THE INTERNATIONAL ENGLISH LANGUAGE TESTING SYSTEM

The IELTS provides a test that grades a person's proficiency in the English language.
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):


ADMINISTRATIVE ORGANIZATION
IELTS is administered by 4 organizations:
University of Cambridge ESOL Exams
The British Council
IDP Education Australia
IELTS Australia


ACADEMIC GENERAL TRAINING
Listening 4 sections; 40 questions. 30 minutes 4 sections; 40 questions. 30 minutes
Reading 3 sections; 40 questions
3 long texts
1 hour 3 sections; 40 questions
3 long texts
1 hour
Writing 2 tasks
1 hour 2 tasks
1 hour
Speaking 3 sections
11 - 14 minutes 3 sections
11 - 14 minutes




HOW THE IELTS TEST IS GRADED/BANDED
The results IELTS candidates are graded/banded using a 9 BAND scale. The candidate will be given a Test Report Form on which they will find a full or half band for each part of the test and a final full or half band along with details of the candidate's nationality, first language and date of birth. The 9 bands correspond to a series of descriptions that relates to the candidate's English ability at that level. These band descriptors for the IELTS results are as follows:

BAND 9 Expert User Has fully operational command of the language: appropriate, accurate and fluent with complete understanding.

BAND 8 Very Good User Has fully operational command of the language with only occasional unsystematic inaccuracies and inappropriacies. Misunderstandings may occur in unfamiliar situations. Handles detailed argumentation well.

BAND 7 Good User Has operational command of the language, though occasional inaccuracies, inappropriacies and misunderstandings in some situations. Generally handles complex language well and understands detailed reasoning.

BAND 6 Competent User Has generally effective command of the language despite some inaccuracies, inappropriacies and misunderstandings. Can use and understand fairly complex language, particularly in familiar situations.

BAND 5 Modest User Has partial command of the language, coping with overall meaning in most situations, though is likely to make many mistakes. Should be able to handle basic communication in own field.

BAND 4 Limited User Basic competence is limited to familiar situations. Has frequent problems in understanding and expression. Is not able to use complex language.

BAND 3 Extremely Limited User Conveys and understands only general meaning in very familiar situations. Frequent breakdowns in communication occur.

BAND 2 Intermittent User No real communication is possible except for the most basic information using isolated words or short formulae in familiar situations and to meet immediate needs. Has great difficulty understanding spoken and written English.

BAND 1 Non User Essentially has no ability to use the language beyond possibly a few isolated words.

BAND 0 Did not attempt the test. - No assessable information.

For more specific information on how the speaking and writing modules are marked/banded, please go to the free tutorials page and read the relevant tutorial