Third set of IELTS Myths

Here are a set of IELTS myths that doesn’t come up very often.  Once in a while a student would bring ask one or two of these myths

·         Candidates has to have an accent to get good results in the Speaking exam – a former student told me that she had asked an employee of a test center why they think she only got a 6.5 instead of a seven; the alleged response was that she didn’t speak with a British accent.  This is of course not true, I also doubt that any employee of any test center will speculate on why a candidate did not get the score they were aiming for.

·         Candidates are not allowed to clarify questions in the Speaking exam – the thinking here is that, the examiner might mistake this for not understanding the question and get a mark down. This again is not true, the IELTS speaking exam is testing one’s ability to communicate; communication of course includes your ability to try to clarify a statement or question.  It would also be better to clarify, than to give an answer that is totally off topic.

·         Doing as many practice test will get better results – I wish it was that simple, the IELTS exam is not a physical activity, wherein one can keep doing whatever it is they are doing until it becomes second nature. The fact is, getting good results are a combination of different strategies and it differs for everyone.  When you do take a practice test, make sure you find out where you made the mistake and why you made those mistakes.

·         IELTS is harder than the other English Exams – I really have no idea how easy or hard the other exams are.  Logically, if IELTS was being compared to other exams that’s supposed to rate the level of a candidates proficiency, it shouldn’t be that different.

If you have any myths or theories you want to ask about, feel free to leave it in as a comment and I’ll try to address it as soon as I can.

For other myths please check the IELTS Myth Category