Three sources, three different counts
IDP, the British Council and the ielts.org test centre finder each describe the IELTS centres in Saudi Arabia in their own way, and their numbers do not match. Everything below was read on 24 October 2026 and lists change, so treat each figure as a dated snapshot. A figure marked “our count” comes from counting the finder's listings ourselves; it is not a published number.
| Source | What it showed for Saudi Arabia on 24 October 2026 |
|---|---|
| ielts.org test centre finder | 87 results. Many centres appear more than once, so the number of different centre names is smaller: 47 to 50 by our own count of the listings |
| IDP, Saudi Arabia test dates | An introduction that says 31 IELTS test centres, a list headed 27 test centres, and a city filter with 17 cities |
| British Council, Saudi Arabia dates, fees and locations | 17 test centre locations, as the British Council counts them |
Three points are worth keeping in mind. The finder's 87 is a count of listings, not of centres: our own count of names gives 50 if each exact name is counted once, and 47 if a site is counted once when its men's-only and women's-only listings differ only in that label. IDP's page disagrees with itself, 31 in the introduction against 27 in the list, and we cannot say what accounts for the gap. And the number 17 appears twice, as the cities in IDP's filter and as the British Council's locations, but the two count different things.
None of these is a final count of where you can sit the test. We cannot say how each organisation defines a centre or a location, and a listing does not mean a seat is open on your date. For a given date, rely on the provider's booking page.
City by city: more than Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam
IDP's introduction names Riyadh, Jeddah, Dammam, Makkah, Madinah and Tabuk as examples, but the menus go further. The ielts.org city menu includes smaller places such as Bisha, Buraydah, Hafr Al Baten, Hail, Jazan, Najran, Qatif, Tabuk, Taif, Unayzah and Yanbu, and IDP's city filter includes Abha, Al Jouf, Al Ula, Arar, Hafar albatin, Jizan and Onaizah. The table puts the places side by side. “Yes” means the place is in that source's menu or filter, not that a session is open on your date.
| Place | ielts.org city menu | IDP city filter | British Council computer or paper sentence |
|---|---|---|---|
| Riyadh | Yes | Yes | Computer and paper |
| Jeddah | Yes | Yes | Computer and paper |
| Dammam | Yes | Yes | Computer and paper |
| Al Khobar | Yes | Yes | Not named |
| Al-Ahsa | Yes (Al Ahsa and Al-Ahsa) | Yes (Al Hasa) | Paper (written Al-Hassa) |
| Qatif | Yes | No | Not named |
| Jubail | Yes | No | Paper |
| Makkah | Yes | Yes | Paper |
| Madinah | Yes (Madinah and Medina) | Yes | Paper |
| Taif | Yes | Yes | Paper |
| Yanbu | Yes | No | Not named |
| Buraydah | Yes | No | Paper |
| Unayzah | Yes (Unayzah) | Yes (Onaizah) | Not named |
| Hail | Yes | Yes | Paper |
| Tabuk | Yes | Yes | Paper |
| Arar | Yes | Yes | Not named |
| Hafar Al Batin | Yes (Hafr Al Baten) | Yes (Hafar albatin) | Not named |
| Abha | Yes | Yes | Not named |
| Najran | Yes | No | Not named |
| Jazan | Yes (Jazan) | Yes (Jizan) | Not named |
| Bisha | Yes | No | Not named |
| Al Jouf | No | Yes | Not named |
| Al Ula | No | Yes | Not named |
The last column covers only the two British Council sentences quoted in the next section. “Not named” means those sentences do not name the place, not that the British Council has no centre there.
Spellings differ between sources. The same town appears as Hafr Al Baten on ielts.org and Hafar albatin on IDP, as Jazan and Jizan, as Unayzah and Onaizah, and as Al Ahsa, Al-Ahsa, Al Hasa and Al-Hassa across the three. The ielts.org menu also holds both Madinah and Medina, and a Dammam entry written Alkhobar/ Dammam beside the plain Dammam and Al Khobar entries. If a search finds nothing, try the other spelling.
A place in a menu is not proof of a centre or a session. Bisha and Jazan appear in the finder's city menu; this page does not describe a centre in either, so check the finder's listing and the provider's booking page.
Computer or paper: the lists do not agree
The British Council's page says you can take IELTS on computer at its test centres in Riyadh, Jeddah and Dammam. It lists paper-based IELTS at centres in Al-Hassa, Buraydah, Dammam, Hail, Jeddah, Jubail, Madinah, Makkah, Riyadh, Tabuk and Taif. The three computer cities are also in the paper list, so the two sentences name 11 different places between them, fewer than the 17 locations the page counts. We cannot tell from those sentences how the 17 is made up.
The sources also disagree with each other. The ielts.org finder tags a British Council centre in the Al Matar area of Hail as Computer, while the British Council's own page lists Hail only under paper. We cannot say which is current, so read the format and the address on the booking page for your date before you plan a journey. For how computer-delivered IELTS is described in Saudi Arabia and four neighbouring Gulf states, see computer-delivered IELTS in Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman.
Our pages for each area
Each area has its own page, so you can go straight to your own city.
- IELTS test centres in Riyadh
- IELTS test centres in Jeddah
- Dammam, Al Khobar, Dhahran, Qatif and Al-Ahsa
- Makkah and Taif
- Madinah and Yanbu
- Abha, Buraydah, Hail, Tabuk and other Saudi cities
- Women's and men's test centres: the labels in the ielts.org finder and IDP's list
Beyond centres, we also have guides to booking IELTS in Saudi Arabia (ID, Iqama and changing your date), IELTS for UKVI in Saudi Arabia, results and Test Report Forms, special arrangements, One Skill Retake in Saudi Arabia and IELTS scores at Saudi universities.
How to check a centre before you book
This is 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 the city and the session.
- Search under more than one spelling. If a town returns nothing, try the other spelling from the table above.
- Compare names and addresses across sources. If the centre on your session does not match what the finder shows, ask the provider before you travel.
- Confirm the format on the session itself. Where the lists disagree, as with Hail, the booking page for your date is the one to follow.
- Do not read a missing city as “no test centre”. A town can be in one source's menu and not another's, as the table shows, so ask the provider before you assume you must travel to a larger city.
- Read the booking and ID rules before you pay. They are set by each provider; see our guide to 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 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. This page quotes no exam fees and no test dates; the providers set and change them.
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). Because lessons are online, you can join from any Saudi city, and the centre you choose for the test does not change where you study. The booking calendar shows each slot in your own time zone. 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.
For lessons from a particular city, see online IELTS tutoring for Riyadh, Jeddah or Saudi Arabia, Qatar, Kuwait, Bahrain and Oman, or browse online IELTS tutoring by country.