Migrate to Australia – The English Test
22 August 2015 by News Desk
The English test is a central part of the migration and visa process in Australia and cannot be avoided.
Like Australia’s visa criteria, the English test (IELTS) is points-based. It involves both written and speaking skills and you must attend at a test centre where formal examinations take place. Skills are graded and points awarded from 0 to 9, with a set level of points often required for different visas, jobs and professions.
Darrell Todd of thinkingaustralia says: “The English test is a lot more stringent now than it used to be. It can be a challenge even for someone with English as their first language, so it is vital that you find out what’s required and prepare well in advance. Contact one of our experts who can explain everything about the English test and help you through the process.”
Building communication skills in English is the key to success in the IELTS test. A range of info and support is available, including official practice books explaining how your English skills will be scored and how to manage your time on test day. It’s important to understand the assessment criteria and how examiners will score you. You can also take a free practice test or sign up for a Masterclass if you are seeking an overall IELTS score of 7 or higher.
Here’s an example of high and low scores for written and spoken English, and what the examiners are looking out for:
Speaking English
Score Level 9 – speaks fluently with only rare repetition or self-correction; any hesitation is content-related rather than to find words or grammar; speaks coherently with fully appropriate cohesive features; develops topics fully and appropriately; uses vocabulary with full flexibility and precision in all topics; uses idiomatic language naturally and accurately; uses a full range of structures naturally and appropriately; produces consistently accurate structures apart from ‘slips’ characteristic of native speaker speech; uses a full range of pronunciation features with precision and subtlety
Score Level 2 – pauses lengthily before most words; little communication possible; only produces isolated words or memorised utterances; cannot produce basic sentence forms; speech is often unintelligible.
Writing English
Score Level 9 – fully satisfies all the requirements of the task; clearly presents a fully developed response; uses cohesion in such a way that it attracts no attention; skilfully manages paragraphing; uses a wide range of vocabulary with very natural and sophisticated control of lexical features; rare minor errors occur only as ‘slips’; uses a wide range of structures with full flexibility and accuracy; rare minor errors occur only as ‘slips’.
Score Level 2 – • answer is barely related to the task; has very little control of organisational features; uses an extremely limited range of vocabulary; essentially no control of word formation and/or spelling; cannot use sentence forms except in memorised phrases.
