IELTS One Skill Retake

Welcome to our webinar about IELTS One Skill Retake.

My name is Anna Minett and I am the IELTS Senior Marketing and Stakeholder Relations Manager at Cambridge University Press and Assessment, one of the IELTS Partners.

We're joined by my global colleagues today and I hope you find the webinar informative.

IELTS One Skill Retake was developed after listening to stakeholder and test taker feedback.

IELTS One Skill Retake is the ability for test takers to retake just one section of their full IELTS test within 60 days of their original test.

This is available only once per full IELTS test and is a valid and secure solution you can trust.

All the results can be received and verified via the IELTS Results service. I'm going to pass you over to my colleague Stephanie to discuss this in more detail.

Thank you, Anna.

So as mentioned, my name is Stephanie Bethencourt and I'm the Global Stakeholder Engagement Manager for IELTS at IDP Education.

Looking at organisations that receive IELTS results, we have become increasingly aware of them setting component level requirements.

For example, a band score 5.5 overall with no section lower than a band score 5, and this was not the case when the IELTS test was first launched.

The individual skill scores or sub scores were provided for diagnostic purposes to show the relative strengths and weaknesses of a test taker.

The overall band score shows the performance in the four different skill areas combined to provide the most reliable assessment of a test takers overall language proficiency and this is the best indicator of somebody's capability.

IELTS has become a quasi standard in that test takers, teachers and organisations often reference their proficiency in terms of an IELTS seven, eight or nine for example, without reference to those sub scores.

As a result of the use of sub scores to set entry requirements, it is now typical that a test taker's ability is defined not by their overall language proficiency, but instead by their weakest skill, and important decisions are taken based upon this weakness.

For example, entry to university or a profession, or even the granting or not or a visa.

Some organizations reduce the pressure on test takers by allowing one test section score to be half a band lower, and a small number have moved to accepting a combination of results from two or more complete tests taken within a short period of time, thereby reducing the risk that the applicant will be penalized for any underperformance in one skill, Though this does still necessitate that the whole test be retaken.

In the light of these themes arising around score usage, IELTS has been investigating ways to ensure that the test continues to be fair for all test takers, maintains its underlying validity and to find ways to help organisations that accept IELTS provide flexibility for their applicants while remaining fair to everyone.

And this is where IELTS One skill retake comes in.

Looking at it from a test taker perspective, we know that some struggled to achieve the minimum score requirements set by the organisations they apply to.

For some of these test takers, they need to continue to improve their English language skills to meet these requirements.

Others need to better understand the test format.

And Arts provides many free support materials on our website and social channels to help test takers do that.

Some test takers may receive their results and have the perception that their score in one or more sections of the test does not reflect on how they performed on the day.

In these cases, test takers often feel that this is due to some error on the part of IELTS.

These test dates can apply within six weeks of the test date for an inquiry on result, which enables them to have one or more sections of the test remarked for a fee.

The result of the remark is available within 2 to 21 days.

For yet another group of test takers, they have satisfied most of their chosen organisations requirement.

However, one's test section, Listening, Reading, Speaking or Writing is below the minimum requirement.

These test takers were often displeased at having to take the whole test again when only one sectional skill is lower than the required score and in such situations it is quite possible that the test taker has the required level of English and the full skill as well as the other three.

But mitigating circumstances meant that they did not perform to the required level on their test day.

Research shows that test day results can vary from test to test for the same skill due to environmental factors such as how the test taker feels on a particular day or varying motivation levels amongst other reasons.

But some test takers this is a frustrating experience and results them in having to repeat the whole test for just one section.

For test takers, repeating IELTS can be an expensive and time consuming activity.

IELTS is a high stakes test and is often life changing for a test taker who can use result to help them achieve their dream of entry to their preferred degree, course or programme.

So finding ways to help them achieve their goals while minimising that emotional impact of the journey is helpful.

And this is another reason why IELTS developed one skill retake.

But let's have a look at a couple of examples to see how this may play out, bearing in mind that IELTS one school retake isn't suitable for all test takers.

So this test taker, Ramsey, took their test a number of times within a five month period.

They were aiming for an overall band score of six with no sub score below a 6.

And you can see that Ramsey's overall score doesn't change over this period of time and he is clearly an IELTS 5.5.

Ramsey's sub scores are variable from test to test, which is natural due to how a test taker may feel on test day or their motivational levels as I previously mentioned.

And we can also note that Ramsey falls below an IELTS six in more than one skill in each test, so IELTS one skill retake isn't a solution for this test taker and we would recommend that they enroll in further English language study.

In our second example here, our test taker Lee was aiming to achieve an overall score of seven, with no sub score less than 7.

We can see in the first test the writing score is notably less than the other skills, suggesting that mitigating circumstances meant that they didn't perform to their best of their ability on test day.

On test two, we can surmise that the natural variability in sub scores may have led to a drop in the speaking score following an increased focus on writing.

However, Lee did succeed in achieving their acquired score on their third test, and this test taker would benefit from ARTS one skill retake since it is clear that they had the ability to meet these requirements and one skill retake after the first Test could have saved them from repeating the full test multiple times.

So IELTS One skill retake is just one more way in which we support our test takers to succeed.

We provide support for improving general English language skills and a way to use all four skills on a daily basis.

We provide materials explaining the test format and scoring crowd Teria helping test takers feel confident on the test day.

And we now have the additional option for test takers to retake just one skill within 60 days of their original test.

So IELTS one skill retake.

So before we do move on to the next section, I'd like to introduce my colleague, Ashley.

We'll be talking more about arts one skill retake and discussing it in more depth.

Thank you, Stephanie.

My name is Ashley Burdell and I'm the IELTS Global Account Manager For Higher Education at the British Council.

So what is IELTS one skill retake?

As mentioned, IELTS One Skill Retake allows test takers to retake just one section of either their IELTS Academic or General Training test within 60 days of their original test date.

The retake test follows the same format and timing as that in the full IELTS test and has the same marking and scoring procedures.

IELTS One Skill Retake is now available to test takers in over 110 countries where the IELTS test is available, with additional countries being added on a monthly basis.

IELTS One Skill Retake is only available via official IELTS test centres and is delivered on the same platform we used to deliver the four skills test.

All test takers sitting IELTS One Skill Retake undergo the same multi layered security processes pre-test on test day and post test as those sitting the full for Skills IELTS test.

Additionally, all IELTS One Skill Retake results undergo the same pre release analytics and verification processes as all IELTS results and this is based on over 30 years of IELTS data.

IELTS One Skill Retake isn't currently available for IELTS online, only for IELTS tests taken on computer in an official test centre.

I will now pass you on to my colleague Bolu to discuss One Skill Retake in a more practical setting.

Thank you Ashley.

As mentioned, my name is Bolu Oluwadiya and I am the Associate Regional Manager here at IELTS USA.

Now let's have a look at how IELTS One skill retake might be used and what it might look like in an education setting.

Here's our test taker, John, who needs to take an English test for admission into a well known university.

He's aiming to achieve an IELTS band score of 6.0 across all his skills and an overall band score of 6.5.

So, let's take a look at the results that John achieved on his first test.

Here, we can see that John meets the university's requirements for Listening, Reading, and Speaking.

However, he doesn't quite achieve what's required in Writing.

He scored a 5.5.

His overall band score is an IELTS 6.5, and this overall score shows the combined performance of all four skill areas and provides the most reliable indication of a test takers overall language proficiency.

So overall, we see that John is a good user of English.

However, John decides to take IELTS One Skill retake in Writing to meet the admission requirements of his university.

Here is John's One Skill Retake test report form, and you'll see that he's achieved that desire score of 6.5 in Writing.

So now he's met the entrance requirements for his chosen university.

All test takers who sit for an IELTS One Skill Retake test will receive a new Test Report Form and a new test support form number.

So let's take a closer look at how you can tell when you have a result from an IELTS One Skill Retake test.

The test type IELTS One Skill Retake and the skill, in this case writing, will be clearly indicated in the top right hand corner of the Test Report Form.

The retake skill and the updated score is indicated in the test results section.

States that this is A1 skill retake result.

It lets you know the skill that was retaken and provides details of where and when that retake was done.

Additionally, the Test Report Form number from the original for skills IELT is included.

Other details on this Test Report Form are pulled directly from the original Test Report Form that the test taker received.

Note that the date you're seeing at the top of the Test Report Form is the date of the original four skills IELTS.

You want to take this into account when considering the validity periods of test results.

We encourage all universities and organizations to verify results on the IELTS Results Service.

This easily accessible and secure website helps organisations and universities verify and receive official IELTS results.

This is what an IELTS one Skill retake result will look like on the IELTS Result service.

The module in the test results section will clearly state that this is an IELTS one skill retake result and the retake skill is highlighted with the other results.

All other information is pulled from the previous Test Report Form which has the four skills.

The administrator comments includes further information about the original test and the One Skill Retake test.

For those of you downloading score files with IELTS tested your data, the IELTS One Skill Retake results will arrive with your other new IELTS results.

The administrator comment section is not reported in the file format options until You'll want to update your template.

If you need to download the details for the corresponding four skilled IELTS, you'll make edits to the template tab of the IELTS Result Service.

If you have an existing template, you can just edit it and add the One Skill Retake test data field to your template.

If you're new to the Result Service or using one of the default templates that's been made available to you, make sure to create your own template and include the One Skill Retake test data template field to your template in order to pull in the additional information about when and where the One Skill Retake was taken, as well as the Test Report Form number for the original four skilled IELTS.

When you add the One Skill Retake test dated to your template, it introduces nine new fields to your download items one through six.

Include score details for the four skilled IELTS test, while items seven through nine include details about when the applicant sat for the One Skill Retake test.

Note that organisations do need to let us know that they accept one skill retake results when we have a short form on the ielts.org website that enables you to do this.

The QR code on the slide links directly to the form if you'd like to complete it.

Now, we do ask that the administrator for the IELTS result service or the person who would be acting in this capacity be the one to complete and submit the form so that we can ensure that the policy is institution, company and organization wide.

I'll now pass it over to Anna.

Thank you, Bolu.

To finish off, here are listed some of the organizations that accept IELTS one skill retake results.

As you can see, the governments of Australia and New Zealand accept one skill retake results for visa and migration purposes and the UK government accepts it for entry into the UK.

Other government ministries in non-english speaking countries also accept IELTS One Skill Retake.

Professional and regulatory associations accepting one skill retake include many health regulators and other bodies globally, teacher registration boards, engineering and accounting associations to name a few.

Additionally, some of the top global universities and other education institutions I accept One Skill Retake are listed here.

And what about test takers?

Been saying about IELTS One Skill Retake.

So far, the feedback has been really positive and test takers have really welcomed the opportunity that One Skill Retake presents.

Our test takers have been able to use their One Skill Retake results for the diverse range of applications that IELTS is used for.

And finally, we've thrown a lot of information at you in this webinar, so we thought we'd list the three key points to take away.

One IELTS One Skill Retake is secure and valid, so it provides your applicant with a second chance to achieve their required score in one skill.

But it also enables you to offer more flexibility without compromising on the quality of your applicants. 

Number two. Governments, universities, and professional associations already trust and accept IELTS One Skill Retake results, helping them to attract quality applicants.

And number three you must register for IELTS One Skill Retake to receive the results.

There's a QR code now on the screen that links you to the application form, or you'll find a link on our website.

And finally, thank you for joining us today.

Please feel free to reach out to us if you have any questions.

The QR code on the screen links you directly to our contact form, and any one of us will be able to help you.

Thank you.