Paper based ielts vs computer based ielts what is best

Most of the students think the only difference between IELTS paper based and computer based exam is just about the computer usage instead of papers, but that is not it just go through below mentioned 5 differences that matter to many students. 

Difference No.1: Test availability 

The paper based exam is conducted up to 48 days a year and while the paper based exam is conducted 7 days a week and 3 times per day. Hence, if you are looking to take the exam soon you may consider taking the IELTS computer based exam. 

Difference No.2: IELTS Test Result time & test travel

With paper-based exam, you get the results in 13 days, while with the computer based IELTS exam you get the results in just 3-5 working days. Therefore, if you are looking for faster results to apply for a university, you may choose the IELTS computer based exam. 

With the computer-based exam, you can finish all the four modules in one day while for paper based IELTS one usually has to travel to the exam center twice, one day for listening, reading and writing and other day for speaking. 

Difference No.3: Reading from____ 

When you take paper based IELTS exam, you read from the question paper (which is a hard copy) and you can use underline the keywords from the text easily with a stroke of your pencil or pen. At the same time when you take the computer based IELTS exam you read from the computer screen, in this test if you want to underline any keywords while reading you have to select the word or words and highlight them, which may be overwhelming for some students. 

Difference No. 4 Hand Writing vs typing 

The students who take paper-based exam have to write the answers in writing, reading and listening sections using a pen or pencil. While those who are taking the computer based exam have to type your answers using the computer keyboard. 

If your typing speed is decent you can take choose the computer-based IELTS exam, and if your typing speed is not great, you must choose the paper based IELTS. 

Difference No.5 Extra time for Listening section. 

If you take IELTS exam you get 10 extra minutes for completing your listening, the actual duration of listening is 30 minutes and you get 10 minutes, which is 40 minutes total time for listening. 

When you take computer based IELTS, you just get 2 minutes extra time for your listening module for checking your answer as you enter and click the answers simultaneously while answering the questions. Therefore, you get 30 minutes standard time for listening and 2 minutes extra for checking answers, which is 32 minutes that is 8 minutes lesser time than of a paper based IELTS test.