Editorial standards
How we write, source and correct our IELTS guides
Who writes the guides on this site, which sources count, how figures are checked and dated, and what happens when we get something wrong.
Who writes and reviews
Guides are researched and written by Oleksii Vasylenko, the founder of IELTS International. He took IELTS six times, reaching Band 8.0 overall, and builds the practice tools on this site.
Every guide shows its author and the date it was last updated. When another person reviews a page, they are named on that page. We never describe our content as written, reviewed or endorsed by IELTS examiners or the test owners.
Sourcing rules
Requirements, scores, fees and dates come from the organisation that sets them. Forums, aggregators, unofficial score converters and AI-generated tables are not sources.
IELTS test owners
ielts.org, IDP, the British Council and Cambridge English, for test format, band descriptors, scoring, results and validity.
Governments
gov.uk (UK Visas and Immigration), IRCC (Canada), the Department of Home Affairs (Australia) and Immigration New Zealand, for visa and migration requirements.
Regulators and universities
Professional regulators such as the NMC and Ahpra, and each university’s own admissions pages, for registration and entry requirements.
Score comparisons
Concordance tables published by the test owners themselves and the Council of Europe’s CEFR documentation.
University rankings and general learning websites are used for context only, never for a requirement or a score.
How figures are checked and dated
Visa rules, university requirements and fees change. Every figure we publish goes through the same four steps.
Find the rule at its source
We read the requirement on the official page, not in a summary of it.
Record it exactly
Overall band, per-skill minimums, test version (Academic or General Training) and any validity window are copied as the source states them.
Link and date it
The page links to the source. Reworked pages show a “last verified” line with the date the figures were checked.
Recheck when it changes
We recheck when a source announces a change or a reader reports one. Always confirm critical numbers with the organisation before you book or apply.
Corrections
If something is wrong, email us the page address, the claim and a link to the source that contradicts it. We check the report against the primary source; when it is confirmed, we correct the page and update its date.
How we use AI
AI tools help us gather research, draft outlines, format tables and translate pages into 26 languages. A person checks every figure against its source before a page is published. Translations are machine-assisted; if a translation and the English page differ, the English page is the reference.
The practice tools use AI models guided by the public IELTS band descriptors. Their scores are practice estimates, not official results. Only a test taken at an authorised IELTS centre produces an official score.
How scoring worksIndependence
IELTS International is independent. It is not affiliated with, endorsed by or partnered with IDP, the British Council, Cambridge University Press & Assessment or any IELTS test centre.
We accept no sponsorships or paid placements. Some book links carry Amazon affiliate tags, which pay us a small commission at no extra cost to you; they do not decide what we recommend.