IELTS Computer Delivered Tests + Band Score

My experience of taking the IELTS Test many times.

by Ana
(Serbia)

Hello to everyone once again,

I wrote here recently just to inform other ielts test takers about my experience and horror I have been passing through my examination. All of you who have read my last post are quite good introduced about how many times I took this exam. This was my 17th time!

You know that I got 7.5 last 5 times on speaking but then I got only 6. Ok, I thought then that I did really detrimental mistake as examiner gave me 1.5 lower band in just 15 days difference between exams.

Now I am convinced that it was not the case because I took exam again after fifteen days and I was so disappointed because there was the same examiner who gave me 6 last time. I have received my results this morning and I got 7 on speaking, can you imagine that someone's speaking abilities can vary that much in just one month.

Is that possible to get 7.5 then 6 and 7 all that during one month? What is also important that now I got

L 7.5
R 8
W 6
S 7.

I was surprised again because I got 6 on Writing and I got 7 in last 4 attempts.

I am totally convinced that there is some big problem in British Council in Belgrade and I am determined to write a letter of complaint to all offices who are connected to Ielts tests, so I will write to IDP IELTS Australia as well as to London. I will inform you what happened.

If someone have the same experience as I have please write me because I think that this agony will continue if we do not react as a group. We should all react together to stop this fraud.

Thank you all, especially to this wonderful and supporting site.

Comments for My experience of taking the IELTS Test many times.

Average Rating starstarstarstarstar

Click here to add your own comments

Jun 03, 2017
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		unfair test
by: Anonymous

It is a matter of business only, they are totally unfair.
Apr 16, 2019
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Its so annoying
by: Anonymous

I'm writing this after you 2 years since you posted your complaint, but I'm going through the same issue I have taken the exam for 7 times and every time I get 7.5 in my speaking. However, the last attempt I got 6!!!! not 6.5 I got 6!!!

In addition, I keep on studying and trying my best to get the result that I want but every time I receive the same overall band they just change the score for each section of the test. It is so annoying because sometimes I feel I did really well and in some tests I know I didn't do that good but the overall band is always the same.

I'm starting to feel they are just doing this for finical purposes honestly !!!
Apr 16, 2019
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Its so annoying
by: IELTS buddy

I would say the band 6 for your speaking may be wrong if you have been consistently getting 7.5 before. That is too much of a drop, unless there is some other reason it could have suddenly declined.

So if your other scores were what you needed then you might want to consider a remark.

As for the length of time to improve, I can’t know about your individual situation or whether there may have been some errors with the marking, but more generally with language learning it can take a very long time to improve.

Particularly with going from the 7 range to 8 because a band 8 is virtually fluent with very very few errors. That can be difficult to achieve and take a long time.
Jun 22, 2019
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		IELTS must stop this extortion and harassment
by: Anonymous

This is so horrible. I have written 15 times, and preparing for the 16th. I wonder why they don’t let people combine two or more certificates of the test. All need is 8777 in LRWS respectively. In my last 8 attempts, I’ve always been held back by a 6.5 in Reading or Writing. If only they allow two test certificates I would have long gotten myself out of this nightmare because I’ve already achieved the required band score in all the components.Just that it’s not in one certificate. But I ask, how can it not be enough to prove my English language ability when I’ve been able to show that in the test even though it’s not in one sitting?? This is immoral and exploitative. In fact, wickedness!!

There’s so much power in the hands of IELTS. How can a whole government of a country give them the sole power to evaluate English language skills of people from all over the world whereas there’re other examination bodies (PTE, TOEFL etc)that could do so as well.
Jul 29, 2020
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		IELTS
by: Anonymous

I face this issue with IDP multiple times, don't know on what basis they calculate my score? I am fed up with them as it is disheartening.

This is the 5th time and I am not happy with results at all.
Nov 12, 2020
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		It's frustrating!!!
by: Anonymous

I use English daily in my life, however, I certainly believe that IELTS is a game of tips and tricks. I have given IELTS 3 times.
I got this score the first time.

L: 8.5
R: 6.5
W: 7.0
S: 7.5

And my score stayed the same the second time but this time my reading score improved to 7.5 and I got 6.5 writing.
This is a vicious cycle!!

In my third try, all my scores dropped!

L: 8
R: 7
S: 7
W: 6.5

How is this possible! I am extremely frustrated and disappointed. This is a never-ending cycle.
Nov 13, 2020
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		It's frustrating!!!
by: IELTS buddy

It's not unusual for a candidate's score to vary slightly, perhaps half a band like yours, as although the tests are designed to be the same standard each week, obviously they vary in terms of the writing and speaking questions you might get, and the listening/reading tests are all different.

It's quite possible a candidate might do better on one essay question than another or find the speaking questions a bit easier one week. Same with the reading and listening.

So yes it's frustrating but that may well happen in a test like this. If you are getting differences of a band or more, though that can still happen, there is more reason then to start thinking about whether your writing or speaking was perhaps under-marked and whether an EOR is worth it.
Apr 06, 2021
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Demeaning
by: Anonymous

I have taken the test 4 times with varying grades all over the place. The more I take it, the more I feel so degraded being denied my career path. Mind you I have passed a Boards exam in english, so why IELTS? I'm on the verge of giving up 4 wasted years just because of this test.
May 22, 2021
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		This is so disheartening.
by: Anonymous

There has to be a big campaign against IELTS, this is abosolute fraud. I have taken the test 4 times already and my score mysteriosuly keep flactuating just within an interval of 3 weeks. Gosh, it hurts to open your result and fall short by 0.5 points. Something has to be done about this organization.
May 24, 2021
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		This is so disheartening.
by: IELTS buddy

Your scores should not change by a significant amount but half a band could be expected. Candidates will perform differently in different tests as each test is obviously different.

For instance, you may do better with an essay or graph/letter question one week than you do with another one later. In the same way your score for reading or listening is not likely to be exactly the same each time.
Sep 29, 2021
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Same experience here
by: Anonymous

Got my ielts result today. It was my 5th attempt and hard luck this time, as usual.

L 7.5
R 8.5
S 7
W 6.5

But Writing was easy for me. Remember I got 8 for my 3rd attempt in writing. And now it's 6.5 Disheartening......Listening is something which I lose all the time. I believe, it's their game. I feel depressed.
Sep 15, 2022
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Same ielts score 7 times
by: Anonymous

Hello there,

I totally agree with you that the IELTS examiners are unfair. I took the IELTS test 7 times in one year and got the same score at all times, which was 6.

And the weird thing that the speaking and listening always remained the same score; however, the writing was decreased the last time. I really want to complain, but I don’t know where to go or whom to talk to.
Jul 12, 2023
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Disappointed
by: Anonymous

Same here, I took the exam 4 times since November 2022 but some how am not able to score the desired band. Each time I scored overall 6. But, the twist is that I always lack in reading with 0.5 point. But this year something new happen that is I scored 6.5 each time in speaking but this time it is 6 and writing and listening 6.5. I seriously don't understand that why they are doing like this whereas when I tried to attempt PTE I scored good above 60. Don't know what is going on. This is very much frustrating . Really don't know how to deal with it however, one thing is clear for sure that these are tricks to make more money out of each student who were desperate to earn better score so, they are simply taking advantage of our situation. Really need a site where we can post a complain about it .
Jan 03, 2024
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		I'm very much frustrated about the ielts result
by: Anonymous

I had taken up ielts exam and scored speaking 7, listening 6, writing 6, and reading 5.5.

Where I lost .5 in reading module for which I need retake the whole exam as my university don't accept for single retake option. The second time I took up the exams I got lesser scores than previous scores. I had got speaking 6, listening 6.5, reading 5.5 and writing 5.5.

And I have given third attempt, I felt for the first time that paper was very hard now I'm again scared with the my results.

Are they really doing it for the sake of business? In the mock test I score well nd I had taken some coaching classes too..I had scores each time 6.5 and above.
Jan 06, 2024
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		I'm very much frustrated about the ielts result
by: IELTS buddy

For the scoring to be adjusted to make IELTS money, IELTS Examiners and admin staff (who grade the reading and listening) would all have to be part of this conspiracy, which really isn't the case.

An examiner and staff involved in listening and reading would have no idea what score a candidate got before in the test - they just mark using the banding criteria (in the case of examiners) and in the case of L and R, answers are simply wrong or right according to the answer key.

A candidates scores can vary as the tests and questions of course vary each time, though IELTS do try to set then at them at the same overall level of course.

That said, examiners do sometimes make errors, so if you think a speaking or writing score is too low then you'd need to ask for a remark but it costs the same as a whole new test so you'd have to be quite confident it was wrong.
Feb 17, 2024
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		I'm currently depressed
by: Anonymous

I have done ielts 5 times the scores for each task has never showed my accurate performance in my mock exams. Got tutorials was even performing better than other but yet I have failed the test five times. I'm currently weak and tired.
May 08, 2024
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Same story happened to me
by: Anonymous

First time doing Ielts Academic:

L: 7, R: 7.5, W: 6.5, S: 7.5

Now that I've done it again after two years (not only have I not devolved but significantly improved in this time) my scores are as below:

L: 8, R: 7, W: 6.5, S: 7

Lol,make it make sense... So they basically mean I suck at speaking now?? Even though I've gotten even better??

It's always an unfair system thirsty for our money
May 12, 2024
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		New Opportunities
by: Anonymous

After viewing these comment I think government should introduce some new pathways to get desired score. secondly, it also make one to stop unnecessary investments for their dreams.

These people don't understand that its way too hard get out of frustration after putting all the efforts to fulfill our dreams.

They just crave for money in different ways, such as exam fee, evaluation fee and lot more. It seems very very disappointed 😥 that how we prepare for our each level and they just gives score according to their choice.

I request this page owner to show these comments and concern of all the person connecting from different parts of the world.

These sufferings needs to be end for everyone.
Jun 29, 2024
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		Mistakes in original post
by: Zack

Do a mistake? No! It’s "make" a mistake.

This is a very basic error.

Also— if someone have???

Someone, anyone, everyone + third person form "has".

This is also a very basic error.
Aug 10, 2024
Rating
starstarstarstarstar 		IELST Remaring system - Validity
by: Anonymous

I received Remarking result within 5 minutes. I now doubt it's validity. Score was not changed.

Click here to add your own comments

Return to Test Questions.


Show / Hide

Band 7+ eBooks

"I think these eBooks are FANTASTIC!!! I know that's not academic language, but it's the truth!"

Linda, from Italy, Scored Band 7.5

ielts buddy ebooks