IELTS Overview (cont.)

There are many reasons for taking the IELTS exam but probably for most of you it will be for the first reason listed here.

That is, you may be aiming to study at a university or college in an English speaking country. IELTS can also help you in immigration to Australia, Canada, and New Zealand. If that is your goal, or to open up new employment opportunities. Taking IELTS also can help you prepare for academic environment because it emphasise basic survival skills in a broad social and necessary educational context. It help improve your English to be good enough for you to do the course work in the future. However, if your English is nearly, but not quite, good enough, you may have the chance to do pre-sessional courses - sometimes FREE.

Before we continue, let's peek at what our friends're doing.



What is IELTS Band Score?

Your IELTS Band Score will be given to you as a number between 1 and 9. A score is reported for each module of the test. There are 4 test modules - Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking. A Band Score is not always a whole number but may be something like 6.5 or 7.5. All your scores are then averaged to get an Overall Band Score.

So what is your goal? You should check with your university academic institution as to their Band Score entrance requirements. Again it can vary from institution to institution but generally an Overall Band Score of 5.5 is regarded as the bare minimum. Ideally, your goal is to as high an Overall Band Score as possible. And if you can achieve something above 7.0, you'll have a good chance to gain university entrance.

The nine bands of language ability are described in general terms as follows:.

IELTS Band Score
  9   Expert user Has fully operational command of the language: appropriate, accurate and fluent with complete understanding.
  8   Very good user Has fully operational command of the language with only occasional unsystematic inaccuracies and inappropriacies. Misunderstanding may occur in unfamiliar situations. Handles complext detailed argumentation well.
  7   Good user Has operational command of the language, though with occasional inaccuracies, inappropriacies and misunderstandings in some situations. Generally handles complex language well and understands detailed reasoning.
  6   Competent user Has generally effective command of the language despite some inaccuracies, inappropriacies and misunderstandings. Can use and understand fairly complex language, particularly in familliar situations.
  5   Modest user Has partial command of the language, coping with overal meaning in most situations, though is likely to make many mistakes. Should be able to handle basic communication in own field.
  4   Limited user Basic competence is limited to familiar situations. Has frequent problems in understanding and expression. Is not able to use complex language.
  3   Extremely limited user Conveys and understands only general meaning in very familiar situations. Frequent breakdowns in communication occur.
  2   Intermittent user No real communication is possible expect for the most basic information using isloated words or short formulae in familiar situations and to meet immediate needs. Has great difficulty understanding spoken and written English.
  1   Non user Essentially has no ability to use the language beyond possibly a few isolated words.
  0   Did not attempt the test No assessable information provided.
Source : www.IELTS.org


Scores for each part of the test will still be reported on the scale from 1 to 9, but now the Writing and Speaking tests will be reported in whole or half bands in the same way as the Reading and Listening tests.
Read more about Half Bands Scores at Official IELTS Practice materials




Test Format

  • All candidates are tested in listening, reading, writing and speaking. All candidates take the same Listening and Speaking Modules.
  • There is a choice of Reading and Writing Modules. The first three modules- Listening, Reading and Writing must be completed in one day.
  • The Speaking may be taken, at the discretion of the test center, on the same day or up to two days later.
  • Candidates in some test centers are required to take additional pretest sections of up to 20 minutes. Performance on these pretests does not affect a candidate's results in any way but pre-testing is an essential part of IELTS question paper production.

We'll talk about the IELTS test format more in the next page.