It is quite common to hear people saying on various Facebook groups that IELTS is unfair. But is it really? Most of the time, these people get a lower band score than expected, and they complain that it is unfair to make themselves feel better. However, maybe there is something to their argument. Maybe IELTS really isn’t very fair. Maybe it is slightly biased in some way. Let’s look in more depth.
Writing
I see it every single day – people do the IELTS exam and get a lower score in the writing section than any other part. Their conclusion is that it’s somehow unfair.
It’s true that the writing section is the biggest obstacle for most students. Writing in a new language is hard! Even native speakers make lots of mistakes. I have friends who don’t know the difference between they’re/their/there and most people I know don’t know how to use a comma.
In learning English, for most people the writing section actually shouldn’t be such a big deal. If you want to go live in the UK or Canada, being able to speak English clearly is obviously the most important thing. If you can read and write a little, that should be fine.
It’s a different matter with the academic IELTS exam, though… If you are going to university abroad, writing is very important, and being able to ace the IETLS writing exam should be a pre-requisite for getting accepted to a decent university.
However, is any of that really unfair?
Ultimately, no. If a government demands that someone get 7/7/7/7, then it’s not a problem with IELTS. At the end of the day, the most important thing is whether IELTS is actually testing your English properly. Which brings us to the second point:
Is IELTS a good judge of your English?
I often hear people complain that they got a lower score in IELTS than they expected. Many of them have been living in the US or Australia and can communicate fine, but they get 6 for writing or some other less than desirable result.
I honestly feel that IELTS is the best test of English that we have. It’s not perfect, but it’s a wonderful judge of English skill. If I know a person’s IELTS score, it tells me so much about their abilities. I can imagine talking to them, or reading their writing.
I know that a conversation with a student who gets a 5 will be less than fluent, but we should understand each other pretty well, but that someone with 4 might be hard to speak with. However, someone with a 7 will be able to hold a relatively easy conversation.
Altogether, although you may feel that you got a hard question or should have gotten a better score, IELTS is a pretty good judge of English ability. Sure, there might be slight deviations. One examiner may judge your speaking to be a 5.5 and another say it’s a 6. But those are small differences. Determining someone’s language ability is hard, and IELTS is a great way of doing it.
Perhaps of great importance is this fact: It’s really, really, really difficult to cheat the IELTS! Believe me, in learning English, some people will stop at nothing for a high score, and cheating is very common. However, it is almost impossible to cheat the IELTS. Memorized phrases will get you nowhere fast.
Some questions are harder than others
Now this is an important point, and it is definitely a good argument against the IELTS as being fair. It is true that some questions are harder to answer than others.
Here’s an example: A few days ago I heard that someone’s speaking part 2 cue card asked them to “Describe a lesson you remember from a maths class.”
Wow!
I honestly wouldn’t know how to answer that question. I haven’t had a maths class since I was very young – about 20 years ago. I don’t remember any lessons that I learned, so how would I answer that cue card?
And this is the problem. If a native speaker finds a question too difficult to answer, it is really not a fair question. Imagine that you have studied really hard to bring your English level up and you have an IELTS exam that makes you nervous… The last thing you need is such an impossible question.
Of course, it is impossible to choose questions that are going to be equally easy for everyone. For me, it is easy to answer questions about sport and movies and travel because I love all of these things and have lots of experience. But I don’t know anything about maths.
IELTS is culturally biased
Is it fair to have questions about gap years?
Another point is that IELTS is essentially based upon a Western life experience. There are questions about taking a gap year, which is something really done by privileged young British and American students. It is certainly not something people do here in China, or most of the world. A lot of the questions are similarly biased against people from poor countries, where there are fewer opportunities.
Again, I completely agree that this is quite unfair; however, the only other options are to make IELTS much more general (which risks making it too easy) or make it more regionally specific (which opens it up to cheating).
To be honest, I don’t think that it is impossible for people from the other side of the world to answer most questions. There is no specialized knowledge required, and they don’t ask you about the kings and queens of English history. But certainly there is a slight bias that might make the exam easier for someone from a country more culturally similar to the UK.
If you are asked about something that is unfamiliar to you, you can tell the examiner that. You can say that it’s not really an issue for you, or something that is unheard of in your country. As long as you are articulate in say that, it’s not going to be a big issue.
Is it even worth learning how to write a letter nowadays?
Another criticism of IELTS is that the general exam sometimes involves writing a letter. How often do people have to write letters nowadays!? Not very often.
I haven’t written a letter in many years, although I do write e-mails every day. However, maybe that’s also something a little unusual now. I asked my Chinese students when they’d last written an e-mail, and most of them hadn’t written one in six months.
This sort of writing is becoming a thing of the past.
Knowing English letter-writing conventions is fairly antiquated, I think, but it’s still somewhat relevant. Perhaps it should be rephrased to call it just an e-mail, though. You see, the skills involved in writing a letter or e-mail go beyond just knowing whether to say “Your sincerely” or “Yours faithfully” and bring up the more important issue of simply communicating.
It gives students a genuine and likely task – convey a problem and express a view, for example. Being able to do this will serve you well in life. It is not enough to write a text message to your landlord saying, “Shower’s broken. Need it fixed.” Being able to write a longer letter may seem old fashioned, but it contains a worthwhile purpose.
The examiner was mean!
Sometimes, students even think that the examiner was unfair. They suggest that he wasn’t very nice or she didn’t seem very friendly.
It is rare to find an unpleasant examiner, but one who is unfair would not be in a job very long. The IELTS is a serious exam, monitored by Cambridge. The examiners are constantly assessed to see if they are doing a good job, and if they were giving students lower scores, they would be quickly fired.
If you really do think that your speaking was of a higher level than the examiner gave you, you can appeal and have it reassessed. However, the examiner will be a professional who is doing the job to the best of his/her ability and it is wrong to suggest that they are interested in seeing anyone do badly.
So, is IELTS fair?
IELTS is not perfect, but it is certainly not unfair. In fact, it is probably the best measure of a person’s English skills. However, there are some issues with it. It could be more accessible from a cultural standpoint, and it may need modernized a little.
What do you think? Has your experience of IELTS been positive or negative? How would you like to see it changed? Leave a comment down below.
![How to Use More Advanced Vocabulary for Task 1 [IELTS Writing]](https://cdn.shortpixel.ai/spai/q_lossy+ret_img+to_webp/ted-ielts.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/ielts-vocabulary_t7ofan-440x264.jpg)
Perfect
Hello I hope I find you in good health. It was interesting reading your article.There are some valid points that you raised in it.I have in mind the maths question. Who could have come up with a question like that?Do the people who devise the exam ever ask themselves-how can I answer a question like that? In a foreign language at that? Another thing.Are you sure that the candidate can,quote “You can say that it is not really an issue with you or that it is unheard of in your country.”The examiner will accept that? That is open to abuse, in my opinion.A very clever way of not answering a question you dislike.Could you please elaborate on this? But what has plagued me for a long time is this. You claim that IELTS is as good an exam as could possibly be devised.That it tests the candidate’s LEVEL of English. What about the so called”trick questions”? For example the text says: Some scientists believe that ….. The question/true,false,not given/is: “Scientists believe that…..” The only difference is the existence of SOME in the text.In what way does THAT test the level of my English? Granted, it shows whether I pay attention to details,that I am clever,etc. but in no way does it test the LEVEL of my English.
Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts on IELTS.
I don’t think there are really any trick questions in the IELTS exam. There are certainly some difficult ones. These test how well you can understand the written language. The reading test is designed to record how well you do various things, and one of them is pick apart language that sometimes seems tricky or misleading. But that’s part of language, right? It’s not designed as a joke – it’s just assessing how well you can read in English.
As for the difficult spoken questions… I don’t know why they come up with such difficult and obscure things sometimes.
just did an ilets there were options to choose once “read”. or “write” from an answer pool
I…. a letter.
i….. a book
I got it wrong by answering I WRITE A book, and I READ a letter
they wanted I read a book. and I write a letter. well to me both were correct
It is impossible to know what was the right or wrong answer without more context.
Hello David,
Thank you for sharing this article, it is really helpful.
I always hear the same complaint from my students. What I usually do is explain to them the criterion based on the band descriptor as the only basis of my teaching. Whenever I teach them the skills they needed, most particularly in writing section I always explain that these lessons are not based from what I want or what the examiner wants, but it is according to the band descriptors.
Hi Ann,
That’s great! That’s probably the best way to let your students know the important facts of IELTS.
The IELTS exam is designed to test the language proficiency of non-native English speakers, so how on earth can a native English speaker get a 6.5 on the writing section? It begs the question … what is this test assessing? Surely if a bright, well-educated English girl can only score 6.5, what chances do foreign students stand? Is this a fair test?
My daughter has taken this test on two previous occasions and has always done well. However, this third time she was given 6.5 for the writing section. She paid to have the paper re-marked but the results remained the same and, of course, no feedback was given in spite of the extra cost incurred.
Is this a fair test of language proficiency? I very much doubt it. She now has to take the test a fourth time with no idea of what she did “wrong” in this recent test. It goes against the principles of good teaching where we are given feedback and we learn from the mistakes we made. (I have been an English teacher for 37 years.)
I am writing on her behalf because she is traveling through South America where internet reception is a problem. She has a new job pending in NZ and this has been thrown into jeopardy because she needs a 7 in the writing band. Therefore, she has signed up to take the IELTS in Lima, Peru on October 12 and has no idea what went “wrong” in the last test.
She has invested almost $1,000 up to this point. I really believe she deserves more support from your organisation.
Thank you..
Hi.
Sorry to hear this. If you want an objective opinion from someone who knows IELTS, I can take a look at her writing and tell you what is wrong. IELTS has flaws, but usually there is a good reason why someone scores 6.5 rather than 7 or higher.
Sorry that you are going through this. I know that it is terribly frustrating for you and your family. I hope that she does better on the next test.
But one thing: This is not MY organisation. I don’t work for IELTS and I have never claimed to. I am a tutor who specialises in IELTS, but I don’t work for IDP or the British Council. I just help people to prepare for the exam.
IELTS is never fair! at least on my experience, and also, some of my friends who took it. especially, if you are talking about IELTS in the Philippines. If they know you’re taking IELTS for your visa (e.g. nurses to united states), outright they will give you 6.5 band score (minimum 7). My proof? 10 of us, who took the IETLS, scored 6.5 on the speaker part. i was the one who challenged my score- and from 6.5, I got 7.0 band score, and i was refunded with the re-eval fee. my friends took the option as well. and guess what? their scores went up to 7.0-7.5. This was in 2015.
The 6.5 issue is quite suspicious. I have noticed that myself and it seems like the biggest jump in the universe to go from 6.5 to 7.0. Perhaps it is a scam and it is required only to make more people do the test… but I am not sure.
Hello David, I would like to know your opinion about having non-native English speakers as evaluators for IELTS writing and speaking tests, which can be subjective to a certain degree.
Two years ago, I received a score of 9.0 for my speaking test and just a few days ago, I obtained a 7.5 with an examiner whose second language is English. The reason I bring this up is because I’m a non-native English speaker myself and even though my skill level is advanced, I recognize that I’m always a step behind everybody else at work in Canada. This is not to put anybody down but rather to highlight subtle distinctions that could play a role in test results. I believe that this examiner did not understand all North American idioms, slang, jargon and pop culture references that I threw at her, which is exactly what I did the first time with a native English speaker as the examiner.
My writing test score also took a hit. I understand that here are many variables involved in taking a test, but it’s still interesting to know that the most subjective parts of the test showed a noticeable drop under a different set of evaluators, even with a small sample size.
Regards,
Javier
Hello Javier,
You have raised an interesting and controversial point. It is true that non-native speakers tend to be much more judgmental about English level. I posted a video earlier this year of a mock test I conducted with a Bangladeshi man. His English is almost perfect and he would easily score 8.5 or even 9. However, many of my Asian viewers on YouTube thought that his English wasn’t good enough. They just saw that he was Bangladeshi, had dark skin, and therefore could not speak English perfectly… It is a clear case of prejudice in my opinion.
Of course, an IELTS tutor should be trained to avoid such stupidity. They should have excellent English skills and be free of most prejudices. However, I feel that they may be more judgmental and also may lack certain awareness, as you say, of idiomatic language and pop culture references.
However, I will also offer two counterpoints in their defence:
1) You should probably avoid slang in IELTS. Even in the speaking test, it is better to be slightly formal. You can use a few idioms, contractions, and mildly informal language, but don’t go over the top in terms of slang etc. It can be viewed perhaps inappropriate. As for the pop culture references, you may run into problems if you use these with elderly native speakers, too. They might not be aware of the most recent internet references and might view these as errors rather than up-to-date language.
2) I hate to say it, but language ability drops hugely over time. If you took your IELTS 2 years ago and got back 9, it is perfectly normal to drop to a lower score by the next test. It happens all the time. Some people just don’t practice enough but others find it like driving a car. You pass your test but later, when you have more experience, you have forgotten the minor rules that are important for the test. You are a better driver now but – paradoxically – you are less likely to pass.
Anyway, thanks for your comment.
David
Thank you David for your response.
I think that I need to add a little more context here, although I do agree with your counterpoints in general.
1) Yes, slang should be minimized if not avoided and formality is better, but I behaved the same way with a different evaluator and obtained a different score. I think that there is a difference between 7.5 and 9.0 for an advanced speaker. My writing, listening and reading scores only increased or decreased by 0.5 points.
2) Two years ago, I was living in Mexico (born and raised) when I took the first test and then I moved to Canada about 18 months ago. If anything, my language skills should have improved because I am forced to communicate in English on a daily basis.
Thanks,
Javier
I see what you mean. It is disappointing to hear stories like this, but it raises important issues that need to be addressed by IDP and the British Council.
Hello David, I’d like to know your opinion about being asked the reason as to which a person is writing IELTS, does it serve any meaningful purpose in evaluating a persons answers ?
The reason why I’m asking this is because there is a minimum score required for immigration and education purposes.
Many people get 0.5 band less than what was required for their purpose of writing IELTS , even though they have scored 8.5 in all other sections they get 0.5 less than what was required in one section.
If they go for EOR their application gets rejected and when they retake the test , they again get 8.5 in all the section except for one where they get 0.5 less than the required score , but the second time its a different section.
I’m not 100% clear on your meaning here as the first and later ideas seem a bit disconnected. I don’t think that an examiner asking you about your reasons for taking IELTS would have any impact on your score. It would just be a warm-up conversation starter.
If you mean the difference between academic and general IELTS, there are some differences in the tests and they are geared towards the different purposes – immigration/education etc. As for EOY… It is frustrating but basically there’s hardly any chance of a changed score, so I don’t recommend it.
Dear Sir,
Thank you very much for bring up the issue of whether IELTS fair or unfair. I did my test yesterday , GT, and came out with the question how it is feasible to do this test. With consideration to other people’s opinions, but I would say IELTS is not a fair test at all for different reasons.
Firstly, Language learning and first language acquisition might vary as Stephen Krashen pointed out in this concern, so even some native speakers might not know their language fully. In other words, the point is not one-size-fits all. People of different interests shouldn’t be tested with only one topic, that isn’t fair at all, candidates who have had the the test might understand what I mean.
Secondly, the three skills, listening, reading and writing are done within 2 hours and thirty minutes, candidates should be sitting on a chair and a desk. Tell me, how comes a person can bear that ?! Suffering from stress and tension and meanwhile he/she should do the test as in normal situation! questions aren’t direct to test the language a person knows in speaking. Also, in reading both GT and Academic, the candidate has to struggle and fight between the time given, one hour and the content that lasts in hours to read!
What I came to know is that IELTS is totally bias test that ends up in making money.