jon83 Posted May 14, 2015 Share Posted May 14, 2015 Hi guys, I recently did the IELTS test and I got an overall band score of 8.5. Unfortunately I only got a 7.5 on my writing part of the test, which came as a big shock to me. I'm comfortable expressing myself in writing and I felt I did a good job on the writing part of the test. I have a feeling the 7.5 grade is due to my handwriting (I'm a left hander!) and if that's the case I think it's a bit unfair because that doesn't say anything about my English. I had prepared a lot for the test, as I'm not a native speaker, but there's no way I can improve my hand-writing, so there is no use in me preparing even more and doing the test again. I had already prepared as much as I could for the test. What do you guys recommend doing? Should I request a re-marking of the test and can it help? I needed 8.0 in all parts of the test to get my 60 points for a PR. I got 8.5 in listening, 9.0 in reading and 8.5 in speaking, so a 7.5 in writing doesn't really make sense to me. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Bungo Posted May 14, 2015 Share Posted May 14, 2015 It is up to you whether you get a remarking or not. Speaking and writing might be upgraded but you just never know do you. It takes a little while though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
toNjus Posted May 14, 2015 Share Posted May 14, 2015 I don't think it's fair that you don't get told where you went wrong and you should only have to re sit the low score result. You say it may be your hand writing, but you'll never know for sure it could be all sorts of reasons. It takes up to 6 weeks to hear back and costs,I think about £60 and you may not get that result either. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Azh Posted May 14, 2015 Share Posted May 14, 2015 I looked into this and I couldn't find many people who managed to get a successful re-mark. I also read that it can take up to 3 months to get it done. My advise would be to just take the test again and make sure you understand what they are looking for in the writing part, which is an argumentative essay. If I can manage to get 7.5 in writing I'm sure someone like your self who is comfortable in writing essays can easily get the 8 you require. Just make sure you are giving them what they want. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
supercow Posted May 14, 2015 Share Posted May 14, 2015 Personally, I wouldn't bother. I was in the very same scenario, twice. You don't get feedback on your writing, which is a vile policy. If you feel that perhaps you can score higher, by all means it's worth a shot. Is the Pearson Academic test and option for you (i.e: do you have a centre near you and will your assessment authority allow PTE?) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon83 Posted May 15, 2015 Author Share Posted May 15, 2015 Thanks for the advice guys. I called up my local centre today and had a chat with them. They were pretty confident it wouldn't make a difference if I applied for a re-marking of the test. They said in 10 years nobody had gotten a better grade from complaining at their centre. But they were nice and they actually had a look at my papers and I was able to get some feedback. They had a look at the marking notes and they said the grammar and text cohesion was an 8, but that the task realisation probably was lacking a little bit. It sounded a bit strange to me because I tried to do exactly what they asked for and I read the text carefully, but I will have a look into the IELTS requirements for the written part before I decide whether or not I will request a re-marking. It's gonna cost me about £70, but a new test is £250 and I have to wait at least 4 weeks before I can do it... so if I'm still feeling confident after reading the requirements I think i will go for the re-marking. I appreciate your feedback and I will keep you updated if I go for the remarking :-) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
wrussell Posted May 15, 2015 Share Posted May 15, 2015 There are alternatives to IELTS, accepted by the DIBP, in which hanwriting is not a factor. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
kmrg Posted May 16, 2015 Share Posted May 16, 2015 Well it may give you confidence to know that I recently had a successful remark on writing from 7.5 upgraded to an 8. It did take about 7 weeks to come back, not sure how usual this is though. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
jon83 Posted May 16, 2015 Author Share Posted May 16, 2015 Congrats on your successful remark, happy to hear that and yes, that gives me more confidence it might be successful :-) @wrussel: Does the IELTS alternatives also award Skilled Migration points Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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