What the sources showed for Makkah and Taif
Everything below was read on 24 October 2026. Venue lists and session lists change, so open the linked page before you plan a journey. This page quotes no exam fee and no test date, because IDP and the British Council set and change them.
| Source | What it showed for Makkah and Taif | What it is useful for |
|---|---|---|
| IDP, Saudi Arabia test dates | Included three Makkah venues (one spells the city Mecca) and one Taif venue, each with a street or district, set out in the next sections. | Address detail and One Skill Retake notes as IDP gives them |
| IDP, venue page for the Makkah venue inside Al Jarooshi Mall | Regular opening hours of Sunday to Thursday, 09:00 to 17:00. | The venue's opening hours, which are not test sessions |
| ielts.org test centre finder, Saudi Arabia and Makkah | A British Council listing on Old Makkah Jeddah Road in An Nuzhah, tagged Computer and One Skill Retake. | The British Council's listing in Makkah, with its labels |
| ielts.org test centre finder, Saudi Arabia and Taif | A British Council centre in Taif Mall, on Shehar Street, tagged Computer and One Skill Retake. | The British Council's listing in Taif, with its labels |
| British Council, Saudi Arabia dates, fees and locations | Makkah and Taif among the cities where you may take IELTS on paper at its centres. The page names no Makkah or Taif computer centre. | What the British Council says about format in the two cities |
A listing is not an open session: only the provider's booking page shows which dates you can book. The three sources also do not agree on everything, as the sections below show.
The Makkah venues, by address
The table describes each venue by the district, street or building the source gives. It is not a complete or final list, and rows from different sources may describe the same place.
| Venue | Source | What the source showed |
|---|---|---|
| IDP venue inside Al Jarooshi Mall, Abdullah Arif Street (Ar Rusayfah) | IDP's list | Marked One Skill Retake available. |
| IDP venue in the Alshawqeeh area, near Nori Market | IDP's list | Marked One Skill Retake available. |
| IDP venue at a Four Points by Sheraton hotel, in the Al Rajhi Mosque area on Third Ring Road, An Naseem (the list spells the city Mecca) | IDP's list | The entry, as read, carries no One Skill Retake available note, which most other venues in the list do show. That is not a statement that a retake is impossible there. |
| British Council listing on Old Makkah Jeddah Road, An Nuzhah | ielts.org finder | Tagged Computer and One Skill Retake. Its name includes the word Women's; see the note below. |
The four rows carry four different place names: Ar Rusayfah, Alshawqeeh, An Naseem and An Nuzhah. This page gives no distances or travel times, and it does not say that a candidate in Makkah can sit at a given venue on a given date. The city is written Makkah in most of the entries and Mecca in the hotel entry, so if a search for one spelling finds nothing, try the other.
The hours in the sources table above are the opening hours of the Al Jarooshi Mall venue, not its test sessions, so take the date and start time from the booking page. We read no opening hours for the other Makkah and Taif venues, and hours can change.
When a name contains the word Women's
The name of the British Council listing in An Nuzhah includes the word Women's, but its finder card carries no Females only label. We report the labels a card states and do not infer from the name who a session is open to. Our page on women's and men's test centres in Saudi Arabia explains the labels the finder and IDP's list use. Before you book, ask the British Council who the session is open to.
Taif: an address under a Jeddah-style name
IDP's Saudi Arabia list includes a Taif venue at Musaab Ibn Umir, Ummal 'Arad, in Western Taif, marked One Skill Retake available. Its name begins IDP Jeddah, so a Taif address appears under a Jeddah-style name. Read from the name alone, the venue could be placed in Jeddah; the address says Taif.
The ielts.org finder lists a British Council centre in Taif Mall, on Shehar Street, tagged Computer and One Skill Retake. The two Taif entries come from different providers and carry different addresses.
Read the address, not the name
A venue name that begins with a city is not proof that the venue is in it. The Taif entry above is one example. If you are searching for sessions in Jeddah, our page on IELTS test centres in Jeddah lists the Jeddah addresses the sources gave, so you can compare. Whichever city you choose, check the street and district on your session against what the provider's list shows, and ask the provider before you travel if they do not match.
Computer or paper: the sources disagree
The British Council's Saudi Arabia page lists Makkah and Taif among the places where you may take IELTS on paper at its centres, and the page names no Makkah or Taif computer centre. The ielts.org finder, by contrast, tags the British Council listing in Makkah and the Taif Mall centre Computer. We cannot tell which is more current. Confirm the format on the session you book.
IDP's list entries for these cities, as read, give an address and sometimes a One Skill Retake note, but not a format for each venue, so for IDP too the session page is the place to check. For how the providers describe computer and paper across Saudi Arabia and four other Gulf countries, see computer-delivered IELTS in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman.
General advice, not from the providers: if the format is still unclear when you are ready to book, ask the provider before you pay, and practise Writing both typed and by hand until you know.
One Skill Retake labels in Makkah and Taif
IDP's list marks its venue inside Al Jarooshi Mall, its venue in the Alshawqeeh area and its Taif venue as One Skill Retake available, and the finder cards for both British Council listings carry a One Skill Retake label. The Four Points by Sheraton entry shows no such note, which is not a statement that a retake is impossible there, so ask IDP about the exact session. A label on one card is not a promise for every session, so ask the provider before you rely on it.
Read One Skill Retake or a full retake for when it makes sense, and One Skill Retake in Saudi Arabia for the Saudi pages.
A checklist before you book a Makkah or Taif session
General advice, not guidance from IDP, the British Council or ielts.org:
- Start from the provider you will book with. IDP and the British Council each show their own sessions, so choose the provider first, then a session, and note the venue and address the session names.
- Compare the address, not just the name. Check the street and district against the lists above, and try both spellings, Makkah and Mecca.
- Confirm the format and the labels on the session itself. Computer, paper and One Skill Retake are described differently by the sources, and a missing note is not a statement that something is impossible. Take the date and start time from the booking page, not from opening hours.
- Check who the venue serves. Read the label, not the name; our page on women's and men's test centres explains the labels.
- Read the booking and ID rules before you pay. Each provider sets its own; see our page on booking IELTS in Saudi Arabia.
Where online lessons with Mike fit
Band Booster IELTS is a private online tutoring service. It is not a test centre, it has no centre in Makkah or Taif, it is independent of IDP, the British Council and Cambridge University Press & Assessment, and it does not register you, hold a place, set test fees or dates, or issue results.
Every lesson is one-to-one on Google Meet in English with Mike, who holds the Cambridge CELTA, teaches from Hanoi and scored 8.5 in Speaking in his own IELTS (about Mike). A lesson covers Listening, Reading, Writing Task 1 and Task 2, marked against the public band descriptors, and Speaking Parts 1, 2 and 3 in the real test format, with feedback during the lesson. Because lessons are online, you can join from Makkah, Taif or anywhere else, the venue you choose for the test does not change where you study, and the booking calendar shows each slot in your own time zone. For the time difference between Saudi Arabia and Hanoi and how booking works, see online IELTS tutoring for Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman.
Saudi Arabia is in a higher regional price tier than Vietnam, and the booking page shows your price in your own currency before you pay. A paid 30-minute trial can be taken once, on your first booking, and you can reschedule at no charge up to 12 hours before a session. No band is guaranteed: progress depends on your starting point and the work you do between sessions.
More for Saudi Arabia: IELTS test centres in Saudi Arabia, city by city, Jeddah, Madinah and Yanbu and online IELTS tutoring by country.