Guide · A third option

IELTS on computer with Writing on Paper

Last checked 2 October 2026

Since mid-2026 there has been a third way to sit IELTS, and it is the obvious answer for one particular kind of candidate: somebody who is fine with a screen for everything except the essay.

IELTS on computer with Writing on Paper — on the @ieltscomputer channel. Nothing loads from YouTube until you press play.

The short answer

You take the whole test on a computer, except that the Writing answers are handwritten. IELTS describes it in one line: “Writing on Paper enables you to take your IELTS test on computer and complete the Writing component by hand.” The Writing tasks still appear on screen; you are given an IELTS Writing Answer Sheet and a pen to answer them.

Three things decide whether it is for you, and they are all below: Listening and Reading are still on screen, the Writing task types and timing do not change, and it is not available if you are taking IELTS for UKVI.

What the day looks like

Results come within five days of the test date — slower than the one to five days quoted for the fully computer-delivered test, and a great deal faster than the thirteen days paper takes.

Who it is actually for

It is a narrower option than it first looks, because it only changes one section.

• You think better with a pen. Some people plan an essay by drawing on the page: arrows, boxes, a crossed-out paragraph that still has to be visible. If that is how your Writing works, this format keeps it.
• You write faster than you type. Typing speed is a real constraint for some candidates, and Writing is the section where it costs the most.
• You want the fast result anyway. Five days is close to the computer test and nothing like paper.

It is not a way to avoid the screen. Listening and Reading are still on a computer, which means the parts of the computer test that actually catch people out — typing Listening answers while the audio runs, highlighting by selection, the two minutes at the end instead of ten — are all still there. If the screen is what worries you, this format does not solve it.

The Writing component does not change

This is the reassurance worth stating plainly, because it is the first question anyone asks. IELTS says the task types, scoring and time allocation of the Writing component are the same whether you take it on computer or write on paper. Sixty minutes, two tasks, the same four marking criteria, Task 2 still worth twice as much as Task 1.

What does change is everything the computer was doing for you. There is no word counter, so you are back to estimating your length. There is no free editing, so moving a paragraph means rewriting it, and a plan before you start is worth more than it is on a keyboard. And your handwriting has to be readable by an examiner.

Where you can take it

IELTS says Writing on Paper is available in selected countries from mid-2026, and that the list will grow by market rather than switching on everywhere at once. Vietnam is one of the places where it is already listed at test centres on ielts.org.

There is no single published list, so the only reliable answer is your own test centre's booking page: if the option exists where you are, it appears there as a test type you can choose.

The one group it is not available to

IELTS is explicit: Writing on Paper is offered for IELTS Academic and IELTS General Training, and is not available for test takers taking an IELTS for UKVI test. If your application is to the UK Home Office and needs a UKVI test, this option is not on the table, whatever your test centre offers for the standard test.

Why this exists at all

It is the other half of a bigger change. IELTS has said that from mid-2026 it no longer offers a paper-based test, and that all tests will be delivered on computer, with exact timelines varying by market. Writing on Paper is what keeps a pen available to the people who genuinely need one, once the paper test itself has gone.

What to practise either way

Three-quarters of this test is still a screen, so the screen is still what to rehearse.

• Listening is unchanged and it is the section the screen changes most: typed answers, a recording that plays once, two minutes at the end.
• Reading is unchanged: the split pane, the divider, highlighting by selection.
• Writing is worth practising both ways before you choose. Type both tasks to time once, handwrite them once, and see which actually produced the better answer rather than which felt more comfortable.

Practise it here

Reading about the screen only gets you so far. These run in the computer-delivered interface, in your browser:

• IELTS Listening tests — still on screen in this format, so still worth rehearsing
• IELTS Reading tests — the split screen and the draggable divider
• IELTS Writing tests — both tasks to time, if you are weighing up typing against handwriting

Questions people ask

“Writing on Paper enables you to take your IELTS test on computer and complete the Writing component by hand”, the section-by-section format and timings, the IELTS Writing Answer Sheet and pen, “the task types, scoring and time allocation of the Writing component are the same whether you take it on computer or write on paper”, results within five days, availability “in selected countries from mid-2026”, and that it is “not available for test takers taking an IELTS for UKVI test”: IELTS on computer with Writing on Paper, checked 2 October 2026. “From mid-2026, we will no longer offer IELTS as a paper-based test”, with timelines varying by market: Updates to IELTS test delivery, checked 2 October 2026. One to five days for the fully computer-delivered test: Ways to take IELTS, checked 2 October 2026. Vietnam as a place it is already offered: a Vietnamese test centre listing on ielts.org, checked 2 October 2026. Two tasks in 60 minutes, the four criteria and Task 2 contributing twice as much as Task 1: IELTS Academic Writing format, checked 2 October 2026. Listening heard once only and the 30 minutes: IELTS Listening format, checked 2 October 2026. No full country list is asserted here because IELTS does not publish one. IELTS Computer is not affiliated with IDP, British Council or Cambridge.

Other guides

• IELTS on computer vs on paper — The same test, two rooms. What actually changes, what does not, and the one difference that catches people out.
• Computer-delivered IELTS tips — Fourteen things about the screen itself. Not advice about English — advice about the thing between you and the marks.
• IELTS in India is on computer now — Paper is gone, so the question is no longer which format — it is what the screen changes, and what it gives you back.
• IELTS for Express Entry: what CLB 9 needs — Four IELTS scores, and the arithmetic of why the step from CLB 7 to CLB 9 is worth up to 106 points.