This report aims to fill this critical gap in the existing research. The author of this research report is independent, self-reflexive and self-funded. Phase 2 of this research project aims to interview circa 20 former and 20 currently practicing IELTS examiners. This extension should further strengthen the reliability and validity of inferences drawn in this project. I warmly welcome constructive feedback and questions from members of the public.
The methodological design of this report conforms to the ethical requirements, conventions and high standards imposed on scholars and practitioners who study at graduate research level. Events and quantitative facts that are common knowledge among those who work in the English language testing industry are not supported with a reference, as is customary among scholarly researchers e.
Massachusetts Institute of Technology, This research project analyses circa 3, independent pieces of evidence obtained from ten principal data sources. This project achieved data saturation after the examination of circa pieces of evidence.
This evidence includes multiple independent data obtained from ten data sets shown in Table 7. Source is official. Secondary data type Public reports e. Source is triangulated with at Special Broadcasting least one primary source Service document.
The identity of the author must be accessible. Public testimonies of academic Research must conform to Uysal research scholars e. Suss migration agents. Analytical tools This report uses specialist content analysis tools that are appropriate to analyze each type of evidence. Table 8, overleaf, provides a summary of the main types of data analysis tools and offers an example for each. Cambridge English c, p. The vast bulk of data sources are not influenced by the objectives of this research or by the personal characteristics of the researcher.
This multidisciplinary mixed-methods study triangulates primary and secondary data extracted from hundreds of independent data sources dated over the past ten years to draw inferences. This methodological design aims to achieve data reliability, validity and replicability.
Chapter 3 Evidence This section offers an example of core evidence which underpins analysis in section 4 and Appendix 2 of this report. This policy is unconscionable as it takes advantage of the disparate bargaining power that exists between one individual from a vulnerable demographic compared to the mammoth global power enjoyed by a multibillion dollars business consortium.
IELTS use condensed italicized fine-print shrunken font footnote style text to diminish the clarity of legal jargon that empowers its legal position to the maximum advantage. The use of condensed fine-print exemption clauses at the end of contracts is widely regarded as a deceitful, unethical, exploitative and unnecessary business practice nowadays.
This includes commercial and open-access sources. IELTS do not provide a curriculum document or syllabus document to support each exam cycle. Candidates who have a miniscule spelling error in their written response receive a score of zero for that component of the listening test. This false score suggests that the candidate could not comprehend that word.
There is no reason for the critical reader to suspect that most of these Test Report Forms are forgeries. Figure 23 shows how Test Report Forms are easy to locate via Google images. This includes private testimonies offered to the author of this report in addition to verifiable accounts that exist in the public domain. Since March , the author of this research report has consulted directly with 63 members of the public e. In addition to this sample, I draw on my extensive face-to-face consultations with two practicing IELTS examiners during when I was employed and trained as a learning skills instructor at an accredited Australian university.
Table 9, overleaf, summarizes the sources and quantity of my direct engagement data collection consultations. Between September and March my request for feedback was exclusively neutral. All university research academics from linguistics and education disciplines have identified themselves in confidence and have offered a constructively critical account of their experiences in their capacities as IELTS examiners, instructors and researchers.
The overwhelming bulk of these testimonies are attributable to stakeholders who have a close association with the IELTS exam. This act increases the likelihood that their contribution is authentic. If I extend this definition of IELTS critics to include online posts that are authored by anonymous and semi-anonymous e.
An example of a source that contains anonymous, semi-anonymous and identifiable criticism of the IELTS exam is a petition uploaded on Change. Figure 25 shows an extract of this petition, which has been signed by more than 4, people in recent months. This sample evidence illustrates how serious allegations of IELTS profiteering and corrupt business practices have persisted among professionals in the business community for several years.
Most data sources were collected and analyzed between September and December Analysis in this section should be read in conjunction with the appropriate Research Communique research document as shown in Appendix 2. Discussions in the relevant sub-section of this chapter refers to the relevant research communiques that complement analysis.
In recent months, IELTS have publicly claimed that they partially enforce a blind-marking policy for examination remarks. IELTS do not clarify if supervising managers are aware of the original scores.
Jericho over the past six months with regards to the issues contained in this report see The Free School, This public disclosure refers to the miniscule amount of official IELTS preparation materials that are offered for sale. IELTS change their examination content for each test cycle. Highlight does not appear on the original webpage. Improving IELTS It is exceptionally difficult for independent, suitably qualified professionals such as English language linguists and pedagogy researchers to determine whether IELTS exam content is fair and free of numerous unnecessary obvious design flaws.
It is also difficult for test-takers and advocates to determine whether individuals and examination cohorts have been treated fairly. The author of this report has been continuously employed by four Australian universities and two degree-granting educational institutions in Australia since These unfair practices do not align with notions of procedural fairness that exist in educational settings in Western countries e.
Canada and most other regions. Google Images. This bogus claim is not supported by independent marketing research that surveys customer satisfaction levels. Three million tests do not automatically equate to three million satisfied smiling clients. It is likely that IELTS failed hundreds of thousands of skilled migrants, multiple times each during They also do not publish quantitative range performance data such as the number of customers who have taken, e.
IELTS routinely use images of relaxed, smiling Asian and Arab youthful adults to promote the sale of their goods and services. I met all 60 persons via random encounters in educational and social settings. This sample is diverse in terms of age, first language, citizenship, work experience and test location. Many examinees claim that a high percentage of IELTS examiners and examination administrators persistently act in a way that is authoritarian and intimidating.
They suspect that IELTS staff act this way to maximize job security and overtime payments that arise from repeat failed exam sales. Figures 32 and 33 are indicative samples of these discussions as told by persons who have taken multiple IELTS exams. As a collective, these entities accrue more than estimated million dollars USD annually in economic surpluses for the sale of IELTS services and products.
Most of these sales are made to citizens of developing nations. In this context, IELTS never mention information such as the fact that they charge test-takers a commercial fee that is equivalent to the average salary earned in one month by a Filipino nurse Graham, for each test that their candidates sit. The logic that I use to discuss these flaws should be clear to a lay audience.
For example, one may argue that a linguist or pedagogy researcher is not qualified to comment on the many business-oriented graphical diagrams that IELTS use in writing part 1 of its Academic test. Table 11 summarizes major and obvious pedagogical design flaws that persist throughout the IELTS exam.
As discussed in the Research Communique series, these flaws are relatively easy to fix. Secretive assessment rubrics. Subjective assessment rubrics. Incorporates a western-centric hidden curriculum that unfairly 2, 4 assumes the test-taker has knowledge on a vast range of topics. Assessment structure is stubbornly rigid and therefore lacks 4 authenticity. Correct answers may earn a score of zero for listening tests. Miniscule spelling errors earn a score of zero for the listening test.
Sequencing errors exist in speaking exam content. Figure 35 is an example of such a claim. This notably include those who aim to earn a skilled migrant visa. This demographic requires higher IELTS scores on average than unskilled workers and international students. IELTS hire and publicly showcase the most qualified educators that billions of dollars of revenues earned per decade can buy.
Moreover, its direct ownership by ranked universities that instruct in the English language is a fact. The claims that I discuss in this section are the most serious allegations that I put forward in this document.
I draw on my extended research and personal experiences in educational settings over the past seven years. I do not make these claims recklessly. There is an abundance of evidence available in the public domain to support the claims that I discuss in this section. Candidate profiling IELTS collect more personal demographic client data than any other English language testing agency.
This personal data is used by IELTS to ensure that it does not award too many test-takers a set of scores that will qualify them for skilled migration to Australia and Canada. Figure 36 provides primary evidence to support this claim. IELTS do not define this term. It is fair to assume that IELTS defines this term to include a candidate withholding private demographic data e. IELTS can use statistical sampling to extrapolate this data to reflect the population makeup.
IELTS do not follow this standard business practice as they harbor secretive, unethical criminal motives for dictating that all clients must offer a complete description of their demographic background and intended use of the exam.
Based on statistical sampling techniques, I estimate that IELTS do not meet their self-defined service charter for examination results reporting, i. This feedback is consistent with other primary and secondary data sources that I use to triangulate inferences drawn in this section. Magoosh are suitably placed to provide accurate commentary on exam processes and scores as reported to their staff by their massive international client base.
This approach is akin to using artificial intelligence software to prove a crime for a high-stakes test. As noted by Pell , p. In other words, it is near-certain that Cambridge Assessment rely on statistical data to unfairly fail and extract more revenue from multiple clients.
There are numerous legitimate reasons that may explain why honest candidates may offer identical responses such as multiple-choice selections during the reading test. For example, two candidates who sit the same IELTS exam may produce identical or near-identical examination responses because they are siblings who live together and prepared for the exam as study partners using the same preparation resources.
IELTS reserve the right to award these siblings a score of zero, without justification, merely because they suspect that they cheated. Per Research Communique 1, p. A candidate achieves a very high band score for one IELTS c or more language skills and receives a very low score for one or more different language skills taken in the same test cycle.
Extracts from two policy documents listed in Table 13 are shown in the two figures below. For example, a candidate who scores 8. Alternatively, they may score 4. IELTS reserve the right to award a score of zero merely because they suspect that an answer that is relevant and technically flawless was memorized.
IELTS take the liberty to award scores of zero, without providing reasonable justification, because they have no hesitation in abusing their unrivalled market power at all stages during their exam design cycle and business administration processes.
The testimony shown in Figure 46, overleaf, is typical of numerous accounts that exist in the public domain. This strange policy is open to abuse. Figure 47 is evidence of this intrusive, unnecessary policy. Most skilled visa applicants and permanent residency visa applicants require band scores of 7.
Using statistical sampling techniques, I conservatively estimate that IELTS have defrauded at least , persons annually, multiple times each over the past decade by awarding repeat score patterns typical of those in Figure Reading 8.
IELTS test-takers consistently report that they immediately receive higher i. Expat Forum, IELTS encourage international students to advise them what faculty and institution they aim to access. IELTS examiners are more likely to offer fake marginal fail scores to test- takers who fit a certain demographic.
Using statistical sampling, I estimate that in excess of , verfiable similiar accounts exist. This test-taker is a mature-age 30s immigrant from South Africa who consistently records perfect average band scores of 9.
IELTS award fake scores of 7. IELTS award this test-taker a score of 8. These Governments rely on IELTS examination fraud to expel most international students from their countries after they graduate and are no longer profitable to exploit.
Jericho et al. Claims made in this report are supported by thousands of individuals from a range of professions. These professions include educators, judicial officers, journalists and migration agents. My colleagues report that they repeatedly see their students earning scores of 6. These scores are much lower than scores that they consistently earn in mock examinations, as assessed by experienced, qualified IELTS tutors.
A candidate who could not score band scores of 5. This test-taker applied his reading, writing, listening and speaking English University of Sydney: Human Trafficking Criminal wwww. This judge had no difficulty following the arguments put forward by this man. I refer to figure IELTS simultaneously extorts massive financial surpluses from global exam fraud. Ahern, ; Al-Issa, They also violate international law. It is imperative that these institutions act with compassion and set the highest standards of ethical behavior.
At present, they fall far short of these moral standards. Market power When determining what is a business racket and extortionate business practices, the courts take context into consideration. They also consider the market structures of where the business conducts its operations. National Consumer Complaint Forum India, IELTS are aware of their colossal global market power.
IELTS routinely boasts that it maintains around 1, test centers in over countries. Figure 57 offers an example of these websites. United Nations, c. The ABC is a respected, not- for-profit public institution. Figure 58, overleaf, documents this claim. It is exceptionally rare for the ABC to use such confronting accusatory language.
The ABC has the authority to quote or omit any statements provided by interviewees. Table 14, overleaf, summarizes these business practices and supports these claims with a description of the logic that I use to draw these conclusions. I also offer a current primary source to support all claims. Fatima has invested most of her life savings to sit one IELTS test so that she can migrate to Canada as a skilled worker.
Fatima receives scores of: 8. Fatima is surprised by this score of 6. Fatima is convinced that the score of 6. Fatima explains her story multiple times and her calls are never returned. This illustration vignette is not theoretical. IELTS staff routinely ignore messages left via their local customer service number e.
Magoosh, b. There is ample evidence available from public testimonies that IELTS use its appeals remarking process to deliberately extort further profits from the estimated hundreds of thousands of people which it has repeatedly failed using fake marginal fail scores of 6.
Moreover, it does so, on a global scale, to extract maximum monopoly rents i. Figure 59 supports this claim. IELTS willfully target a vulnerable demographic and exploit their colossal market power to enforce a fake, unnecessary service that it repeatedly imposes on its clients to earn millions of dollars in revenue and profit each calendar year. As shown in Figure 60, Burger reports that he is not aware of a successful outcome from an Enquiry on Results application.
Script of accompanying audio recording. They also give candidates the opportunity to test themselves to see whether their English is at the level required to take IELTS.
Our comprehensive guide includes audio tracks to help you practice your listening skills, videos of mock interviews so that you can see performance at different score bands, and personalized, data-driven score reports to help you focus your study.
The exam, which tests listening, reading, writing, and speaking skills, is used for entrance into universities, nonacademic business settings, and as a part of immigration applications for permanent residence or citizenship in several English-speaking countries. However, institutions considering your application are advised to look at both the Overall Band Score and the Bands for each component in order to determine whether you have the language skills needed for a particular course of study.
For example, if your course has a lot of reading and writing, but no lectures, listening skills might be less important and a score of 5 in Listening might be acceptable if the Overall Band Score was 7. However, for a course which has lots of lectures and spoken instructions, a score of 5 in Listening might be unacceptable even though the Overall Band Score was 7.
Once you have marked your tests you should have some idea of whether your listening and reading skills are good enough for you to try the IELTS test. If you did well enough in one component but not in others, you will have to decide for yourself whether you are ready to take the test. The Practice Tests can only give you an idea of your possible future performance and it is ultimately up to you to make decisions based on your score.
We have based our recommendations on the average scores which the majority of institutions accept. The institution to which you are applying may, of course, require a higher or lower score than most other institutions. Which TWO facilities at the leisure club have recently been improved?
The Will be explained to you before you use the equipment. Types of membership.. B adapt an existing energy-saving appliance. CG develop a new use for current technology.
John chose a dishwasher because he wanted to make dishwashers A more appealing. B more common. In the holding chamber, the carbon dioxide A changes back to a gas. B dries the dishes. C is allowed to cool. Listening Questions Complete the notes below.
John needs help preparing for his The professor advises John to make a The professor suggests John apply for a Richard Cox travelled to north-western India to document these spectacular monuments from a bygone era ; During the sixth and seventh centuries, the inhabitants of the modern-day states of Gujarat and Rajasthan in inorth-western India developed a : method of gaining access to clean, fresh!
However, the significance : of this invention — the stepwell - goes : beyond its utilitarian application. Unique to this region, stepwells are often architecturally complex and vary widely in size and shape. During their heyday, they were places of gathering, of leisure and relaxation and of worship : for villagers of all but the lowest classes.
As their name suggests, stepwells comprise a series of stone steps descending from ground level to the water source normally an underground aquifer as it recedes following the rains. When the water level was high, the user needed only to descend a few steps to reach it; when it was low, several levels would have to be negotiated. Some wells are vast, open craters with hundreds of steps paving each sloping side, often in tiers, Others are more elaborate, with long stepped passages leading to the water via several storeys.
Built from stone and supported by pillars, they also included pavilions that sheltered visitors from the relentless heat.
But perhaps the most impressive features are the intricate decorative sculptures that embellish many stepwells, showing activities from fighting and dancing to everyday acts such as women combing their hair or churning butter.
It is not possible for you to give yourself a mark for the Writing tasks. These sample answers will give you an insight into what is required for the Writing test. The Practice Tests can only give you an idea of your possible future performance and it is ultimately up to you to make decisions based on your score.
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