IELTS concerns

[Tommyers]

Hello,

I was wondering whether anyone had specific information about the marking of the IELTS tests.

 

To give this post some context, I am an English Secondary School teacher applying for a 189 Visa. So far I have acuminated 60 points, so I’d like to bolster my chances with the additional points awarded by completing the IELTS tests.

 

I have always considered myself relatively confident in relation to the four categories required; speaking, listening, writing and reading. However, after attempting some of the practice papers on the IELTS site, I am a little perturbed and concerned. Upon completion of certain sections I have had my answers marked incorrect when they are just a slight difference from the ‘correct’ answer.

A few examples:

A question requiring percentages, I wrote ‘85%’, the correct answer was ‘85’.

A question about someone’s inability to do something on a specific day, I wrote ‘she’s working’ the correct answer was ‘she is working’.

A question about the ideal size of a seminar class, I wrote ‘five and fifteen’ the correct answer was ‘5 and 15’!!!

I suppose my question is; is there a human element to the marking of these tests, or is it fully computerised?

Any advice would be of great help.

Tom

[DeniDeni]

I think they do allow for most of those differences but if you take a look at Dominic Coles IELTS website he breaks the marking down and gives useful advice on what they are looking for.

[Bungo]

Hello,

I was wondering whether anyone had specific information about the marking of the IELTS tests.

 

To give this post some context, I am an English Secondary School teacher applying for a 189 Visa. So far I have acuminated 60 points, so I’d like to bolster my chances with the additional points awarded by completing the IELTS tests.

 

I have always considered myself relatively confident in relation to the four categories required; speaking, listening, writing and reading. However, after attempting some of the practice papers on the IELTS site, I am a little perturbed and concerned. Upon completion of certain sections I have had my answers marked incorrect when they are just a slight difference from the ‘correct’ answer.

A few examples:

A question requiring percentages, I wrote ‘85%’, the correct answer was ‘85’.

A question about someone’s inability to do something on a specific day, I wrote ‘she’s working’ the correct answer was ‘she is working’.

A question about the ideal size of a seminar class, I wrote ‘five and fifteen’ the correct answer was ‘5 and 15’!!!

I suppose my question is; is there a human element to the marking of these tests, or is it fully computerised?

Any advice would be of great help.

Tom

 

I have never heard of anyone having problems like that with a real test. Perhaps it is just a duff practice test.

[annever]

Hello,

I was wondering whether anyone had specific information about the marking of the IELTS tests.

 

To give this post some context, I am an English Secondary School teacher applying for a 189 Visa. So far I have acuminated 60 points, so I’d like to bolster my chances with the additional points awarded by completing the IELTS tests.

 

I have always considered myself relatively confident in relation to the four categories required; speaking, listening, writing and reading. However, after attempting some of the practice papers on the IELTS site, I am a little perturbed and concerned. Upon completion of certain sections I have had my answers marked incorrect when they are just a slight difference from the ‘correct’ answer.

A few examples:

A question requiring percentages, I wrote ‘85%’, the correct answer was ‘85’.

A question about someone’s inability to do something on a specific day, I wrote ‘she’s working’ the correct answer was ‘she is working’.

A question about the ideal size of a seminar class, I wrote ‘five and fifteen’ the correct answer was ‘5 and 15’!!!

I suppose my question is; is there a human element to the marking of these tests, or is it fully computerised?

Any advice would be of great help.

Tom

 

The IELTS has 4 parts. Writing and speaking are marked by a human being :yes: , listening and reading are based on a multiple choice first read by Optical Mark Recognition, then double checked by a clerical marker.

[JEM44]

You should be fine, as long as you are fairly literate (which assuming a teacher would be) my personal experience would suggest you would be hard pushed to fail. The multi choice papers mean you only tick the answer you want, speaking goes without saying, that was just general conversation and the writing finishes with a bit of an essay. You will be fine, I practiced because of the failure stories and came out with four 9s, or 4 x 9 lol !!

good luck x

[Tommyers]

Thank you for all of the responses. Really put my mind at ease.

[Peachy]

Thank you for all of the responses. Really put my mind at ease.

 

I had a complete panic too when I first tried the tests - was so worried that I paid the extra online tuition fee and put in quite a few hours of practice. It is just a matter of working out what they want / how you are supposed to answer the question. I am sure that you will be fine.

 

When I turned up to the assessment I was the only one with a UK passport so felt a bit silly for worrying given my obvious advantage!