IELTS exam

kkelly77

Hello all,

I have to take the IELTS (English) exam as part of my skilled migrant visa. I'm searching on the internet for sample exams but all I'm finding are sites that require payment for sample tests or advertisements.

Can anyone point me in the right direction? Also, if you have any experience in taking these exams, please feel free to share. Thanks.

K

kkelly77

Finally found somewhere -

http://www.englishonline.org.cn/en/exams-work

Might be of use to someone else

myhorse

this any use
http://elc.polyu.edu.hk/IELTS/

Norinoco

Have mine coming up in August. Know a few people have done with no prep and flew through it so not too worried but would be nice to have an idea what to expect, don't fancy waiting another 4 months for a test date!
Where are you doing yours?

kkelly77

Norinoco wrote: »

Have mine coming up in August. Know a few people have done with no prep and flew through it so not too worried but would be nice to have an idea what to expect, don't fancy waiting another 4 months for a test date!
Where are you doing yours?

Haven't booked my test yet. I was warned that in fact many english speaking people actually FAIL these exams. And it would be foolish just to jump in with no preperation, especially when they cost around €180!!

K

rebel333

I did it in feburary, easy peasy,a waste of our time to do it. Had to do it for the skilled visa though.

Norinoco

kkelly77 wrote: »

Haven't booked my test yet. I was warned that in fact many english speaking people actually FAIL these exams. And it would be foolish just to jump in with no preperation, especially when they cost around €180!!

K

Trust me, its the 4 months waiting around for the feckin test that would drive me crazy, not the money. Its only fraction of the money I have spent on visas in this country.
I'm not taking the preperation lightly, but having looked at sample tests and spoken to people that have done and passed the test, there is really very little extra we can do for this test.
Reckon you should get your registered for a test as soon as possible if your thinking about it, the tests for the 22nd Aug in Sydney are nearly already full.

kkelly77

Are there any reasons someone would choose the Acedemic test over the General Training test? Looks like my nearest date to book is June 4th.

davem75

Quick Question - Is it neccessary to complete the English test if you are an Irish Passport holder.

Thanks

kkelly77

davem75 wrote: »

Quick Question - Is it neccessary to complete the English test if you are an Irish Passport holder.

Thanks

Yes you may have to if you don't have enough points for your visa application. I'm in the same situation. Only have 90 out of 100.

K

Norinoco

kkelly77 wrote: »

Yes you may have to if you don't have enough points for your visa application. I'm in the same situation. Only have 90 out of 100.

K

100?? What visa are you applying for?
Going for the Skilled independent visa myself and you need 120.

General Training is a prep course for the Academic Exam. Its the Academic Exam your after for the visa.

kkelly77

Norinoco wrote: »

100?? What visa are you applying for?
Going for the Skilled independent visa myself and you need 120.

General Training is a prep course for the Academic Exam. Its the Academic Exam your after for the visa.

Skilled Migrant Visa - state sponsored (sub class 176)

Legend100

Has anyone ever done the test. Could be handy to get the 10 extra points for the skilled visa

Would you have to do any preparation for it?

rebel333

I've done the test for extra points, it's very simple if English is your first language. No prep needed..

dap75au

If you are looking to get the bonus points by scoring high on the IELTS I would definitely reccomend doing a bit of study on the letter and essay writing section of the test. There is a set layout that they are looking for that you mightn't be aware of if you don't do your homework. I found a few good tutorials on youtube. Don't think I would have got the points without looking at these vids. Everything else in the test is a piece of piss. Was quite funny the oral exam where I had to talk to an examiner for 10 minutes to show my fluency in English. Good luck though, do a little bit of preparation and you'll be fine.

Ozeire

Not a good sign if you have to take an english test to just get extra points. Surely your skills on skilled visa will give you nearly all the points .

zweton

for someone with little work experience e.g 1-2 years gets you no points.
score high in ielts and you can earn 20 points.

gaoife

Hi Guys

Sorry for the hijack but does anyone know how long it takes to get the skilled migration visa?
I was hoping to apply after my whv but it says on the website it'd be a few years, does anyone have first hard experience with waiting times?

Thanks

bigbadcon

The skills assessment takes about 12 weeks (was for me from ACS)

Ive heard the 175 visa application can take anywhere from 6-18 months or possibly more.

Im doing the IELTS this saturday and will straight away apply for the visa assuming I get at least a score of 7 of course

duke916

Ozeire wrote: »

Not a good sign if you have to take an english test to just get extra points. Surely your skills on skilled visa will give you nearly all the points .

Not a good sign? how so?

all occupations are graded differently on points. they range from 50-65 points as far as i can recall. my occupation was 55 points and was short just 5 points to go through. look on various aussie migration forums and you'll see this is the most common problem...the shortfall of just 5 points, therefore you have to pay 185euro to complete the exam and pass it adding 25 points to your tally.

ive applied for the GSM 175 skilled migrant 5 year temp residency visa in May 2009 and still waiting for a response from immigration to complete my medical. This visa in particular is hardest to obtain and takes the longest, 2 to three years im told by my agent. But in my opinion its the best choice of visa as it gives you free reign to work to any company in any state. Unlike sponsorship which can be terminated at any time by your employer or state sponsorship which restricts where you want to go.

mandrake04

duke916 wrote: »

all occupations are graded differently on points. they range from 50-65 points as far as i can recall. my occupation was 55 points and was short just 5 points to go through.
.

You must have an occupation on the Skilled Occupation List

Trade=10 points
Bachelor or Master Degree=15 points
PhD=20 points

IELTS 6 across the board= 0 points
IELTS 7 across the board= 15 points
IELTS 8 across the board= 20 points

duke916 wrote: »

ive applied for the GSM 175 skilled migrant 5 year temp residency visa in May 2009 and still waiting for a response from immigration to complete my medical. This visa in particular is hardest to obtain and takes the longest, 2 to three years im told by my agent. But in my opinion its the best choice of visa as it gives you free reign to work to any company in any state. Unlike sponsorship which can be terminated at any time by your employer or state sponsorship which restricts where you want to go.

175 is Permanent not Temporary as you can stay permently but the visa itself only lasts 5 years before you require a RRV

ENS Sponsorship is permanent, your employer can't terminate your visa.

duke916

mandrake04 wrote: »

duke916 wrote: »

all occupations are graded differently on points. they range from 50-65 points as far as i can recall. my occupation was 55 points and was short just 5 points to go through.
.

You must have an occupation on the Skilled Occupation List

Trade=10 points
Bachelor or Master Degree=15 points
PhD=20 points

IELTS 6 across the board= 0 points
IELTS 7 across the board= 15 points
IELTS 8 across the board= 20 points

duke916 wrote: »

ive applied for the GSM 175 skilled migrant 5 year temp residency visa in May 2009 and still waiting for a response from immigration to complete my medical. This visa in particular is hardest to obtain and takes the longest, 2 to three years im told by my agent. But in my opinion its the best choice of visa as it gives you free reign to work to any company in any state. Unlike sponsorship which can be terminated at any time by your employer or state sponsorship which restricts where you want to go.

175 is Permanent not Temporary as you can stay permently but the visa itself only lasts 5 years before you require a RRV

ENS Sponsorship is permanent, your employer can't terminate your visa.

Actually if you want to stay over the five years you can apply for citizenship after three years. its recommended you stay in the country for at least two of those years consistanly.

Granded rules and points have altered since i applied but the reason for completing the ielts test remains the same.

mandrake04

duke916 wrote: »

Actually if you want to stay over the five years you can apply for citizenship after three years. its recommended you stay in the country for at least two of those years consistanly.

That's absolutely incorrect you can stay in Australia permanently with just Permanent residency and citizenship is not required.

To qualify for citizenship you need to be living in Australia legally for 4 years.

hussey

gaoife wrote: »

Hi Guys

Sorry for the hijack but does anyone know how long it takes to get the skilled migration visa?
I was hoping to apply after my whv but it says on the website it'd be a few years, does anyone have first hard experience with waiting times?

Thanks

Any where between 4weeks and 2 years, it all depends on a bunch of variables, none of which you have supplied

gaoife

Thanks for the replys

I'm heading to oz on the 5th oct and just was just looking into options after the 1 yesr is out thats why i didn't give any specifics

bigbadcon

Ok so I did the test today...

It was more difficult than I was expecting but Id say i got at least 8 out of 10 with no study done at all.

It can be tricky enough at parts and Id say if you had any issues writing essays and coming up with ideas under the pressures of an exam environment you could find it difficult enough.

Even the speaking part was tricky enough and I was asked to comment on some weird subjects. eg..how do you think the irish media compares to the media in other countries?? :-)

Overall id say if you did english in school up to leaving certificate level you will breeze through this exam. If your english is at a lower level you may struggle at the essay sections and some of the multiple choice ones were difficult enough where more than one answer seemed to make sense and they were only expecting one.

One piece of advice I would give is to pay attention during the listening as the answers they are looking for can come out in quick succession and if your not careful you'll miss them.

If anyone has any questions on the exam format Id be happy to answer.

BTW I only booked this exam on tuesday and did it today in CES on dame street in dublin so there didnt seem to be any waiting list at all..

Solair

All I would say is prepare for it, I know French people who have done quite badly on the French equivalent of IELTS.

It's very important that you know what you're expecting.

I would actually suggest contacting an English language school.

E.g. : http://www.ucc.ie/en/esol/

bigbadcon

Got my results back..

I got 8.5 out of 9 without any study done at all.Here was my break down.

Listening 9/9
Reading 7/9
Speaking 9/9
Writing 8.5/9

The reading section I found confusing where you had to match headings with paragraphs.. sometimes more than one answer made sense....

mandrake04

bigbadcon wrote: »

Got my results back..

I got 8.5 out of 9 without any study done at all.Here was my break down.

Listening 9/9
Reading 7/9
Speaking 9/9
Writing 8.5/9

The reading section I found confusing where you had to match headings with paragraphs.. sometimes more than one answer made sense....

Nice 20 points

zweton

anyone know how long the ielts is valid for once you sit it?

jockey#1

mandrake04 wrote: »

Nice 20 points

No I don't think so as I recently found out myself :mad: You need to get at least 8 in ALL four components to get 20 points. You get 10 points for at least a 7 in ALL four components, anything less than that and it 0 points!

mandrake04

jockey#1 wrote: »

No I don't think so as I recently found out myself :mad: You need to get at least 8 in ALL four components to get 20 points. You get 10 points for at least a 7 in ALL four components, anything less than that and it 0 points!

Yeah that right, my bad I didnt see the 7/9.

You need at least 8.0 across the board for 20, funny how on other forums many native english speakers count up their points and they always award themselves they 20 points before they actually do the test.

bigbadcon

jockey#1 wrote: »

No I don't think so as I recently found out myself :mad: You need to get at least 8 in ALL four components to get 20 points. You get 10 points for at least a 7 in ALL four components, anything less than that and it 0 points!

So even though I got 8.5 out of 9 overall I only get 10 points because I got 7/9 in the reading?

That sucks. At least I only needed 10 points.I would be seriously annoyed otherwise

@zweton: I think It says on the form that it is valid for 2 years

jockey#1

Sucks alright. It's just a money making racket really especially for native speakers. I appealed the result as I really do not want to waste another four hours of my life doing the test again. Appeal costs $176 :eek:

2010jc

jockey#1 wrote: »

Sucks alright. It's just a money making racket really especially for native speakers. I appealed the result as I really do not want to waste another four hours of my life doing the test again. Appeal costs $176 :eek:

I'm in a similar position myself. Got 7.5 in the writing section. I don't know whether to bite the bullet and do the whole thing again or appeal the result.
Did you get your new result? Any idea on the percentage of results that change?
The woman on the phone couldn't/wouldn't 'give out that information' to me.
I was told it would be 6-8 weeks for the appeal result. (I'm in Melbourne)

nager

zweton wrote: »

anyone know how long the ielts is valid for once you sit it?

I think its valid for 1 year.

jockey#1

2010jc wrote: »

I'm in a similar position myself. Got 7.5 in the writing section. I don't know whether to bite the bullet and do the whole thing again or appeal the result.
Did you get your new result? Any idea on the percentage of results that change?
The woman on the phone couldn't/wouldn't 'give out that information' to me.
I was told it would be 6-8 weeks for the appeal result. (I'm in Melbourne)

Well I was told the only chance of getting an improved result is in the writing section so fingers crossed they will give me the extra half a mark! I only appealed last week as I was home in Ireland for the last three weeks and the result sheet was in Melbourne. Hopefully it will be faster than 6-8 weeks. I was also told unofficially that one in four get their mark increased, how true this I do not know. If you apply for the test again you will probably be waiting at least four weeks anyway as they test dates fill up very quickly! Good luck whatever you do

2010jc

jockey#1 wrote: »

Well I was told the only chance of getting an improved result is in the writing section so fingers crossed they will give me the extra half a mark! I only appealed last week as I was home in Ireland for the last three weeks and the result sheet was in Melbourne. Hopefully it will be faster than 6-8 weeks. I was also told unofficially that one in four get their mark increased, how true this I do not know. If you apply for the test again you will probably be waiting at least four weeks anyway as they test dates fill up very quickly! Good luck whatever you do

I think I'll chance the appeal. The test process was a pain, I don't fancy wasting another Saturday doing it again! Thanks.

res ipsa

Got my results today 8 in listening 8.5 in reading 9 in both writing & speaking overall 8.5.
For those doing it pay attention during the listening they only play it once & the hard stuff is at the end.

2010jc

2010jc wrote: »

jockey#1 wrote: »

Well I was told the only chance of getting an improved result is in the writing section so fingers crossed they will give me the extra half a mark! I only appealed last week as I was home in Ireland for the last three weeks and the result sheet was in Melbourne. Hopefully it will be faster than 6-8 weeks. I was also told unofficially that one in four get their mark increased, how true this I do not know. If you apply for the test again you will probably be waiting at least four weeks anyway as they test dates fill up very quickly! Good luck whatever you do

I think I'll chance the appeal. The test process was a pain, I don't fancy wasting another Saturday doing it again! Thanks.

I got the results of my appeal. I was moved up from 7.5 - 8 in the writing section which is great. I get refunded the appeal fee also.
My immigration agent said it's pretty rare to move up so I'm pretty happy!