academic one

is a little bit more challenging and Speaking is the same for both

it lasts from 11 to 15 minutes and you're going to have an actual conversation

with a qualified IELTS examiner. Well, that's pretty much it

as an introduction. There are going to be more videos to follow

in which I am going to focus on each section in detail

in order to help you prepare with the exam actually my aim is to

help anyone who wants to study by himself or herself

who wants extra information extra guidance

or extra help about IELTS or about english

in general. I have added some links down below which I find very useful and very helpful

and hopefully you will find them, too. I have also added

the IELTS bandscale and what each bandscore

actually means. if you like this video please subscribe and

comment. English is not my mother language either

well after all these years of studying it and teaching it

Actually it kind of feels it is but what I am trying to say

here is that I know all the difficulties that you're going through

in learning a new language. I am greek myself so each video is going to be in greek too (subtitles)

I will say the same things in greek (subtitles) in order to

help greek people that their english level is not very high

yet to prepare better for the exam thank you very much for watching

good luck with the exam!