The majority of students have a lot of misconceptions about the IELTS exam. Whether it can be related to the number of efforts they need to put in to get their desired band scores or it can be a dilemma about choosing an IELTS center. This article will cover most of them in brief.

•       British Council or IDP which exam should I fill?
•       Which center should I choose for the exam?
•       Is grammar important in IELTS or not?
•       Should I need to follow the exam pattern?
•       How to prepare for the IELTS exam?
•       What kind of material should I use for practice?
•       Can I use memorize lines or phrases in writing and speaking?

 

1.     British Council or IDP which exam should I fill?

When it comes to filling the exam, students find it difficult to choose between whether I should go for BC? Some students think that the speaking section is more difficult in BC or the marking criteria is stricter as compared to IDP. The same kind of confusion is for IDP that their marking criteria for writing are not valid. They do not give higher marks to students in the writing module.

Here is the answer to this question. Both IDP and British council has the same exam criteria for assessing your language skills in all the four modules. Both are just different organizations but work according to the same guidelines of Cambridge University. Therefore, it would be totally inappropriate to think which is going to please you. You can find its public version here in this link here.

Public version for writing task 1 from the official IELTS website  –https://www.ielts.org/-/media/pdfs/writing-band-descriptors-task-1.ashx?la=en

Public version for writing task 2 from the official IELTS website

https://takeielts.britishcouncil.org/sites/default/files/ielts_task_2_writing_band_descriptors.pdf

2.     Which center should I choose for the exam?

 

Certainly not any of them. All the IELTS centers not only in Punjab or India but in any country around the world has the same kind of management practices and amount of verification and strictness. They also think if they apply for the center other than their own city or at some rural/less populated areas/where people do not use much English in their everyday lives, then it could help them to take advantage of it and eventually they will be scored higher than other candidates, especially in speaking module.

 

But I want to clarify that it’s a complete myth. Your exam has nothing to do with your test center. All the speaking examiners are going to use the same criteria for marking and will give marks accordingly. It does not matter how good or bad the candidate before you have performed. They have had the same training for examinations. All that matters is only the way how you performed in the exam, how you speak in front of the examiner. Here is a public version for your speaking test assessment that you can check.

Public version for speaking exam from ielts.org – https://www.ielts.org/-/media/pdfs/speaking-band-descriptors.ashx?la=en

3.     In which month should I take my exam?

Let us move to the next misconception that students think that they are going to fail the test if they fill it in the middle of the year. But they are likely to score more if they take the very first exam of the year or the last exam in a particular year.

Sounds interesting, but I am afraid. It is also a myth that has been spread for some years. But this is not going to work. It all depends on your preparation for the exam, not the month you appear for. Consequently, you should not waste your valuable time thinking about it. All you need to make sure that you have prepared enough following every guideline of the examiner to take your exam. With that mindset, you will definitely score well. 

4.     Is grammar important in IELTS or not?

Many students think grammar is not that important in their exam. However, it is the biggest mistake that students make. They do not realize what kind of test they are going to appear for. I think they should at least think about the full form of IELTS. Which stands for the International English Language test System.

So here is the answer that this is a test about their language skills. Not a single language can be used without following its rules which is of course grammar.

Another factor here that in both of your modules writing as well as speaking your grammatical skills account for 25% of the total scores. Therefore, it would be totally insane to neglect its importance. One thing that you can do is check the following scale of language assessment which tells you exactly what band scores what kind of grammar skills you must possess.

 

5.     Should I need to follow the exam pattern?

Yes, definitely you need to follow the exam pattern because You have to follow all the rules and regulations of the IELTS exam. Without following the exam pattern you cannot score high. Therefore, in order to get a band 7 or above, you need to follow the guidelines for all of your modules, especially for the speaking and writing module. 

 

6.     How to prepare for the IELTS exam?

Preparation for the IELTS exam is not that difficult if you have some knowledge about the English language and you are able to use it effectively and accurately in your writing and speaking.

Some quick tips for all modules –

• For the Listening module, you should be able to understand what you listen to and answer your questions accordingly.
• For the Reading module, you should be able to read and understand the reading context and find your answers within a given period of time.
• For the Writing section, you should be able to produce a written argument and follow the task response with suitable reasons and examples.
• For the Speaking section, you should be able to understand the questions of the examiner and answer them using the appropriate language in a concise way. You also need to deliver your response with fluency and using appropriate pronunciation features.

 

7.     What kind of material should I use for practice?

However, there are plenty of websites and books available for practice with a wide range of difficulty. But I recommend my students to use only authenticated materials from Cambridge University, British Council and Idp.  Because practicing with other materials cannot help you to score high in the real exam.

8.     Can I use memorize lines or phrases in writing and speaking?

Certainly not,  you are not allowed to use memorize lines or phrases in your writing as well as speaking. Although, some teachers provide their students with a set of memorized lines, some Complex structures, and vocabulary words or phrases but using them inappropriately result in low band scores. Such students can not score 7 or above in any case. 

 

 

 

 I hope you find this article useful enough to help you with how to prepare for your examination. 

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