IELTS Academic Exam In Panama

Remember in my last blog we spoke about the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR) for languages? The whole world recognizes this framework (not just Europe), and there are two corresponding exams… IELTS General and IELTS Academic.

IELTS General is used for immigration. The USA, Canada, the UK, Australia, New Zealand, and South Africa accept IELTS for immigration purposes.

IELTS Academic is accepted by universities worldwide (not just universities in English-speaking countries). A lot of universities teach in English regardless of the language of the county, so you need to prove your level if you want to do a degree there. For example, I know of somebody who’s studying at a Chinese university, but he studies in English. German universities teach engineering in English. Holland teaches in English, not Dutch. South Korean universities teach in English, not Korean. And so on…. In fact, Scandinavian universities not only teach in English, but they are revered around the world and are affordable. Fees in the USA will set you back around $20,000 a year but Scandinavian universities, which are equally as good, cost about $8,800 a year.

And guess what. All these universities have the same language requirements…

IELTS Academic Score 6

Normally, your overall score must be a 6. But like I said last month, this exam has four disciplines. Universities usually ask for no less than a 5.5 in any one discipline. For example, you couldn’t flunk the speaking with a 4 but then excel and get a 7 in reading, writing, and listening. Although this would give you an overall score of 6, a university probably wouldn’t accept it.

IELTS EXAM TIPS

The key to passing IELTS Academic is not just knowing English. It’s having the right exam technique… it’s knowing how they want the answer worded.

Time is also an issue, and in the reading part of exam, you actually do little reading! You need to know how to skim and scan. If you can’t do this, it’ll be hard to pass the exam.

I cannot stress enough—you need exam technique. My mother, a nice British lady who turned 70 this year and has spent all her life working in an office, would have a tough time passing IELTS! Why? Of course, her English is impeccable, but she doesn’t know how they want the answers structured. And that is why doing an IELTS preparation course is imperative.

IELTS Speaking And Listening

The speaking and listening parts of the exam are the same for both the Academic and the General; I wrote about this last month.

Also, you can see a mock IELTS speaking exam I have on my YouTube channel (and don’t forget to sign up for the channel because I post every week).

IELTS Academic Reading And Writing

This is where the Academic differs to the General. For the reading you fight the clock. You have an hour to answer three sections. Each section has one passage and each passage has 13 to 15 questions. You need to skim, scan, identify argument, and comprehend subtle nuance. In the Academic, the themes of the text are often scientific or sociological.

For the writing, you have one hour and two questions. You should dedicate 20 minutes to the first and 35 to the second, giving yourself some time at the end to double check things. The first question will require you to put into words a graphic such as a graph or a diagram. The second will be an essay. Again, I cannot stress enough… There is a specific structure and specific vocabulary that you must use if you want to hit an overall 6 or above.

IELTS In Panama

Next month I’m going to let you know about other exams but in the meantime, don’t forget to check out my YouTube channel, and if you want to do the IELTS exam here in Panama, please get in touch to do a preparation course.