IELTS (International English language testing system) is a language test used in the selection process for migration, work and academic purposes to a country where English is the native language. This includes countries such as Australia, Canada, New Zealand, the UK and USA.There are 4 sections on the test: Listening, Reading and Writing, Speaking (Available in Online and Offline Mode). This test is considered by the universities as a benchmark for measuring the candidate’s proficiency in English language and is often combined with other test preparation results to make more informed choices from among the highly qualified applicants. A lion’s share of Engineering and health care professionals (Nurses and Doctors) consider IELTS as the most important qualification while migrating to their dream foreign country with a job visa, hence the importance of the test has also peaked in the recent years.
Listening
This is the first module on your test and there are four sections in the Listening section.Section 1 deals with everyday conversation between 2 speakers; however, section 2 will be a monologue about a radio interview or an advertisement or any similar instance.Section 3 will present a conversation between 2, 3 or 4 speakers about in an educational or training setting. Section 4 is a monologue on an academic subject-students usually feel that this is the most difficult section out of the 4 sections in listening as the speaker speaks quickly and uses a wide variety of paraphrased structures.
Reading
The Reading module consists of 40 questions, intended to measure a plethora of comprehension abilities. These consist of reading for crux of the passage, understanding main ideas of paragraphs, reading for supporting premises, skimming, scanning and intensive reading for understanding the logical relationship between sentences, summary completion and recognising writers’ views, position and intention.
IELTS Academic test – it comprises of three sections with long texts with a range of styles :descriptive, factual, discursive, and analytical. These texts are collected from authentic books, journals, magazines and newspapers. Theses have been chosen for a non-specialist people but are suitable for masses opting for university education or trying for professional registration.
IELTS General Training test – it comprises of three sections with long texts collected from books, magazines, newspapers, notices, advertisements, company handbooks and guidelines. These are materials you are likely to come across everyday in an English-speaking country.
A variety of question types are used such as multiple choice, identifying information, identifying writer’s views/claims, matching information, matching headings, matching features, matching sentence endings, sentence completion, summary completion, note completion, table completion, flow-chart completion, diagram label completion, short-answer questions.
Writing
Topics are of general interest to, and suitable for, candidates opting undergraduate and postgraduate studies or seeking professional registration. There are two tasks:
ACADEMIC
Task 1 – you will be presented with a graph, table, chart or diagram and will be asked to explain, summarize or describe the info-graphic in 150 words or more. You may also be asked to correlate and describe information, the stages of a process, how something works or describe an object or event.
Task 2 – you will be asked to write an essay in response to a point of view, argument or problem. Responses to both tasks must be in a formal style. You have to follow the appropriate format in order to score high in this section of the test.
GENERAL
Topics are of general interest. There are two tasks:
Task 1 – you will be given a situation and asked to write a letter requesting information, or explaining the situation. The letter might be informal, semi-formal or formal in style.
Task 2 – you will be given an essay topic and you will have to present your response to a point of view, argument or problem. You could add examples from your life in a different style according to the type of the essays. You have to follow the appropriate format in order to score high in this section of the test.
Speaking
11–14 minutes
The speaking module will be conducted usually on a separate day . An examiner judges your use of spoken English and will mark you. Every test is recorded.
Part 1 – the examiner will ask you general questions about yourself and a range of familiar topics, such as home, family, work, studies and interests. This part lasts between four and five minutes.
Part 2 – you will be given a card which asks you to talk about a particular topic. You will have one minute to prepare before speaking for up to two minutes. The examiner will then ask one or two follow up questions questions on the same topic. This section will take up to 4 minutes.
Part 3 – you will be asked further questions about the topic in Part 2. It is basically a discussion section , which will give you the opportunity to discuss more general ideas and problems. This section of the test ranges between four and five minutes.
