Everything you Need to Know about the IELTS Test!

IELTS or International English Language Testing System, is a standardised English proficiency examination taken by non-native speakers going to English speaking countries to study, work or live. IELTS is jointly owned by IELTS Australia, British Council, and Cambridge English Language Assessment Test.It is recognized by more than 9,000 organizations all around the world including educational institutions, employers, governments and professional bodies. To serve different purposes there are two types of IELTS examination: Academic and General.

The academic exam is designed to test student’s ability to understand and grasp the academic language. It is also aimed at professionals like doctors and nurses who want to set up their own practices in an English-speaking country. Whereas, the general exam tests the ability of a person to comfortably converse in English in social or business situations. It is for the people to want to gain work experience or live in an English-speaking country.

There are 4 sections in an IELTS examination, namely, Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking.

1. Listening section:The listening section contains 40 questions which include monologues, one-to-one conversations, a speech and a group discussion.

2. Reading section:The reading section has 40 questions as well with a time allotment of 60 minutes. This section includes reading for main ideas, skimming, understanding a logical argument and reading for detail.

3. Writing section:This section includes write an essay responding to an argument and describe a chart or writing a letter and a personalised essay, depending on the module you’re taking.

4. Speaking section:This section is a one-to-one conversation with the examiner for 11-14 minutes about yourself and a topic given by the examiner. After this, the examination will have a casual discussion related to the topic you speak before.

The Listening and Speaking sections are the same in both the Academic and General module, what’s different is the Reading and Writing section. Also, the Reading, Writing and Listening tests will be held on the same day while, the speaking test can be held 7 days before or after the test date.The exam is scored on your grammar, vocabulary, syntax and sentence structure and the result is calculated on a 9-band scale, where 9 is the band for perfect user and 1 is the band score of a non-user of the language.

The test is administered four times a month, across nearly ninety locations in India, so you don’t have to wait too long before you take your test. Once available, the test results are valid for two years. But before taking the exam here is some general advice for the IELTS exam: -

• Check the website of the University you are planning to take admission in, since Universities seeking an IELTS score clearly stipulate their IELTS score requirements on the official website so you can know exactly what you are aiming at.

• You should talk to people who have recently taken this exam, to have a clear understanding of the latest trends of the exam.

• The best thing you can do to improve your overall score in IELTS exam is to read passages and watch English movies and series. It would acquaint you with their accent and help to develop your vocabulary.

• In the speaking section, your voice should not be monotonous i.e. your pitch should go up and down according to the need of the sentence. Also, you should sound like you’re having a conversation and not like you’re giving answers that are memorized.

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