IELTSNetwork.com

I would like to know about the actual impact of warnings which some condidates get while taking their IELTS exam. For instance, recently, one of my friends have tried to pass the exam and got a warning "at the end" of his exam. As he explained me, he finished sections of speaking, listening, reading and writing BUT at the end of the writing section, when writing answer sheets of all candidates had been collected by examiners, my friend had been asked a question by a person sitting next to him and then, while his replying to that individuals' question - one of the examiners came to both of them and gave a warning FOR SPEAKING UP DURING EXAM CONDITION . After that, my friend asked the examiner about the main reason of his being given a fine(because the exam was almost finished, like he had written his required essays and was waiting to go out of the exam room) - the answer for the question was YES, EXAM HAS ALREADY BEEN FINISHED but WE HAVE NOT ANNOUNCED ABOUT IT AFFICIALLY YET, SO THAT THE EXAM RULES ARE NOT ALLOWED TO BE BROKEN. Consequently, he gave another question, such as "how much that will actually affect on my exam results". Then, the examiner said that for those who get it AT FIRST TIME, it does not have any impacts on actual scores of an exam taker, but for those who get it MORE THAN ONE TIME, it does affact significantly. For example, that guy who gave a question to my friend got a warning TWO TIMES(for copying answers from another condidates' answer sheet and speaking with my friend) and thus his score expected to be decreased somehow(as examiners said them).

Nevertheless, after my friend's scores been released, his results were much lower than he expcted to gain. In other words, it was his second attempt of taking the exam. For example, one year ago, he got 5.5 score from speaking and 5 score from listening sections, and this time, he got the same bands again. (however, during the one year period of time, he has improved his ENGLISH quite a lot)

Hence, could you please give me some more information about scuh kind of circumstances (?)
How serious it might be when a condidate gets a fine for the first time on his exam and does it actually affact on his results(if yes, then how much) ?

Hello!

The warning system has been in place for years, so this is nothing new.

Candidates are expected not to speak to other candidates during the test. In the case you mentioned, the invigilator (those people are not examiners) was correct that even though the actual test had finished, your friend should still not speak to anyone.

The warning system largely depends on the invigilator. In your friend's case, it was clear that there was no cheating or disruption to the test procedure, so he/she has nothing to worry about. Obviously, speaking while the test was on would result in disqualification.

The number of warnings does not affect your score. If a candidate is judged to be cheating, they will be disqualified (band score 0). Scores are never reduced.

My personal recommendations? 1. Do not speak in the test room at all, unless directly to an invigilator (e.g. you are using headphones and they do not work). 2. Do not look at any other papers than your own. 3. Keep your L/R answer sheets away from the prying eyes of other candidates.

All the best,
Mark