How to register for IELTS in India, step by step

Register online — the fastest route

1. Go to the official IDP IELTS India website and choose Register for IELTS.
2. Pick your test type (IELTS on Computer, Writing on Paper, UKVI or Life Skills), your module (Academic or General Training), your city and your date — live seat availability is shown as you choose.
3. Complete the application form, using your name exactly as it appears on your passport.
4. Pay the fee with a valid Visa or Mastercard credit or debit card.
5. You receive an on-screen confirmation and an email.
6. Courier a photocopy of your passport — first and last pages plus any observation pages — to the IDP head office as instructed.

Carry the original passport on test day. The photocopy is for the application; the original is what gets you into the room.

Register in person at an IDP branch

Walk into an IDP branch, head office or Input Node and register either way:

• Assisted online — register on the office computer, pay by card, submit the passport photocopy and signed terms, and take away an acknowledgement confirming your seat.
• On paper — fill in the application form at the office, sign the terms, attach the passport photocopy, and pay by card, demand draft or cash deposit at ICICI using the customised deposit slip. Ask the staff to submit it in the online system and issue your acknowledgement.

Register by courier

Collect or download the application form, fill and sign it with the terms and conditions, attach the passport photocopy, enclose a demand draft or the original ICICI/HDFC deposit slip customer copy, and courier everything to IDP Education India in Gurugram.

Processing only starts once both the documents and the fee have arrived, and your seat depends on what is still available for your chosen date and city by then. It is the slowest of the three routes and the one most exposed to a date selling out while the envelope is in transit.

How you can pay

• Credit or debit card (Visa or Mastercard) and net banking, during online booking.
• Demand draft in favour of "IDP Education India Private Limited", payable at New Delhi.
• Bank deposit at ICICI or HDFC branches, using the customised deposit slip.

If you pay by demand draft, your seat is confirmed only once the draft clears. On a popular date that delay is the difference between the slot you wanted and the one left over.

The checklist before you press pay

• Passport valid, and the name on the booking matches it exactly.
• The right module — Academic for university, General Training for migration.
• The right test type — a UK visa needs the UKVI version, which is digital only.
• A date that leaves room for the 3 to 5 day result wait and a possible retake.
• Passport photocopy ready to send: first page, last page, observation pages.