This papers deals with the IELTS test and its most significant aspects. IELTS stands for the International English Language Testing System and it is aimed at the speakers of English as a second language as proof of their ability to use English. IELTS is owned by the British Council, Cambridge English Language Assessment and IDP Education Australia. This is the test that sets the standard, assessing the proficiency and quality in English among students in four language skills –Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking. The paper also puts in focus the main differences between these four skills, displaying them first through receptive and productive skills, then presenting more details about each skill separately. Listening and Speaking have the same form forboth tests, whilst the Reading and Writing components are completely different. The Listening, Reading and Writing elements are completed on the same day with no breaks between them. On the other hand, Speaking can be completed up to a week before or after the other tests. Since the test provides the information about the applicant`s reading and listening competencies, understanding abilities and speaking skills, all the tasks and texts are attainable to all IELTS candidates, irrespective of their background –native or non-native speakers. However, the test has no separate Grammar part.The paper also elaborates two types of IELTS test -candidates can choose Academic IELTS and General Training IELTS test, which depends on the requirements of the institution or organization. The Academic IELTS is a requirement for university or college admission. On the other hand, the General Training IELTS is for career, training program and immigration purposes. Furthermore, assessment and band score emerge as inevitableissues when it comes to this test, considering the fact that many people are confused about the score band in IELTS. For this reason, the paper gives a more detailed overview of this criteria. The IELTS test is not a pass/fail test; the bands are on a scale from 1 to 9 as the highest score. Test candidates are provided with an overall band score and individual scores for each test component -Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking. We concluded that English has a leading role among other languages, whichimplies that it is necessary to be fluent in this language and take a widely recognized exam as the proof of knowledge and fluency if you tend to work, live or study abroad. Although being considered as a hard test, from experts` claims it arises that candidates need to have a serious approach to the preparation of the test and must practice a lot. Language skills are key to career progress and they are beneficial in addition to all other requirements.