Someone asked me this today on Facebook. The answer is yes to both (keeping in mind a few details, which I'll outline below). Candidates have reported to me that they had no problem using all caps (otherwise known as block letters) on their IELTS Reading and Listening exams.
Here are a few quotations from published articles at BritishCouncil.org and IELTS.org for reference:
Please note that the above refers to completion type questions only (i.e. plan/map/diagram labelling, form/note/table/flow-chart/summary completion, sentence completion). For multiple choice or matching, use whatever letter format is present in the question to preserve answer clarity.
Does It Mean That I Can Use A Mixture Of Both Capitals And Lower Cases Like This?
oR EvEn lIKe tHiS? I rEAlly dOUbT tHaT i cAN wRIte LikE thIS wIThoUt gETtiNg pEnaLiZed.
I appeared twice, and in both instances, I was recommended to write answers in CAPS. Caution - it is not easy though, when we are not used to write often. We tend to make spelling mistakes while transferring the answer. A spelling mistake is marked negatively. Also, in the end, we shall need extra 1 or 2 minutes in order to check spellings made in CAPS. I therefore think, one needs to write what is more comfortable.
Actually if you write in CAPS it is better because the people who check your IELTS R/L answer sheet are not aware about the context of Reading/Listening Questions and are just made the keys for the same available to them. So if your handwriting is pretty bad or you attempt on writing in cursive and miss out on some letter like an 'i' which looks like an 'l' then or 'r' which looks like 's', the checker can make your answer incorrect as there are special instructions for him/her to do so. So, it's not about the comfort, you always have to think about the checker/examiner in your mind when attempting an exam. Make his life easy and you'll get bands you need.
May I ask a few questions regarding to the ALL CAPS solution?
Should I absolutely write everything in ALL CAPS? Take 2 a.m. for example, can I keep the lower case or do I need to write 2 A.M.? What about 30th June, Can I write 30TH JUNE?
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Actually I am not quite sure about it, if I write my answers in all caps and
Another person write in small letters though he uses punctuations whenever is
Required n both got all the answers correct, so both gets the perfect band 9 score,
If so, it is not unjust to the person who shows the ability of his punctuations. Where
As I escape of it. Please if anyone can clarify me this. Thanks.
