VALID AND WIDELY RECOGNISED
IELTS is trusted and accepted by over 4,000 organisations and faculties worldwide across different sectors. With such wide global recognition, an IELTS score will take you further than most tests.

IELTS is recognised all over the world. It is accepted by educational institutions in the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Canada and increasingly in European neighbours such as Germany, the Netherlands, Finland and Belgium, as well as many other countries as evidence of the required language skills. Additionally, over 1800 institutions in the USA also welcome IELTS scores for admission purposes, including all the Ivy League colleges. Many other organisations around the world use IELTS scores for a range of purposes, including immigration, recruitment, professional registration and entry to training courses.

In Greece, IELTS is accepted by the American College of Greece – Deree College (MBA program), the University of Piraeus, the Hellenic Open University (MBA in Business Administration), the University of Macedonia, Economic and Social Sciences (for most of the postgraduate programmes) and the International Hellenic University. In addition, ASEP and other public services recognise IELTS for employment purposes.

You can search for recognising organisations with the Global Recognition System, an interactive tool designed to help you find educational institutions, professional organisations, employers and government agencies around the world that recognise IELTS. You can also use the tool to check organisations' minimum IELTS requirements.

As a general rule it is recommended that a Test Report Form that is more than two years old should only be accepted as evidence of present level of ability if accompanied by a proof that a candidate has actively maintained or tried to improve their level of English language proficiency. Test Report Forms will not be issued for tests taken more than two years ago.

READILY AVAILABLE
You can take the IELTS test in Athens and Thessaloniki throughout the year – usually twice a month. Find out more about test dates and registration and fees.

If you have a large group of candidates preparing for IELTS outside Athens or Thessaloniki, we may be able to bring the exam to you. If you are in Macedonia, Thessaly or Thrace, contact our office in Thessaloniki. For other areas, please contact our Athens office. See below for contact details.

PRACTICAL
IELTS assesses your ability to use English in real-world situations. The tasks reflect the situations you could find yourself in, such as taking lecture notes as a student or trying to get your heating fixed quickly in a British winter.

The test covers all four language skills (listening, reading, writing and speaking) and is offered in two test formats: Academic and General Training. All candidates take the same Listening and Speaking Modules, while Reading and Writing are offered as Academic or General Training Modules.

The Academic Modules assess whether a candidate is ready to study or train in English at an undergraduate or postgraduate level. The General Training Modules emphasise communication in a broad social and educational context and are designed for candidates who plan to work, live or study at a secondary or vocational level in an English-speaking environment.

A full description of the test is available here and also in the IELTS Handbook (PDF, 1.55 MB).

Candidates receive scores for each of the four language skills and an Overall Band Score, and are assessed on a Band Scale from 1 (Non User) to 9 (Expert User) (PDF, 13.5 KB). See also Score processing, reporting and interpretation on the IELTS website.

If you’d like to find out how IELTS scores relate to the Council of Europe’s (COE) Common European Framework (CEF) levels, download the COE Flyer (PDF, 205 KB).