SayaGyi - the BIG teacher

Introduction

The International English Language Testing System (known as IELTS, which is pronounced a bit like this: eye-else) is an important examination for many people around the world who want to study in English. It can be a bit frightening, so here is some information to set your mind at rest (I hope).

The test is a partnership between three organisations (find out more at www.ielts.org).

There are two "strands", depending on what you're taking the examination for. The Academic Module is for people who want to do serious study for a bachelor's degree or higher, whereas the General Training Module is geared more towards immigration, or work training. If you're in any doubt about this, it's probably best to go for the Academic Module, because it's usually acceptable for everyone, but the General Training Module probably won't be acceptable to an academic institution.

The test consists of four parts:

Part 1: Listening

Everyone takes the same listening test, whether they're Academic candidates or doing General Training. The listening paper aims to be quite realistic (unlike other tests, such as the TOEFL) and takes between 30 and 40 minutes. You have to write all your answers AS YOU LISTEN, on the question paper, then you get about 10 minutes to transfer the answers onto a separate answer sheet. There are usually about 40 questions, split up into 4 sections:

Section 1 involves someone trying to get some information from someone else - so there are two voices. You have a form to fill in, or some sentences with gaps in them, and you have to listen out for the missing information. Not too difficult for most people.

Section 2 is a talk - one voice only - not very academic, more social in nature. It could be a senior student talking to freshers, or the organiser of a conference talking to delegates, or anything like that. Sometimes you have an agenda, or a schedule, and some of the information might be wrong, and you have to identify the wrong information and correct it. Again, not too difficult.

Section 3 is usually a conversation - it could be two or three voices - and it usually concerns something connected (sometimes loosely) with life at a university or college. It could be almost anything, from grading the coffee in different departments of the Uni to hiring a bicycle for sight-seeing. A little more tricky than the first two parts.

Section 4 is frequently a kind of academic lecture - so it's one voice, and the answers are sometimes a bit hard to find. In the past, there have been talks on acid rain, on George Washington, on all sorts of things.

To score a Band 6, you need to get about 25 correct. For a Band 7, it's best to aim at 31 out of 40.

Part 2: Reading

The reading paper takes 60 minutes, and the Academic one is different from the General Training one. Here, I'll deal with the Academic module.

There are usually about 40 questions, split up into 3 Reading Passages. The kinds of questions cover quite a range: there are straight-forward factual questions, there are sometimes multiple-choice questions (no more than 4 choices, usually), and there could be a summary to fill in, using words from the text.

However - there are two kinds of questions which really scare lots of people in the Reading paper. They are Heading Matching and Yes/No/Not Given.

With Heading Matching, you have to read each paragraph carefully and then identify a heading which summarises what that paragraph is all about. You have to be very careful not to go for headings which just pick up a detail from the paragraph. Read for the gist!

The Yes/No/Not Given questions are really nasty. You have to read the passage carefully, then read a statement, and decide whether the statement reflects what the writer actually wrote (Yes), or contradicts it (No), or whether there is just no information about the statement in the passage (Not Given). This takes lots of practice, but it can be mastered. Patience and determination, as well as a huge portion of confidence really help here!

You have to write all your answers on the question paper, but before your hour runs out you have to transfer your answers to the answer sheet. There's no extra time for this, so I recommend that, as you finish each Reading Passage, you should transfer all the answers for that Passage in a block before you do the next Passage. That way, if you run out of time, you don't have 40 answers to transfer quickly.

Part 3: Writing

The Writing paper takes 60 minutes in total and, like the Reading paper, is different for Academic and General Training, but both types consist of two tasks:

Academic Writing Task 1 is an exercise in converting information from a graphic form (a chart, a diagram, a line graph, a bar chart, a pie-chart, an illustration of some equipment ...) into natural, easy-to-follow English. You get 20 minutes, roughly, and you should write at least 150 words, but don't go overboard. Limit yourself to less than 200 if possible.

Academic Writing Task 2 is an essay - usually argumentative and/or discursive. In other words, they give you a statement, or a question, and you have to write about it in quite high-level style, using accurate vocabulary and precise grammar. Remember - you're aiming to impress the examiner, so really pull out all the stops. You get 40 minutes (or whatever is left of the hour if you spend more than 20 minutes on Task 1) and you should write at least 250 words.

This takes a lot of practice, and so I've devoted a separate page on this website just to Academic Writing.

General Training Task 1 usually involves writing a letter, often complaining about something. 20 min, ± 150 words. General Training Task 2, on the other hand, is a fairly simple, straight-forward essay question. 40 min, ± 250 words.