The IELTS preparation courses -International English Language Testing System- are courses for students or people who want to certify their level of English internationally.
There are two variations of the IELTS, one is the academic (IELTS Academic) and the other one is general training (IELTS General Training) choosing one will depend if you need the IELTS for academic or migratory purposes respectively.
The IELTS certificate is the most popular in the world. According to the British Council, more than 3 million exams were taken last year, and it is approved by the best universities in Australia. Each academic program in each university has a different acceptance score, so depending on your qualification you may or may not be eligible to one of these universities.
In Australia you can take Academic IELTS preparation courses if you plan to take a bachelor’s, undergraduate, masters, postgraduate degree or are looking to register your profession. Maybe you’re interested in the courses that have the most positive effect if you want to seek residency in Australia.
If you wish to emigrate to Australia or take a technical, vocational or high school course, you can choose to prepare for an IELTS general training course.
If you’re wondering about the quality of the courses, Australia has the Tertiary Education Quality and Standards Agency (TEQSA) and the Australian Skills Quality Authority (ASQA) as regulatory bodies that are in charge of quality control in the IELTS preparation courses for international students.
Please note
- The IELTS preparation courses can be intensive for 4 weeks or regular for up to 12 weeks. It all depends on your level of knowledge of the previous English language.
- In Australia, schools usually start the IELTS preparation courses every Monday. You can find day and night classes.
What’s the IELTS format like?
For both exams the duration is the same and the difference varies in the reading and writing sections.
- The oral section (Speaking) is a face-to-face interview with the examiner, where you will talk without distractions or interruptions between 11 and 14 minutes, about structured discussion topics on a familiar topic.
- The listening section consists of 4 parts with 10 questions each and lasts 30 minutes. The first 2 parts talk about issues within the social context that is lived day to day, and the other 2 cover a technical or educational context.
- The writing section lasts 60 minutes for the general and academic IELTS. For the general it is necessary to write a letter and an essay with a semi-informal style of 150 and 250 words respectively. For the academic, it is necessary to formally describe a table, diagram or chart and perform an essay of 150 and 250 words respectively.
- The reading section lasts 60 minutes for the general and academic IELTS. The general exam differs in that the reading documents will be about news, publicity, books, newspapers, official documents and manuals, while for the academic there will be 3 long texts about books, interviews, magazines and newspapers selected targeting an audience that is not specialized.
If you take the application process to study in Australia in 2018 with us you can receive a totally free virtual IELTS course.
