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The IELTS test is critical for many of us, be it for study or immigration reasons and it can surely be exhausting and wearisome. On top of the pressure created by any tests or exams, many times we have to face random rumors that makes IELTS even more burdensome. Rationally one would not believe in those, but cannot help having some doubts in the back of one's mind (ultimately we as human beings cannot be completely rational ) I am going to list some of the IELTS myths that I have heard of, and maybe some of you can somewhat clarify them. Feel free to add more to my list.

1. I hear this from many people (this applicable for Australia): If you state that you are taking the IETLS test for immigration (you are required to do so on the registration form), they will fail you purposely because they can make more money. Another version which is involved Australian Immigration, that they make it tough, as to fail people purposely, to prevent immigrants.

2. Taking IELTS in English speaking countries, such as Australia and England, candidates would be marked stricter because examiners consider test takers are more advantageous since they have been living in an English speaking environment. A lot of people believe in this. In fact, a few people that I know go back to Vietnam in order to sit the IELTS test.

3. I was told that I didn't score high in the speaking test probably because I speak with a slight American accent. According to few people, I need to speak with a British or an Aussie accent to score higher.

==> My response to this: I don't believe it. I've known people who have strong accent and manged to score high in speaking test. So there's no reason for saying that one must sound like a Britain or an Aussie.

Personally, I don't fully subscribe to these beliefs either.

However, I have come to know quite a number of candidates [ in Australia at least] whom send their unsatisfied results for a remark and got their score increased 1 and some even 2+ band scores. Hence, such discrepancies, which seems to occur now and then, can lead to these speculations.

However, it must be noted that is it up to the candidates discretion - if they feel confident about their test and did not obtain the results they needed, then they should send for a reassessment.

Very interesting thread, Chi.

I agree with you, and I imagine a lot of these rumours are no more than speculation stirred up by candidates that are disappointed with their results. The claim that Australia's Department of Immigration is tampering with IELTS marks to restrict citizenship is not logical. If the Australian government wanted to tighten immigration policies, it would do so through law, not by tweaking IELTS results.

Another accusation I hear from time to time is that the specific assessment criteria for Speaking and Writing is kept secretive to allow for the tailoring of marks behind closed doors. Once again, this claim is illogical. Examiner training and assessment criteria are standardized across all countries. To have any sort of effect on immigration, large numbers of examiners would need to be encouraged to deviate from their training and/or their speaking/writing rubric. I just can't imagine this sort of corruption happening on such a scale year after year without any contest from examiners on the inside. (The marking rubrics are withheld from the public protect the integrity of the exam through curbing prewritten response practices. However, public versions are released to give candidates a general idea of how their speaking/writing will be assessed.)

Robdrake, you raise a good point. Human error does occur and IELTS examiners (last I checked) are human. I agree with you that this error is not a basis for questioning the integrity of the exam. Can you imagine taking exam that produced results that you couldn't challenge? Now that would be a basis for suspicion!