What is IELTS exam?

 International English Language Testing System – an English Language proficiency test. IELTS is the world’s most popular English language proficiency test for higher education and global migration.

Types of IELTS exam ?

-          Academic: aims to secure university acceptance, student visas, and prove your English ability to professional organizations and studying or working abroad.

-          General : aims to measure your overall English proficiency. The content and tasks are generally less academic, but the exam format remains the same.

How can you take the exam ?

-          On computer

-          On paper

What is the difference between IELTS on computer and IELTS on paper?

• Listening

-On paper -

-          You will have an example that will be played first.

-          Spelling mistake counts as a mistake

-          You will have time to transfer your answers

-          Speakers are played in a large exam hall

 -On computer-

 -          No example will be played at first; exam will start right away

-           You will type the answers directly

-          For the matching questions you drag the answer to the answer box

-          True , false and not  given questions , you choose the answer ( no writing)

-          Spelling mistakes count

-          Not time to transfer the answers ; however you will be given time to check your answers Individual headsets

Reading

-On paper-

-          Spelling mistakes count as a mistake

-          (you will lose the mark even if the answer was correct)

-          You can underline the passage

 - You will not have extra time to transfer your answers

-On computer-

- Spelling mistakes count as a mistake

-           You can copy and paste the answer from the passage to avoid spelling mistakes

-          You can highlight the passage

-          The screen on split mood; you can see both the passage and the questions

-          Font size can be changed

Writing

-On paper-

-          You can write the whole passage in capital letters.

-          You will have to count the words to meet the task minimum words count

-On computer-

-          You cant write the whole passage in capital letters

-          Word count will be shown at the bottom of the screen

-          No autocorrection

-          You must be a fast typer

General notes on taking the exam on paper:

-      No watches are allowed

-     Wall clocks will be available in the exam hall

-     The instructor will shout out the time left until the end of the exam

-          The number of candidates is more

- Results within 13 days

-General notes on taking the exam on computer:

-          Watches are not allowed

-          Time will be displayed on the screen

-          No alarms will be given before the end of the exam

-          The screen would shut immediately if time finished

-          You will have a video played before each section explaining each section

- The number of candidates is less

- Results within 1-5 days

Components

Listening – reading – writing – speaking

Duration of the exam:

2 hours and 45 minutes

Listening – reading – writing are taken in one session with no breaks between the sections

Speaking can be done on the same day or scheduled on another day

Breakdown of the sections

Listening :

There are 40 questions including multiple answer questions, matching , writing and -true, false, not given – questions .

Audio will be played once only and becoming progressively more challenging.

Example:
first you need to only look for question 1-5 then 6-13 and so on.

#tricks:

1-Underline the sentence above and below the blank

2- think of a synonym for the word or sentence before the blank

3- pay attention the sentence structure to anticipate if it is a verb or a noun

4- the answer should be in the same format of what you listen; if the audio says beautiful then the answer should be beautiful and not beauty.

5- if you miss an answer, stay calm and move on to the next question.

Reading:

There are 3 passages on the reading section.

For each passage 20 minutes ( total 1 hour)

The difficulty of the passage will increase; the first passage is easier than the second passage and the second passage is easier than the third passage.

Depending on your English proficiency, there are 2 ways to tackle the reading section

If you are a slow at reading \ scanning, start with reading the questions first and underline the keywords

If you are fast at reading \scanning, read the passage first to have an overview and then start reading the questions.

#Tricks

-          Reading is not your enemy if you can read fast and have a good English

-          Always underline\highlight your keywords both in the passage and the questions

-          Look for synonyms (it is all about synonyms)

-          While reading\ skimming underline the following ( country names – years – numbers – people’s names)

-          Regarding ( true – false – not given) questions:

·       True : states a fact in the passage (could be direct or inferred)

·       False: contradicts a statement in the passage

·       Not given: the information may not be mentioned at all or incomplete

- Practice under time conditions, so you get used to the exam pressure

- As the passages gets difficult one by one, try to spend less time on the first passage and spend more time on the last passage.

Writing:

Format: Two tasks.

• Task 1: Minimum 150 words (20 minutes).

• Task 2: Minimum 250 words (40 minutes).

#tricks:

-  Task 2 carries more marks than task 1

- Familiarize yourself with the layout and requirements for each task to avoid losing marks.

- Refer to the grading system of IELTS for writing to meet the writing tasks

- Use synonyms to avoid repetition, though repeating a word twice is acceptable.

Speaking:

Takes about 10-14 minutes

Consists of 3 parts

Part 1(4-5 minutes): Introduction and general questions

Part 2(4minuntes): Cue Card will be given to you with a task about a topic , you will have time to prepare for the task then you need to speak about the topic for 2 min uninterrupted

Part 3: Discussion (4-5 minutes): a discussion about the topic will be held by the examiner

#tricks:

- You do not need to sound like a native

- Speak with comfort, even with an accent; they evaluate your English not your accent

- Pay attention to grammar

- You do not need to have a background about the topic; there is always something you can start with

- The topics are usually general and not challenging

- The examiner might stop you or interrupt you during the exam , do not panic , they are bound by time and questions limit