The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is a test that measures the language capability of individuals who need to study or work in situations where English is used as a language of correspondence. A simple 9-band scale unmistakably recognizes capability level, from non-user (band score 1) through to expert (band score 9). IELTS is the world's most recognized English language capability test for advanced education and global migration, with more than 2 million tests taken in the last year. IELTS evaluates your English skills, reading, writing, listening and speaking. It’s designed to reflect how you will use English in your new life overseas. The IELTS test is created by a portion of the world's leading experts in language appraisal. It has superb global notoriety and is acknowledged by more than 9,000 associations around the world, including schools, universities, employers, migration powers and professional bodies. You can take IELTS Academic or IELTS General Training, relying upon the organization you are applying to. The IELTS test assesses your reading, listening, writing and speaking abilities in under three hours. The test is available in two test formats; Academic or General Training, the total test time is 2 hours and 45 minutes. The qualification between IELTS Academic and IELTS General Training lies in the topic of the Reading and Writing segments. Tuning in, Reading and Writing must be finished around the same time, without any breaks in the middle of them. The order in which these tests are taken may fluctuate. The Speaking test will either be after a break around the same time as the other three tests or up to a week prior or after alternate tests.
Listening
You will listen to four recorded writings, monologs and discussions by a scope of local speakers, and write your responses to a progression of questions. These incorporate questions that test your ability to comprehend fundamental thoughts and definite accurate information, the capacity to understand the opinions and attitudes of speakers, capacity to understand the reason for articulation and the ability to follow the development of ideas. An assortment of voices and local speaker accents are used and every segment is heard just once.
Section 1- A discussion between two individuals set in an ordinary social context.
Section 2- A monolog set in an ordinary social setting, e.g. a speech about nearby offices.
Section 3- A conversation between up to four individuals set in an educational or training setting, e.g. a college tutor and an understudy discussing a test.
Section 4- A monolog on a scholastic subject, e.g. a college lecture.
Academic Reading
The Reading part comprises of 40 questions. An assortment of question type is used in order to test an extensive variety of reading skills. These incorporate reading for essence, reading for main ideas, reading for subtle element, skimming, understanding the coherent argument and recognizing writers' opinions, attitude and reason. The Academic adaptation includes three long messages which range from the descriptive and factual to the verbose and investigative. The writings are valid and are taken from books, diaries, magazines, and newspapers. These have been chosen for a non-specialist group audience yet are suitable for individuals entering university courses or looking for expert enrollment.
General Training Reading
The Reading section comprises of 40 questions. An assortment of question types is set to test a great variety of reading skills. These incorporate reading for substance, reading for main ideas, reading for point of interest, skimming, understanding the coherent argument and recognizing writers’ opinions, attitudes and reason. The General Training variant requires test takers to read extricates from books, magazines, daily papers, notices, ads, organization handbooks, and rules. These are materials you are prone to encounter regularly in an English-speaking environment.
Academic Writing
The Writing segment of IELTS Academic incorporates two tasks. Themes are of general interest to, and appropriate for test takers entering undergrad and postgraduate studies or seeking expert enrollment.
Task 1- You will be given a diagram, table, graph or outline and will be asked to describe, summarize or clarify the information in your own words. You might be asked to describe and clarify information, describe the phases of a procedure, how something works or describe an item or occasion.
Task2- You will be asked to write an essay and give your point of view, argument or problem. Both responses must be written in a formal style.
General Training Writing
The Writing segment of IELTS General Training consists of two tasks which are based on general topics of interest.
Task 1- You will be given a scenario and asked to write a letter asking for information, or explaining the situation. This letter may be personal, semi-formal or formal in style.
Task 2-You will be required to write an essay in response to a given point of view, argument or situation. The essay can be more personal than the Academic Writing Task 2 essay.
Speaking
The Speaking segment surveys your use of spoken English and takes somewhere between 11 and 14 minutes to complete. Each test is recorded. The Speaking segment is delivered so as to not permit individuals to practice set reactions beforehand.
Part 1- The examiner will ask you general questions about yourself and other common topics, such as your family, studies, home, work and general interests. This takes about 4 to 5 minutes.
Part 2- You will be given a card which asks you to speak on a particular topic. You are given one minute to prepare before speaking for around 2 minutes. The examiner will then ask you an additional 2 questions on the same topic to complete this part of the test.
Part 3- You’re going to be asked additional questions on the topic mentioned in part2. These questions will give you room to discuss more ideas and issues. This usually takes between 4 and 5 minutes.
The IELTS test is available at more than 1 100 locations including over 50 locations in the USA and there are 48 test dates per year.