Reading reviews on British Council on this site left me pondering. I was surprised to come across quite a few reviews that were negative and highlighted the reviewers’ frustration. They may have reasons for it. However, understanding British Council and IELTS goes a long way in avoiding those frustrations.
My understanding of IELTS:
Three global partners - British Council, Cambridge English Language Assessment, and IDP Australia, jointly own the International English Language Testing System. All the three partners share their expertise in running the IELT System. ESOL, Cambridge is a world-renowned entity that provides the language and research expertise.
Authentic material sources, from all over the world, are used for developing questions by language specialists in UK, Australia, New Zealand, Canada, and the US.
The British Council conducts these tests at various centres notified by them from time to time. The test fee, being 250 US Dollars, is expensive by Indian standards. The tests are in Academic and General, and Life Skills ( A1 and B1) . The fee for Life Skills is lower.
It is important to note that one must have a valid passport to register for the test. It also serves as your ID at the time of appearing for the test. No other ID is allowed. Therefore, you need to carry your passport. Those who are above 16 years but below 18 years must carry consent forms signed by their parents or guardian. The test is not recommended for candidates below 16 years of age. There are a few other procedures that I feel are not relevant for this review.
Mode of Test:
The test is conducted in four Modules:
Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speaking. The first three are completed on the same day. The fourth, that is speaking, might be completed on the same day or within a week. These details are intimated by the British Council prior to the test. Test content of British Council and IDP is the same. IDP, however, has more centres and more dates for the exam.
Importance of IELTS:
IELTS is highly popular all over the world. More than 10000 organisations accept the score for admission into colleges, immigration, or employment.
Many Indians are dependent on a good IELTS score in order to get admission into reputed universities abroad, or join companies. Therefore, more the reason to understand what it takes to earn a good score.
You need to concern yourself with two tests, depending on your requirements; IELTS Academic test and the General Training test.
Understanding the students - My Experiences:
I had the opportunity to coach many students and aspirants who were not only appearing for IELTS, but also those who were preparing for IAS and IPS, MBA, MA English and Literature. I coached for many years at coaching centres as well as at home. This was a part time endeavour, as I already had a full time job that had nothing to do with teaching.
Let me share my personal experience of students with you.
The students, I had the opportunity to teach, were from different educational backgrounds.
The first type was from English medium background where the teachers and students interacted in English. These students could read and understand the subject material well. They had good memory retention and could reproduce relevant points with ease. But, they had difficulty in writing in their own words. This was due to the existing system of training imparted in schools and college… "learn by rote, and reproduce." They were never encouraged to develop individual creativity. As such, they were always at sea while writing a passage or an essay, which they hadn’t memorised. I tried giving them a synopsis and asked them to develop it into an essay. Despite given a base they looked clearly out of their comfort zone and failed to develop the points.
The second type was from English medium background but the teachers and students interacted in the local language. These students had greater problems with expression of their ideas in English. It was their inability to think in English. They tended to translate their thoughts in mother tongue into English with less than satisfactory results. They also tended to memorise entire sections and reproduce them. Expectedly, they too had similar problems that plagued the former lot, except that these problems were more pronounced.
The third was from a background where the medium of education was the regional language, with English as a second language. I had to start, literarily, from the basics to make them comfortable with the English language. Most of them opted for a course in English before planning to appear for the test. There were cases where these students were with me for almost two years. Unfortunately, for them, that was the only way to go.
Is achieving a score of seven bands difficult?
I don’t think that is too difficult. In fact, one can achieve a score of eight bands. However, the problem lay in the fact that examinees don’t take the test seriously despite paying huge test fee in addition to the coaching fee.
It is important to set goals early, as early as first year of degree course. English is not our mother tongue, as such, the students must consciously make an effort to speak in English with those who are proficient in the language. In schools, we are taught to speak plain, straight forward, vanilla English. We are seldom trained to use idioms, set phrases, expressions, figures of speech, metaphors, similitudes, and allegories among others to make the language more interesting and polished. Therefore, we need to concentrate our efforts on making our language style more attractive. In IELTS, it is not enough if you write and speak good English, you must learn to evolve a style that is expressive as well as impressive.
Language is not a formula, principle, or theory that you can memorise. Language, in essence, is the communication of thoughts and emotions into words. You need to understand how thoughts and emotions are expressed in each language. In this case, you need to understand how the English language works in expressing your thoughts. Therefore, you not only need to understand English words and their usage, but you need to think in the English language. It means your thought process should start in English before you can express your thoughts in English. Not easy, but not difficult either. Nobody ever became proficient in any language in a matter of months. You must be patient and perseverant in your efforts.
Tips to make the most of your resources:
Don’t be in a haste to take the test. Prepare well for at least six months before you decide to go for it.
Unless you are highly proficient in English, enrol yourself in a reliable coaching centre to get used to the pattern of the test and to get rid of the chinks in your armour. Let me remind those who are proficient in the language that writing in one’s own words on various topics is not at all easy. Some of my students who had a good command over the spoken word had a lot of difficulty in putting pen to paper. The only solution to these problems is practice. Remember, if you master a subject it may help you in some ways; but if you master an international language, the entire world opens up to you.
Reading is one aspect of developing our language and style that I cannot emphasize enough. The only way to improve vocabulary is by reading. Good vocabulary and it’s usage is bound to get you a good score. There is profound wisdom in the quote – “Read, read, read and did I mention? Read! ” That says it all.
There is absolutely no need to worry about your accent. You are not expected to speak in British or American accent. Accent is a speech pattern that you subconsciously allow into your speech, and this is imported mostly from your mother tongue. The essential requirement is to pronounce words with clarity and proper inflection. Cut out the drawl, though.
I had perused some of the reviews of people, on this site, who were frustrated and blamed the British Council for their poor score. On scrutiny, I am sorry to mention, you will find their language and style leaves a lot to be desired. Now, if these reviews were written by persons with a mind that is free from test conditions and pressure of time, then it is safe to conclude that their standard of English might have faltered under real test conditions. Therefore, are they justified in expecting a good score?
The British Council, to my knowledge, is not concerned in making money, or profiteering in unethical ways as some people would like to believe. They have no hand in promoting or playing with aspirants’ careers. Negative reviews are posted on a rebound when people fail to get the score they expected. Seriously, I advise them to do a little soul searching and find out where they erred in the test. That would be a more constructive approach.
Aspirants wishing to take a second test:
In case, aspirants wish to improve their score it is advisable not to rush for a second test. On an average, it takes 4 to 6 months of further practice to improve the score by half a band. Therefore, alacrity in taking further tests can be expensive, and counterproductive.
The best part…
All my students got the scores I expected of them, and they concur with my pre-test analysis based on their mock tests.
mbfarookh©