The popularity of IELTS

IELTS (International English Language Testing System) is one of the most commonly taken exams by non native English speakers.It is a high stakes English exam which tests proficiency .Accepted by over 9,000 organisations worldwide it is sat mainly for the purposes of study,work and migration.More than four million people in 130 countries sit the exam every year and this number is increasing.
IELTS tests students in their skills in reading ,writing ,listening and speaking and is designed to reflect real life use of the language -at work,study and play.There is a choice of two exams to sit depending on your purpose-IELTS General and IELTS Academic.Naturally if a student is aiming for education in a English speaking country then they would chose Academic as opposed to someone moving for other purposes who will be more likely to sit the general exam.There is a difference in the reading and writing components of the two tests.Both versions of the exam are in four parts and results are graded on a nine band system.In my experience students usually aim for around band 7 or above.A band seven grade shows that the candidate is good user of the language with a sound operational command although at times there are some inaccuracies or misunderstandings in certain situations.A student at this level can deal with complex language....so not fully fluent but very close to it.