Exam Change Briefing · 2026 年 9 月 1 日
From Monday there is no paper test. You also lose eight minutes. 从周一起没有纸笔考试了 —— 你还少了八分钟
Everyone has posted the date. Almost nobody has posted the change that actually costs you marks: on paper you got ten minutes to transfer your Listening answers. On computer you get two minutes to check them. That is not a smaller version of the same thing — it is a different task. Download as PDF →
The change nobody posts 没人转发的那一条
Ten minutes to write. Two minutes to look.十分钟用来写，两分钟只够看。
This is the single most practical difference, and it is published in one sentence each.这是最具实际影响的一条差别，官方各用一句话写明。
On paper · 纸笔考试
10 min
“ten minutes to transfer your answers from the question booklet to the answer sheet”
「考试结束时，您将有 10 分钟将答案誊写到答题卡上」
On computer · 机考
2 min
“only two minutes to check your answers” — no transfer, because your answers are already entered.
只有 2 分钟检查答案。不需要誊写 —— 答案已经在系统里了。
Source. The computer figure and the paper figure are both stated by the British Council: IELTS on paper vs computer → The Chinese wording for the paper transfer time is on chinaielts.org — 听力 →
| Why those ten minutes mattered more than you think 那十分钟的真正作用 |
On paper, most candidates were not really transferring. They were repairing — fixing spelling, deciding between two words they had scribbled, converting a rushed abbreviation into a real answer, filling three gaps they had left blank. The answer sheet was where the paper got finished. 纸笔考试里，多数人那十分钟并不是在「誊写」，而是在修补：改拼写、在草草写下的两个词里做选择、把缩写还原成完整答案、补上留空的三道题。答题卡才是这份卷子真正完成的地方。 |
| On computer there is no repair stage 机考没有修补阶段 |
What you typed during the recording is what is marked. Two minutes is enough to scan for blanks and obvious slips. It is not enough to rethink a spelling in thirty answers. 录音播放时你敲进去的，就是最终答案。两分钟够你扫一遍空题和明显错误，但不够你把三十道题的拼写重新想一遍。 |
| The practical consequence 实际后果 |
Accuracy has moved earlier. It now has to happen while you are listening, not afterwards. If your Listening practice has always involved a tidy-up at the end, you have been practising a test that no longer exists. 准确性的时间点提前了：它必须发生在你听的同时，而不是之后。如果你一直是「听完再整理」的练法，那你练的是一场已经不存在的考试。 |
Before you panic 先别慌
The test itself did not change.考试本身没有变。
This is worth stating clearly, because the anxiety is running ahead of the facts.这一点值得说清楚，因为焦虑跑得比事实快。
Official · British Council
“You are taking the same test, with the same marking criteria, content, task types and test report.”
Same criteria. Same content. Same task types. Same Test Report Form. The delivery changed; the exam did not.
Unchanged
The four criteria for Writing and Speaking写作与口语的四项评分标准
Identical. Nothing about how you are marked has moved. The Speaking criteria →
Unchanged
The Speaking test口语考试
Still with a certified examiner — face to face, or on a secure video platform. The official Chinese page states the timings of every part of the video-call Speaking test are exactly identical to the face-to-face test.
Unchanged
The raw-score conversion原始分对照
Listening and Reading are still 40 questions, one mark each, converted the same way. The published tables →
Unchanged
What the Test Report Form is worth成绩单的效力
The same report, accepted the same way. A computer-delivered result is not a lesser result.
The rest of the list 其余的变化
Four more things that are genuinely different.另外四件确实不一样的事。
Faster
Results in 3–5 days instead of 13出分 3–5 天，不再是 13 天
chinaielts.org states 机考成绩通常在考后 3-5 天内公布. The British Council gives 13 days for paper. If you are working to an application deadline, that is nine days back in your pocket — and it changes whether a retake is even possible before the deadline.
More dates
Several sessions a week, several a day一周多天，一天多场
The official wording is 提供更多日期选择，一周多天，一天多场 — against paper tests that were Saturdays only. More chances to sit, and less reason to panic-book the first available seat.
Watch this
Registration closes 3 days before the test考前 3 日截止报名
机考为考前 3 日截止报名. Shorter than you may be used to. It cuts both ways: you can decide late, but you cannot decide very late. Put the cut-off in your calendar, not the test date.
Typing
Writing has an automatic word counter写作自动计算字数
No more counting lines and estimating. The number is on screen. That removes an old anxiety — and removes an old excuse. What typing changes about how you compose →
Already gone, if you are taking UKVI. IELTS for UKVI in mainland China stopped paper on 1 July 2026 — two months before the general test. Official wording: 用于英国签证及移民的雅思考试（IELTS for UKVI）将于7月1日起停止纸笔考试. chinaielts.org →
If you are sitting in September 如果你九月要考
Four things worth doing before you sit.考前值得做的四件事。
None of these takes long, and the first one is the one that matters.四件都不费时间，而第一件最重要。
| 1 Practise Listening with no tidy-up 练听力时，不留整理时间 |
Do a full Listening section and stop at two minutes. No ten-minute repair. You will find out immediately which of your answers were actually finished and which were relying on a stage that no longer exists. 完整做一套听力，结束后只给自己两分钟。不要十分钟修补。你会立刻发现哪些答案是真的写完了，哪些一直靠着一个已经不存在的环节。 |
| 2 Type your practice Writing 写作用键盘练 |
If you have been handwriting practice essays, your speed, your paragraphing and your error pattern are all about to change. Type at least two full Task 2s before test day. 如果你一直手写练习，那么速度、分段方式和常犯的错误都会变。考前至少用键盘完整写两篇大作文。 |
| 3 Check the registration cut-off, not the test date 看截止日，不是考试日 |
Three days before. Put that date in your phone. Confirm the current arrangements on the official site before you rely on any of it. 考前三日截止。把这个日期存进手机。报名前请以官网当时的说明为准。 |
| 4 Try the official familiarisation material 先用官方材料熟悉界面 |
Sit down in front of the actual interface once before you sit in front of it for real. The unfamiliarity is worth spending twenty minutes on now rather than four minutes of the test on Monday. 在真正上考场之前，先坐到那个界面前一次。这份陌生感，现在花二十分钟解决，好过在考场上花掉四分钟。 |
Nothing on this page is a promise about your result. It is a list of what moved, so your preparation this week matches the test you are actually going to sit.
How this was compiled 编制方法说明
What is quoted, and what to check yourself.哪些是引用，哪些要你自己核对。
Method note · 说明
| Quoted | The two-minute and ten-minute figures, the results turnaround, the test-availability comparison and the equivalence sentence are quoted from the British Council. The 1 September and 1 July dates, the 3–5 day result window, the session availability and the three-day registration cut-off are quoted from chinaielts.org. The Chinese wording for the paper transfer time is from the official Chinese Listening page. |
| Arrangements change | Dates, cut-offs and availability are exactly the kind of thing that gets revised. Everything here was checked against the official pages on the date of writing. Confirm at source before you book or plan around any of it — if a source page has changed, the source wins. |
| Opinion | That the ten minutes were a repair stage rather than a transfer stage, and that practising with a tidy-up trains a test that no longer exists, are my views from teaching in Beijing. Neither is a measured finding. |
| Not covered here | I have not detailed what may be taken into the test room, because arrangements vary by centre and I could not verify a single national statement. Ask your centre. |
| Credentials | Certified by IDP Education in Understanding the Assessment Criteria for both Speaking and Writing. IDP is one of the three organisations that jointly own IELTS. This is a teacher-training certificate — IELTS has not endorsed this briefing, the books, or the classes. Certificate numbers → |
Sources.
chinaielts.org — 雅思考试纸笔退市 ·
British Council — IELTS on paper vs computer ·
chinaielts.org — 学术类听力 ·
chinaielts.org — 考试当日流程.
Please tell me if any of it has changed.Every source above is public and linked. Not secret knowledge — unread knowledge.以上出处全部公开、均已附链接。这不是内部消息，是没人去读的公开材料。
Take it further 继续深入
Prepare for the test you are actually sitting.为你真正要考的那场考试做准备。
Everything below is free and needs no sign-up.以下全部免费，无需注册。
| This briefing as a PDF 本简报 PDF 版 | Printable A4 with the changed and unchanged lists and the four things to do before you sit. |
| The move to computer — what typing changes 机考简报 · 打字改变了什么 | The companion briefing: why typing helps template users most, and what that costs you. |
| How many right is a Band 7? 原始分对照表 | Listening is still 40 questions. The published conversion has not moved — and it stops at Band 8. |
| One Skill Retake 单科重考 | Now that everything is computer-delivered, the delivery-mode condition on One Skill Retake is on its way out. The other conditions are not. |
| The night-before checklist 考前一晚清单 | What to do and what to stop doing in the last twelve hours. |
| Why Chinese candidates plateau at 6.5 证据简报 · 6.5 瓶颈 | The format changed. The reason most scores stick did not. |
No band score is promised anywhere in this material. Arrangements change — confirm at the official site before you book. Browse the series →