raymasa

Hmmm....thats strange. The reading section you described was for Academic version. Reading for General is much simpler than that. Thats why I thought you did the Academic version. You sure you didnt get the Academic test book by mistake? In any case, it doesn't matter. CIC will accept results from either one.

The listening section for both versions is the same, but reading and writing sections are different.

Ray

Bali2010

OK, maybe I am trying to apply logic here but surely a deaf individual should have (IMO) 'not applicable' rather than zero for this part of the test.

Am I being too simple minded, but the test is to aid in assimilation assessment - there must be a way of doing this without a 'listening' section - even if just relying on lip reading, signing of some sort.

I have no knowledge of these tests so it just struck me as odd.

mojovibe

The thing that worries me is the second part of the listening test where I got completely lost. I was spending that much time trying to find the multiple choice answer, I lost the thread about what was being said. So I just ended up putting anything down. In the rest of the listening test, and the other parts of the test I'm confident that I answered most of the questions but not 100% correct.

But on the online self assment form it asks you if your highly, moderate, basic, or no proficiency. When I complete the online assessment, I have to choose highly proficient to get full marks to get a grand total of 69. If look at the the definitions for highly proficient, it suggest you have to write dictionaries, and the moderate proficiency seems to suggest you assist in writing them.

Just as a matter of interest, why do you think I was doing the academic test and not the general test? The nurse that I spoke to said she did the same topic as me, but was doing the academic test for Australia. She said she had spoke to another nurse that was on her fifth attempt, to better her score for the academic level. They might have given me the wrong test paper, but they ask me if I was taking the general test before I started the tesrt when they give me the paper. Maybe its the same test with a higher pass mark for academic. I just hope then that the results I get are sufficient enough to be able to speak English in the eyes of the CIC.

raymasa

Because the reading section you described was consistent with what the section would look like in the Academic version. That section in the General version would be much simpler English than that.

As I said before, Listening section is the same for both versions, but Reading and Writing sections are different. For General, they is much simpler.

If the other person taking the Academic version had the same question than you have gotten the booklet for the Academic version. While both groups would be in the same room, they will both be given booklets of different colours. Did you noticed others in the room with different colour booklets?

Ray

mojovibe

No I can't say that I did, to be honest with you I was too scared to look round too much, it might of been construed as copying ha ha. No seriously though it was quite strict, you weren't even allowed to leave the examination room to go to the toilet. You had to wait till the test had finished, then you were escorted to the toilet and the time spent there came out of your exam time. There were no breaks between the first three tests, but there was a break between the last test, which was the writing one and the speaking one.

helcat12

There seems to be some disagreement over this point, as christmasoompa responded to a comment I had made on another thread with this;
"And just to add that anybody taking the IELTS exam must take the General test - CIC don't accept the Academic one."
(Taken from thread - Applying for TWP at Point of Entry)
Who is right?

helcat12

SorryPicked up this thread at the end and hadn't seen christmasoompa's comment on this thread earlier!
Did you two work out the answer?

raymasa

Post deleted by me (Ray Masa). I misquoted previous operational manual with incorrect information. Please see next post below with correct information.

Note to moderators. Please delete this post to avoid any confusion.

raymasa

Just found the more recent operational manual (I am assuming this is the latest) of July 26, 2010.

http://www.cic.gc.ca/english/resourc...p/op06-eng.pdf

And in this one it does state that only General is accepted.

"For the IELTS reading and writing tests, there are ‘General Training’ and ‘Academic’ options. Only the ‘General Training’ tests are accepted for CIC purposes."

Page 31, Section 11.6.

It seems they keep going back and forth on this.

So, only General version will be accepted, Academic one will not be.

Sorry for the confusion.

Ray

CanadaJimmy

Had my IELTS yesterday.

The listening test was the trickiest I found. Mainly because it's one shot, you don't get to hear the recording twice, while you're busy worrying about the last one you put down suddenly the speaker has just given you the next answer so it's very easy to miss the answers. I myself got at least 2 questions wrong because of that.

The reading was by far the easiest as you have all a whole hour to answer the questions. The writing was pretty straightforward too, but I can't tell yet how well I did.

The woman who did my speaking exam was clearly finding it amusing asking me these mundane questions in which I tried to give good answers too but again it's very hard to know how well I did. At one point I had to speak for 2 minutes on a given topic, I quickly ran out of things to say so I probably didn't do that well on that one either but we'll see.

I agree with what others have said that it's not that great a test on language ability it felt more like a test on how to give quick answers when under pressure than anything else!

Jim Humphries

I had to take the IELTS too. Its no fun but it is a good test of one's command of all areas of English usage.

mojovibe

If your an English speaking native, with a comprehensive schooling and you fail it. What does it mean though?

I would have thought they would have started with the speaking part first, with a lecture. And got more in depth with it to warm up your mood and waken your senses. Then used the old language lab type booths to test your ability to speak on the subject matter, and have the examiner stray from the subject and test your ability to react to it. So then the speaking and listening could be a combined effort.

helcat12

Thanks for that confirmation, Ray.

crazy72

I don't think that anyone is "going back and forth on this". I browsed through past posts here and all resident experts were always saying that it is the General option what CIC wants to see. I also run through op06's as far back as July 2006 (see attached) and in every single version I could find it was General option listed as acceptable by CIC.

christmasoompa

Current Operating Manual says: Section 11.5 – Updated note on IELTS that both Academic and General Training tests are
acceptable

That is dated April, and it did say that Academic was accepted on the CIC website for a while. However, they have now changed it back to only accepting General according to the CIC website, so I assume that's more up to date than the document dated April.