My complain is, as a chinese person, after I had the test, I know how many scores I got, but there is no correct standard answer for me to verify which part I failed.

And I have no chance to promote for next round of IELTS examination. That is very bad.

People can stand up from the point where they fell down, but for IELTS, it is totally clueless

And I think for embassies, to request people to have IELTS examination if the former score is expired is too annoying. But I guess it is the embassies' problem, none of your business

Really? I thought you received a break down of your score after you got it?

My ex took IELTS about 5 times in a one year period, and i'm sure she got some idea of where he weak areas were.

As I know, we have no channel to get the correct answer. But new oriental school has the item pool -- they said, at least in the famous site:http://www.51ielts.com/, people only hit the target, but I don't see anybody said that there is standard answers published

Don't the IELTS organization publish books with test papers and standard answers?

If not, then of course you're correct. If there is no standard answer, it must be very hard to ever know what you are meant to aim for.

I just had a look at books on IELTS about 6 years ago. And I had attended several classes on IELTS then, when I worked in an English training school in Harbin. About more than 10 doctors, who worked in hospital in Harbin, atteneded that class together with me, they tried their hard to learn the textbooks on IELTS. I think those books on IELTS are really boring and hard to understand, for full of words which are not used so often or just in some special fields. Even the young guys, who are native speakers, are hard to understand those words.

Add:
I think this is just an important way to keep a lot of guys out of the doors of some countires, and only let a few have chances to become citizens of some countries.

What is your feeling of IELTS?

@waitaitai, yes, there are a lot of resources to read, but nobody knows who is correct. So the more read, the more confused.

Some people have talent of languages, some people don't. So that is why some people can easily get high score. But for a technical immigration, if he/she owns other strong suit, but his/her english is not so strong. It will become a through danger sopt to pass.

I think IELTS is like a kind of gamble, in which only a few can win, and most fail.

The speaking part is not looking for "correct answers" it is looking for four very specific criteria; fluency/organization of thought, ability to use a variety of grammar correctly, depth of vocabulary and accurate pronunciation.
Nothing mysterious about it.

The listening part of the test is comprised of different accents, the majority being British.

The writing part accepts British or American spelling and the reading part is written by teams of writers from various native English speaking countries to avoid any single country bias.

Again, the purpose of this test is not to earn some shiny certificate, it is to identify if you will be able to function in an English academic (although there is a vocational version) environment.

I don't see why fee-based testing is seen as something so sinister. Education is a business like any other. It isn't so sacrosanct. (no I don't work for IELTS before anyone accuses me)
Besides, I think you need a 5 or 6 on the HSK to enter a Chinese university (for anything other than studying Chinese). The HSK isn't free, although you could probably just put that 500 RMB registration fee directly into a red envelope to the admissions office secretary and save yourself plenty of time and effort.

I agree with waitaitai/ATD that many of the Chinese students taking IELTS tests can't write English properly and then complain about the unreasonableness of the tests. People here are fed standard answers to questions that might be asked by examiners without them taking the time to learn the specifics behind.

When I took the HSK exams some years ago, it was more as a way of knowing where I stood in my Chinese language proficiency. I did take the usual HSK courses offered by the school where you are trained to memorise some grammars by heart and practice questions. But the HSK courses would not be of too much help in understanding the Chinese language by itself. Just like the IELTS courses probably don't really enhance your understanding of the English language. Most likely learn some grammar, some expressions and some vocabularies by heart.

Not getting the script of correct answers is a slight annoyance, but then most (all?) international language tests don't, there is no reason to fret unnecessarily about it.

I missed out on an HSK7 by a thread, which should have meant I have a reasonable, average-ish understanding of the Chinese language. But the number of times my Chinese friends told me "use English, I have no idea what you mean" shows that the test itself doesn't guarantee your grasp of the language is at such level.

I think we also too often say "your English is not bad, actually it is quite good" to some Chinese people when their English is clearly below par. We do it to try and be kind to them, or because compared to the usual Chinglish we hear around us everyday, they do seem better. But it's still not that good compared to native speakers. Unfortunately, many Chinese people will go on thinking that "this laowai said my English is good, I must be good in English". Where as we, foreigners, have learnt to tune out the "your Chinese is good" as being just empty, polite words.

Erm, I seem to have digressed. I'm off this thread.

To dilute the test to accommodate people who haven't worked hard enough to learn the language sufficiently to gain the score they need or desire is ridiculous. If everyone were able to gain a score sufficient for acceptance to a western college then the educational system in other countries would be diluted and would be brought down to Chinese school level.

Instead of diluting the IELTS test we need to make it more difficult.

If you want to study in a foreign country, you must have a more than adequate level of English.

How f-ing difficult is that to understand?

Silky the GRE is for a higher level of education and even some American students must take it. I did and I sweated it over the two days it sat. I did not score perfectly on the test but I did more than well enough to be accepted into graduate school.

What would make the IELTS more fair? I think it is far too easy.