About Introducing IELTS

INTRODUCING IELTS 

What is the IELTS exam?

The international English Language Testing System (IELTS) is the world's largest exam, and as its name suggest, it is used to test English language for college and university entrance, as well as for immigration or registration with professional bodies.

There are two kinds of IELTS tests: the academic test for further study and the General Training (GT) test for immigration.

There is no pass or fail with IELTS. Instead,there are bands that show a person's level. 

These bands range from 0-9. A Zero is a candidate who didn't come for the test; and a Nine is a native speaker-someone whose English is perfect. A five is a person who makes a lot of mistakes but can generally be understood. A Six is still an intermediate speaker, whereas a Seven is starting to get good. An Eight has perhaps only five or six errors in his or her 650 words of writing, and in the speaking test, makes only very occasional errors. 

A six is not that hard to score, but a seven takes years of intensive study and usually residence in an English speaking country.

The bands are used by different institutions or authorities. If you want to attend university in many English-speaking countries, you need at least IELTS 5.5-the more famous the university, or the course, the higher the score you need. If you want permanent residence in canada, you need a seven. If you are a nurse and you want to continue nursing in australia, then you also need a seven overall, including a Seven in Speaking. 

IELTS has full and half bands, meaning that a person who gets 6.5 is better than a Six, but not yet a Seven. 

One thing to note about these scores is that it's rather easy to go from a four to a 4.5, or even a five to a 5.5, but to progress beyond Six takes much longer. There are also candidates who never reach Six. You can't just take the test, take it again, and again and again, and hop on the fifth attempt you'll be handed a 6.5. 

No. You've got to fit the description of 6.5 in order to get it.

If you'd like to know which nationalities or first languages currently achieve which scores, go to the IELTS website: www.ielts.org. There's plenty of interesting data there as well as free practice materials.

What are the four parts of the test?

IELTS is made up of four sub-tests. candidates do all of them on one or two days . 

They are, in the order that they take place: Listening, Writing, and Speaking. The four tests are equally weighted, or if you think of it another way: worth 25% each. A band is given for each one, and there is also an average or Overall Band. 

A candidate receives a report within two weeks of taking the test with five scores on it like this:

Listening                
  7

Reading                 
  6.5

Writing                  
  6

Speaking               
  6.5

Overall Band = 6.5

You can see that the candidate above was best at Listening and worst at Writing. Reading and Speaking were the same. 

The majority of candidates receive of report like this. It's very rare for one skill to be much better than another.

But what was the Listening test? What did the candidate need to do for writing?

Read the table below about the IELTS Academic test to understand exactly what happens.

GT is the same as Academic for Listening and Speaking, but a little different for Reading and Writing. 

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About Test Scores of TOEFL iBT

Score Scales

The TOEFL iBT test provides scores is four skill areas:

Reading                   
  0-30 

Listening                 
  0-30

Speaking                 
  0-30

Writing                   
  0-30

Total Score           
  0-120

The total score is the sum of the four skill scores.

Rating of Speaking and Writing Responses

Speaking

Responses to all six Speaking tasks are digitally recorded and sent to ETS. The responses from each test taker are scored by three to six different certified raters. 

The responses for each task is rated on a scale from 0 to 40 according to the rubrics on pages 188-191. The average of all six ratings is converted to a scaled score of 0 to 30.

Raters listen for the following features in test taker responses:

• Delivery: How clear was the speech? Good responses are fluid and clear, with good pronunciation, natural pacing, and natural-sounding intonation patterns.
• Language use: How effectively does the test taker use grammar and vocabulary to convey ideas? Raters determine the test taker's ability to control both basic and more complex language structures, and use appropriate vocabulary.
• Topic development: How fully do test takers answer the question and how coherently do they present their ideas? How well did the test taker synthesize and summarize the information in the integrated tasks? Good responses generally use all or most of the time allotted, and the relationship between ideas and the progression from one idea to the next are clear and easy to follow. 

It is important to note that raters do not expect test takers' responses to be perfect. Even high-scoring responses may contain occasional errors and minor problems in any of the three areas described above

Writing 

Responses to all writing tasks also are sent to ETS. The responses are rated by two certified raters and the automated scoring system on a scale of 0 to 5 according to the rubrics on pages 200-201. 

The average of the scores on the two writing tasks is converted to a scaled score of 0 to 30.

• The response to the integrated writing task is scored on the quality of writing (organization, appropriate and precise use of grammar and vocabulary) and the completeness and accuracy of the  content.
• The independent writing essay is scored on the overall quality of the writing: development, organization, and appropriate and precise use of grammar and vocabulary.

It is important to note that the raters recognize that the responses are first drafts. They do not expect test takers to produce a well-researched, comprehensive essay. For that reason, test takers can earn a high score with a response that contains some errors.

Score Reports 

TOEFL score report provide valuable information about a test taker's readiness to participate and succeed in academic studies in an English-speaking environment. Score report include:

• four skill scores 
• total score

Scores are reported online approximately 10 days after the test. Test takers can view their scores online at no charge. 

Colleges, universities, and agencies receive paper score reports if the test taker has selected them as score recipients. (A paper copy of the score report is mailed to the test taker only upon request.) Test taker score reports also include performance feedback that indicates whether their performance was high, medium, or low, and describes what test takers in each score range typically know and can do with the English language.

Score requirements 

Each institution sets its own requirements for TOEFL scores. 

Test takers should consult their target institutions to determine their specific TOEFL score requirements. A list of colleges, universities, and agencies that accept TOEFL scores and a list of institutional score requirements reported to ETS can be obtained at www.toeflgoanywhere.org.

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