Decoding IELTS

What is IELTS?

IELTS or International English Language Testing System is an exam which helps determine your ability to use the English language. The purpose of the exam is to measure how close you come to a native speaker of English in terms of your ability to read, write, understand as well as talk in English. IELTS became really popular over the past few years the world over, as more and more governments and educational institutions began to use IELTS scores as one of the primary criteria for granting admissions and immigration to foreign nationals.

The Exam Structure

An IELTS exam has four modules; listening, reading, writing and speaking. Out of these, listening, reading and writing happen on the same day and are scheduled back to back, while the speaking test, a personal interview with an examiner, usually takes place on a different day and venue. A candidate can choose the date for the written test according to availability of seats, but doesn’t have a say in speaking date or time. It can be allocated anytime up to a week before or after the written test.

Both the listening and reading modules are worth 40 marks each, and the raw score obtained is converted into a band score. IELTS bands range from 0-9. The writing module is judged on four main parameters and each of these has equal weightage.

The Exam Structure

In order to prepare for IELTS, a candidate must work on his or her grammatical ability and ensure there are no grammatical errors. It also helps to work on the vocabulary and make sure you use vocabulary that is relevant to the topic. Another area candidates need to focus on in pronunciation. While you are not expected to have any particular accent, one must speak without strong mother tongue influence. Regular practice goes a long way in scoring high in IELTS.

As long as one bears this in mind, it should not be a challenge to get the desired bands.

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Listening

The IELTS Listening test consists of four recordings (four parts) from native English speakers with ten (10) questions in each recording (part).

Recording 1: an everyday social conversation between two people

Recording 2: a monologue set in an everyday social context

Recording 3: an educational conversation with upto four people

Recording 4: a monologue on an academic subject

Listening test scores will be based on your ability to understand the main ideas,
factual information, opinions, attitude and purpose of the speaker and your ability
to follow the development of ideas.

No. of questions: 40 Marks:

each question is worth one (1) mark

Total time: 30 minutes (+ 2 minutes review time )

Speaking

The IELTS Speaking test assesses your pronunciation, grammar, accuracy, fluency and lexical resources while speaking English. There are three (3) parts to this test, with each part fulfilling a specific function in terms of task input, interaction pattern and the test taker’s output.

Part 1: Introduction & Interview This part includes general questions about the test taker like residence, work,family, interests, etc.

Part 2: Long Run Cue cards are shared on a particular topic and one (1) minute will be given to prepare to speak for upto two (2) minutes on the topic.

Part 3: Discussion This part gives you the opportunity to discuss the topic from the cue card in further detail, in a more general and abstract way

Total time: 11-14 minutes

Reading

The IELTS Reading test is designed to test a wide range of reading skills including reading for skimming, details, gist, understanding arguments and writer’s opinions,attitude and purpose

IELTS Academic Reading – It includes three (3) reading passages (with a variety of questions) ranging from descriptive and factual to discursive and analytical. These passages are of general interest dealing with interesting and recognizably appropriate issues, with at least one passage containing a detailed logical argument

Note: The reading texts may contain non-verbal materials as well like graphs, diagrams or illustrations.

IELTS General Reading – It includes three (3) daily passages (with 2-3 short texts in the first passage, 2 texts in the second passage and 1 long text in the third passage), based on an English-speaking environment, from notices, newspapers, magazines or advertisements.

Reading passage 1: texts based on social survival, like advertisements, notices and timetables

Reading passage 2: texts based on workplace survival, like contracts, job descriptions, staff development & training material

Reading passage 3: texts based on general reading, involving more extended prose and a complex structure.

No. of questions: 40

Marks: each question is worth one (1) mark

Total time: 60 minutes (no additional transfer time)

Note: Please note that the question types in the Listening & Reading sections can include multiple choice answers, true or false answers, matching information/headings or sentence, table & flow-chart completion.

Listening

The IELTS Listening test consists of four recordings (four parts) from native English speakers with ten (10) questions in each recording (part).

Recording 1: an everyday social conversation between two people

Recording 2: a monologue set in an everyday social context

Recording 3: an educational conversation with upto four people

Recording 4: a monologue on an academic subject

Listening test scores will be based on your ability to understand the main ideas,
factual information, opinions, attitude and purpose of the speaker and your ability
to follow the development of ideas.

No. of questions: 40 Marks:

each question is worth one (1) mark

Total time: 30 minutes (+10 minutes transfer time)