If you want to take your graduate studies abroad, you will most likely be required to submit your IELTS score. The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) exam is the standardized exam for measuring English proficiency. Knowing what the exam will entail is important to pass this test.

What is the IELTS exam
Established in 1989, the IELTS exam is the official standardized test for English proficiency. It is administered jointly by the British Council, IDP: IELTS Australia, and Cambridge English Language Assessment. Its scores are used by 10,000 colleges in over 130 countries.

This major English exam is offered at least four times a year. If you passed, its validity could last you up to two years. After that expires, you would need to retake the test.

The IELTS test format 
The exam is offered in two modules: Academic and General Training. In the Academic module, the exam is gauging the academic and higher learning English proficiency of the taker. While in the General Training, the exam is measuring the English proficiency in the context of the workplace and social situations. Both modules divide the exam into four: Listening, Reading, Writing, and Speaking.

Listening 
The purpose of the listening exam is to measure your English listening skills. This part of the test will be administered for 40 minutes. The first 30 minutes would be to play the recording while the 10 minutes is for you to transfer your answers to the answer sheet. Various voices of Australian, British, New Zealand or North American accents will be played. 

The listening part of the exam can be further divided into four sections. In the first section, a conversation about an everyday social situation will be played. In the second section, you will hear a monologue about an everyday social situation. In the third section, you will hear a conversation in an academic context. Finally, the fourth section will be playing a monologue in an academic situation.

Reading
The reading part of the exam will test the efficiency of your English reading skill. This part of the exam will be administered for 60 minutes, which will be used for reading and answering. There will be at least three passages given to read; in total, these passages will amount to 2,150 - 2,750 words. The subjects of these passages range from descriptive to analytical.

Writing
The writing part of the exam will test how you can organize ideas and vocabularies into a coherent essay. This part of the test has two tasks, both of which will ask you to write an essay. The first task mandates an essay of 150 words; while, the second one asks an essay of 250 words.

It is important to note that the second task is worth twice as much as the other. Moreover, this part of the test is administered for 60 minutes.

Speaking 
This part of the test will measure your overall communication skill. The test is administered in 11 – 14 minutes with a proctor. The proctor will ask you a series of questions to test how you can reply and respond. The speaking part of the exam is further divided into three sections: introduction, individual long-turn, and two-way discussion.

Source: https://takeielts.britishcouncil.org/

Contributed by: Allison Julianne Macasaet
Allison is a freelance writer on the side, a student of international relations on the other. Interests include fantasy books, international relations, and lifestyle..