Hey! One complaint that IELTS test-takers have been making for decades is the order that the exams are taken on test-day. Starting with listening and ending with writing often means that students are tired when the attempt the most difficult (and often most important) section of the test.This week IDP and the British Council announced that there will be an IELTS test format change 2022.

Yes! Finally, they are moving the writing paper to the start of the exam! That means that if you are sitting the paper-based test, you will now sit the exams in the following order:

Writing, Listening, Reading

However, this change is ONLY going to appear in the paper-based IELTS test. If you are sitting the computer-based test, the order of the tests will continue to be Listening, Reading, and Writing.

Today, Nick and I discuss what this means for test-takers and if it should influence your decision to sit the computer based test or the paper based test.

Plus, in celebration of this news, we will give you a chance to listen back to one of our episodes that is currently behind our Patron paywall: “Why are so many students stuck at a 6.5 for IELTS writing?”.

• Subscribe to My IELTS Classroom podcast on Apple podcasts here 
• Subscribe to My IELTS Classroom on Google podcasts here
• Become a Patreon to gain access to extra BONUS episodes here