(If any of what I've written below is inaccurate or outdated, please kindly reply to this thread with your understanding/update.)
Hi guys,
A copy of the Test Report Form (the document containing your IELTS results) is sent to the institutions you listed when applying for the exam. These institutions are referred to as "Recognising Organisations" on the exam application form and in most IELTS literature. The TRF does not indicate the number of times you have taken the exam (I confirmed this with a quick call to the British Council); however, if you attempt the exam multiple times with the same institution listed as a Recognising Organisation, that institution will receive the corresponding TRFs and thus have some understanding of your history with the IELTS. These results are also available to them online if they subscribe to the IELTS Test Report Form Verification Service (
https://ielts.ucles.org.uk/ielts-trf/index.jsp). Institutions only have access to exams that identify them as a Recognising Organisation, although some of the literature makes clear that this ruling may be lifted under certain circumstance (i.e. investigation into instances of malpractice).
The link posted above to the IELTS Test Report Form Verification Service has details on what is and isn't available to subscribing institutions. For more information regarding candidate data collection and usage, read under "Your IELTS test result" and "How IELTS uses your information" on page three of this copy of the IELTS Application Form (
http://www.ielts.org/pdf/IELTS_Applicat ... m_2014.pdf).
