WHAT IS THE IELTS

THE INTERNATIONAL ENGLISH LANGUAGE TESTING SYSTEM

The IELTS provides a test that grades a person's proficiency in the English language. There are 2 versions of the test: the Academic Module and the General Training Module. The Academic Module is usually for people wanting to follow an Academic Course in English and the General Training Module is usually for people wanting to follow a non-academic course or for immigration.  Both modules are in four parts: listening, reading, writing and speaking.

IELTS is administered by 4 organisations:

University of Cambridge ESOL Exams
The British Council
IDP Education Australia
IELTS Australia

IELTS has been accepted as the standard international test system for English language proficiency by a whole range of institutions. These include the majority of all education establishments operating in English in Australia, Canada, the UK and New Zealand. US educational institutions are also now starting to use it. Many international immigration services also use the IELTS as well as various professional organisations including the British and Australian Medical Councils and the UK Ministry of Defence.

INTRODUCTION TO THE IELTS TEST

The IELTS test has two forms: the Academic test (or module) and the General Training test (or module). The module that you take depends on the reason that you are taking it for. Generally speaking, the Academic Module is for those people who are trying to gain entry onto undergraduate or postgraduate education courses or for professional reasons. The General Training Module is for those people who wish to join some kinds of vocational or training courses, secondary schools or for immigration purposes.

Both Academic and General Training modules try and reflect real life situations to test whether a candidate would survive in English speaking social and academic environments. For example, the Part 2 section of the speaking asks candidates to talk, after 1 minute's preparation, for 1 to 2 minutes on a given general topic. This would test General Training candidates to see if they could give a "work related presentation" to fellow work colleagues and would test Academic candidates if they can give a "university style presentation" to fellow students. It tests whether candidates have the English language capability to perform these tasks under some kind of pressure.

The IELTS test (both Academic and General Training modules) is divided into four parts: reading, writing, listening and speaking. The listening and speaking tests are exactly the same for the Academic and General Training modules but the reading and writing tests are different. Thus the test appears like this (in the order that you will take the different parts):

THE GENERAL TRAINING READING TEST

This is a 1 hour test in 3 sections with 40 questions based on 1 or more reading texts per section. The length of the General Training Reading Test will be between 2000 and 2750 words. Candidates are given a question paper and an answer paper. They may write on the question paper but they may not remove it from the test room after the test. All answers must be put onto the reading answer sheet before the end of the hour - there is no extra time after the 1 hour set for the General Training Reading Test for the transfer of answers to the answer paper.

A variety of question types are used in the General Training Reading Test. Questions types that you will use will come from the following list:

• multiple choice
• short answer
• sentence completion
• notes/summary/diagram/flow chart completion
• choosing from a heading bank to identify paragraphs or parts of the text
• identification of writers opinions/ideas - yes/no/not given
• identification of information in the text - yes/no/not given OR true/false/not given
• classification
• matching lists or phrases

Texts are taken form notices, advertisements, official documents, booklets, newspapers, instruction manuals, leaflets, timetables, books and magazines.

The first section is concerned with social survival in an English speaking country. The second section is concerned with survival in an education, training or welfare context. The third section tests the candidates' abilities with a longer more complex text.

THE GENERAL TRAINING WRITING TEST

The General Training Writing Test is of 1 hour duration. Candidates are required to do 2 tasks.

The General Training Writing Test Task 1 requires the candidate to write a letter in response to a given situation. Candidates must write a minimum of 150 words.

The General Training Writing Test Task 2 asks the candidate to write an essay on a general topic. Candidates must write a minimum of 250 words.

THE GENERAL TRAINING SPEAKING TEST

The IELTS General Training Speaking Test is the same for both the Academic and General Training modules. The test is conducted with 1 examiner and 1 candidate. The Speaking test is recorded. The General Training Speaking Test is divided into 3 sections.

Section 1 The General Training Speaking Test Section 1 begins with some general introductory questions. This is followed by some questions on personal information similar to the type of questions one would ask when meeting someone for the first time. Finally the examiner asks a series of questions of 2 topics of general interest. (4 - 5 minutes)

Section 2 The General Training Speaking Test Section 2 is a monologue (1 person speaking) by the candidate. The examiner will give the candidate a card with a subject and a few guiding questions on it. The student must talk for 1 to 2 minutes on this subject. The examiner decides on the exact length. The student has an optional 1 minute in order to prepare for his talk and is provided with some paper and a pencil in order to make some brief notes. After the candidate's talk the examiner will ask 1 or 2 brief questions in order to finish off the section. (3 - 4 minutes)

Section 3 In the General Training Speaking Test the examiner will ask some more questions generally related to the subject spoken about in section 2. These questions will be more demanding and require some critical analysis on the part of the candidate. (4 - 5 minutes)

THE GENERAL TRAINING LISTENING TEST

The IELTS General Training Listening Test is the same for the Academic and General Training modules. The candidates will listen to a tape and answer a series of questions. The tape will be played ONCE only. The General Training Listening test is in four sections with 10 questions in each (ie: a total of 40 questions) and will last for about 30 minutes with an extra 10 minutes at the end to transfer answers to the answer sheet.

A variety of question types is used in the General Training Listening Test. Questions types that you will see will usually come from the following list:

• multiple choice
• short answer
• sentence completion
• notes/diagram/flow chart completion