Английский язык > Learn English with Rebecca [engVid RebeccaESL] > IELTS Basics - Introduction to the IELTS Exam

hi I'm Rebecca and today we'll be

speaking about the IELTS exam IELTS is

an acronym which stands for

internatio­nal English Language Testing

system IELTS and basically the IELTS is

an English proficienc­y exam to test your

knowledge of English how well you can

read write speak and understand English

alright if you're considerin­g doing the

IELTS it's possibly because you're

planning to study abroad or you're

planning to move to another country or

for some other purpose the IELTS is

generally taken by students who are

planning to study in a university or

college in an english-sp­eaking

environmen­t

or to move to countries like Canada or

Australia where IELTS is the English

proficienc­y exam which is accepted for

official purposes by them the IELTS is

also requested at times when people have

already immigrated to countries such as

Canada or Australia to certify their

English language ability in terms of

their profession okay so that's another

reason why we have students who come to

us at our school here in Toronto for the

IELTS exam okay now another question

that people have is about the type of

files exam there are basically two types

of files exams alright there's the

general exam and the academic exam it

seems somewhat self-expla­natory but let

me clarify the academic exam is the

slightly harder one because it's meant

for academic purposes that's if you are

planning to go to university or to

college you are asked to do the academic

IELTS the reading section have the

writing section is slightly different

in the academic one and slightly more

challengin­g or difficult in terms of

English level the second type of

violence exam is the general exam the

general IELTS is usually taken for those

people who are planning to emigrate and

it is a little bit easier not completely

easy and still challengin­g you may still

have to prepare for it in order to do

well but it's still a little bit easier

than the first one the writing section

is different here and the reading

section is a little bit easier alright

another question that we are often asked

about the IELTS is regarding the scoring

in the IELTS if you get a 9 that would

be fantastic because that's considered

the highest score which you can get on

an IELTS exam the IELTS scores are

represente­d in terms of bands from 0 all

the way to 9 you can get a full band

like 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 or 1/2 and score

like six and a half eight and a half and

so on if you get a nine that would mean

that you are an expert user of the

English language and I hope you can

start to that alright now what happens

on the exam in terms of scoring well as

I mentioned there are four sections

reading writing listening and speaking

and you get four separate scores on each

of these sections so you could get a

seven in listening or a six in reading

and so on

you could get different scores in each

section and then finally you get a fifth

score which is an overall score for the

entire IELTS exam now depending on the

purpose for which you're doing the exam

you might be asked for an overall score

usually have six and a half or seven or

you might be asked for a specific score

in a particular section or something for

some combinatio­n

that so for example if you're planning

to study journalism and university they

might care very much how well you write

so they might request that you have a

minimum of seven or eight in your

writing section even though your overall

score in other sections might be lower

okay now in terms of time the IELTS is

about two hours and 45 minutes long

first there is the listening section in

both the general and the academic IELTS

this section takes about half an hour

and everybody does the same listening

section the thing to remember about the

listening in the IELTS is because the

i/os was created by the British Council

and let me just check the IELTS

Australia and the University of

Cambridge ESOL exams this tends to be a

little an exam of British English or and

sometimes Australian English so you have

to be prepared to understand British

accents not American accents not

Canadian accents not South African

accent but primarily British and

sometimes Australian accents and not

only the accents but also the English

occasional­ly they use terms which are

used more in British English than in

North American English so if for example

you've been preparing for the TOEFL you

want to make sure that you also spend

some time listening to British English

in order to prepare for this exam so

that's the listening section then you

have a division if you're doing the

academic you have a reading section

which is a little bit harder 60 minutes

for during the general IELTS you also

have a reading section also 60 minutes a

little bit easier next we come to the

writing section in the academic IELTS

you have two tasks and sixty minutes in

the general IELTS you have two tasks the

sixty minutes also

in both of them you have to do an essay

which you should take about half an hour

for you are asked to write about I'm

sorry you should take 40 minutes for

that one and you have to write about 250

words about 4-5 paragraphs

something like that an essay topic 1

essay topic

the second task in each case varies in

the academic IELTS you are given a graph

or a chart or a table and you're asked

to describe that informatio­n in writing

in the general IELTS you're given a

letter assignment and you have to write

a letter it could be a formal letter a

semi-forma­l letter or informal letter to

a friend requesting something and for

this second task you are given about

about 20 minutes that essay in both

cases scores more points and you have

more time for it the last section is the

speaking section this is an interview

with an actual examiner it takes about

11 to 14 minutes and it's the same test

whether you're doing the general IELTS

or whether you're doing the academic

IELTS so last question is how do you do

well in the Isles well like in all

English proficienc­y exams there's really

four ways four things you need to do you

need to have knowledge of the test you

need to have the skills in English

skills need to have a good attitude and

you need to be have resources available

to you by resources I'm referring to

both materials online lessons and

perhaps live training in a school in

your country or overseas all right so if

you're planning to do the IELTS one very

good website which can help you is wwq

luck IELTS calm it has a lot of

informatio­n there which can be of help

to you there's also ways you can ask

questions if you have

further comments for questions alright

so if you're preparing for the IELTS I

wish you a lot of luck it is a difficult

exam in many ways but I'm sure you can

do very well if you prepare and follow

some of the instructio­ns we've laid out

here thanks very much bye for now