When we dream of going abroad and living, the most common thing we come to listen to is IELTS. Question is, what really is the IELTS? When you choose to migrate, immigrate or work in any of the English centric countries, the first requirement is English proficiency. IELTS stands for International English Test System, you are required to qualify it, if you are planning to migrate or study abroad. IELTS tests your reading, writing, listening and speaking ability. One should always remember language is the basic need of survival. There’s a cliché “communication is the solvent for all the problems and is the foundation of personal development”. This quote clearly shows how much communication is needed. Here IELTS plays the role, good IELTS results can increase your chances to survive and enter in the English countries.
History of IELTS
To understand something entirely, one needs to go inside the history of the topic. IELTS was launched in the year 1890. Cambridge English language assessment and British council took the initiative during initial days it was known as the UCLES. IELTS focused on providing evolutionary changes in language learning, the entire objective IELTS was to provide the easiest way to learn English for non-speakers. The program did face obstacles in its initial days. In the year 1989, IELTS went on ground and witnessed a great hike. Two types of modules were introduced
- Non specialized modules listening and speaking
- Specialized modules reading and writing
By the year 1995 the program received a huge number of recognitions, 15% rise in applicants and nearly 43000 test takers. There were about 210 test centers all over the world.
US, UK, New Zealand, Australia and Canada are some of the countries which have certain language eligibility one needs to fulfil. Here IELTS results guarantee your language proficiency. In the year 2017 near about 3 million people were appeared for the test, in 2012 numbers 2 million. You can definitely observe the rise in the popularity of the IELTS throughout the decades.
IELTS in India
Thousands of students every year for better education migrate from India to UK, US, and Canada. Education isn’t the only purpose, there are several other reasons. Work, migrate and immigration is one of them. As I have mentioned above the number of students applicants appeared in the IELTS exam. Significant amount of people participate. However, to feed my curiosity, I researched about the setup of IELTS in India.
Currently, there are more than thousands of IELTS coaching centers in India. In last 25 years there was IELTS boom in India. In 2014 there were students who were offered scholarship to study in US institutions. Punjab which holds the 2% of countries GDP, actually provides 10% of migrate workers to the western countries. From the year 2008 to 2012 the vast number of students visa were offered were mainly from Hyderabad, Chennai, Mumbai and Kolkata. Recently, the vast majority of students are from Punjab. Thousands of coaching center running in Punjab gives hundreds of students every year. IELTS coaching center industry currently worth more than rupees 1ooo crores. Such a huge number of coaching institution, but not every one of them are authorize.
Maximum number of these institutions are not registered with the government. Average amount of fees individual pays in the coaching center is rupees 8 thousands. Different coaching have different fess structure, varies from rupees 2000 to 20,000. IELTS do offer scholarship to few of the selected students, which is also one of the reason behind its popularity. Constant popularity of the IELTS is still visible, as every year there’s a rise in no. of applicants for the test.
Entire process of IELTS.
Registration
- One needs to register for the exam, now registration process is quite easy and simple.
- First you need to visit IELTS India official website.
- Now select the option “registration for IELTS exam”
- Now one must be clear about what way exam do you prefer, whether its computer based or paper based.
- Select your test module. There are two types of test module, first is academic other is general. Academic are certainly for the students. While general is for everyone.
- Enter your preferred location.
- Fill your desired date of examination.
- Pay the test fees.
After filling all the necessary details and paying the fees. You will receive the acknowledgment receipt on your registered email or phone number.
Test pattern of IELTS
IELTS tests your four sections, speaking, listening, reading and writing. To qualify with better score, the appearing candidate should score better points.
- Listening test is of 30 minutes
- Reading test is of 60 minutes
- Writing test is of 60 minutes
- Speaking test is of 11 to 14 minutes
Three of the tests listening, writing and reading are to be schedule on same day. Speaking test get schedule after or before the other three test.
After registration one get access to free preparation material. One also receives compact disc and sample question papers. Free android application is also available, “BC IELTS Word power” one can download it from play store.
Conclusion
Language do play an important role in migration to English language centric countries. UK, US, Canada, New Zealand and Australia do prefer English proficiency. Let’s take an example of Canada, country with one of the highest immigration numbers. In Canada one needs to have a good CLB score. Here CLB stands for Canadian Language Benchmark. Now let’s look at the entire process there are various programs for immigration, one of the most well-known is Express Entry. Applicant creates his Express profile, then he needs to fill the details required. On the basis of these details CRS score calculator will assign you points.
These points’ help you rank in the pool. Language is one of the criteria for gaining points. In the language proficiency section if you have higher IELTS grades, then you will get higher point as award. As English is one of the official language so one needs to have a strong hold on the language. One must remember IELTS or language isn’t the only criteria, but it is one of the important criteria. Language proficiency can get you ITA in Express Entry next draw.
To know more and understand the entire IELTS process and Express Entry process, one can contact to ICCRC authorized consultants in India. They are highly knowledgeable and have the specific correct details which will help you get the authentic details.
