IELTS – an abbreviation for International English Language Testing System. This is a popular international testing system developed for those whose English is not the first language.
What is IELTS for? This exam and certificate are in demand in most countries of the British Commonwealth (Canada, Australia, Britain, and New Zealand). Upon admission of a foreigner to a university undergraduate or a masters degree, it is necessary for college and university. IELTS is also required when applying for permanent residence, work visas and obtaining citizenship.
TYPES OF CERTIFICATES
Immigrants, interns, and people who apply for work permit should take General Training IELTS. This type of test shows the subject’s skills in everyday communication.
Future students and graduate students should take ACADEMIC IELTS. This certificate shows whether the subject can study in English for a university program. Sometimes an academic test is needed for professional immigration.
The world has more than 900 accredited testing centers, and more than 2 million people pass through them annually.
WHAT DOES THE IELTS EXAM CONSISTS OF?
1. ListeningThis is the first part of the exam showing the level of perception of English by ear. The audio is the same for both types of tests, General and Academic. The subject receives an examination sheet and a booklet with questions. He has 30 minutes to listen to the record and fill out the booklet – only 40 questions. Then another 10 minutes are given to view the answers and transfer them to the examination sheet. When calculating, only correct answers are taken into account. Moreover, they have a different “cost.”
Tip: To successfully pass listening, you need to listen to English speech daily in large quantities: watch TV shows or news and listen to training podcasts. You can use different apps for the improvement of the perception skills of English by ear.
2. ReadingThis block is given for 60 minutes. You need to read several texts with a total volume of up to 3 thousand words and fill out a questionnaire with 40 questions. In the General exam, texts are simple and on familiar topics. The Academic version uses materials from scientific journals and books when checking, exclusively correct answers are taken into account, 1 point per answer.
Tip: To successfully pass the Reading part, you do not need to read each word. There is simply not enough time for this. Students usually use one of the tactics:
Skimming is a way to read and determine the main idea of the text, “glance over”. At the same time, incomprehensible words and phrases just need to be ignored.
Scanning – search in the text for the information using keywords from questions. The subject first reads the question and then runs through the text with his eyes, looking for numbers, dates, names, etc.
3. Writing. For this part of the test, 1 hour is assigned. For the General exam, a letter of 150 or more words should be written in the first part. For the Academic exam, the essay should be a written description of a given object (graphics, drawing), also 150 words.
The second part of the Writing is to write an essay on social (General) or scientific (Academic) themes. The volume of work should be more than 250 words.
The assessment of the essay and descriptions is carried out according to a complex table of evaluation. The correctness and completeness of the text, the lexical reserve, the logic and the connection between phrases, the correctness of the construction of sentences, and the correctness of the text from a grammatical point of view are evaluated.
Tip: To get a good rating for this part of the test, you need to practice a lot in preparing descriptions and works. To ultimately reveal the topic, just knowledge of grammar is not enough. Most students use materials from previous IELTS tests in past years for preparation. If you are preparing to take an academic exam, you need to expand your vocabulary by reading scientific journals and articles: The Economist, National Geographic, Scientific American, etc.
4. Speaking. This is the final part of the exam, checking oral speech skills. In many IELTS centers, it is held the day after the main test block. Speaking is a communication of the subject with the examiner and lasts no more than 14 minutes. At first, there is some neutral dialogue. Then the examiner sets a topic; the test is focused on a monologue, that you need to prepare within 3 minutes. The examiner asks questions about the monologue he heard, and the person, who is taking the test answers. Everything that happens in a closed room for testing is recorded for analysis.
Tip: To get a high score, you need to “work out” possible common topics for conversation: sports, culture, trips, cinema, science, etc. It is helpful to determine your strengths: such as issuers that you can easily communicate in English. And, in any case, you need to answer questions fully. This requires practice with native speakers. In addition to courses and teachers, there are a lot of valuable services on which people help learn the language for a fee paid or free of charge, just by talking to each other. Regular viewing of films without subtitles and listening to radio programs and podcasts are also helpful.
HOW TO CALCULATE THE RESULT OF THE IELTS EXAM
Each of the test blocks is estimated on a scale from 0 to 9, in a parts of 0.5 points. Then mathematics is applied, to add or subtract points. The results are reflected in the certificate and are valid for 2 years.
The certificate contains a general assessment and assessment for each block. It also has data of examiners and a unique number by which authenticity can be set.
How does IELTS rating correlate with other international language certificates
- From 4 to 5 points, applicants with the level of Lower Intermediate or Intermediate are usually obtained, which corresponds to B1 on a European language scale or up to 86 points of the TO test
- From 5.5 to 6.5 points, students with the UPPER Intermediate level are obtained, which corresponds to B2 and up to 109 points for TO
- From 7 to 8 points – an approximate result of students with the level of Advanced, which corresponds to C1 according to European standards and up to 120 on to
- Excellent and rarely found, from 8.5 to 9 points can get tested with Profiency levels, corresponds to C2 according to the European standard.
It is important for students whether the test result corresponds to the needs of their educational institution. The requirements of all universities are different. But, for the masters degree in the University of Cambridge, for example, you can get with an estimate of 7 on IELTS. For admission to Harvard in the undergraduate, you need 7.5. For the University of Melbourne, 6.5 points are enough.
WHAT IS IELTS EXAM FOR?
IELTS testing is carried out for about 40 years, and during this time many myths arose about the prohibitive complexity of issues and the unpredictability of assessments. Indeed, testing is carried out at a decent pace. The subjects do not have enough time to “read” into texts or double check the answers. But good knowledge of the language and correct tactics always give a good result.
THE EXAM SHOWS THE EXACT LEVEL OF KNOWLEDGE OF ENGLISH
This is not entirely true. Studies have proven that students use an average of 750 words and avoid complex grammatical constructions. It is also known that people, for whom English is first language, sometimes receive low grades. IELTS shows how well the subject can use English. Therefore, it is proposed to prepare a monologue, write an essay or make a description of the picture in a limited time.
YOU NEED TO TAKE MORE PREPARATORY TESTS
It is important to observe the measure here. Preparatory exams in IELTS format are useful in terms of developing their own surrender strategy. To someone, this will reduce the level of anxiety before the exam. However, this will not increase your level of knowledge. Often people make the same mistakes in different tests.
YOU NEED TO TAKE THE TEST SEVERAL TIMES, AND IN DIFFERENT CENTERS TO GET A HIGH SCORE
This is a costly and doubtful statement. You will never know what mistakes have you made, and you will not be able to “work” them before the next test. It is better to resemble special courses, practice on questionnaires from previous years (they are available in the Internet), work with a native speaker, with video and audio materials, “pump” grammar, and successfully pass IELTS in the first try!
