In a flurry over exams

Under IELTS, students are tested on their language abilities - reading, listening, speaking and writing - to see if they are capable of entering a university program or living and working in countries like England, Canada, New Zealand or Australia. It's also a plus if you want to study in the US.

These exams come in two categories - academic and general. Universities require the academic exam, while the immigration authorities need the general one for who wish to live or work abroad.

The speaking and listening sections are the same in both tests, explains Weenarat Thongnual, the IELTS counsellor of IDP Bangkok. In the first part of the speaking section, examinees will be asked to talk about familiar topics such as themselves, their workplace, their education and their plans for the immediate future.

In the second part, they'll be asked to talk about specific topics such as favourite shopping centres, who they like going shopping with and what they buy during their shopping sprees. After the topic is put forward, examinees will be given one minute to prepare and make notes.

In the third part of the test, examiners and candidates will discuss the topics talked about earlier in greater depth such as, how media may affect people's shopping tendencies and why.

Under the listening section, candidates will have to take note of a conversation between two friends, and answer questions in an exam booklet.

Though the listening and speaking sections are more or less the same for the academic and general exams, the reading and writing sections are quite different.

In academic writing, candidates will be called upon to describe a diagram, a graph and its process, while in the general exam they may have to write about problems they might face overseas, for instance they may be told to write a letter asking for advice over troublesome roommates.

Reading in the general section relates to advertisements, leaflets, newspapers or instruction manuals.

Academic reading, however, can involve magazines, serious journals, literature, history and environmental subjects including details of a logical argument. Academic reading is of a more serious nature, says Terry Goose, assistant manager of the Continuing Education Centre at Chulalongkorn University.

So, how different is the IELTS exam from TOEFL?

"TOEFL is a little bit more difficult but not that much," Goose explains. "It depends on the students themselves".

For instance, if you are a confident speaker, you can find the speaking exam under IELTS a little bit easier because you have to speak to a real person. In TOEFL, examinees need to communicate with a computer.

"People who don't enjoy talking, are shy, lack self-confidence or are nervous around foreigners, may find the non-personal style of the TOEFL test a little easier," Goose says.

Students can log on to www.ielts.org for more information and get an idea of the exam format.

By Trichai Narungsiya

Special to The Nation