IELTS What's involved. Letting others know.

[Tosh]

Hi All,

I thought I'd post this looooong explanation as to what I found was involved in my IELTS test purely because I had to do it walking into the unknown and couldn't find anything to tell me exactly what I should be expecting. Apologies if there are older threads on here saying the exact same thing.

 

It was advised to me by our agent to do this step first as it's the cheapest part of the whole process and if we didn't make a minimum pass mark we wouldn't have enough points to continue on anyway. so here goes.

 

Test day:

 

Arrived at test center on a Saturday and was ushered to waiting room for General Training exams. Academic test takers went to a different room.

 

Sat at a large table and chatted to the test takers to quell the nerves. Guy sat at a desk calling a register, when your name is called went up with my passport, he checked passport and took my mobile phone and locked it in a secure box. You will not see your phone/blackberry/pda etc etc until your day has finished and you're leaving the building.

 

Eventually the time came and register guy told us all to follow him to the building next door. We all waited in a room and one by one was called, by name, into the exam room where he checked our passport again and showed us to our designated desk. Which had a piece of paper on it with your candidate number, picture and time on it for your spoken exam.

 

All the desks are individual and seperate just like when you took your school exams.

 

We were then told we are doing 3 sections of the exam in here and straight away. Listening, reading and writing. One after the other with no breaks. If you require to go to the toilet you raise your hand, take your passport with you, an exam moderator will also go with you and wait with you then escort you back to the room where your passport will be checked again. You cannot leave the room in the last 5 mins of any exam.

 

You are allowed to take, pens pensils and a drink in a clear bottle only. Pens and pensils are provided if you forget. If you forget your passport you will not be allowed to sit any exam and will lose your money and have to apply again.

 

Everything about the exams are strict, very strict. Your time limit, talking etc. We got a countdown to the end of our written exam eg 10 mins left, 5 mins left, 1 min left and when the examiner said stop writing. one woman carried on to finish the sentence she was writing. He then took her exam paper off her and scrubbed out the last sentence she wrote. When he/she says stop , then stop.

 

The exams:

 

Listening first.

 

For us it was the listening exam first. You're given a multiple choice answer paper with true/false/not specified or black/blue/green or whatever answers relate to each question. Further on it changes to worded answers where you fill in the blanks with one or two words.

The examiner then explains what's involved and plays a CD with people talking on. Follow what is asked from you. EG. CD says: In this first conversation you will here two people talking about buying a dog. They agree on a price.

Conversation goes:. Hello, I'd like to buy a dog. Certainly sir, we have one for £200. Hmm that's a bit expensive. I really only wanted to spend £150. Ok sir, may I suggest a different pet.

Your answer is then False: They did not agree on a price.

 

The listening then gets harder after you've done the first page full of easy questions like this. Bearing in mind it's 45 minute exam or something similar. You'll then go on to hearing phone conversations between two people and have to answer questions as you go on a pre printed answer page. Again for example. A Someone calls a gym and asks about joining. They ask fees etc and say they'd like to join. The other person asks for address credit card number etc. While listening to this you fill out the blank spaces on the sheet. Address: 27 ............ road. You then fill out the name of the road and all the other spaces as the conversation goes on.

 

The whole exam is fairly similar but as it goes on the conversations getting harder to understand what's being said. They use different people talking too with different accents from around the world and UK. Geordie, Mancunion, Londoner, Kiwi, Ozzie etc etc.

 

Reading exam:

 

As before the reading exam starts relatively easy and gets harder the further along you get. You get an answer page and a questions page for this one.

There are paragraphs on subjects then there are whole newspaper articles about things with several paragraphs. The questions are generally in order to the paragraphs so if you answer question 1 and you find the answer in the third paragraph, then question 2 will be found in paragraphs 4,5,6,7 etc and not in 1 or 2.

The questions are also not easy like :in which paragraph does Dave talk about the blue bike. and you look in paragraph 3 say, and it says john and dave are looking at a blue bike it's much sneakier than that and more complicated so make sure you understand what you are reading and what is being said.

 

Example only in my own words: In the early 1920's, prohibition was undertaken by the US government in a hope to appease the clergy and try to restrict poverty in the lower classes of the US.

 

The question would be: Why did the American politicians and priests ban Alcohol in the early 20th century?

Answer would be: to restrict poverty.

 

You need to know what prohibition is, another word for politicians is government and that the 1920's was in the early 20th century. So read carefully what is on the question sheet and keep going back to it if you're not sure about the question. Try to find something you recognise in the question to one of the paragraphs. And bear in mind you might have a whole newspaper article to go through. Read the instructions too, they tell you if it will be 1, 2 or 3 word answers so if you put 4 words when it wants 3, even if you include the correct 3 words and add one more, you fail that question.

 

Writing Exam:

 

 

This was easier in that it was just two subjects and we were told to write two letters/essays on the subjects given.

The first, (for me) was, you have completed a course at college and are unhappy with the fascilities at the college, write a letter to the head of the college, tell him why you are writing, what you are unhappy with, and how you suggest they resolve this. Write 150 words minimum. You have 20 mins for this task.

 

Make sure you do write at least 150 words, you will lose marks for doing less. Make sure you cover the 3 subjects they've asked you to AND in the order they've put it, you will lose marks if you miss one or do them in a different order.

 

The second for me was: Some people say that the money spent on expensive parties or weddings these days is too much and un-neccesary. Discuss both sides of this argument and include any of your own experiences and examples. You have 40 mins and must write a minimum of 250 words.

Again do the 250 words or lose marks.

 

The timing is very strict and I suggest doing it in pencil so you can rub out any mistakes and correct them without trying to scrunch up small words in biro above your scribbled out piece. I changed the structure of a number of sentences when reading through it because it didn't sound right.

 

Spelling, grammar and punctuation are all being marked so don't try to use long impressive words you don't know how to spell.

 

Lunch:

 

 

We finished these exams (in one sitting remember) about 3 hours worth, at 1 o clock. Time for lunch. No you can't get your phone back, we didn't have anywhere to buy lunch on site. I took mine with me in the car and others went to local shops to get something.

We also then had a wait till our alloted speaking test time. Mine was at 3.40 another guy I'd met there had his at 5.10. You can't change this you just have to wait around until its your time.

 

Speaking test:

For me the speaking test was quite easy as I can waffle very well, (as you've noticed in this thread).

Again you wait in a room all together until called. You are shown to a room door closed and a seat outside. and are told to sit on the seat until called. When ready the examiner will call you in.

Forget all your practising of talking and thinking of long impressive words to put into a conversation there is no chance of 'free talking' about your own subject.

 

The examiners are quite stern (ours all were anyway) and don't really engage in a two way conversation. They will ask you a question or what you think of something and then sit back and let you talk until they say stop. They want more, a lot more than one word answers. If they ask you what is your fave food, don't just say cheesecake. Say well, I'm very partial to cheesecake, baked mostly but I enjoy all cheesecakes. I once had one in Spain which was amazing but never been able to find one like it since. It came close once when i bought one.....etc etc etc. The examiner will cut you off and stop you when they've heard enough.

 

My examiner started out asking me where I lived, again not just Mayland in Essex, it's Mayland in Essex which is a small village just outside........ etc etc.

Then she went on with questions about my job, my family. Then asked me what I thought about living in cities compared to living in the countryside.

 

Her subjects of what she asked me about were all over the place to see if I can communicate and express what I was trying to say. Even if it was, I don't really have a thought about it to be honest. It's all about communication and are you easy to communicate with and get information from.

 

I was aksed to talk for 1 to 2 mins on the subject of how my home town has changed. I was given 1 minute to make notes and then told to go. I picked where I was born and brought up not where i live now. I also explained that, that's what I was going to talk about and why because that took up 20 seconds and is all part of communicating.

 

It lasted about 15 mins and after talking to other people there found out the talking examiners had a booklet of subject headings to ask so that each person they saw got asked different questions so you didn't get people coming out and telling everyone else what was asked so they could prepare.

 

 

And that's it guys.

I'm sorry I've rambled on but I really wanted to give a detailed description of MY day as for me the worse thing about going into that day was not knowing anything about how it would be and what i'd be expectiing.

 

Good luck to you all doing this stage of your migration and any questions If I can help please ask.

 

Tosh

 

P.S aside from the link I was given to log into the IELTS practice exams I also found a load of practice exams just by googling IELTS exams so have a look through and get as much diversity in your practice as possible.

[huythai]

Hi All,

I thought I'd post this looooong explanation as to what I found was involved in my IELTS test purely because I had to do it walking into the unknown and couldn't find anything to tell me exactly what I should be expecting. Apologies if there are older threads on here saying the exact same thing.

 

It was advised to me by our agent to do this step first as it's the cheapest part of the whole process and if we didn't make a minimum pass mark we wouldn't have enough points to continue on anyway. so here goes.

 

Test day:

 

Arrived at test center on a Saturday and was ushered to waiting room for General Training exams. Academic test takers went to a different room.

 

Sat at a large table and chatted to the test takers to quell the nerves. Guy sat at a desk calling a register, when your name is called went up with my passport, he checked passport and took my mobile phone and locked it in a secure box. You will not see your phone/blackberry/pda etc etc until your day has finished and you're leaving the building.

 

Eventually the time came and register guy told us all to follow him to the building next door. We all waited in a room and one by one was called, by name, into the exam room where he checked our passport again and showed us to our designated desk. Which had a piece of paper on it with your candidate number, picture and time on it for your spoken exam.

 

All the desks are individual and seperate just like when you took your school exams.

 

We were then told we are doing 3 sections of the exam in here and straight away. Listening, reading and writing. One after the other with no breaks. If you require to go to the toilet you raise your hand, take your passport with you, an exam moderator will also go with you and wait with you then escort you back to the room where your passport will be checked again. You cannot leave the room in the last 5 mins of any exam.

 

You are allowed to take, pens pensils and a drink in a clear bottle only. Pens and pensils are provided if you forget. If you forget your passport you will not be allowed to sit any exam and will lose your money and have to apply again.

 

Everything about the exams are strict, very strict. Your time limit, talking etc. We got a countdown to the end of our written exam eg 10 mins left, 5 mins left, 1 min left and when the examiner said stop writing. one woman carried on to finish the sentence she was writing. He then took her exam paper off her and scrubbed out the last sentence she wrote. When he/she says stop , then stop.

 

The exams:

 

Listening first.

 

For us it was the listening exam first. You're given a multiple choice answer paper with true/false/not specified or black/blue/green or whatever answers relate to each question. Further on it changes to worded answers where you fill in the blanks with one or two words.

The examiner then explains what's involved and plays a CD with people talking on. Follow what is asked from you. EG. CD says: In this first conversation you will here two people talking about buying a dog. They agree on a price.

Conversation goes:. Hello, I'd like to buy a dog. Certainly sir, we have one for £200. Hmm that's a bit expensive. I really only wanted to spend £150. Ok sir, may I suggest a different pet.

Your answer is then False: They did not agree on a price.

 

The listening then gets harder after you've done the first page full of easy questions like this. Bearing in mind it's 45 minute exam or something similar. You'll then go on to hearing phone conversations between two people and have to answer questions as you go on a pre printed answer page. Again for example. A Someone calls a gym and asks about joining. They ask fees etc and say they'd like to join. The other person asks for address credit card number etc. While listening to this you fill out the blank spaces on the sheet. Address: 27 ............ road. You then fill out the name of the road and all the other spaces as the conversation goes on.

 

The whole exam is fairly similar but as it goes on the conversations getting harder to understand what's being said. They use different people talking too with different accents from around the world and UK. Geordie, Mancunion, Londoner, Kiwi, Ozzie etc etc.

 

Reading exam:

 

As before the reading exam starts relatively easy and gets harder the further along you get. You get an answer page and a questions page for this one.

There are paragraphs on subjects then there are whole newspaper articles about things with several paragraphs. The questions are generally in order to the paragraphs so if you answer question 1 and you find the answer in the third paragraph, then question 2 will be found in paragraphs 4,5,6,7 etc and not in 1 or 2.

The questions are also not easy like :in which paragraph does Dave talk about the blue bike. and you look in paragraph 3 say, and it says john and dave are looking at a blue bike it's much sneakier than that and more complicated so make sure you understand what you are reading and what is being said.

 

Example only in my own words: In the early 1920's, prohibition was undertaken by the US government in a hope to appease the clergy and try to restrict poverty in the lower classes of the US.

 

The question would be: Why did the American politicians and priests ban Alcohol in the early 20th century?

Answer would be: to restrict poverty.

 

You need to know what prohibition is, another word for politicians is government and that the 1920's was in the early 20th century. So read carefully what is on the question sheet and keep going back to it if you're not sure about the question. Try to find something you recognise in the question to one of the paragraphs. And bear in mind you might have a whole newspaper article to go through. Read the instructions too, they tell you if it will be 1, 2 or 3 word answers so if you put 4 words when it wants 3, even if you include the correct 3 words and add one more, you fail that question.

 

Writing Exam:

 

 

This was easier in that it was just two subjects and we were told to write two letters/essays on the subjects given.

The first, (for me) was, you have completed a course at college and are unhappy with the fascilities at the college, write a letter to the head of the college, tell him why you are writing, what you are unhappy with, and how you suggest they resolve this. Write 150 words minimum. You have 20 mins for this task.

 

Make sure you do write at least 150 words, you will lose marks for doing less. Make sure you cover the 3 subjects they've asked you to AND in the order they've put it, you will lose marks if you miss one or do them in a different order.

 

The second for me was: Some people say that the money spent on expensive parties or weddings these days is too much and un-neccesary. Discuss both sides of this argument and include any of your own experiences and examples. You have 40 mins and must write a minimum of 250 words.

Again do the 250 words or lose marks.

 

The timing is very strict and I suggest doing it in pencil so you can rub out any mistakes and correct them without trying to scrunch up small words in biro above your scribbled out piece. I changed the structure of a number of sentences when reading through it because it didn't sound right.

 

Spelling, grammar and punctuation are all being marked so don't try to use long impressive words you don't know how to spell.

 

Lunch:

 

 

We finished these exams (in one sitting remember) about 3 hours worth, at 1 o clock. Time for lunch. No you can't get your phone back, we didn't have anywhere to buy lunch on site. I took mine with me in the car and others went to local shops to get something.

We also then had a wait till our alloted speaking test time. Mine was at 3.40 another guy I'd met there had his at 5.10. You can't change this you just have to wait around until its your time.

 

Speaking test:

For me the speaking test was quite easy as I can waffle very well, (as you've noticed in this thread).

Again you wait in a room all together until called. You are shown to a room door closed and a seat outside. and are told to sit on the seat until called. When ready the examiner will call you in.

Forget all your practising of talking and thinking of long impressive words to put into a conversation there is no chance of 'free talking' about your own subject.

 

The examiners are quite stern (ours all were anyway) and don't really engage in a two way conversation. They will ask you a question or what you think of something and then sit back and let you talk until they say stop. They want more, a lot more than one word answers. If they ask you what is your fave food, don't just say cheesecake. Say well, I'm very partial to cheesecake, baked mostly but I enjoy all cheesecakes. I once had one in Spain which was amazing but never been able to find one like it since. It came close once when i bought one.....etc etc etc. The examiner will cut you off and stop you when they've heard enough.

 

My examiner started out asking me where I lived, again not just Mayland in Essex, it's Mayland in Essex which is a small village just outside........ etc etc.

Then she went on with questions about my job, my family. Then asked me what I thought about living in cities compared to living in the countryside.

 

Her subjects of what she asked me about were all over the place to see if I can communicate and express what I was trying to say. Even if it was, I don't really have a thought about it to be honest. It's all about communication and are you easy to communicate with and get information from.

 

I was aksed to talk for 1 to 2 mins on the subject of how my home town has changed. I was given 1 minute to make notes and then told to go. I picked where I was born and brought up not where i live now. I also explained that, that's what I was going to talk about and why because that took up 20 seconds and is all part of communicating.

 

It lasted about 15 mins and after talking to other people there found out the talking examiners had a booklet of subject headings to ask so that each person they saw got asked different questions so you didn't get people coming out and telling everyone else what was asked so they could prepare.

 

 

And that's it guys.

I'm sorry I've rambled on but I really wanted to give a detailed description of MY day as for me the worse thing about going into that day was not knowing anything about how it would be and what i'd be expectiing.

 

Good luck to you all doing this stage of your migration and any questions If I can help please ask.

 

Tosh

 

P.S aside from the link I was given to log into the IELTS practice exams I also found a load of practice exams just by googling IELTS exams so have a look through and get as much diversity in your practice as possible.

 

in contrast, we would thank you a lot for your kindness.

[Guest Wrighty2012]

Tosh - you deserve a HUGE thank you for this!! Incredibly helpful to others that will sit the exam going forward I'm sure. You're a star for taking the time out to write this!

[Guest Dicey390]

Thank you for the info, this will be my first step towards migrating to oz. I need the points too!

 

I was thinking it would be easy, being English, but now realise I may have to get some practice in!

[82rhoads]

Thankyou Tosh, i have my ilets next saturday and really welcome an insight like this. I feel a little more prepared now!

[toOZ2012]

Excellent Job, Tosh!

[klm081]

Hi guys! Tosh what a fabulous post! It would have helped me a great deal. I sat the academic test twice as I needed all 8.0s to get more points and the first time I got 7.5 in the writing part. Although it was expensive to do a second time I do think I was calmer as I knew what to expect. It is definately alot harder than I was expecting! I struggled with the reading - it definately gets harder and more detailed throughout and the time pressure doesn't help! I would advise that when you sit the test try and stay calm and take the time to at least skim the text all the way through and try to identify trends. I did this and using pencil highlighted bits, dates and names etc so that I could find them quicker when it came to answering the questions. If you are running out of time and are stuck do not leave any answers blank - just guess!

 

For the writing exam each time I had a graph to interpret and then a question. There were more marks for question two than for one so spend more time on the second one. I really panicked with this as I am not good when under time pressure so I babbled in random order for these and took absolutely no time to structure my answers. The second test I sat I was more prepared and tackled it like an essay with a start, middle and end and justified everything I said and I'm sure thats what got me the extra half a mark!

 

The question was about my opinion on businesses / companies moving from built up cities to more residential areas. What are the advantages and disadvantages of such a decision? The question on my first test was about e learning and whether that is replacing the physical teacher student experience. It asked to reflect on your own experiences.

 

I had a long wait between these tests and the speaking exam each time which was a pain as you have more time to get nervous. They give nothing away at all during the test and some of the questions made me giggle throughout! I was asked what my opinion was on birds! And whether they had a specical meaning to my culture! They always ask a question that will get you speaking for a while - each time they gave it to me written on a piece of paper and I was told to think for a minute before replying. The question in my first test was to talk about a song / piece of music that is important to me. In the second I was asked to speak about an experience that sticks out in my head to do with the weather! I would practice practice practice. A minute or two is actually a long time to speak about something when you are put on the spot!

 

Hope that might help someone! Good luck!

[Guest yodayoda]

thank you this is so helpful! I have been told that I will need a score of 7, is this quite 'easy' to get?

[smithinoz]

My speaking (2 mins) was about the job I do and where I have worked. The questions he asked were about the importance of premises for businesses, including location, and whether image is important to businesses.

 

My letter was to a college to complain about the facilities.

 

The essay was an opinion based essay on family celebrations (weddings, birthday parties etc) and whether of not they are a waste of money.

 

The reading was on childcare facilities and the development of the film industry. Cant remember the other one I'm afraid.

 

Can't really remember the listening topics - think it was buying concert tickets, leisure centre membership and specialist training facilities for professional swimmers.

[Candygirl]

What a great post Tosh - I think it will really help others in future.

 

Good Luck on your Results.

[Tosh]

Really glad people finding this thread useful. and 82Rhodes great pic. Oh for a tash like the Magnum lol

 

Good luck to those of you taking the test, even if you only need 7's don't think it'll be a walk in the park, you will still need a 78% pass rate in all papers to get that overall 7, which when you look at roughly 30 questions per exam you're only allowed to fluff 4 maximum. per paper that is.

 

Aim for the ceiling and you might reach somewhere near, aim for the stars and you're sure to reach great heights.

 

Practice practice practice and go for 9's we could all do with a few extra points and help to get to where we want to be. If you get 9's in the IELTS or 8's and only need 7's you can afford to not do as well in the TRA/VETASSES etc. I've also heard that if you actually have more than the 65 points required the powers that be are less likely to push for more work confirmation from you or for you to prove your financial position and greater detail.

 

In the words of a certain Supermarket, Every little helps.

[Tosh]

Oh and Candy girl I got them Friday. 8 days after taking the exam. 8.5, 8.5, 8,5 and 9.0 was well chuffed as I needed at least 7's. Don't know yet how many extra points that gives me yet though.

[delyth]

Hi everyone,just thought I'd mention a small tip when taking the IELTS. I had to do the Academic, and having looked some examples of previous reading samples used, decided to allocate 10 mins for the 1st sample, 15mins for the 2nd and then 20mins for the 3rd (as the last sample is longer and more detailed). This then allowed me a few minutes at the end to do a quick scan of the answer sheet before the allocated time was up, which meant I wasn't rushing at the end. This might not suit everyone but it worked for me.

Del x

[Guest Wrighty2012]

Yodayoda - one thing to remember (so you don't go through what my hubby did!!) is when they say you need a score of 7, it MUST be at least a 7 in all 4 categories!! So if you score 7.5, 7, 6.5, 9 = overall score of 7.5 it's a fail!! Because you scored a 6.5 in ONE section. that's what we found very disappointing. My hubby received his results, saw a score of 7.5 & thought he'd done it! He now has to re sit all 4 again, just because one section was 0.5 out.

 

Tosh has been a complete star in explaining the process!

 

Good luck for you exam!! Keeping fingers & toes crossed for you. 

[carajg]

Hi Delyth, just reading your post about the IELTS, my OH is sitting the general in a few weeks, I note you have said you need to sit the academic one. OH needs 20 points for visa application, have we applied for the correct test, what is the difference?

 

Any info is much appreciated.

[mapster]

Hi Delyth, just reading your post about the IELTS, my OH is sitting the general in a few weeks, I note you have said you need to sit the academic one. OH needs 20 points for visa application, have we applied for the correct test, what is the difference?

 

Any info is much appreciated.

 

General test is the one you want xx

[nic1171]

Hi Carajg some professions such as mine - nursing - require academic x

[Joanna82]

Both are fine for visa purposes. The general is considered easier by some, however the academic one allows for more false answers in the reading part.

[82rhoads]

Can i just ask,are you allowed to take a note pad into the room to practice any word structures for the writing section or to just generally take notes?

thanks,

Darren

[Barbie]

Can i just ask,are you allowed to take a note pad into the room to practice any word structures for the writing section or to just generally take notes?

thanks,

Darren

 

NO..... they are very strict with what you take into the exam room, only pens,pencils,eraser, sharpener and clear bottle of water(no juice or pop allowed ) only. They refused me to go in with a highlighter... if you need extra pieces paper to write on or jot things down you can ask from the invigilators.

[Dazling Daz]

Hi Magnum Daz

 

You can only take a black pen, pencil, rubber and sharpener. The listening and reading answers must be filled in in pencil so a computer can scan the answer sheet. The answers are A,B,C or D answers and you fill in a correct box. You can do the writing test in either black pen or pencil. You can make as many notes on the question sheets so you do not need a pad.

 

Good luck.

 

Kind Regards

 

Daz

[82rhoads]

Thanks everyone for the advice and tips,it's really helped me chill a bit:-) and as for the tash tosh...movember is coming!!

[Guest melanie79]

nic1171, im a nurse too and sitting the ielts in may, i was informed it was the general training test. your getting me worried now! & tosh your advise has been a real help, thanku! mel

[Guest melanie79]

nic1171, im a nurse too and sitting the ielts in may, i was informed it was the general training test. your getting me worried now! & tosh your advise has been a real help, thanku! mel

[Tosh]

Hey Rhoads,

First Movember, then Decembeard, then Fanuary (not sure how I'll go with that one) and finally Assgust lol. Any advances for hairy months people?