IELTS stands for International English Language Testing System. It is a standardized test that assesses your English language skills in four areas: listening, reading, writing and speaking. It is widely accepted by universities, employers and immigration authorities around the world as a proof of your English proficiency. The test has two versions: IELTS Academic and IELTS General Training. The Academic version is for those who want to study at a higher education level or work in a professional field that requires academic English. The General Training version is for those who want to migrate to an English-speaking country or work in a non-academic setting.
IELTS uses a 9-band scale to measure your overall and individual scores. The overall score is the average of your four section scores, rounded to the nearest half or whole band. The individual scores are based on your performance in each section, according to the following criteria:
- Listening: You will listen to four recordings of native English speakers and answer 40 questions. The recordings vary in difficulty, topic and accent. The questions are either multiple choice, matching, map/diagram labeling, form completion, note completion, table completion, flow-chart completion, summary completion or sentence completion. You will have 30 minutes to complete the listening section and 10 minutes to transfer your answers to the answer sheet. The listening section is scored out of 40 marks and converted to a band score from 1 to 9.
- Reading: You will read three passages of academic or general texts and answer 40 questions. The passages vary in difficulty, topic and style. The questions are either multiple choice, identifying information (true/false/not given), identifying writer's views/claims (yes/no/not given), matching information, matching headings, matching features, matching sentence endings, sentence completion, summary completion, note completion, table completion, flow-chart completion, diagram label completion or short-answer questions. You will have 60 minutes to complete the reading section. The reading section is scored out of 40 marks and converted to a band score from 1 to 9.
- Writing: You will write two tasks of different types and purposes. In the Academic version, you will write a report based on a graph, table, chart or diagram in Task 1, and an essay in response to a point of view, argument or problem in Task 2. In the General Training version, you will write a letter for a specific situation in Task 1, and an essay in response to a point of view, argument or problem in Task 2. You will have 20 minutes for Task 1 and 40 minutes for Task 2. The writing section is scored by two examiners who will assess your tasks according to four criteria: task achievement/response (how well you address the task), coherence and cohesion (how well you organize and connect your ideas), lexical resource (how well you use vocabulary) and grammatical range and accuracy (how well you use grammar). Each criterion is scored from 1 to 9 and the average of the four scores is your final band score for each task.
- Speaking: You will have a face-to-face interview with an examiner who will assess your speaking skills. The speaking section consists of three parts: Part 1 (introduction and interview), Part 2 (individual long turn) and Part 3 (two-way discussion). In Part 1, you will answer general questions about yourself and familiar topics. In Part 2, you will be given a card with a topic and some prompts, and you will have one minute to prepare and two minutes to speak about it. In Part 3, you will have a discussion with the examiner about more abstract issues related to the topic in Part 2. The speaking section lasts for 11 to 14 minutes. The speaking section is scored by one examiner who will evaluate your performance according to four criteria: fluency and coherence (how well you speak at length and link your ideas), lexical resource (how well you use vocabulary), grammatical range and accuracy (how well you use grammar) and pronunciation (how well you use intonation, stress and sounds). Each criterion is scored from 1 to 9 and the average of the four scores is your final band score for the speaking section.
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