SKY Inc. - IELTS

What is IELTS ?

International English Language Testing System or IELTS is an English language proficiency exam that measures the language ability of candidates willing to study or work in a country where English is the language of communication. The exam mainly assesses the ability of test-takers to communicate in the four basic language skills – listening, reading, speaking, and writing. Available world-wide in more than 140 countries including Australia, Canada, UK and the US.
IELTS exam is jointly owned and conducted by IDP Education Australia, and Cambridge English Language Assessment. Apart from academic purposes, many government agencies, scholarship programs, and certification agencies use IELTS scores to evaluate English proficiency. You can take the IELTS exam with the IDP up to once a week (four times a month). The British Council and IDP global schedule for test dates are 48 days per year.

ELIGIBILITY

IELTS is open for all and there are no specific eligibility criteria. The only minimum requirement is that a candidate should have passed 10 + 2 level of recognised board exams. The respective institutes may have a different eligibility criteria but the IELTS has no specific selection criteria. IELTS is recommended for candidates who are 16 years and above.

INSTITUTES ACCEPTING IELTS

A lot of top universities of English speaking nations accept IELTS to measure the language abilities of the probable international candidates. Universities like Harvard, Stanford, Yale, Oxford, and Cambridge – all accept IELTS scores. It is accepted in 100% of universities in the UK and Australia. Also, it is accepted in more than 11,000 organizations in more than 140 countries. These include institutions in the US and thousands of institutions in English- speaking countries.

Click here to see the list of all the institutes across the world that accept IELTS scores for different courses. Apart from universities, schools and training colleges, government departments and agencies, Australian and British Visa, professional and industry bodies and multinational companies and employers accept IELTS score.

Types of IELTS

There are two types of IELTS exams: IELTS Academic and IELTS General Training. Listening and speaking sections are the same for both these tests, however, the subject matter for the writing and reading sections are different depending on which test one takes. The Reading, Writing, and Listening sections of the IELTS tests are completed on the same day of the test with no breaks between them. However, the Speaking section can be completed either a week before or after the other tests date. This information test can be taken from your test centre.

IELTS Academic Test

IELTS Academic is taken by those who apply for higher education or professional registration abroad.

IELTS General Test

IELTS General Test is taken by those who wish to migrate to major English-speaking countries like Canada, Australia, and the UK. This test is also taken by those who want to enroll in training programs or secondary education or want to gain work experience in a country where English is the main language used for communication.

IELTS from home

IELTS Partners has also launched the IELTS Indicator which is an IELTS online test that students can take from their homes. This is an online English language test for students who are affected by COVID-19 and are not able to go to the IELTS test center. IELTS Indicator will assess the student's English language skills in Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speaking. Students can take the test online from their homes.

IELTS FEE

The application fee in India for IELTS would be approximately INR 15,500

ADMIT CARD

The registration number you receive will act like a kind of admit card. Registration number is on your Registration Confirmation. Go to your online profile a day before the test. You will need to print the Registration Confirmation and bring it along to the test centre. You need to carry your passport as an identity proof.

TEST PATTERN & FORMAT

It is important for candidates looking to score well in their IELTS Test to understand the IELTS Pattern and Syllabus in detail. The IELTS test provides scores in four skill areas — Reading, Listening, Speaking and Writing — along with the total score. The total score is the sum of the scores in the four skill areas. IELTS is available in two test formats: Academic or General. Students need to take the Academic test and other applicants who need IELTS results for Visa or scholarship purposes need to take General test. Here we cover the Academic test pattern.

The total test duration covering all four section of the test is 2 hours and 45 minutes, as shown in the table here:

TEST SCORE/BANDS

IELTS is designed to assess English language skills at all levels. You will receive IELTS score based on each the four skills on a scale of 0 – 9, and you will also be awarded an overall band score. You can score whole (example 5.0, 6.0, 7.0) or half (example 5.5, 6.5, 7.5) bands in each part of the test.

IELTS BAND SCALE

IELTS RESULT

You won’t have long to wait for your results – IELTS test results are released online in 3-5 days after you sit for the test. You will receive an email when your scores are available. You can log in to your IELTS account on the IELTS Results website to see your scores. You should select the test date, enter your candidate number, identification number and date of birth for checking your result. The system will not display results for more than 28 days after your test date. Candidates will be sent only one copy of the Test Report Form.

For IELTS, both human raters and automated scoring methods are used. This is done in order to offer a complete and accurate picture of the candidate’s ability. While automated scoring methods have the advantage of being unbiased, they do not measure the effectiveness of the language and content. Human raters are required to attend to a wider variety of features, such as the quality of ideas and content as well as form.

IELTS SYLLABUS

1.READING:

The reading module consists of three texts of general interest dealing with issues which are appropriate for candidates entering postgraduate or undergraduate courses. Both reading modules consist of three passages or sections with forty questions. Question types include multiple choice, sentence or summary completion, identifying data for short-answer questions, matching lists or phrases and identifying writers’ views/attitudes.

Total no. of questions: 40

Total time: 60 minutes

2.WRITING:

Candidates take an academic writing module. Responses for the academic writing module are short essays or general reports, addressed to an educated non-specialist audience. There are two compulsory tasks. Task 1 requires 150 words, and candidates are asked to look at a diagram, table or data and to present the information in their own words. Task 2 requires at least 250 words, and all candidates are presented with a point of view, argument or problem and asked to provide general factual information, present a solution, justify an opinion, evaluate ideas and evidence etc.

Total no. of questions: 2

Total time: 60 minutes

3.LISTENING:

This test is divided into four sections. The first two conversations are concerned with social needs, while the last two are concerned with situations more closely related to education. They will all be around three minutes long. The conversations could be both monologues and dialogues. These conversations can be heard once only. A variety of question types are asked, like multiple choice, short-answer questions, notes completion, sentence completion, labelling a diagram etc.

Total no. of questions: 40

Total time: 30 minutes

4.SPEAKING:

The Speaking section is like a structured interview with emphasis on general speaking skills. It assesses whether candidates have the required knowledge and skills to communicate effectively with native speakers of English.

Total no. of questions: 3 parts

Personal Interview,

Little Speech

Discussion

Total time: 11 to 14 minutes

No Difference Between TOEFL iBT Taken at Home or at a Test Centre

The scoring for the TOEFL iBT at home is exactly the same as TOEFL iBT, allowing you to not prepare for the two separately. Because this is still a TOEFL iBT test, the home edition scores will be accepted and used in the same way as the test centre version.

As the IELTS Indicator gives you only an indicative score, it is not accepted by all organisations. On the other hand, TOEFL iBT Home Edition scores are accepted by over 11,000 organisations and universities. Thus, it can be said that the exam acceptance of the TOEFL is higher than the exam acceptance of the IELTS.

TOEFL is the Most-Preferred Across the World

When I say TOEFL iBT is the most preferred, I am not kidding! More than 11,000 universities in 150+ countries use it to evaluate an international student’s English language proficiency. It is accepted by 100% of universities in the UK, including schools that are part of the Russell Group. The same is the case for universities in Australia and universities in New Zealand and for all migration visas.

Over 80% of graduate programs offered by Canadian universities prefer TOEFL iBT scores. According to ETS, the administrator of the test, universities in Canada receive more TOEFL scores than all other English language proficiency tests combined.

Well, everybody is well-aware of the fact that the United States is the largest recipient of TOEFL Scores. What you might not know is that the TOEFL iBT is accepted by 9 out of 10 universities not just in the US but elsewhere as well.

It is also the most preferred English language proficiency test across Europe and especially in Germany and France. It is also widely trusted in Asia, with top universities in Hong Kong, China, Japan, Korea and Malaysia preferring the TOEFL.

When you take the TOEFL, you automatically stand out from the crowd. According to an ETS Survey of 296 TOEFL test takers who were also university students who took the TOEFL test, over 90% of them were accepted into their first or second choice university.

TOEFL Prepares Students for a Rigorous Academic Environment Abroad

As mentioned right at the beginning, unlike other English language tests, TOEFL iBT is based entirely on academic content, specially designed for a smooth transition to university. On the TOEFL, you use authentic language media which not only prepares you for the test but also after you have arrived on campus.

The TOEFL iBT, a combination of all four communication skills including listening, reading, speaking and writing, helps evaluators identify students who are ready to communicate in an academic setting. The higher-standard TOEFL helps you demonstrate your superior academic English skills and feel confident to stand out regardless of which study destination you decide to go to eventually.

No Dreading an Oral Interview

Are you also intimidated by oral interviews or speaking in front of a person? Well, you are not alone and I have been there. On the TOEFL, instead of speaking to an examiner (which is in the case of the IELTS Academic Speaking section), you will speak into the microphone on your headset and your responses will be recorded. This way, you neither have to engage in a two-way discussion or a 9-minute interview. Not to mention that speaking via computer does away with the potential bias of face-to-face interviews.

You will get 15 to 30 seconds to prepare before answering a question and your response needs to be 40 to 60 minutes long. The same will be scored not just by human raters but also by AI which certainly ensures fairness and quality. On the other hand, the IELTS requires the examiner to score the Speaking test, which might not be as fair as artificial intelligence.

TOEFL Ensures Fairness in Scoring

A lot of things come into the picture when we talk about fairness and unbiased scoring in English language tests. If I dive into the score ranges, TOEFL is scored on a scale of 0 to 120, compared to a nine-band scale of IELTS. On the IELTS, each section is graded on a scale of 0 to 9 following which an average score of all sections is represented through a final score within the same range of 0 and 9. So, if you do not perform well enough in a particular section, it is likely to show in your final average. However, TOEFL scores are based on each section graded on a scale of 0 to 30, resulting in a final average between 0 and 120, along with a performance-based report.

Responses on the TOEFL iBT are typed on the computer keyboard, which is sent to ETS, where they are scored by AI scoring AND multiple certified human raters who ensure fairness, accuracy and quality. In the case of IELTS, responses are assessed only by examiners. Also, TOEFL raters are trained and monitored daily to ensure that only the highest quality ones are scored. Moreover, there is no scope for geographical bias on TOEFL as raters are from all across the globe.

TOEFL raters or AI, for that matter, do not require you to be experts in a section, particularly in the writing section. Designed only to measure your proficiency in the language and not in-depth knowledge of a topic, they understand that essays written on the test are only the first draft.

ETS invests over USD 60 million every year in state-of-the-art security to ensure the quality of candidates and protect the integrity of test scores.

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