Listening Test IELTS

The IELTS Listening test takes about half an hour or 30 minutes. The 20 minutes is for listening the audio cd as well as answering the questions simultaneously, don't transfer it yet to your answer sheet as you have a lot of time to do this after the audio cd stops because you will be given 10 minutes to transfer all of the answers that you have written on the booklet.

Concentrate on listening and working out your vocabulary in this sub test is your vital key in getting a high band score (because sometimes there would be sound distractions from the outside and you might miss it if you can't focus.) as you would only hear the Audio cd once.

Listening tests has 40 questions overall and it has 4 sections and it is going to be more difficult as it progresses.

Section 1 and 2 are usually based on life or social situations like travel, new environment, ordering a new things, phone conversations and at least there are 2 speakers are being heard in the conversation but section 2 has only 1 person speaking because it is usually in an informative way like describing a place or reporting. While section 3 and 4 is based on education like group discussions, or a class presentation or feedback, describing a new environment. Section 4 in particular is more on a lecture or about anything that is in general interest.

When in times that you did not clearly heard a certain part of the conversation and has missed a question proceed to the next question as you can also miss that when your figuring out what you have missed. You can get check it back later when you have finished transferring your answers to the answer sheet and make an intelligent guess. And make sure every number is answered never leave it blank just make a guess or have that word filled that makes appropriate word to make it complete or just use a synonym (this maybe applicable on other questions but in numbers you cannot make an alternative for that so the best thing is to listen carefully).

What is IELTS?

The IELTS or International English Language Testing System (IELTS) examination is the most commonly taken by over a 100 different countries. It is designed to determine the students (or persons who are applying for work on an english speaking country) capability to learn further especially courses that are being used in a University or College.

In the IELTS, consists of four different tests. Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking. The Listening task is given for approximately 30 minutes depending on the time allotted. Reading task takes about 1 hour to be finished, as well as Writing. And lastly, for Speaking task it would depend on the interviewer but must not exceed for 15minutes.

There are two types of IELTS exam: one is the Academic module and this is used to assess the candidates eligibility to study into an undergraduate or post graduate courses. The General Training Module is for immigration purposes to English speaking countries such as, Australia, New Zealand, and UK. Also, General Training module allows candidates to pursue their studies at a diploma level.

The differences in Academic Module and the General Training Module in terms of the exam. The Academic Module's Reading and Writing tests are much more challenging than the General Training Module.

Most of the required band score required today are depending on the institution that you are applying for but mostly requires a 6.5 average on all bands and higher. Achieving this depends on your effort and understanding English as your second language. Hence, there is no passing or failing the exam.

The exam comprises of English terms that are from basic to advanced and it is also an advantage to try adding a new vocabulary when practicing.

Writing Test IELTS

In Academic Writing test IELTS, there are 2 main tasks. The first task requires you to write a minimum of 150 words essay either by describing a process or explaining things of how they work, a graph, chart, table,a comparison of objects, and a diagram. In this task, you must present the information in your own words and must be presented in a form report. The second tasks requires you to write a minimum of 250 words formal essay by either having to compare and give a solution to the problem given, justify an opinion and by presenting it. 

In General Writing Test IELTS, in the first task requires you to compose a letter formally, it depends on the given situation like returning a defective item bought from the store by trying to write a formal letter stating your reasons. In the second task is almost the same in the academic writing task 2.

In this test, you will be given 60 minutes to finish writing. 20 minutes is allotted for the first task and 40 minutes for the second task. The most successful key here is to practice a lot by doing a lot of writing exercises and having a mentor or a friend who has knowledge of constructing sentences very well. Also, time is the most important to keep in mind and you must meet the minimum required words for each tasks.

Speaking Test IELTS

In the Speaking Test of IELTS, This takes approximately 11 minutes to 15 minutes depending on the interviewer and how they assess your skill in speaking English. The examiner would record your entire conversation (don't be nervous just relax and answer the questions intelligently and show confidence to the interviewer). 

There are 3 parts in this test, in the first task, the interviewer might ask about your daily life, work, house, family, interests and any other general topics or knowledge that you have already known. In the second task, the interviewer would pick a random question, then you will be given a pen and a piece of paper for you to write key notes of your answer. After that you will be given 1 minute to prepare your answer. When your time is up you have 2 minutes to speak and answer the question. And if the 2 minutes exceed the interviewer may stop you or let you finish your answer. In the last part, the interviewer would ask follow up questions or related to the topic that you had just answered in the second task and you would be discussing by bringing out more ideas with the interviewer. After that, the interview is done and you could say goodbye and thanks to the interviewer.

The speaking test is rated according to these speaking skills:

• Fluency and Coherence is by expressing ideas and opinions clearly, without long pauses.
• Lexical Resource is by using a wide range of vocabulary
• Grammatical Range and Accuracy is by utilizing a wide range of sentence structure and rarely commits mistakes.
• Pronunciation is the intonation or articulation of the word correctly and easily understood.

Reading Test IELTS

Reading test in the IELTS would take about 60 minutes and there are 3 sections wherein there are also 3 passages with a length of approximately 2000-2500 words and has 40 questions as well. Most of the Articles came from present newspapers, books, magazines, and journals. The articles has a varying topics ranging from science and technology, new trends or discoveries, histories of a certain place or an origin of a thing, insects to animals, lifestyles and current events, and usually most are general topics are given as a passage. Some of the passages are quite challenging and questions are sometimes using difficult or deep vocabulary for the reader to be puzzled. The task would become much more harder when progressing in the test.

As you progress, write your answers on the answer sheet that you are sure of while the doubtful answers you could just decide which is your best answer later if you have enough time because strictly 60 minutes is given including transferring your answer or better yet, transfer your answer to the answer sheet every after 1 passage making sure or you confident with all of your answers. And always keep in mind that for every passage you would only have 20 minutes for each including transferring your answers to the answer sheet.

In reading test, you could start wherever you want either take the test 2 or 3 first then answer the 1st passage last. Be punctual in reading as this would also help you find words that are related to the question and encircling keywords are your best bet in this test as well as increasing your vocabulary as the test uses a lot of synonyms.