Mumbai: IELTS, the International English Language Testing System, is designed to assess the language ability of candidates who plan to pursue study or work where English is used as the language of communication. Do you aspire to study in universities in the UK and other countries IELTS? IELTS is required for entry to universities in the UK and other countries
IELTS is the International English Language Testing System, the world’s proven English language test. IELTS was one of the pioneers of four skills English language testing over 25 years ago, and continues to set the standard for English language testing today. This international English test is trusted by more than 9,000 institutions worldwide across 140 countries including government, academic and employment institutions.
IELTS is jointly owned by British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia and Cambridge English Language Assessment. IELTS is the world’s most popular English language test as more than 2.5 million IELTS tests are taken each year. In India the British Council offers IELTS tests in 42 locations in India. The registration fee for IELTS is INR 11,300 in India.
There are two types of the IELTS test: IELTS Academic and IELTS General Training.
IELTS Academic: If you aspire to study in universities or higher educational institutes in an English speaking environment. The IELTS Academic test is for you. It reflects some of the features of academic language and assesses whether you are ready to begin studying or training.
IELTS General Training: Candidates, who are planning to going to English speaking countries for secondary education, work experience or training programs, require to appear the IELTS General Training test. Further, it is also a requirement for migration to Australia, Canada, New Zealand and the UK. The test focuses on basic survival skills in broad social and workplace contexts.
Test Pattern: The IELTS test aims at assessing your abilities in listening, reading, writing and speaking. These tests are done in less than three hours. The Listening (30 minutes), Reading (60 minutes) and Writing (60 minutes) components of all IELTS tests are completed on the same day, with no breaks in between them. The Speaking component (11-14 minutes), however, can be completed up to a week before or after the other tests while the test centre will advise. The total test time is 2 hours and 45 minutes.
For the IELTS Academic and IELTS General Training tests, Listening and Speaking are the same for both tests, but the subject matter of the Reading and Writing components differs depending on which test you take.
Growing test takers: The number of IELTS tests taken has increased year-on-year annually, with 2.7 million tests taken in 2015. Further, the usual study destinations for IELTS test takers are the UK, USA, Canada and Australia. In 2015, the students from the Philippines and Malaysia scored the highest average mean band of 6.8 in Asia in IELTS. Students from India scored average mean band of 5.9 in 2015.
