IELTS test - general information

Regularly reading posts at Geektimes, we thought that a certain interest was caused by the topic of going to study at a foreign university or get a job at a large western company abroad. As a rule, the first is impossible without passing the test, which determines the level of proficiency in a foreign language, and for the second it is just a big plus. The vast majority of universities, and not only English-speaking countries, require a certificate confirming the level of English proficiency. Therefore, we decided to publish for you a selection of useful articles about the IELTS, TOEFL, GMAT, GRE and SAT exams.

Let's start with the first one, IELTS. Within a month, we will publish a cycle of several small, but informative and useful articles, after reading which you can familiarize yourself with the structure of the exam, its features, the assessment system, secrets and materials for preparation, etc.
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In today's introductory article we will talk about what IELTS is and what its main features and structure are. This publication opens our cycle, so in it we want to give you a general idea of ​​the exam.

Let's start!

Many residents of Russia seek to find a higher paying and prestigious job abroad, where one of the main requirements is an excellent knowledge of English. So that anyone could check the level of their knowledge, a special IELTS exam was created. According to the results of this test, a certificate is issued, which is quoted in almost all countries of the world.

Take part in testing can anyone. The testing procedure is quite serious, so anyone who is going to take the IELTS exam should become familiar with and understand the basic rules for themselves, the failure of which can interfere with obtaining a certificate.



Exam start

So, the start time of the IELTS exam is indicated in the invitation sheets, the test participant must be in place 20 minutes before the official start. Those who are late will have to wait for the next test.

All personal belongings must be left in a special room, and in the hall where the testing will be conducted, the participant must take with him only documents proving his identity.

Listen carefully to all instructions, tips and instructions of the organizers.

As with any other exam, cheat sheets, telephones, and dictionaries are prohibited on IELTS. In the audience during testing should be quiet. During the passage of the Reading and Listening parts, it is necessary to take notes, pens for work are on the table. It is necessary to strictly adhere to the teams of examiners, otherwise, if you continue to write after the announcement of the “Stop writing now” command, all your answers marked after the command can be canceled. The participant of the test may leave the room, while leaving his passport with them and leave before all the documents and examination sheets are collected, is strictly prohibited. You can not disclose the content of the tests and take with them the examination booklets.

IELTS sections

The entire IELTS exam is divided into four parts: Listening , Reading and Writing (the Speaking section is carried out separately), each of which lasts about an hour (Listening 40-45 minutes). During the exam, no breaks between the parts are provided for, so if a test participant needs to go out, he can only do this on account of his personal test time. It is strictly forbidden to leave the audience during the reproduction of the listening text, as well as when the organizers issue and collect test materials (the first and last five minutes of each hour of the exam). In the Listening, an additional 10 minutes is given to transfer the answers from the booklet to the form. Reading gives 1 hour for everything.

Anyone who has violated the IELTS test regulations must be prepared to be asked to leave the audience and be removed from the test without the possibility of obtaining a certificate or returning the money spent on the exam.

Therefore, be careful and patient with all the requirements of examiners. Your result will depend on it.

IELTS points

IELTS adopted a rating system from 0.0 to 9.0 points:
0 - the test was not conducted.
1.0 - the subject does not speak English. His knowledge is limited to the ability to pronounce several separate words.
2.0 - real communication is impossible. A person hardly perceives both oral and written speech.
3.0 - it is very difficult for a person to find contact with others. He understands only certain sentences well known to him.
4.0 - basic knowledge of the language, the user does not own complex conversational structures.
5.0 - a person understands more of what he is told, but makes many mistakes in a conversation.
6.0 - good language skills in familiar situations. A person understands complex language constructs well, despite some mistakes he makes when communicating.
7.0 - a pretty good understanding of the English language, despite the small errors and some misunderstanding of the interlocutor.
8.0 - very good understanding and knowledge of the language. A person can explain the situation in detail, makes a small mistake in a conversation in complex and uncharacteristic situations.
9.0 - perfect language proficiency.



For the modules Reading and Listening points are awarded only for the correct answers. For incorrect answers points are not awarded.

Speaking module has 4 parameters, each of which is 25% of the assessment:

- during the test, it is estimated how fluently the person speaks English, how consistently he constructs sentences;
- it is determined how good the pronunciation is for the tested person. It is assessed how well he can pronounce not only words, but also individual sounds, whether he takes into account intonation, the phonetic specifics of the language;
- it is determined how diverse his vocabulary is;
- Literacy of the preparation of proposals is evaluated (the complexity of their structures is taken into account).

The Writing module also has 4 evaluation parameters of 25% each. The correctness of a person’s thoughts in a foreign language, vocabulary, a variety of grammatical constructions, as well as how fully he was able to uncover the topic assigned to him, is checked.

After the test, all IELTS scores are calculated, and the total score is calculated. If it has the tenths, then it is rounded to the nearest whole number or to half the value, for example - 6.5.

You can read the following publications of the cycle on IELTS sections and test preparation here and here .

The author of the article is Vyacheslav Davidenko, founder of MBA Consult