The time restriction (限制) for retaking International English Language Testing System (IELTS) will be abolished (废除) on May 1,2007.
“Instead of having to wait 90 days before retaking the test, candidates will be able to repeat the exam immediately,” announced the British Council, the IELTS organizer in China.
A change in the way the test is administrated allowed IELTS to lift the retake restriction. “In the past, for a test which has over three administrations a month, repetition of test questions was unavoidable. It’s unfair if some candidates got easy scores by luckily remembering some questions they met not a long time ago,” said Xu Chunna, Examinations Marketing Officer of the British Council.
“However, since 2002, IELTS has been using onetime testing papers,” said Xu. This greatly reduced the possibility of repeating a test question.
Changes in the way students use the test also influenced the Council’s decision to reverse the retake rule.
Cambridge surveys showed that IELTS is now used by organizations to judge both candidates’ overall English performance and their individual skills.
Many candidates attain their required overall band score in IELTS tests, but fail to achieve a score in a particular skill area.
Under the old rule, students had to wait 90 days to retake the test. This often inconvenienced students and their prospective (将来的) employers and universities.
But IELTS warns that simply retaking the test will not greatly improve a score. To significantly improve a score it is necessary to engage in serious further study.
1．The best title for the passage may be .
A．IELTS Abolished B．A Change in IETLS
C．IELTS Now Easy to Pass D．IELTS – retake – time Restriction Lifted
2．John took IELTS for the second time soon after his first attempt on 18th March, 2007.
He .
A．was likely to meet a same test question during the test
B．might have got an ideal score for his first test
C．might not have met a same test question during the test
D．couldn’t have improved his score
3．According to Cambridge surveys, IELTS plays an important role in .
A．judging a candidate’s overall language ability only
B．finding out candidates’ individual skills as well as general language performances
C．judging whether a candidate is hardworking
D．choosing proper organizations
4．The last paragraph indicates that .
A．retaking the test leads to a better score
B．the more times you try, the more likely you are to improve your IELTS scores
C．only serious preparation works when you want to get a high score for IELTS
D．further study is necessary for an organization