An Introduction to the IELTS Exam with Walkthrough

Welcome back to the cause. Everybody today what we’re going to look at is an introduction to eilts the whole aisle to exam not just the writing portion but the whole exam. So a warning before we begin if you have knowledge of the eilts exam if you have an understanding of it you know how it works you know how it’s structured then you can skip this lecture. You won’t be missing out on anything. It’s just for those students who have not done the test before. They’re not very confident about the structure. So if you have done the test before you know exactly how it’s structured then just skip to to the next blackshear. So for those of you that don’t know much about the iris exam then this lecture will bring you up to speed. So what is eilts I else is an acronym and it stands for the international English language testing system eilts to not let a lot of students confused out with I let’s it’s I felt IELTS it is the world’s most popular English language proficiency test taken by millions of students every year. In fact over two million tests are taken every year at the current rate and it’s rising all the time. It assesses all of your skills in English. Listening Reading Writing and Speaking and it is an exam which is accepted by schools universities employers and immigration authorities. But how is it structured. So here what we have is a general rule walkthrough. This looks a little bit intimidating but we’re going to take it a piece at a time. First of all eilts is separated into two modules so you can either choose the academic module or the general training module. It really depends on your requirements. Often when you are applying for university then you need to be doing the academic module while you are applying for visas for English speaking countries particularly with certain types of work. Then you’ll probably need the general training now in this course. We are focussing on tasks too. In the writing and it doesn’t really matter if you’re doing the academic or if you’re doing a general training module because in both modules in task two of the writing we do an essay an essay yes the questions are slightly different. Yes your approach can be slightly more informal and casual in the general training but everything that we look at in this course is going to be relevant to both modules. So let’s have a look at the exam itself. The exam starts with the listening component and in the listening component you have 30 minutes plus 10 minutes for transferring your answers and you have a four sections. There are 10 questions in each section which makes up 40 questions all together. Some important points to keep in mind. Only use a pencil and remember that the audio is played once only it will not be repeated for you after the listening comes the reading test. You have one hour for the reading test. Although you should try to save 10 minutes at the end for transferring your answers to the answer sheet there are three sections and there are 40 questions divided among those sections. Again answer in pencil only after the reading test comes the test that we’re interested in which is the writing test. Again you have one hour for the writing. They recommend 20 minutes for Task 1 where if you are doing the academic writing then you will be describing a graph or a diagram or a process or a map and if you are doing the general training rating then you will be writing a letter in task one and then they give you 40 minutes for Task 2 which is the essay. So two tasks two questions one question in each task. Some important points for Task 1 the minimum word count is 150 words. There is no maximum. But as we will speak about it’s good to try and keep it as close to the minimum as possible. So 150 words in task one and 250 words minimum in task to finally the speaking exam. This takes roughly 11 to 14 minutes depending on your answers and depending on the Examiner There are three parts with no set number of questions. And in part 1 you will have a general casual interview some pretty basic questions about your work your education where you live. In part two you will have to speak about a particular topic for one to two minutes and then in part three you have a discussion about that topic and gets progressively more difficult as you go along. So that is the eilts exam in a nutshell. And how is it scored. Firstly there is no pass or fail in eilts. If you ever hear me talking about passing the exam all I mean is that somebody has got to score that they require or that they haven’t. In which case they fail. But of course there is no fail in eilts you are graded in each component and the average gives you your score. So let’s imagine you have a six in listening 7 in reading 6 in writing and a 7 speaking. So your overall score is a six point five as is the average of all four components. I old schools are valid for two years after certification. Keep that in mind when you are applying for immigration or applying for universities. Some people forget about that. If you know you’ll see e f ask for c to see one be one be two. Then you can apply it to this little table here where you can match up your expected I band school with your cfr school. Finally I’ll school requirements different institutions require different schools. So look at this as a general guide not as a comprehensive and perfect guide. So in general a 5.5 to a 6 will give you entry to a University foundation course while a six to a six point five will give you entry to a bachelors degree course. A six point five to seven a give you entry to a masters degree course and a 7 and above. These schools are typically required to work in English speaking countries in professions such as medicine law accounting and academic research. But as I mentioned different institutions will take different scores so do make sure you research and find out exactly what you need in order to apply for your chosen institution or Visa. I hope you found this lecture useful and it’s given you a good idea of the eilts exam in general. If you didn’t know before. If you do have any questions do leave them in the comments section and I’ll see you in the next lecture.