• IELTS

Frequency of IELTS Exam in a Year

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  • By:CANAM Group
  • Updated On:Aug 31,2023 03:55 PM IST

IELTS is a standardized English language proficiency exam accepted worldwide. Read more about how many times the IELTS exam is conducted in a year, the reasons to retake the IELTS exam, the requirements for an IELTS retake, and much more.

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IELTS (International English Language Testing System) is the world’s standard English language proficiency test. It is owned and conducted jointly by IDP Education, British Council, and Cambridge Assessment English. IELTS Academic and IELTS General Training are two parts of the IELTS Exam. Many foreign universities accept it as one of the admission requirements.

Many students who want to study in a foreign university often want to know how many times they can give the IELTS exam in a year. Read more to know about how many times the IELTS exam is conducted in a year, reasons to retake the IELTS exam, requirements for an IELTS retake, and things to keep in mind while re-appearing for the IELTS, etc.

How Many Times IELTS Exam is Conducted in a Year?

The IELTS Exam is conducted 48 times a year and four times a month. To add on, there is quite a possibility for the exam to be conducted even five times in a month, however, it happens rarely. This gives students many chances to give IELTS exams throughout the year. Out of 48 days, 24 days are for IELTS General Training, and the other 24 are for IELTS Academic.

Reasons to Retake the IELTS Exam

As there is no restriction on the number of times one can appear for the IELTS exam in a year, many students grab this opportunity by retaking the exams multiple times. 

The reasons for retaking the exam can be as follows:

Dissatisfaction from the first attempt: If students are unsatisfied with their previous attempt and feel they could have scored better, they can retake the exam.
Unprepared for the exam: It may happen with many students who couldn’t understand the IELTS syllabus properly on the first attempt. Therefore, they may retake the exam to score better.
Not getting minimum cut-off: This is some of the self-explanatory reasons why students retake the IELTS Exam. There can be times when students are not able to get the minimum scores defined by their desired foreign university. In that case, students have to retake the exam.

Requirements for an IELTS Retake

Below are specific guidelines students need to follow to retake the exam:

• To take the IELTS exam, students must be above 16 years of age, otherwise they won’t be able to retake the exam.
• There is no upper age set by IELTS authorities to give the IELTS exam. However, every country has its own specific rules for visas.
• Students can only retake the IELTS exam when the results of the previous attempt come out. 

Things to Remember when Retaking the IELTS

Below are a few things students need to keep in mind while appearing for the IELTS exam again:

Correct past mistakes: Students should remember the mistakes they made in the last attempt. They must prepare for the mistakes and try to avoid them. 
Mental Preparation: Many students might feel down by considering this exam a failure. However, they should see this as an opportunity to succeed. 
Make strategies: After considering previous mistakes, students can make a concrete strategy to ace in the second attempt. For this, students can practice different IELTS questions.
Mode of exam: The reason for not scoring well in the previous attempt could be the exam mode. Students should consider changing the exam mode if this was the reason for not scoring well.

List of IELTS Exam Date in 2023

The list of the IELTS Exam dates for the rest of the months of 2023 is as follows:

September Test Dates

Test DateTest Type
2 September 2023Academic only
9 September 2023Academic & General Training
14 September 2023Academic only
23 September 2023Academic & General Training

October Test Dates

Test DateTest Type
7 October 2023Academic & General Training
12 October 2023Academic only
21 October 2023Academic only
28 October 2023Academic & General Training

November Test Dates

Test DateTest Type
4 November 2023Academic only
9 November 2023Academic & General Training
18 November 2023Academic only
25 November 2023Academic & General Training

December Test Dates

Test DateTest Type
2 December 2023Academic & General training
7 December 2023Academic only
9 December 2023Academic only
16 December 2023Academic & General training

Conclusion


IELTS is one of the essential requirements to get admission to foreign universities. Hence, it is highly important for all international students who want to study abroad. In this blog, we discussed how many times IELTS is conducted in a year, the reasons to retake the IELTS exam, the requirements for an IELTS retake, and things to keep in mind while reappearing for the IELTS. Now students can prepare accordingly for their next attempt. If you still have any doubt, connect with Canam Consultants for more clarity.

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