Who takes IELTS in Kathmandu, and why
Walk past any tea shop near a college gate in the valley and you will hear the same conversations: Sydney or Melbourne, London or Manchester, Toronto, the US, sometimes Japan. Kathmandu sends a large share of Nepal's students abroad, and IELTS is usually the first hurdle.
The people we hear from in the city tend to fall into a few groups:
- +2 and A-level leavers applying for bachelor's degrees overseas.
- Graduates of Tribhuvan University, Kathmandu University and their affiliated colleges aiming for a master's abroad.
- Nurses and health workers working towards registration in the UK, Australia or elsewhere, where the required scores are often high in every module.
- Engineers, IT staff and accountants looking at skilled work or postgraduate study.
- Families joining a spouse or relative overseas, who usually need General Training.
Each group needs a different score and a different kind of practice, which is why it pays to set your target before you start studying.
Academic or General Training: choose before you practise
The Listening and Speaking tests are the same for both versions. Reading and Writing are different.
- Academic is for university admission and, in many cases, professional registration such as nursing. Writing Task 1 asks you to describe a graph, table, process or map.
- General Training is usually for work, training and some migration routes. Task 1 is a letter, and the Reading texts are everyday and workplace material.
If you are not sure, ask the university, employer or authority that will receive your score. Do not guess, and do not rely on what a friend took last year. On IELTS Learning you pick your track when you sign up, and the Reading and Writing material follows that choice.
Preparing around college, work and the valley's traffic
Kathmandu life eats time. A trip from Bhaktapur to Putalisadak at peak hour can take longer than a full Listening test, and a crowded microbus is no place for a Writing task. Plan your preparation around the hours you actually control.
- Mornings before college or duty: a Reading passage or a Listening section, with your answers checked straight away.
- Short pockets during the day: vocabulary flashcards and Daily Vocabulary on your phone, which work fine on a bus seat.
- Evenings or your day off: one Writing task, or a full mock test once a week or fortnight.
Plan around Dashain and Tihar too. Most students lose a week or more to family visits, so either finish a block of work before the holidays or treat them as light-revision weeks with vocabulary and listening only.
Power cuts are far rarer than in the load-shedding years, but they still happen, and so do internet drops. Keep your laptop charged, keep mobile data on as a backup, and save long tasks for times when the connection is steady.
What you get on IELTS Learning
Everything is online and built around the real computer-delivered test.
- 15 full mock tests covering Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking, with a timer, question navigator, flag-for-review, highlighter and notes. Listening and Reading are scored instantly.
- 88 Listening sets recorded with British voices, covering all four parts.
- 52 Reading sets for Academic and General Training, with explanations.
- Charged sets: harder Listening and Reading for students aiming at band 7 and above.
- 104 Writing prompts with an AI-estimated band for each of the four criteria and written feedback.
- 186 Speaking prompts for all three parts, including cue cards with the real 1-minute preparation and 2-minute timer, plus AI feedback on your transcript.
- Mistake Notebook, Study Notes, English Improvement, flashcards and a personal study plan.
- Book a Teacher: roughly 20-minute 1-to-1 online sessions from $5, booked separately.
Full Access costs $12 for 2 months, paid once by card in US dollars through PayPal. The platform was built by an Australian tech team, but it is independent of the organisations that own and run IELTS.
If you are taking Academic, you can also tell us your study plans, and with your agreement our overseas education advisers can suggest universities and courses. It is optional and sits quietly in the background.
Your first two weeks
- Create a free account and take the free sample mock test under timed conditions.
- Use the Band Score Calculator to see where your overall band lands.
- Pick your two weakest modules and give them most of your time for the next fortnight.
- Review every wrong answer in the Mistake Notebook before you start anything new.
Booking the real test
IELTS test sessions are available in and around Kathmandu through the official providers in Nepal. Check dates, fees and available formats on the official booking websites, as they change. Book once your mock scores are consistently at or above your target, not before. Good IELTS preparation in Kathmandu is less about cramming and more about steady, honest practice, so give yourself enough weeks to get there.