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August 2009

IELTS in UK– August 2009 (Academic Module)

According to A.N. from the UK, their Academic IELTS was very similar to the General Training exam in UK. The differences were in the Writing and Speaking sections. Here are the questions that appeared in Academic IELTS in the UK:

Writing test

Writing task 1 (report)
We had a graph that described the number of immigrants to USA, Canada and Australia between 1990 and 2000.
It was quite easy and clear.

Writing Task 2 (essay)
Nowadays a huge amounts of advertisement aimed at children. Some people think that it endangers children and should be banned.
To what extent do you agree or disagree?

Speaking test

Interview
– What is your name?
– Where are you from?
– Tell me about your accommodation in the UK.
– Is public transport available there?

Cue Card
Talk about a party you would like to hold, you should say:
– Where and when it will be,
– What the occasion is,
– Who you are going to invite,
– Whether you are likely to invite your family and friends.

Discussion
– Do you like to write letters?
– What was the last e-mail that you have written about and to whom?
– Do you like advertisements on TV or in magazines and why?
– What is a particular ceremony which is held in your country?
– What do you think about Olympic Games?

Thanks a lot to A.N. for sharing these questions.

Disappointed with your IELTS Result?

If you are disappointed with your IELTS result, you have 2 options:

1. Take the IELTS test again or
2. Ask for re-marking.

Many people were asking me about option # 2 and here is an explanation of what’s involved.

If you believe that you deserve a better score than you were awarded, you can ask for re-marking of your results. You can ask to re-mark the whole test or any part of it (Listening, Reading, Writing, or Speaking). Of course there is a fee, which is roughly a half of the normal IELTS test fee. If your result is changed to a higher score, the fee is refunded.

If you decided to go for remarking, here is what you need to do. Within 6 weeks of your test date, get a form called “IELTS Enquiry on Results Form” from your test center, fill in your name, address, the tests you want to have remarked, sign and date it. Pay the fee and expect your answer back within 6 weeks from the day they receive it at Cambridge.

Here is what happens next: your test paper, your writing or your tape recorded during the Speaking test will be re-marked by a different examiner – not the one in your local test center, but by a trained clerical marker (for Reading and Listening answers) or a Cambridge ESOL-appointed Examiner, employed by the British Council or IDP.

In my opinion, unless you are very sure they’ve misread your answers, in the Reading and Listening there isn’t much of a chance to get a higher score. On the other hand, in the Writing and Speaking your chances are much better, because the score does depend on who marks the work, to some extent.

Let me tell you a true story of A from Romania. She took the IELTS test and was very confident and positive about her results, however… the results arrived and she got only 6.5 in Speaking. A immediately appealed, because she was confident that she deserved more (and her scores in the other sections were also much higher, Bands 8 – 7.5).

Later on she got really pessimistic, after talking to people who assured her that IELTS folks will never give her a higher score because of some kind of conspiracy, that by giving her a higher score, IELTS organization will admit to their guilt and they are never going to do that.

Two month later, a very happy A wrote me a letter about her score being raised from 6.5 to 7 and her money was refunded. Apparently the examiner at Cambridge disagreed with the local Romanian examiner and thought A was a Band 7 candidate.