pigwhocouldfly

Well needing a 7.0 in all areas of the test I sit here the day after my wife received her IELTS results quite angry and perplexed. After hearing and reading the complaints surrounding people's feelings regarding IELTS I thought just maybe they were over dramatizing things a little.

Well feeling fresh the morning after the day before I am a little concerned about how these tests are marked and the standards the examiners are ultimately looking for. Saturday morning arrived and we were both quite optimistic about the IELTS results, three hours later our post arrived, with a few nerves and slight anxiety my wife opened the results envelope, the results were as follows... Listening 8.5, Reading 9.0, Speaking 8.5, Writing 6.5 arrrghh!! 'For @*$* sake' I said 'just what are they after!' I was quite angry to say the least and yes it was her first attempt at taking the IELTS test so not yet on par with quite a few others just yet!

The results seemed at first glance very good until my eyes met the 6.5 in writing the result just didn't sorry did not (< are you reading IELTS examiners) seem to follow the trend of the other results, well you may ask, maybe just maybe her writing just was not up to standard on the day? Well I asked this very same question to my OH and she told me her writing was in her opinion a very structured piece with good punctuation and correct spelling.

We also bought the Peter May's IELTS practise book from recommendation of quite a few others around the forums and I must say it was an excellent study book with some great material. The writing section of this book also had practise material and tips for a successful result, it carried on to say how to go about writing a good structured piece, for the piece to have an introduction, a good argument and a conclusion, my OH had all this and more!
She was under no illusion about how to set about the writing task .

My problems first and formost with IELTS is firstly why oh why do they insist on vocational English speaking ie born and bred citizens having to do this test at all?!! It ju$t seem$ $o ridiculou$ (apologies for my spelling mistakes there)
I really think this needs to be reviewed. Secondly, I think the speaking and writing aspects of the IELTS are a little unfair as these two parts are subjective, in other words there are no right or wrong answers, these tests are just cannon fodder for some master of the universe to say whether these pieces are to a his or her standards, a great innovation for IELTS though (you can probably gue$$ why). Thirdly I believe that IELTS is a private company that are government approved, why are they not government run?? The reason being we all know why private companies exist, and that is first and foremost to make money, IELTS should be a not for profit organization.

As you can probably guess by now we are going to appeal this result at a cost of another £60 of our hard earned pounds, not all bad as we do get a full refund if we are successful, other than that it will be back to the test centre to try again. My apologies if this thread seems a little arrogant well it isn't meant to come across in that way, I am just a little upset about the whole IELTS machine!!

Please let me know how you feel about IELTS and any similar experiences you may have had and if anybody has had any success on appeal? Oh and if there are any IELTS examiners out there please also feel free to comment, I believe your input will be very welcome indeed.

Thankyou for reading and good luck to anybody else in the same position

Zeneco26

God that is just so unfair..... and it makes me feel really really nervous! I did mine just yesterday... and I have done it before 4 years ago (passed with 8,7,7,8). The thought of having to re sit it makes me feel sick as I have a job offer and a starting date for November!
Don't give up!!!
Hugs

sbrock11

if she failed the exam and you done all your education and exams taught and assessed in english i believe you do not have to sit an IELTS exam which is now stated on the AHPRA website. i called 3 oz call handlers at AHPRA all stating i do not need to exam however it was too close to my exam date so i couldnt get a refund and have since lost £110

ruthnurse

I too took 6 attempts to pass the IELTS after completing three years at University and never failing any exams or essays, I couldn't get about a 6.5 in the reading test and was visiting the doctor for anti anxiety pills as the stress took its toll and the pressure all became too much!!! I eventually passed with 9, 8, 8, 7 overjoyed and now hit the next brick wall!!

AHPRA who have informed me that they are not processing any overseas applications at present and have no idea how long this will take to set up, despite receiving my application.... I telephoned them at 3.30am... to hear yes they have my application and yes they will bank the money and that NO, they have NO idea when and if they will have a process in place to enter me onto the nursing register!!!

ARGGGGHHH all I want is to get my children and husband to Aus and be with my brother and my dad, this whole situation is sooo frustrating...

Please if anyone knows anything about AHPRA and their processing system, please let me know.

Many Thanks

Ruth

ruthnurse

HI there and good luck, as they say, never give up!! you will get there!! personally I wanted to email the aussie government with letters of complaint, however, just had to keep going with it, despite how frustrating it became.. I have put a later post in this thread regarding my experience.

With reference to your letter of appeal,,,, I didn't try that myself, you could have a go, but I thought for the time it would take and money, I may as well just have another go, and another until 6th time lucky!! my new lucky number!!!

Good Luck and YOU WILL DO IT

Ruth

tiredwithtwins

They arent processing any overseas applications!!???

jeez ... what are they playing at!?

congrats on passing eventually ...

pigwhocouldfly

Hi all

Well the reason we are appealing this is because the writing and speaking part of the IELTS are the subjective parts to the test, so we have a better chance of appeal since it was the writing section the OH got a 6.5, the listening and reading parts of the test are generally regarded as a no go area for an appeal since those two parts are just a right and wrong answer and needs to basically match the examiner's answer sheet, so definitely worth a shot

pigwhocouldfly

Ditto!

We phoned NMBWA and AHPRA this morning regarding registration basically to ask who is it better to register with since WA will be AHPRA on the 18th October! NMBWA told us that it would be more beneficial for us to register with AHPRA as we may lose our registration fees during the transition period
So then we phoned AHPRA and she spoke to somebody who basically could not understand what my OH was trying to say! We were then transferred to an Englishman who said we still need to register with WA as it is an illegal practise for AHPRA to register anybody who wants to work in WA!! DOUBLE

So now we are just going to register with WA and hope the transitional period goes smoothly, after all they are still going to be operating from the same offices lol

ruthnurse

How much is the WA application and whats the link to their site? I may just check it out anyway while I wait.

Thanks

pigwhocouldfly

here you go

http://www.nmbwa.org.au/

Jandals

If you have such a huge difference between the band scores they normally double check it straight away.
But let me tell you this. I had to do this IELTS test more than once and always because of the writing part. Always 6.5.
I also believe that they just want to make money, sorry! I met a lot of students at the test center, but they all made it. Mostly I've met the people who wanted to leave the country again. Kind of strange. I know that my writing isn't the best, but no matter what I did: 6.5.
I've got my 7 when I didn't care much about my spelling and concentrated more on all the sophisticated words.
I'm still getting angry when I think about the IELTS!!

netzkeenet

I took IELTS for the 3rd time and I still did not manage to get the desired band score. 1st take writing 6.5. 2nd take speaking 6.0. third take speaking 6.5
IELTS = nightmare

I would like to request for a re-marking. and hoping for an increase in my band score..

avi

Knightmare I so feel for you. I must admit I was more worried about the writing rather than any of the others. I am not a writer so I stressed and stressed about it all. I passed with 9,9,9,8 so I was overcome with joy it wil happen and good luck with the apeall

deepend

21 Mar 2011

Statement from the Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia

The Nursing and Midwifery Board of Australia today confirmed that the current English language skills registration standard remains in place pending the outcome of an extensive consultation process. Read the media release:

http://www.nursingmidwiferyboard.gov...-standard.aspx

SmogMonster

Deepend, does that statement actually make things any clearer? Sometimes they say you do need IELTS, other times they say you dont. Does that make it any clearer, 'cos i cant see it?
Thankfully ive passed my IELTS today with a 9 overall, but the better half hasnt had chance to sit hers yet..it'll be useful to know whether she has to go through the whole PITA process.