What IELTS Life Skills is and which level your route needs
IELTS Life Skills is the speaking and listening SELT run by the IELTS SELT Consortium, approved by the Home Office both in the UK and outside it, per the GOV.UK SELT guidance updated 12 October 2026. Per the ielts.org Life Skills page, it is "a single test covering speaking and listening skills" on "everyday subjects such as work, transport and the weather", and "you will receive either a Pass or a Fail result". There is no band score, no reading and no writing. You take it in a room with an examiner and one other test taker, and it lasts around 20 minutes. If your route is a partner or parent visa, an extension, settlement or citizenship, this is one of the tests you can book; if your route is Skilled Worker or Student, it is the wrong test, and the table below explains why.
| Your application | Level | Source |
|---|---|---|
| First partner or parent visa (family route) | Life Skills A1 | GOV.UK family visa page; ielts.org route table |
| Partner or parent extension after 2.5 years (UK only) | Life Skills A2 | GOV.UK family visa page; ielts.org route table ("A2 (when extending permission to stay)") |
| Settlement (indefinite leave to remain) | Life Skills B1 (B2 speaking and listening for most routes from 26 March 2027) | ielts.org route table; Trinity SELT page and Appendix English Language for the 2027 change |
| British citizenship | Life Skills B1 | ielts.org route table |
| UK Ancestry, Global Talent (settlement stage) | Life Skills B1 | ielts.org route table |
| International Sportsperson | Life Skills A1 | ielts.org route table |
Two rules from the GOV.UK family visa page shape the family route. First, if you passed A2, B1, B2, C1 or C2 for your first visa, you can use that result again at the 2.5-year extension, as long as the certificate has not been withdrawn. Second, if you passed B1 or higher, you can use the result again when you apply for settlement after 5 years, as long as the test is still on the approved list and the certificate has not been withdrawn; our results and validity page quotes the exact wording. If you are not sure which route you are on, start with which test do I need.
The format: around 20 minutes, one examiner, one other test taker
The most useful official page is the one most candidates never find: the ielts.org "Life Skills test format in detail" page. Read on 21 October 2026, it says three things that matter.
- "The test will take around 20 minutes." No separate figure is given per level.
- "You will take the test with an examiner, and with one other test taker."
- You "take part in short discussions on everyday subjects including: personal details/experiences; family and friends; buying goods; work; health; leisure; education/training; transport; housing; weather."
- "The A2-level English Life Skills test is only offered in the UK." A1 and B1 are offered in the UK and abroad.
- The tasks build by level. A1: describing, giving opinions, giving personal information, stating preferences, commenting, asking for information or descriptions, agreeing and disagreeing, explaining, giving reasons or justifying, deciding, suggesting, selecting. A2 adds comparing, prioritising, planning and persuading. B1 adds showing contrast, cause, reason or purpose, narrating, asking about past or future events, and expressing future certainty or possibility.
What the page does not do is break the 20 minutes into timed phases or give a time per level. Unofficial guides that do so cite no official page we could find this week, so we do not repeat their figures. What we can say from the task list is that planning, persuading, agreeing and disagreeing are things you do with someone, and the someone in the room is the other test taker. That is why half of this page is written for two voices.
What each level is expected to do (ielts.org wording)
| Level | Listening | Speaking | Talking with others | Tasks added at this level |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| A1 | "listen and respond to spoken language including simple narratives, statements, questions and single-step instructions" | "communicate basic information, feelings and opinions on familiar topics" | "talk with another person in a familiar situation about familiar topics" | The full A1 list above |
| A2 | "listen and respond to spoken language, including straightforward information, short narratives, explanations and instructions" | "communicate information, feelings and opinions on familiar topics" | "talk with one or more people in a familiar situation, to establish shared understanding about familiar topics" | Comparing, prioritising, planning, persuading |
| B1 | "listen and respond to spoken language, including straightforward information and narratives, and follow straightforward explanations and instructions" | "communicate information, feelings and opinions on familiar topics, using appropriate formality" | "talk with one or more people in a familiar situation, making relevant points and responding to what others say to reach a shared understanding about familiar topics" | Contrast, cause, reason or purpose; narrating; past and future events; future certainty or possibility |
Read the "talking with others" column again. Even at A1 the official description includes talking "with another person", and from A2 up the goal is a "shared understanding", which you can only reach with the other test taker. Notice too the B1 phrase "appropriate formality". At B1 the examiner is listening for whether you can shift register: "Could you tell me a bit more about that?" to the examiner, "Shall we go for the Saturday, then?" to your partner. The model answers below are built around that shift.
Life Skills vs IELTS for UKVI: the table that ends the confusion
Both tests are sold by the same centres and both carry the letters UKVI somewhere on the booking page, which is where the mistakes start. The ielts.org IELTS for UK visas page sets out the difference.
| IELTS Life Skills | IELTS for UKVI | |
|---|---|---|
| Skills | Speaking and listening | Listening, reading, writing, speaking |
| Result | Pass or fail at the level booked (A1, A2 or B1) | Band scores 1 to 9 per component |
| Level mapping (ielts.org) | "Pass in Life Skills A1", "Pass in Life Skills A2", "Pass in Life Skills B1" | B1 four skills = at least 4.0 in all four components; B2 = at least 5.5 in all four; C1 = at least 7.0 in all four |
| Routes (ielts.org route table) | Partner and parent visas and extensions, settlement, citizenship, Ancestry, Global Talent, International Sportsperson | Skilled Worker, Health and Care Worker, Scale-up, HPI, Innovator Founder, Minister of Religion, Student (B2 for work routes; B1 for below-degree study) |
| Who you speak to | An examiner and one other test taker | An examiner, one to one, in the Speaking component |
| Fee in India (IDP India fee page, read 21 October 2026) | INR 18,000 (A1 and B1) | INR 19,250 |
| In person? | Yes, UKVI "will only accept tests taken in person" | Yes, same rule |
Two practical consequences. A Skilled Worker applicant who books Life Skills B1 by mistake has paid for a test the Home Office will not accept for that route, because the route needs four skills at B2 since 8 January 2026 (HC 1333). And a partner-visa applicant who books IELTS for UKVI has booked a longer, harder, dearer test than needed; a Life Skills A1 pass is the requirement. The ielts.org route table lists only Life Skills B1 for settlement and citizenship, so if you already hold an IELTS for UKVI result, check the GOV.UK English language page before you rely on it for a speaking-and-listening route. Our exemptions and alternatives page lists the other qualifications that count.
A1 practice: 10 questions with model answers
All questions and answers on this page were written by TalkDrill. They are not IELTS questions and no real candidate said these words. At A1 the examiner wants short, clear, complete sentences and a sign that you understood the question. Two sentences is the right length. Each answer below sits in one of the ten official topic areas.
| # | Topic | Examiner asks | Model answer (A1) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Personal details | Where are you from? | I'm from Sialkot, in Pakistan. Now I live in Bradford with my husband. |
| 2 | Family and friends | Who do you live with? | I live with my husband and his parents. We have one daughter. She is four. |
| 3 | Housing | Tell me about your home. | It's a small house with three bedrooms. My favourite room is the kitchen because it's warm. |
| 4 | Work | Do you work? | Not now. In Pakistan I was a teacher. I want to work in a school here. |
| 5 | Buying goods | Where do you buy your food? | I go to the Asian shop on our street for rice and spices. For milk and bread I go to Aldi. |
| 6 | Transport | How do you travel in your town? | I take the bus. The bus stop is near my house. Sometimes my husband drives me. |
| 7 | Health | What do you do when you are ill? | I stay at home and drink tea with honey. If it's bad, I phone the GP. |
| 8 | Leisure | What do you do at the weekend? | I cook for the family and we visit my sister. On Sunday evening I watch dramas. |
| 9 | Education and training | Do you study English? | Yes, I go to a class on Tuesday morning. It's free. My teacher is very kind. |
| 10 | Weather | What is the weather like today? | It's cold and cloudy. I don't like the rain in England. In Pakistan it's hot now. |
Example: the listening check (written by TalkDrill)
At A1, listening is assessed as well as speaking. Suppose the examiner says: "Tell your partner about your family, and ask her about hers." That is two instructions. A candidate who describes her family and stops has done half the task. Model: "I have one daughter. She's four. And you, Fatima, do you have children?" The question at the end is the evidence that you listened to the whole instruction.
A2 practice: 8 questions with model answers
A2 adds the past, plans, reasons and comparison. ielts.org describes the A2 speaker as someone who can "establish shared understanding", which in practice means checking back with your partner: "So you prefer the morning, is that right?" Each answer below is three sentences and uses one past tense or one "because".
| # | Topic | Examiner asks | Model answer (A2) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 11 | Work | What did you do before you came to the UK? | I worked in my father's shop in Dhaka for six years. I sold clothes and I did the accounts. I liked talking to the customers. |
| 12 | Housing | Is your home here different from your home in your country? | Yes, it's much smaller. In Bangladesh we had a big house with a garden. Here we have a flat, but it's warm and it's near the school. |
| 13 | Health | How do you keep healthy? | I walk to the school twice a day and I don't eat much sugar. Last year I had a problem with my back, so now I do exercises every morning. |
| 14 | Leisure | What did you do last weekend? | On Saturday we went to my cousin's house in Luton for a birthday. On Sunday I stayed at home because I was tired. I cooked biryani for everyone. |
| 15 | Transport | Do you prefer the bus or the train? | I prefer the train because it's faster and I can sit. The bus is cheaper, but it stops many times. Yesterday the bus took one hour. |
| 16 | Buying goods | Tell me about something you bought recently. | Last week I bought a winter coat for my son. It was in the sale, so it was only twenty pounds. He needs it because he walks to school. |
| 17 | Education | What are your plans for the next year? | I want to finish my English course and then do a childcare course at the college. After that I'd like to work in a nursery. My friend did the same course. |
| 18 | Family | Who in your family do you see most often? | My sister-in-law, because she lives on the next street. We take the children to the park together. My parents are in Sylhet, so I see them on video calls. |
The A2 trap for Bengali, Sylheti, Punjabi and Urdu speakers is the present continuous for habits ("I am going to the school every day"). Our first-language page has a five-minute drill for it, and the Punjabi, Urdu and Hindi version is here.
B1 practice: 12 questions with model answers
B1 is where most settlement and citizenship candidates sit, and it is where the phrase "appropriate formality" bites. The examiner expects opinions with reasons, a short narrative, comparisons and polite disagreement. Answers run to three or four sentences. We have included two persuading tasks because persuading is on the ielts.org task list and is easy to overlook.
| # | Topic and task | Prompt | Model answer (B1) |
|---|---|---|---|
| 19 | Work, giving opinions | Is it better to work for a big company or a small one? | I'd say a small one, at least at the start. I've worked in a care home with twelve staff for three years and everyone knows each other, so you learn quickly. A big company pays more, but you can feel like a number. It depends on what you need at that stage of your life. |
| 20 | Housing, comparing | Compare living in a city with living in a small town. | Cities have more jobs and better transport. I moved from a village near Jalandhar to Birmingham, and the buses here run every ten minutes, which I still find amazing. On the other hand, rent is far higher and people have less time for neighbours. For a family with young children I'd choose a small town near a city. |
| 21 | Health, explaining | How does the health system here compare with your country's? | The biggest difference is that it's free at the point of use, which is a relief. In Nigeria we paid for every visit, so people delayed seeing a doctor. The downside here is waiting: I waited three weeks for a GP appointment last month. Overall I'd rather wait than pay. |
| 22 | Education, narrating | Tell me about a course or training you did. | Two years ago I did a Level 2 food hygiene certificate so I could work in the school kitchen. It was two days in a classroom and an online test at the end. I was nervous about the test because it was my first exam in English, but the questions were practical and I passed first time. |
| 23 | Transport, persuading | Persuade your partner to travel by train instead of driving to London. | Honestly, I think the train is the better choice. If we drive, we pay the congestion charge, we pay for parking and one of us can't rest. On the train we can book seats together, it takes about an hour and a half, and we arrive right in the centre. Shall I look at the prices for Saturday? |
| 24 | Leisure, preferences | Do you prefer spending your free time indoors or outdoors? Why? | Outdoors, when the weather allows it. We go to the park most weekends because the children need to run, and I find walking clears my head after a week at work. In winter I'd rather stay in and cook with my sister. So it depends on the season, but given the choice, outside. |
| 25 | Buying goods, agreeing and disagreeing | Your partner says online shopping is always better than shops. Do you agree? | I partly agree. For things like books or phone chargers, online is cheaper and quicker, and I've never had a problem. But I disagree for clothes and shoes, because sizes vary so much and sending things back is a nuisance. For my children's school shoes I always go to a shop. |
| 26 | Family and friends, narrating | Describe a family celebration you went to recently. | My nephew's wedding in Manchester in August. It lasted three days, which is normal for us, and about three hundred people came. The best part was the second evening, when the older relatives sang the songs we grew up with. It was the first time my children had seen a full Punjabi wedding, and they haven't stopped talking about it. |
| 27 | Weather, explaining | How does the weather affect your daily life here? | More than I expected. In the Philippines you plan around rain, but here you plan around the dark; in December it's dark by four, so I do the shopping at lunchtime. I've learned to carry an umbrella all year. The one thing I enjoy is spring, because the change is so sudden. |
| 28 | Work, planning | Plan with your partner how to prepare for a job interview next week. | Let's start with the job description and pick out the three skills they mention most. Then I think we should each write answers to the usual questions, like why we want the job, and practise them aloud. Could we meet on Wednesday evening to do a mock interview? I'll bring the questions if you bring the coffee. |
| 29 | Education, giving opinions | Should children learn their parents' language as well as English? | Definitely. My children speak English at school all day, so at home we speak Arabic, and I don't see it as a choice between the two. Research aside, the practical reason is their grandparents: without Arabic they can't talk to them. The challenge is reading and writing, which takes extra classes at the weekend. |
| 30 | Personal experience, persuading | Persuade your partner to join your English class. | You should come, really. It's on Tuesday mornings, so it doesn't clash with the school run, and it's free through the council. The teacher is patient and most of the class are parents like us. The main benefit for me has been confidence on the phone. Come once with me next week and see; if you don't like it, no harm done. |
For more at each level, the 150-question practice bank covers the same ten topics with 20 to 40 word answers, and our IELTS Speaking Part 1 questions are useful for the personal-information tasks even though that is the band-scored test.
Two paired-task scripts to run with a partner or the AI
Because you take the test with one other test taker, you need practice in listening to a person who is not the examiner, taking turns and reaching a decision together. The two scripts below are written by TalkDrill. Run them with a family member, a classmate or the AI in TalkDrill's role-play mode playing the other test taker. The examiner's instruction is in italics; the two candidate voices are A and B. Swap roles and run each script twice.
Script 1 (A1 and A2): plan a day out with your families
Examiner: "I'd like you to talk together. Plan a day out for your two families next Saturday. Decide where to go and how to get there."
- A: Hello. Where do you want to go on Saturday?
- B: I think the park is good. My children like the playground. What do you think?
- A: The park is nice, but it's cold now. What about the museum? It's free.
- B: Good idea. Is it far? How can we go there?
- A: We can take the number 11 bus. It stops near my house. Can you come to my house at ten o'clock?
- B: Yes, ten o'clock is fine. I'll bring some food. Do your children eat chicken?
- A: Yes, they love chicken. So, the museum, Saturday, ten o'clock, by bus. Is that right?
- B: Yes, that's right. See you on Saturday.
What the script trains: a question in nearly every turn, a polite disagreement ("it's cold now"), and the A2 skill of confirming the plan at the end ("Is that right?"). A1 candidates can run it with shorter lines; the shape is the same.
Script 2 (B1): choose an English course for a friend
Examiner: "Talk together. A friend of yours wants to improve her English for work. One of you thinks she should take an evening class at the college; the other thinks she should use an app and practise online. Discuss the two options and agree on what to recommend."
- A: I'd recommend the college, to be honest. She'd have a teacher who corrects her, and a fixed time every week, which is what most of us need. What's your view?
- B: I see the point, but she works shifts, so a fixed Tuesday evening won't work. An app lets her practise at six in the morning or eleven at night. And it's cheaper.
- A: That's fair. The shifts are the real problem. But does an app actually make you speak? She needs speaking for work, not grammar exercises.
- B: Some do. The one I use has conversation practice where you talk and it replies, so you do speak. Though I agree it's not the same as a person.
- A: What if we suggest both? The app on shift days, and a Saturday conversation group at the library, which is free and doesn't need a weekly commitment.
- B: That's a good compromise. So we'll tell her: app for daily practice, library group when she can. Shall I send her the link tonight?
- A: Yes, please do. And I'll find out the library times.
What the script trains: stating a view with a reason, conceding a point ("That's fair"), asking a real question back, and ending with a decision and an action. Those are the B1 tasks of giving opinions, agreeing and disagreeing, planning and persuading in one exchange.
Fee, booking, results and the two-year rule
| Item | What the official page says | Source |
|---|---|---|
| Fee, India | IELTS Life Skills (A1 and B1): INR 18,000; IELTS for UKVI INR 19,250; transfer (reschedule) fee for Life Skills INR 4,500 | IDP India fee page, read 21 October 2026 |
| Fee, UK and other countries | Not read this week; shown in the centre finder when you choose a date | ielts.org test centres |
| Where | "available to take both in the UK and internationally" at UKVI-approved centres; in person only | ielts.org Life Skills and UKVI pages |
| A2 availability | "The A2-level English Life Skills test is only offered in the UK." | ielts.org format page, read 21 October 2026 |
| Result | Pass or fail; timing not stated on the pages we read, ask the centre | ielts.org Life Skills page |
| Validity | Two years from the date the test is awarded | GOV.UK SELT guidance |
| Reference number | The application needs "a valid digital reference number from an approved provider" showing the pass | Appendix English Language, EL 6.1 |
Book through the ielts.org centre finder and choose the IELTS Life Skills test at the right level, not IELTS for UKVI. Bring the same passport or ID you booked with. If you fail, you book a new test; we found no retake discount on the ielts.org pages. For a fee comparison with PTE Home, LanguageCert and Skills for English in your country, see fees, booking and centres.
How to practise in the two weeks before the test
- Days 1 to 2: learn the ten topics by heart and write two sentences about yourself under each. Say them aloud. At B1 add a reason to every sentence.
- Days 3 to 6: one level-appropriate block a day from this page, answered aloud and recorded on your phone. Then run the same topic in TalkDrill's AI mock interview, which asks the follow-up question a real examiner would.
- Days 7 to 10: paired work. Script 1 or 2 above with a partner, then improvise a new plan (a shopping trip, a visit to the GP, a child's birthday). The skill is turn-taking, not vocabulary.
- Days 11 to 12: listening. Have someone give you two-part instructions ("Tell me about your job and ask me about mine") and check you do both parts. The listening quiz is a quick daily warm-up.
- Days 13 to 14: logistics. Check the booking says Life Skills at the right level, check the ID, plan the journey, sleep.
The 14-day roadmap lays this out day by day for every provider, and the UK visa English test hub has the route-to-level matrix and the 26 March 2027 change strip. Official sources for this page: the ielts.org IELTS for UK visas page, the Life Skills page and its format-in-detail page, the GOV.UK SELT guidance and family visa page, and the IDP India fee page, read on 21 October 2026. The British Council's Life Skills page timed out for every fetcher we used this week, so no figure here comes from it.