How to use this list, and what "verified" means
There are only two official domains an Indian IELTS candidate needs: ielts.org, the global site of the three test partners, for the format, the scoring rules, the public band descriptors and the One Skill Retake policy; and ieltsidpindia.com, IDP IELTS India, for fees, booking, dates, results and the Indian retake page. Add the site of whichever regulator or immigration body sets your band, and you have everything. The problem is not finding official pages; it is that the search results for "ielts speaking" are a wall of coaching sites, PDF mirrors and counsellors, and the official pages have moved more than once (the old ielts.org format URL now returns a 404). This page is the shortlist, each link with one line on what to use it for.
Every link below was fetched on 20 October 2026. "Verified" means the page or PDF answered and we read the text we cite. "Unverified" means it timed out or returned an error for every fetcher we tried that day; the link is still the right address as far as we know, and we say what we could not confirm. We re-run the check weekly; the verified date is on the IELTS Speaking hub, and the same list lives in our data so the hub footer and this page never disagree.
- The ielts.org Speaking format page: 11 to 14 minutes, three parts, face to face with an examiner, recorded.
- The public Speaking band descriptors PDF: what Band 5 to Band 9 means on each of the four criteria, in the examiners' own words.
- The IDP India fee page: INR 19,000 and every other number you will pay.
Format and scoring: the pages that define the test
Read these before any coaching material, because the coaching material is a paraphrase of them, sometimes a loose one.
| Page | Use it for | Status |
|---|---|---|
| ielts.org: IELTS Academic Speaking format | The definition: "a face-to-face interview between the test taker and an examiner", recorded, 11 to 14 minutes; Part 1 4 to 5 minutes, Part 2 3 to 4 minutes including preparation, Part 3 4 to 5 minutes. | Verified |
| ielts.org: General Training Speaking format | The same test described for General Training candidates; identical timings. | Verified |
| ielts.org: IELTS Academic test | The sentence that settles a common question: "The Speaking and Listening tests are the same in both the Academic and the General Training tests." Total test time 2 hours 45 minutes. | Verified |
| ielts.org: Understanding your score | The four Speaking criteria, "Each of the criteria carry equal weighting", half bands, the .25 and .75 rounding rule, the two-year validity recommendation. | Verified |
| ielts.org: IELTS scoring in detail | The same criteria with links to the two official PDFs below. | Verified |
| ielts.org: Speaking band descriptors (PDF) | Four pages, Bands 0 to 9 across Fluency and coherence, Lexical resource, Grammatical range and accuracy, Pronunciation. The document every "band 7 requirements" article is paraphrasing. Print it. | Verified |
| ielts.org: Speaking key assessment criteria (PDF) | Four pages, linked from the scoring page: "There are nine bands and four criteria", then a definition and the key indicators of each criterion, for example speech rate and speech continuity under Fluency and coherence. Read this before the descriptors; it says what the examiner is listening for. | Verified |
| IDP India: Speaking band scores | The descriptor table reproduced as a web page, Bands 0 to 9, readable on a phone without a PDF viewer. | Verified |
What these pages do not tell you is what a Band 6 answer sounds like next to a Band 7 one. That is the job of our band descriptors explainer and the module's Band 5 to 9 page, both of which quote the PDF rather than paraphrase it.
Official sample material for Speaking
IELTS publishes very little Speaking material, and none of it is "this month's questions". That is by design: the question bank is confidential, and the sample pages exist to show the shape of each part. Use them for the shape, and use a bank organised by topic family, such as our Part 2 cue cards and Part 1 questions, for volume.
| Page | Use it for | Status |
|---|---|---|
| ielts.org: Sample test questions | The entry point to the Academic, General Training and UKVI Life Skills sample sets, "Official practice and sample questions and answers". The entry page does not list skills; open the set for your module for the Speaking samples. | Verified |
| ielts.org: Preparation resources | The hub for official sample tests, apps, webinars, books and videos. On the day we read it the page named no Speaking-specific video; the "Videos" section is where test-taker and advice videos live. | Verified |
| IDP (global): IELTS Speaking practice | An "IELTS Speaking: Part 1" audio sample with transcript, useful for hearing the examiner's pace and the expected answer length. | Verified |
| British Council: Speaking practice tests | The British Council's free Speaking sample page. It timed out or reset the connection for every fetch we tried on 20 and 21 October 2026, so we have not described its contents. | Unverified |
| TalkDrill: full three-part mock | Not official. A timed 11 to 14 minute run with an AI examiner on camera, scored against the four public criteria. Listed here because the official pages give you the shape and not the rehearsal. | Ours |
Fees, booking and dates in India (IDP)
Everything you pay for and every date you choose happens on IDP IELTS India's site. The figures below are what the pages said on 20 October 2026; the full fee table and the booking walk-through are on our fees and booking page.
| Page | Use it for | Status |
|---|---|---|
| IDP IELTS India home | The operator in India. "140+ test venues in India"; the help-centre number for anything a page does not answer. | Verified |
| IDP India: test fee | INR 19,000 (IELTS on Computer and Writing on Paper), INR 19,250 UKVI, INR 18,000 Life Skills A1 and B1, INR 12,650 One Skill Retake; transfer fees; the 9-day cancellation gate and 25% late charge; UKVI refund scale; Additional TRFs at INR 350 beyond five. | Verified |
| IDP India: book a test | Pick the test and city, then four stages: "Select Test Date", "Personal Details", "Additional Information", "Make Payment". States that for computer tests Speaking is the same day with the slot shared two days before. On 21 October 2026 the form still showed an "IELTS on Paper" label, which the fee page says is discontinued; confirm any paper date with IDP. | Verified |
| IDP India: test dates | City-wise dates and the line "the Speaking test may be held before or after the test date". Still carries the paper-era "48 fixed test dates a year" sentence; the booking calendar is the live source. | Verified |
| IDP India: IELTS on Computer | "Available up to 7 days a week, 3 times a day"; most results within 2 days; Speaking "conducted through Video Call interview with a certified IELTS examiner in a quiet room"; the Choose Speaking Slot feature. | Verified |
| IDP India: IELTS Writing on Paper | The hybrid option in selected locations, and the sentence that retires the paper test: "IELTS on paper will no longer be available from mid-2026". | Verified |
| IDP India: choose your Speaking slot | For IELTS on Paper candidates per the page: log on 15 days before to choose; automatic allocation if not chosen 10 days before. | Verified |
| IDP India: candidate login | Results, the eTRF, electronic score reports, the EOR tab and the One Skill Retake button. | Verified |
IDP India's identification-rules and test-day advice pages returned a 404 to our fetcher at every address we tried. Until we can read them, the rule we quote is ielts.org's: carry the same identity document you registered with. Your booking confirmation names it.
Results, re-marks, One Skill Retake and verification
| Page | Use it for | Status |
|---|---|---|
| ielts.org: Getting and sharing your results | Results timing by format (IELTS on Computer 1 to 5 days, UKVI 1 to 5, Life Skills up to 9); five organisations by post free; unlimited e-delivery through the Results Service. | Verified |
| IDP India: results | India's own figures (within 1 to 2 days for computer tests; 7 days paper and Life Skills; 13 days UKVI on paper), the candidate-login steps, the eTRF, five free electronic score reports, Additional TRFs from the centre. | Verified |
| IDP India: Enquiry on Results | Online-only application in the candidate login, fees by product, "full refund of the EOR fee, if your result is changed to a higher band score". | Verified |
| ielts.org: cancellations, refunds, re-marks, transfers | Re-marked by senior examiners, same day to 21 days; transfer once, within three months; refunds depend on timing and the centre. | Verified |
| ielts.org: One Skill Retake | The global rules: computer tests only, within 60 days of the full test, once, 3 to 5 days for results, a new TRF with all four scores, check acceptance with your organisation. | Verified |
| IDP India: One Skill Retake | INR 12,650, the Retake button, results within 2 days, and the accepting bodies named: Australian Home Affairs, AHPRA, 50+ Australian universities, Immigration New Zealand, UKVI for SELT. | Verified |
| ielts.org: Verifying IELTS results | How a university or regulator checks your TRF: the free IELTS Results Service, by TRF number; TRFs over three years old cannot be investigated. | Verified |
| IDP (global): check your result | The reminder that online results "are provisional only until you receive your official Test Report Form". | Verified |
The one figure none of these pages printed for us is the deadline for applying for an Enquiry on Results. Until we can quote it, apply within days of the result and ask IDP for the cut-off in writing.
UKVI, Life Skills and the regulators that set your band
Your target band is not set by IELTS. It is set by the university, the immigration department or the professional regulator, and their pages are as official as ielts.org for that one number.
| Page | Use it for | Status |
|---|---|---|
| IDP India: IELTS for UKVI | "The UKVI will only accept tests taken in person at an official IELTS for UKVI test centre"; Life Skills A1, A2 and B1 test Listening and Speaking and give a Pass. | Verified |
| ielts.org: IELTS Life Skills | "A single test covering speaking and listening skills" with a Pass or Fail result; the page for spouse, settlement and citizenship routes. | Verified |
| NMC: IELTS Academic requirements | UK nurses and midwives: at least 7 in listening, speaking and reading and at least 6.5 in writing; two sittings may be combined on the page's conditions; "We do not accept the IELTS One Skill Retake test." Read 20 October 2026 and again on 21 October (the page needs a browser user agent; a plain fetch is refused). | Verified |
| IRCC: language testing for Express Entry | Canada: "You must take the IELTS General Training option" and "We don't accept IELTS One Skill Retake for Express Entry." The CLB conversion table is on the same page. Read 20 October 2026. | Verified |
| TalkDrill: UK visa English tests | Not official. Which UK route needs IELTS for UKVI, Life Skills or another SELT, with the official links for each. | Ours |
| TalkDrill: OET hub | Not official. For nurses and doctors comparing IELTS with OET, with the NMC, AHPRA and GMC pages linked and quoted. | Ours |
Australian (Home Affairs points) band tables are on that government's own site; we have not listed them here because we did not re-read them for this page this week. Our 30-day Band 7 plan quotes the IRCC and Home Affairs pages as read on 20 October 2026.
The British Council in India: what we can and cannot confirm
Many older guides, and many coaching centre signboards, still say "IELTS by British Council or IDP". For India, every booking, fee, dates and results page we could verify this week belongs to IDP IELTS India, and the IDP home page describes 140 or more venues of its own. The British Council India IELTS page at britishcouncil.in/exam/ielts timed out for every fetch we tried on 20 and 21 October 2026, so we cannot quote it; our research notes record that it directs Indian candidates to IDP. We mark the link unverified and will re-check it weekly. The practical rule does not depend on the page: in India, book on ieltsidpindia.com, pay IDP, and treat any other "British Council IELTS" booking offer in India as something to check before paying. Outside India, the British Council's global takeielts site remains an official source for preparation material, when it loads.
What not to trust, and how to tell
The IELTS Speaking search results are full of pages that look official and are not. Four kinds to recognise:
- "Actual" or "latest" cue cards and question PDFs. IELTS does not release live questions. These lists are reconstructed from candidate memory, often months old, and the model answers attached to them are frequently the memorised chunks that lower Lexical resource. Practise by topic family instead; our 2026 Speaking topics page is organised that way and says plainly that its cards are TalkDrill-written.
- Band calculators and "predictors". The Speaking band is an examiner's judgement on four criteria of equal weight; no formula converts minutes spoken or idioms used into a band. The only official arithmetic is the rounding rule on the ielts.org score page.
- Fee tables on counsellor sites. Usually right, sometimes a cycle behind. The IDP fee page takes thirty seconds to read.
- Anything that says Speaking is marked by a computer. Per ielts.org, IELTS Speaking is a recorded, face-to-face interview with an examiner, and re-marks are done by senior examiners. If you want machine-scored speaking, that is PTE; our PTE vs IELTS comparison explains the difference.
A simple test: look at the domain. ielts.org, ieltsidpindia.com, ielts.idp.com, takeielts.britishcouncil.org and the regulator's own site are official. Everything else, including this page, is commentary, and should show you where its numbers came from. Ours are in the tables above, with the date we read them, and the same list in data form feeds the hub footer. For how the test itself runs, start with our Speaking test guide; for the practice route, the hub.