Should You Use All Capital Letters in the IELTS Listening and Reading Tests

For the Reading and Listening Tests:

You can write your answers on the answer sheet in upper case, lower case, or a combination of both. For instance, the answer “Bookstore” can be written as:

• “bookstore”
• “BOOKSTORE”
• “BoOkStoRe”

All of these versions will be marked as correct.

This rule also applies to the Reading test. Most of your responses in the Reading section come directly from the text, so you can easily check whether capitals are required.

For the Writing Test:

The correct use of capital letters is essential in the Writing test. You should follow standard rules for capitalization, as outlined below:

a. Places and Monuments:

• Cambridge, Oxford
• Eiffel Tower, Tower Bridge, Big Ben

b. Personal Pronoun “I”:

• Always capitalize the pronoun “I.”

c. Abbreviations and Acronyms:

• IELTS (International English Language Testing System)
• TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language)

d. Days, Months, Holidays:

• Wednesday, Saturday
• June, September
• New Year’s Day, Thanksgiving

e. Countries, Languages, Nationalities, Religions:

• Hinduism, Muslim
• French, Mandarin
• Australia, Canada, Nigeria, Singapore
• German, Italian

f. People’s Names and Titles:

• Emma Brown
• Professor, Doctor, Sir, Lady

g. Trademarks, Company Names, Organizations:

• British Airways, Samsung
• Apple, Google

h. Starting a Sentence or Speech:

• Always begin a sentence or direct speech with a capital letter. Example: “Can you repeat that?”

i. Titles of Books, Poems, Songs, Plays, Films:

• Romeo and Juliet
• Of Mice and Men
• Bohemian Rhapsody, Les Misérables