Update from an Academic IELTS exam, Scotland

Recent IELTS exams

A student from Scotland shared with us her IELTS experience. Thanks, Eva!

Listening test

Section 1. A primary school teacher booked a trip to sea-life centre (or something similar) (we had the fill in the gap tasks and multiple choice questions)
Section 2. A college lecturer presented information what to ask for on a university open day (we had to answer multiply choice questions and they were quite confusing)
Section 3.A university lecture gave information on water conservation (I think this was the easiest part, filling in the gaps only, you could hear the answers very clearly)
Section 4. Don’t remember.

Reading test

Passage 1. Bigger choice may lead to confusion and depression.
Passage 2. Birds, hatching, nesting, looking after the young (probably the most difficult, but the questions were easy to answer).
Passage 3. Life on Mars (easy to read and understand).
Tasks for all of them: multiple choice questions and true/false/not given

Writing

Writing Task 1 (a report)
We had a chart and a table describing the students working part-time in different age groups, number of hours a week and number of years to complete their course.

Writing Task 2 (an essay)

Should charity organizations provide aid to countries where it is needed, or should they only help their own country?
(I think this was a really silly topic, I had no ideas or vocabulary I could impress with)

Speaking test

Interview

Questions about myself, such as what is my name, do I visit parks, how are they important?

Cue Card

Describe a traditional event in your country. Please say:
– who attends it,
– when and where it happens,
– what people do in this event.

Discussion

– Have you forgotten about some traditions?
– Which ones? (my answer: “Well, if we forgotten the traditions than I cannot remember them, obviously, can I ?!”)
or
– If you believe that losing traditions is a part of evolution, do you think that Christmas will be canceled as well? (My answer: “That’s impossible, as long as Santa Clause lives, they can’t be canceled! [laugh].

The IELTS test score – an important change

As you all know, the IELTS score consists of 4 parts which are the scores for the Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking modules. Until now you could get half scores in the Listening and Reading tests, but for the Writing and Speaking you could only get whole bands (such as 6 or 7, but never a 6.5).

From 1 July 2007, as the IELTS official site www.ielts.org announced, the Writing and Speaking tests will also be graded using half-scores, just like the Reading and Listening. The reason for this change is to give students more accurate information on their skills. They also mentioned that students shouldn’t change a thing in the way they study.

Well, a change like that demands further research – I am going to look for more information about this and once I learn more – I promise to share 🙂