IELTS

How much does IELTS cost in Nigeria?

Short answer

Around 299,000 naira for IELTS Academic or General Training, and around 315,500 naira for IELTS for UKVI. The fee is pegged to the pound, so it moves whenever the exchange rate does and has risen sharply over the past two years. Confirm the current figure on the British Council or IDP Nigeria site before you budget, because any number you read elsewhere, including this one, ages quickly.

The current fee

Test	Approximate fee
IELTS Academic	₦299,000
IELTS General Training	₦299,000
IELTS for UKVI	₦315,500
IELTS Life Skills (A1 / B1)	₦285,200 to ₦298,500

These are indicative. The fee is set against the pound and revised periodically, so it has moved several times in the last two years and will move again. Both the British Council and IDP are official providers in Nigeria and publish the live figure. Check one of them before you plan around any number.

Two things that changed recently

Computer-delivered only. Since May 2025 the standard Academic and General Training tests in Nigeria are computer-delivered. You can no longer book a paper sitting for those, which matters if you had planned to handwrite your essays.
The fee is now a serious sum. Pegged to sterling, the naira price has climbed steeply. For many candidates the test now costs more than a month's salary, which changes how you should think about preparation.

The cost people forget to budget for

The fee above is for one sitting. The number that actually hurts is the second one.

If you miss your target band by half a point in a single section, most routes will not accept the result, and in many cases you pay the full fee again. Canadian Express Entry will not accept a One Skill Retake at all, so a single weak section there means resitting the entire test, at full price. The NMC is more forgiving and lets you combine sub-tests across sittings within 24 months, but that is the exception rather than the rule.

So the real question is not what one sitting costs. It is what the expected number of sittings costs, and that is the part preparation actually changes.

What preparation should cost, in proportion

Set against a ₦299,000 test fee, the sums look different from how they are usually presented. A preparation course priced at a fraction of the test fee that removes a likely retake has paid for itself several times over. A course that costs as much as the test, and takes three months, has to be doing something remarkable to justify itself.

It is also worth being honest about what you actually need. If your English is already strong, and you studied and work in English, you are not buying language lessons. You are buying the exam's rules, and that is a much smaller purchase than the industry usually sells.

Passpoint costs ₦40,000 in Nigeria, roughly one seventh of a single test fee, and comes with a refund if your band does not improve. That is the shape we think preparation should take against a fee this size, and we would say the same about any provider whose price is proportionate to what it actually teaches.

Find out if you are ready before you pay the fee

One real Reading passage under the real clock, marked instantly with the reason behind every answer. Free, and it costs you seven minutes instead of ₦299,000.

Try a timed set →