IELTS

IELTS^TM OVERVIEW

The Academic version of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) Exam is required for study at a university in the UK, (and specifically the UK VI test), Ireland, Australia or New Zealand. In contrast to TOEFL’s emphasis on North American English, the IELTS emphasizes British English. The General Training version is required for immigration purposes to Australia, Canada, the UK and New Zealand.

The IELTS has four sections – Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking with a face to face oral examiner. The total test time is 2 hours and 45 minutes.

Scoring

There is no pass or fail in IELTS. Candidates are graded on their performance in the test, using scores from 1 to 9 for each part of the test – Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking. The results from the four parts then produce an Overall Band.

There is a 9-band scale whereby each band corresponds to a level of English competence. All parts of the test and the Overall Band Score can be reported in whole and half bands, for example: 6.5, 7.0, and 7.5.

Band 9 indicates an expert user who has full operational command of the language – appropriate, accurate and fluent with complete understanding. Generally for academic study a band level greater than 6.5 will be required and more usually a score of 7.0 is requested. Each university will specify its requirements for a course depending upon how linguistically demanding that particular course is.

Immigration authorities generally require Band 6 ½ as a minimum.

Why Should You Prepare for the IELTS With Hampshire Academy?

• We offer you one on one tutorials
• We give you tips and pointers for answering the questions correctly and quickly in the reading texts
• We provide a template for the Writing Tasks 1 and 2
• We grade your essay and insist on follow up essays until we are satisfied you will reach the band you require.
• We practice your listening skills with an authentic CD

Our IELTS Course