IELTS Practice Test with Answers: Original Four-Skill Exercises

This IELTS practice test with answers is an original, unofficial, shortened Academic practice pack. It contains a Reading passage with 13 questions, a transcript exercise with 10 questions, two Writing tasks with illustrative responses, and Speaking practice for all three parts. The answer explanations help you identify what to review next.

It is not a full IELTS mock, an official test or a way to obtain a certified band. There is no audio recording on this page. The transcript exercise trains attention to information and corrections; it cannot measure your Listening performance under real test conditions. All people, institutions, survey results and data in the exercises are fictional.

Try the questions before reading the answer keys. For Writing and Speaking, produce your own response before analysing the models. The models are ungraded examples, not examiner-certified Band 7 answers and not scripts to memorize.

What this practice pack covers

The official IELTS Academic overview describes the four test sections. Reading and Writing differ between Academic and General Training, while Listening and Speaking are shared. Use the correct preparation materials for the test your institution accepts.

Check the British Council's Academic format guide for timing details. Do not assume computer candidates receive the ten-minute answer-transfer period associated with paper Listening practice. Reading does not provide an additional answer-transfer period.

Source: screenshot of the official IELTS sample-question portal. The exercises below are newly written practice, not reproduced official questions.

Reading passage: The campus tool library

Read the following fictional passage. Answer only from the information it contains; outside knowledge about libraries or sustainability is unnecessary.

A. Westbridge College opened a small tool library in April, initially as a three-month pilot. Students and local residents could borrow equipment for modest household projects, such as assembling a shelf or tightening a loose chair. Membership was free, and borrowers registered their names and contact details without paying a deposit. A community grant paid for shelving, labels and a lockable storage cabinet. It did not purchase the original tools, which came from donations. The organizers wanted to discover whether a shared collection would be useful before committing space and staff time to a permanent service.

B. Donations were not placed straight into the cupboard. A qualified member of the college's maintenance team checked each item and rejected anything damaged or unsuitable. The collection contained hand tools, including hammers, measuring tapes and screwdrivers. Powered drills were excluded because the pilot had no arrangements for maintaining electrical equipment. A short safety sheet accompanied each loan, but borrowing a tool did not include practical repair training. Every returned item also went through an inspection before another member could borrow it. Volunteers recorded its condition so that an existing scratch would not automatically be blamed on the next borrower.

C. Members could reserve an item online or ask at the reception desk. A reservation held the tool for forty-eight hours, while the normal loan period was seven days. The difference caused some confusion during the first week: several members thought they had to return equipment within two days. Staff therefore rewrote the confirmation message to distinguish collection time from borrowing time. A late return did not trigger a fine during the pilot. Instead, staff contacted the borrower and explained whether another member was waiting. The organizers recorded delays because repeated late returns could make even a large collection unreliable.

D. At first, the desk opened only at lunchtime on weekdays and on Saturday morning. A questionnaire revealed that some employed residents could not reach the campus during their lunch breaks. In response, volunteers added an opening period on Wednesday evening. They kept Saturday morning unchanged. The questionnaire also invited suggestions for additional tools, but the organizers did not promise to buy every requested item. They wanted to compare requests with the available storage space and the maintenance team's ability to check equipment. A popular suggestion could therefore remain unavailable if the team could not support it responsibly.

E. By the end of June, the records showed 180 loans involving 62 different members. These figures described transactions and users, not the number of purchases prevented. Some borrowers said that they would otherwise have bought a tool, while others would have borrowed from a friend. The organizers did not measure how much money members saved, and they did not calculate the service's environmental impact. They warned that a high loan count alone could not demonstrate either result. Understanding the alternative action each borrower would have taken was necessary before making stronger claims about the pilot's wider benefits.

F. The college agreed to extend the service for another term while collecting better evidence. Staff planned to record waiting times, reasons for borrowing and the amount of work required to maintain the collection. They also wanted to learn whether members returned because the service was convenient or simply because it was free. The project leader considered the first term encouraging, but argued that usefulness and popularity should be examined separately. The next decision would depend on reliable equipment, manageable staffing and borrowers' needs, rather than on the largest possible collection or an impressive headline about the total number of loans.

Reading questions 1–5: True, False or Not Given

Write TRUE if the statement agrees with the passage, FALSE if it contradicts the passage, or NOT GIVEN if the passage does not provide enough information.

1. During the pilot, only Westbridge College students could join the tool library.
2. The library allowed members to borrow powered drills.
3. Screwdrivers were the most frequently borrowed items.
4. Feedback from residents led to an additional Wednesday evening opening period.
5. The college planned to buy an electric van for delivering tools.

Reading questions 6–9: sentence completion

Complete each sentence with ONE WORD ONLY from the passage.

6. Every returned tool went through an ______ before it was available again.
7. The normal loan period lasted ______ days.
8. The opening period on ______ morning did not change.
9. Staff contacted late borrowers instead of imposing a ______ during the pilot.

Reading questions 10–13: choose one answer

10. What did the community grant initially pay for?

A. New electrical tools
B. Storage equipment and labels
C. Repair lessons for every borrower
D. A delivery service

11. Why did staff rewrite the reservation message?

A. Members confused the collection deadline with the loan period.
B. The library had reduced every loan to two days.
C. Online reservations were no longer available.
D. Members wanted to reserve equipment anonymously.

12. What does the passage say about the 180 loans?

A. They proved that 180 new purchases had been avoided.
B. They involved 180 different members.
C. They could not by themselves prove financial or environmental benefits.
D. They were all completed by students.

13. Which statement best describes the project leader's view?

A. The library should buy every tool that members request.
B. Popularity is sufficient evidence for permanent expansion.
C. The pilot was a failure because savings were not measured.
D. The early results justify further investigation before stronger conclusions.

Reading answer key and evidence

Stop here if you have not completed the questions. Each explanation identifies the evidence rather than relying on a matching word alone.

If you marked question 3 FALSE, notice that absence is not contradiction. The passage does not say screwdrivers were less popular than another item. For question 5, it also does not say that a van was rejected. Both questions ask for a conclusion the text cannot supply.

Transcript practice: no audio included

This is a written information-following exercise. Read the questions first, then the dialogue once before checking your answers. A partner can read it aloud as additional practice, but the voice, pace and conditions will not be standardized. It remains unsuitable for estimating an IELTS Listening band.

Questions 1–7: complete the workshop booking notes

Write ONE WORD AND/OR A NUMBER for each answer.

1. Participant's surname: ______
2. Workshop day: ______
3. Workshop date: ______ November
4. Starting time: ______ p.m.
5. Room name: ______
6. Session length: ______ minutes
7. Item to bring: a ______

Questions 8–10: choose one answer

8. Why will the session use a different room?

A. More people booked than expected.
B. The usual room is being painted.
C. The heating in the usual room is broken.

9. What will participants practise first?

A. Choosing fabric colours
B. Replacing a button
C. Measuring for a jacket

10. How should the participant cancel a booking?

A. Telephone the instructor directly
B. Leave a paper note at the entrance
C. Use the link in the confirmation email

Original dialogue: a repair workshop booking

Receptionist: Good afternoon, Westbridge Community Centre. How can I help?

Participant: I'd like to book the beginner clothing-repair workshop. My first name is Alex, and my surname is Turner.

Receptionist: Certainly. Have you attended one of our workshops before?

Participant: No. I saw a poster in the library. It said the next session was on Tuesday, but I wasn't sure whether that was the current notice.

Receptionist: That poster was for the previous group. The next workshop is on Thursday, the nineteenth of November. We have a few spaces left.

Participant: Thursday works for me. Does it begin at six?

Receptionist: Almost. We originally planned a six o'clock start, but the instructor now arrives later. The confirmed starting time is six thirty p.m. Please come a little early so we can check everyone in.

Participant: Is it still in the room beside reception?

Receptionist: No, that room is being painted. We will use the Cedar room, upstairs. The number of participants has not changed, and the heating is working normally; it is just the painting that requires the move.

Participant: How long should I allow for the workshop?

Receptionist: Ninety minutes. The instructor will demonstrate replacing a button first, and then you will practise it yourselves. Later, you will try repairing a short opening in a seam. This session does not cover making a whole garment.

Participant: Do I need to buy a sewing kit before I come?

Receptionist: No. We supply needles, thread, scissors and practice fabric. Bring a notebook, though, because you may want to record the steps. You can also bring a shirt with a missing button, but that is optional. Everyone will have practice material even without a shirt.

Participant: That sounds suitable. What happens if I cannot attend?

Receptionist: Use the cancellation link in your confirmation email. It updates the waiting list automatically. Please don't call the instructor or leave a note at the door, because neither will update the booking system.

Participant: Understood. I'll look for the email and check the details tonight.

Transcript answer key and evidence

The main distractors are corrections and optional details. Do not write down the first time or weekday you encounter without following the rest of the exchange. For a real listening exercise, you must do this while processing sound; reading the script gives you support that an audio-only task does not.

Writing Task 1: describe an original data table

Practice prompt: The table shows how students travelled to a fictional university library in three survey years. Summarize the main features and make relevant comparisons. Write at least 150 words.

The figures are percentages of surveyed library visitors. Each column totals 100%. They are invented practice data, not findings about a real institution.

Illustrative Task 1 response

The table compares the proportions of students using four main forms of transport to reach a university library in 2015, 2020 and 2025.

Overall, cycling became more common and was the largest category by the end of the period. Walking declined steadily, while the shares for bus and car travel either fell or remained unchanged between surveys.

In 2015, walking accounted for 35% of visitors, making it the most frequently reported mode. Bus travel followed at 30%, whereas cars represented one fifth and bicycles only 15%. Five years later, the walking figure had fallen to 30%, equal to the unchanged proportion arriving by bus. Cycling increased to 25%, while car use dropped by five percentage points to 15%.

By 2025, the bicycle share had risen by a further ten percentage points to 35%. Walking and bus travel each accounted for a quarter of visitors, while the car figure remained at 15%. Across the full period, cycling gained twenty percentage points, compared with a ten-point reduction in walking. The table provides no information about the reasons behind these changes.

What to notice in the response

The overview identifies the largest change without listing every figure. The detail paragraphs group comparisons by time and distinguish percentage points from percentages. The response does not invent a new cycle lane, rising fuel prices or an environmental campaign to explain the pattern. Such explanations would require information absent from the table.

Check your own version for accurate figures, a clear overview and useful grouping. Counting words establishes whether you reached the minimum; it does not establish the quality of the response or a band score.

Writing Task 2: develop a position with a counterargument

Practice prompt: Some people believe universities should require all students to complete a community project before graduation. Others think participation should remain voluntary. Discuss both views and give your own opinion. Write at least 250 words.

Illustrative Task 2 response

Universities increasingly ask how students can contribute beyond the classroom. Requiring a community project could ensure that more students encounter local needs, but it could also create unfair demands on people with limited time. I believe universities should offer well-supported projects and recognize participation, while allowing students a meaningful alternative to a compulsory placement.

A requirement has a clear educational argument. Students who would never volunteer may discover how their knowledge applies to practical problems. For example, a computing student could help a small community group organize its records, while learning to explain technical decisions to people without specialist training. If the project has clear aims and supervision, it can connect academic study with communication and responsibility. Making participation universal may also prevent such opportunities from reaching only students who already have useful contacts.

However, a compulsory project can impose unequal costs. Some students work long hours, care for relatives or have health conditions that make travel difficult. A placement that appears simple to an organizer may be hard to fit around those responsibilities. Community organizations can also lose time supervising reluctant participants whose main aim is to complete a requirement. The existence of a placement does not by itself demonstrate a benefit to either side.

A more flexible approach would preserve the educational purpose without assuming identical circumstances. Universities could provide supervised projects with varied schedules and remote options, alongside an assessed alternative such as analysing a community problem with an external partner. Students should explain what they learned and how their contribution met an agreed need, rather than merely count attendance hours.

Overall, community engagement deserves a place in university education, but a rigid participation rule is a poor substitute for thoughtful design. Supported choices and clear evaluation are more likely to make the experience worthwhile for students and the organizations they assist.

How to analyse the essay

The response discusses both positions, states its own view early and develops a practical alternative. The computing example is illustrative, not a claimed research finding. A reviewer could still examine the precision of the argument, paragraph links and language choices; this is not an officially graded script.

Compare your response with the prompt before comparing vocabulary. Did you address both views and give a position? Does each example support the paragraph's point? Do not memorize this essay for a different question: a polished paragraph can be irrelevant to the task you actually receive.

Speaking practice: all three parts

A written answer cannot demonstrate pronunciation, spontaneous fluency or how you respond to follow-up questions. Record your own answers if possible, then review clarity and development. Use the samples to study how an answer grows from a direct response to a reason or example.

Part 1: familiar questions

1. Do you prefer studying alone or with other people?
2. Where do you usually read?
3. Have your study habits changed recently?
4. What practical skill would you like to learn?

Sample answer to question 1: I usually study alone when I need to understand something new, because I can slow down and take notes. After that, I like discussing it with a friend. Explaining an idea aloud often shows me which parts I have not understood properly.

Part 2: original cue card

Describe a practical skill you learned from another person. Say what the skill was, who helped you, how you practised it, and why learning it was useful.

For your one-minute preparation, note four prompts rather than writing a script: skill, person, difficulty, result. Then practise speaking for one to two minutes. The sample below is an illustrative narrative; your own timing will depend on delivery.

Sample response: A practical skill I learned recently was repairing a small tear in a shirt. My uncle showed me how to do it when I visited him one weekend. I had been about to throw the shirt away, but he said the damage was simple enough to repair.

At first, I thought the main challenge would be threading the needle. In fact, keeping the stitches reasonably even was harder. He demonstrated a few stitches slowly, then asked me to continue on a spare piece of fabric. That helped because I could make mistakes without worrying about damaging the shirt further.

After practising, I worked on the tear itself. The result was not perfect, but it held together and was hardly noticeable when I wore the shirt. I repeated the same technique on another item a week later so that I would remember the steps.

The skill was useful because it made me more willing to repair things before replacing them. I also enjoyed learning from someone patiently showing me a small task. It reminded me that practical confidence can develop through a few careful attempts, even when the task initially seems unfamiliar.

Part 3: wider discussion

1. Should schools teach more practical skills?
2. Why do some people find it difficult to learn from relatives?
3. Can online videos replace a teacher for practical learning?
4. How can communities encourage people to share their skills?

Sample answer to question 1: Schools should provide some practical learning, especially when it helps students become more independent. However, adding subjects without time or equipment may produce superficial lessons. I would favour a small number of well-designed projects that connect practical work with existing subjects, rather than a long list of separate requirements.

Sample answer to question 3: Videos are useful because learners can pause and repeat a demonstration. Their limitation is that they cannot always identify what a learner is doing incorrectly. For a simple, low-risk task, a clear video may be enough to start. For a complex task, direct feedback can prevent the same mistake from becoming a habit.

For feedback beyond a written model, Truescho's IELTS preparation service offers correction of both Writing tasks and a Speaking mock in its assessment package. Feedback and estimated bands are preparation tools, not official IELTS results.

Raw marks, official bands and the limits of this pack

The official IELTS scoring explanation gives the following average benchmarks for full 40-question tests. Exact raw-score thresholds vary between test versions.

Do not multiply your score out of 13 by 40/13 and assign a band. These questions are not calibrated as an official test. A result of 9/13 means nine correct answers in this exercise only. The transcript score is equally unsuitable for estimating a Listening band.

Writing assessment considers task fulfilment, organization, vocabulary and grammar, with Task 2 carrying more weight than Task 1. Speaking assessment also includes pronunciation and fluency. Those dimensions cannot be established by matching a response to an answer key.

Source: screenshot of the official IELTS scoring page. Its full-test benchmarks do not convert this short exercise into a band score.

Turn mistakes into a useful practice plan

Create an error log before repeating the exercise. Record the evidence you missed and the action you will practise. “Be more careful” is too vague to tell you what to do differently.

Set a target using your programme's actual IELTS score requirements, then choose practice around the weakest required skill. Use the one-month preparation plan as an adjustable schedule and the free English-learning resources guide for supporting language work.

For the next full practice session, use official IELTS Academic sample materials or the British Council's free practice hub, including real recordings. Follow the instructions for the material's delivery format and review the answers afterwards.

Frequently asked questions

Is this a full timed IELTS mock test?

No. It is a shortened set of original exercises covering four skills. The Reading set has 13 questions, and the transcript has 10. Use official full-length materials when practising test stamina, complete timing and audio comprehension.

Can the transcript measure my Listening band?

No. Reading a dialogue removes the need to identify words from sound, follow accents and process information at recording speed. Even having a partner read it aloud does not make the exercise standardized or suitable for a band estimate.

How do I distinguish False from Not Given?

Look for the evidence needed to contradict the statement. If the passage explicitly says something incompatible, choose False. If it does not establish either the statement or its opposite, choose Not Given. Do not fill the gap with what seems likely in real life.

Can I calculate a band from my Reading score out of 13?

No. This small set does not have the length, difficulty calibration or coverage of an official test. Record your raw score and error types, then use full official practice to assess performance more realistically. Avoid proportional conversions to the 40-question table.

Are the Writing responses officially graded?

No. They are original illustrative responses for analysis. Their word counts meet the task minimums, but that alone does not establish a band. Qualified feedback can examine the response to the task and the language in more detail.

Should I memorize the Speaking and Writing models?

Use them to study organization and development, then create your own answer to a different prompt. Memorized material can fail to address the actual question and does not demonstrate spontaneous communication. Practise adapting an idea with a new example or a different position.

What should I practise after checking the answer key?

Choose one recurring error, such as missing a correction or confusing absent information with contradiction. Complete a short targeted drill, then try fresh official material. Repeating the same questions immediately may measure memory of the answers more than improvement in the skill.

Continue with feedback and fresh material

Keep your original answers so that a later review can show how your reasoning changed. If you want a structured programme with individual lessons, corrected essays and mock practice, explore Truescho's IELTS preparation course. Choose support that fits your current level and target; no practice package guarantees a particular band.