What Makes IELTS Challenging?

Difficult and challenging – two common words to describe the IELTS or the International English Language Testing System examination or the IELTS. Indeed, there are a lot of test takers who claim that the IELTS is not an ordinary English examination. They always suggest enrolling in an IELTS review center where they can acquire experience and exposure to different exercises and training for the IELTS examination.
Many individuals are thinking why these people who have taken the said examination find the IELTS challenging. Is it because of the content? the test format? the lack of skills? Hence, below are some reasons why the IELTS is considered a challenging English competency examination.

1. Difficult reading passages.
The reading passages used in the Academic Module are harder than those used in the General Training. The passages are taken from books, newspapers and magazines. Passages usually contain a general academic content, a logical argument and a passage that includes graphs and diagrams. Moreover, passages are lengthy and candidates should focus on the meaning of the passages to fully complete the questions’

2. Accents used in the listening.
British and Australian accents are commonly used throughout the audio recordings. As for Filipinos, the usage of American English is more common than the mentioned accents. In addition, there are words that have a British English equivalent from an American English word like flat for apartment and trousers for pants.

3. Face-to-face interview
Facing a native English speaker is really nerve racking. The speaking test only runs for 10 to 15 minutes; however, sitting in front and being interviewed can cause apprehension and tension to the candidate. Some candidates go mental block during interview making them give responses that are not that strong and effective.

4. Interpreting graphs and diagrams
Creating an essay out of a pie chart or a line graph is not easy. Candidates taking the Academic Writing have to deal with this. With a little information presented on the chart, one must know the skill in writing essays that will provide an in-depth description of the given chart. To add more challenge, writing it in a limited number of words makes the candidate tensed and confused.
How to make these challenges lighter?

Be involved in classes pertaining to skill building for the IELTS. There are a lot of IELTS review centers that offer different programs to address the need for education and exposure of candidates for the IELTS examination. In addition, mock tests are given for these candidates to let them know how the real test feels like.

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