What is the IELTS exam?
Everything you want to know about the IELTS certificate
To learn about the IELTS exam's importance, its types, and the difference between them, follow this article and you will find all your inquiries answered.
First: What is IELTS?
The IELTS is an international standardized test of English language proficiency designed for English language learners who want to study or work and live in an English-speaking environment. The IELTS certificate can open many doors to academic and professional opportunities internationally in many institutions and places around the world that use English as the language of communication.
This test was founded in 1989 and has become the most popular test in the world. The IELTS certificate is the most important in determining your level of proficiency in the English language. There are currently about a thousand sites for this test worldwide in more than 140 countries, where more than 2 million tests are conducted annually. More than 9,000 organizations worldwide accept the IELTS certificate as proof of proficiency in the English language.
The IELTS is managed jointly by the British Council, Cambridge Assessment English, and IDP Education Australia.
The components of the IELTS test are written by an international team of writers from various English-speaking countries and reflect the content of real-life situations.
The speaking part of the test is conducted by a real person, not a computer, and tests the candidate's ability to communicate effectively in spoken English.
Types of IELTS tests
There are currently three versions of the IELTS test: Academic, General Training, and Life Skills. Each version differs in its content from the others, but they all cover all the categories and areas targeted that you will need when you migrate to an English-speaking country.
First: IELTS Academic Certificate
The academic version of the IELTS certificate targets academically oriented students who want to attend study programs in universities and other higher education institutions that teach in English.
Therefore, you will need the academic version of the test if you want to enroll in a bachelor's or postgraduate degree program, where the teaching is in English.
You will also need to pass the IELTS Academic test if you are planning to join professional Universities in fields such as Medicine, Nursing, Law, or Engineering.
Secondly: IELTS General Training Certificate
The IELTS General Training certificate is an excellent option if you want to migrate and work in an English-speaking country, or if you plan to enroll in a high school there. Many government authorities in English-speaking countries require the IELTS for work or study, such as the United States, Australia, Canada, New Zealand, and the United Kingdom, which accept the General Training certificate as proof of linguistic proficiency. In some cases, even native English speakers need the IELTS to migrate to another English-speaking country too!
Third: IELTS Life Skills Certificate
You need to succeed in this type of IELTS certificate if you want to obtain a visa to go to the United Kingdom, you want to obtain British citizenship, or even if you want to migrate and permanently reside there, or if you want to marry a British person.
The IELTS Life Skills test assesses your speaking and listening skills in English and assesses your communication skills with others.
IELTS exam details and points system in IELTS certificates
The three versions of IELTS all have the same scoring system, and no minimum score is required to pass any part of the IELTS Academic or IELTS General Training test. You will be given a score ranging from 1 to 9 in each of the four parts of the test: listening, reading, writing, and speaking.
Upon completion of the exam, you will receive an overall score ranging from 1 to 9, where a score of 1 means you speak English poorly, a score of 9 means you are fluent and proficient in the language, and a score of 6 means you have an effective, though not necessarily fluent, command of the language. The IELTS Life Skills test does not have grades, only pass or fail. Universities, colleges, governments, and employers around the world require varying levels of English proficiency depending on their goals and objectives, so it is important to determine which level of IELTS test you need to take before you register to ensure you know exactly what you need.
The IELTS Academic and General training tests are valid for two years from the date you receive your results. Candidates who have taken the IELTS life skills test cannot retake the test within two years, but if they do not pass, they can retake the test as many times as they like, as there are no restrictions on retaking the test. Finally, after learning about what IELTS is and its importance, we hope that this will give us enough motivation to start studying for it to create a better and more brilliant future.