This may be on an unrelated note, but to whoever else who views this thread wondering about IELTS, here's how I got admission without doing any IELTS.
I had done the SAT I (general) exam and scored 1900+, written an essay for a competition which I submitted, submitted a recommendation letter from one of my teachers commending my written and oral communication in English, quoted having done O'Levels and A'Levels in an British curriculum school.
All this allowed me to waive the IELTS requirement and carry on with my application. I had to personally send an e-mail to them about this and included all these details along with a bit of explanation WHY I did not want to take the exam. (financial reasons)
AS FOR YOU:
Almost all universities accept the ACADEMIC IELTS (by almost all, I mean all the universities I know of take academic IELTS). Make of that what you will. I would recommend doing the Academic test since it'll make it easier for you to apply to any university around the world, provided you have the required score!