L20: Capitals, spelling variants and abbreviations

Students ask these questions all the time. "Do I need a capital letter for London?" "Can I write 5 km or must I write five kilometres?" "Is organise or organize correct?" These small doubts waste time and energy in the test. Let's settle them, so you can focus on listening.

Why this matters

When you're unsure about format, you hesitate. Hesitation costs seconds, and seconds cost answers. Knowing the simple rules gives you one less thing to worry about.

Capital letters

IELTS generally accepts answers in capital letters or small letters. So london, London and LONDON should all be fine.

My advice: write names and places with a normal capital letter anyway, like London and Fraser. It looks right, and it helps you check your spelling. But don't waste time going back to fix capitals.

British or American spelling

Both are accepted. These pairs are all fine:

The only rule: the word must be spelled correctly in one of the two systems. A made-up spelling is wrong.

Numbers

You can write numbers as figures, like 25. This is the safest way. It's faster and you can't misspell it. Writing twenty-five is also fine if spelled correctly, but why take the risk?

Dates

Be careful with dates written only in numbers. In Britain, 3/5 means 3 May. In America, it means 5 March. To be safe, write the month as a word: 3 May or May 3.

Times and units

• Times like 9:30, 9.30 or 9.30 am are all clear.
• Common short forms like am, pm, km and kg are usually fine.
• If the unit is already printed next to the gap, don't write it again. If the paper shows __________ km, just write the number.

Other abbreviations

Avoid your own short forms. Don't write govt for government or info for information. If you're not sure an abbreviation is standard, write the full word.

Try it yourself

Which answers are safe?

1. Colour
2. info
3. 25
4. 3/5 for a date
5. London

Honest note

IELTS doesn't publish every marking rule for every format. What I've shared here is the standard advice from official IELTS guidance and from experience. If you're ever unsure, choose the clearest and simplest form.

Your task today

Look at your last practice test answers. Did you use any short forms or unclear dates? Rewrite them the safe way.