IELTS (The International English Language Testing System)

In my previous post, I talked about TOEFL test. In this post, I am going to talk about another standardized test for English proficiency.

IELTS or The International English Language Testing System is an international standardized test for English proficiency for non-native English language speakers.  IELTS is usually of two types -

• IELTS Academic test
• IELTS General training test

Since this blog is made for grade 12 students, so I would talk about IELTS Academic test. If you want to have more info on IELTS General Training test, please visit IELTS official website.

IELTS academic test should be given by those students who want to study UG or PG courses in foreign universities. This test could also be given for professional registration purposes. The main objective of this test is to access whether you are ready to begin studying or training in an environment where English language is used. IELTS can be given in any of the two test forms -

• Pen and Paper test
• Computer based test

IELTS consists of 4 sections -

1. Speaking
2. Listening
3. Reading
4. Writing

Let's talk about each section in brief -

• Speaking test - Speaking test would be carried out face to face with a trained IELTS examiner. The speaking test could also get completed up to a week before/after the other tests. It depends from center to center. 

This test is usually of 11-14 minutes. Every test is recorded. This test is carried out in 3 parts -

• Part 1 - the examiner will ask you general questions about yourself and a range of familiar topics, such as home, family, work, studies and interests. This part lasts between four and five minutes.
• Part 2 - you will be given a card which asks you to talk about a particular topic. You will have one minute to prepare before speaking for up to two minutes. The examiner will then ask one or two questions on the same topic
• Part 3 - you will be asked further questions about the topic in Part 2. These will give you the opportunity to discuss more abstract ideas and issues. This part of the test lasts between four and five minutes.

This test is scored on the basis of following criteria - Fluency and coherence, Lexical resources, Grammatical range and accuracy and pronunciation.

Sample questions are given below -

 Part 1 

Introduction and interview [This part of the test begins with the examiner introducing himself or herself and checking the candidate’s identification. It then continues as an interview.]

Let’s talk about your home town or village.
• What kind of place is it?
• What’s the most interesting part of your town/village?
• What kind of jobs do the people in your town/village do?
• Would you say it’s a good place to live? (Why?)

Let’s move on to talk about accommodation.
• Tell me about the kind of accommodation you live in?
• How long have you lived there?
• What do you like about living there?
• What sort of accommodation would you most like to live in?

Sample Solutions of 1st question -

1) Candidate: It’s quite a small village, about 20km from Zurich. And it’s very quiet. And we have only little ... two little shops because most of the people work in Zurich or are orientated to the city.
2)Candidate: On the top of a hill we have a little castle which is very old and quite well known in Switzerland.
3)Candidate: We have some farmers in the village as well as people who work in Zurich as bankers or journalists or there are also teachers and some doctors, some medicines.
4)Candidate: Yes. Although it is very quiet, it is … people are friendly and I would say it is a good place to live there, yes.

• Listening test -  You will listen to four recordings of native English speakers and then write your answers to a series of questions. The time limit given for this section is 30 minutes. 

Assessors will be looking for evidence of your ability to understand the main ideas and detailed factual information, the opinion and attitudes of speakers, the purpose of utterance and evidence of your ability to follow the development of ideas.

You can check the sample questions at - IELTS Official Website .

• Reading Test - Texts for the Academic Reading test are taken from books, journals, magazines and newspapers. A variety of questions are asked in this section.This section consists of 40 questions which are to be solved in 60 minutes.Each question is worth 1 mark.

You can check the sample questions at -   IELTS Official Website . 

• Writing section - This section consists of 2 tasks and the time limit for this section is 60 minutes.Topics of these tasks are of general interest to ,and suitable for, test takers entering undergraduate and postgraduate studies or seeking professional registration. These two tasks are : 

1. Task 1 - In this task, you will be presented with a graph,table,chart or diagram and asked to describe,summarize or explain the information/data in 150 words. You should not spend more than 20 minutes in this task. 
2. Task 2 - In this task, you will be asked to write an essay in response to a point of view,argument or problem in 250 words. You should not spend more than 40 minutes in this task.  

Note - 1)Responses to both tasks should be formal.

           2)You should not write your answer in bullet points. 

IELTS results are reported as band scores on a scale from 1(lowest) to 9 (highest). Band scores of 7,8 and 9 are considered to be good scores. 

Generally, those students who want to study in UK,Australia and in other European countries give this exam.But, there are some US universities as well who accept IELTS score. For more info, visit the IELTS Official Website. 

All the best for IELTS exam. If you have any doubts, you can email me your doubts at - sharma.nimit@yahoo.in 

Keep Learning :)