# WHAT IS IELTS ?

IELTS is International English Language Testing System operated by IDP and British council all around the world. In India it is specifically conducted by IDP now. It is an English testing exam for the students who want to pursue there studies in foreign countries. This exam can be taken by any person irrespective of any age and even unlimited times in lifetime.

# WHAT ARE THE MODULES IN IELTS EXAM ?

There are basically four modules in this exam. These consist of listening, reading, writing and speaking. The exam is of 2 hours and 40 minutes. The writing module is conducted first, followed by listening and then in the end reading. The speaking module is conducted on a different day and sometimes on the same day itself. However, it is very rare that you get both on the same day.

# WHAT IS EXAM DAY ENVIRONMENT BE LIKE ?

On the exam day try to reach the venue little bit early so that you can prepare your mind for the exam and get comfortable with the place. The test is generally conducted in a hotel which is mostly a luxurious hotel. For my case it was Hotel Ramada. Don't forget to carry your passport and the mail which you will get from IDP which you need to carry for the exam day.

On the speaking day, you have to reach the venue 20 minutes before your interview. First you have to wait for your turn. A person would guide you to come with him and fill out some form. It contains details about you in which you need to sign and put the date. This process takes around 5 minutes. Then he/she would take your photo and take you outside the interview room. As your turn come, he would announce your name to examiner as the complete interview is being recorded. Then you will go inside the room. The complete communication will be recorded even from before you enter the room. Try to practice speaking in English from the morning so that you would be in the zone and you will find it quite easy to crack the speaking exam.

On the main exam day which contain rest of the three modules, try to reach 40 minutes before the exam so that you can find the place of your exam and also to get into the zone of giving the exam and prepare your mind for it. Also you will get to meet different kind of people at the exam venue and I assure you that you will love the vibe of the exam day.

As you enter the exam hall after completing all the securities check and submitting your bag and phones, you will be directed to your seat. Get fresh before starting of the exam as it would be very difficult to find the time to go to the washroom in-between the exam. On the desk, there would be a volume regulator for the headphones and obviously a headphone. A set of pen, pencil, rubber and sharpener will be provided, so you need not to carry anything with you except your required documents. Still carry few pencils so that you need not to worry about sharpening your pencil in-between the test and it will save your time. A water bottle is also provided so you also not need to carry any bottle with you in most cases.

The complete test would be given with either pencil or pen but I recommend to give the full paper with pencil only as you can change the answers easily.

# WRITING MODULE

It is the first module which you need to complete. I consist of two things. The first thing is you need to write the explanation for some kind of graphs or processes given in the image. The second task would be to write an essay on the topic given. The complete test would be of 60 minutes. You should give 20 minutes for the first task and 40 minutes for the second task as it is of double weightage to the first task. The first task is of 3 bands, while second one is of 6 bands.

# LISTENING MODULE

It is the second module conducted on the day. There is no gap in-between the complete test. This module will contain 4 parts with 40 questions. The time given to listen the audio is 30 minutes. Ones the audio is started, you cannot stop or rewind the audio again. Try to read the questions in advance so that you get the overview of the questions coming.

A time of 10 minutes is given after listening the complete audio in order to transfer all the answers to the answer sheet.

# READING MODULE

It is the most important part of the exam. Most students find it the most trickiest and hard module of the all. It contains 40 questions as well and you need to answer all the questions in 60 minutes. There are 3 passages given. Try to finish the first two passages in 30 minutes and rest 30 minutes for the last passage. In this way you will be not stressed and also the difficulty of the last passage is somewhat high as compared to the others. Try to write the answers directly in your answer sheet as you would not get any extra time to transfer the answers into your answer sheet.

# SPEAKING MODULE

It is conducted on different day most of the times, but sometimes it can be on the same day. The duration can be 1 week before and after the main exam. In my case, my exam was on 20th and my speaking was conducted on 17th. So be prepared before and don't get stressed if it falls before the main exam. It is an interview with the examiner live and it last about 15 minutes. The test is divided into 3 parts. The first part contain questions related to you and your life. In general it can be any question related to you. It will last to about 5 minutes. Try to speak short and precise answers in this part.

The second part is a cue card section where you will have 1 minute to prepare and then you need to speak 1-2 minutes on that topic given to you on the card. Keep it above 2 minutes so that it would create a better impression on the examiner.

The last part is the follow-up questions which are on the similar topic as on the cue card. Try to speak long and informative answers in order to complete the time of the test with less questions asked.

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