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I don't think more than 10% of native English speakers can score higher on the exam than myself. Many people simply have no idea about grammar etc. Ask them what a preposition or a subject of a sentence is, they will give you a blank look.
It's pretty silly to ask people questions from the writing portion on the street then claim that "native speakers" suck at their native language.
Besides, foreigners who take IELTS usually have done some preparation beforehand(cram schools and whatnot). Most would have a vague idea about how the questions are gonna be like, while these pedestrians didn't.
Quote:
Originally Posted by OZpharmer
Are these questions from the Academic or the General module?
I never get the difference of these two. They feel the same to me.
I don't think more than 10% of native English speakers can score higher on the exam than myself. Many people simply have no idea about grammar etc. Ask them what a preposition or a subject of a sentence is, they will give you a blank look.
this is the way they speak: WHERE YOU AT?
Even my daughter speaks like this: GIME ME IT/LOOK IT..am having hard time correcting her
I got 7.5 band score but I don't know whether it was a pure luck or my English skill overall is above average for non-native English speakers. But yeah, they do ask those kind of questions in IELTS test. In fact, I got one exactly the same question as one of the interviewer's which was about 'who should be responsible for workplace safety standards, government or private owner'. From what I know they don't really care about the content of your writing (although writing a high quality essay is a big plus), the examiner just want to know how well can you write and express your thoughts. If I remember correctly there are two essays for the writing test. One about writing statistics, and the other one will be about writing comparison (advantage-disadvantage or debate).
I'm from Indonesia by the way, if you can't already tell by my username.
i don’t know much about IELTS, but PTE (entirely done on computer) has been giving native speakers a lot of trouble, though that largely depends on the type of score an institution or government requests.
In Australia, immigration has recently increased entry level requirements (as in minimum score) for those applying for permanent residence.
If you ask me, I find these exams to be flat out ridiculous. Anyone who has studied in an English institute or can demonstrate that they have conducted activities in English should be exempt from these type of exams. The fact that people end up spending thousands on them, makes them the equivalent of government sponsored scams.
What institutions and governments fail to realise, is that this is a poor way of helping people improve their language skills.
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