Short answer: it's the same IELTS, marked the same way — the difference is you read on a screen and type your answers. For Writing that means a live word counter, freely editable text, and highlight/copy-paste tools. The one new variable it introduces is your typing speed, and that's the thing worth practising before test day.
⌨️ Open Typehush and rehearse the typing side of test day →The computer-delivered test uses the same questions, same structure and same band descriptors as the paper test. Listening, Reading and Writing are done on a computer at a test centre; Speaking is still a face-to-face interview with a real examiner. Your band is judged by identical criteria — nothing about the marking changes because you typed instead of wrote. What changes is the experience of taking it, and knowing that experience in advance is what stops nerves on the day.
For Reading, there's also a highlight tool and a notes feature so you can mark key text on screen, much as you'd underline on paper.
| Feature | Why it helps |
|---|---|
| Word counter | You never risk an under-length answer by miscounting |
| Editing | Reorganise paragraphs and fix errors cleanly, no crossing-out |
| Legibility | Typed text is always readable — handwriting never costs you |
| Faster results | Computer-delivered results are typically available in a few days, not around two weeks |
Everything above is an advantage — except one variable the paper test doesn't have: typing speed. You have 60 minutes for both Writing tasks, and Task 2 alone wants a 250+ word essay in about 40 of them. If you type slowly, you can run out of time mid-argument and hand in an unfinished, under-length answer that can't reach your target band. This is the single most common way well-prepared candidates lose marks on the computer test — not because their English is weak, but because the clock beat their keyboard.
It's worth knowing what doesn't change, so you don't over-prepare for the wrong things. The content is identical: the same question types, the same 60-minute Writing block split across Task 1 and Task 2, the same 250-word and 150-word minimums, and the same four marking criteria applied by the same trained examiners. The Speaking test is unchanged — a real face-to-face interview, usually on the same day or within a few days. Test-day logistics are also familiar: you arrive early, present the same identification you registered with, store personal items outside the room, and sit under the same exam supervision. Scratch paper or an on-screen note area is provided for planning, and headphones are supplied for the Listening section. In short, the exam is the same mountain — you're just given a keyboard instead of a pen to climb it.
Beyond Writing, the computer format changes small things elsewhere. In Listening, the audio plays once through your headphones, and — unlike the paper test — there's no separate 10 minutes at the end to transfer answers, because you're already typing them in place; you get about two minutes to review instead. In Reading, the passage sits beside the questions, and you answer by typing, clicking or dragging, with the highlight and notes tools available to mark up the text. None of this is hard, but a few minutes with an official on-screen familiarisation test removes any last-minute unfamiliarity with where the buttons are.
Same test, same marking. For Writing, typing and the word counter make editing and length control easier, but the standard is identical.
Yes — it's a normal text box, so you can cut, copy, paste, insert and delete freely.
Yes, a live counter under the answer box updates as you type for both tasks.
Around 28–30 wpm or more to finish comfortably; below ~20 wpm, completing Task 2 is the main risk.
Typehush — practise typing high-band IELTS model essays for the computer-based Writing test. Start practising · Typing speed test · Computer vs paper · How fast should you type?