IELTS stands for International English Language testing system; so basically it is a test of English and comprehension skills. This exam is given by candidates to move abroad majorly for two reasons; for studying and for settling abroad.
There are four sections in IELTS and one needs to have separate approach to ace each section.Let us discuss it one by one.
Writing section
In this section essay writing is common to both general and academic students.The total duration is 40 minutes and word limit is 250 words. There are four categories of essay which one needs to be familiar with viz: problem solution, merit demerits, opinion based and discussion based. It has more weightage than task 1. One needs to structure the essay in different paragraphs and each paragraph should be logically connected. In the task one of writing section there are separate topics for academic and general candidates .For general, it is letter writing. In this section, all bullet points need to be addressed .The task is for 20 minutes and word limit is 150 words. The letter can be formal, informal and semi-formal. For academic students, the task is reporting an image. Again onegets 20 minutes to finish this task and word limit is minimum 150 words. Images asked are generally table, pie chart, line graph, bar graph, maps and process cycle .It can be a single image or a combination of two.
Listening section
This section is same for general and academic candidates. There are total 40 questions and total time to solve is 30 minutes.10 minutes extra are given to candidates who are pen and paper based exam. In listening, one hears four different recordings viz: a conversation between two people based on social context, a monologue based on local facilities; like a garden in your neighborhood. Recording 3 is a group conversation for an assignment and recording 4 is a monologue on an academic lecture. There are variety of question types which ae tested viz: multiple choice questions, form, table,note, flowchart completion, short answerquestions, and sentencecompletion, matching features and labelling a diagram.
Reading section
This consists of 40 questions and three sections R1, R2 AND R3. The reading section is different f0r academic and general candidate. However, the topics remain more or less the same. The topics include true, false, not given, yes, no, not given. This is the most important topic as one gets 5-13 marks questions from this topic. There are other topics also like Matching features, Matching headings, matching information and matching sentence endings. Out of these, one can again expect two types. Then we have completion questions like note, table, flowchart, sentence, diagram, summary completion questions. Again one can expect 3-4 types out of these in the exam. Other than these there is short answer questions and multiple choice questions: single and multiple where again a 5 -7 marks questions can be asked. One needs to learn the tips and tricks for each topic and finish each section in 20 minutes so that one can complete the entire paper.
Speaking section
This is held on a separate date. There are three parts in speaking : Part 1 is a general introduction which is an ice breaking round where general questions about a candidate’s name, place , hobbies, family ,what he does, neighbors, sports, food , and TV channels he watches. Part 2 is a cue card-based question, where a question followed by three – four sub points are asked and a candidate needs to answer that. One gets one minute to prepare and 2 mins to speak on the topic. This is the most scoring topic. One needs to speak non-stop for 2 minutes to get a good score. Part 3 is a discussion-based round , also known as a question and answer round where a candidate is asked questions and he needs to give lengthy answers with reasons . The total speaking is for 11-14 minutes.
This sums up the entire IELTS exam pattern along with some insights into how to ace this exam. AIBE offers IELTS coaching in Gurgaon for students to help them achieve their desired band score in the IELTS exam.
