IELTS in usa
- Thread starter Anpman
- Start date
Mine didn't have a headphone either. there were a few words that I didn't hear clearly because of the clarity of the tape. The player was loud and I was sitting at the front row. There really is nothing you can do about it. Instead of counting on hearing every word clearly, maybe get a sense of what the message is about and do some guessing. I honestly wasn't confident about all my answers and got an 8.5.
He cannot have much choices on this as ielts centers are already in limited in numbers in US. They have only a couple of them for each state. Every center has 2-3 of wait time these days and one needs to travel at least 1-2 hours or more to go to a center depending upon where they reside. Better to be prepared to give without headphones.
In the USA there is no test center give headphones so all the candidates will be treated equally. if you are close to Canadian border better take it in Canada. I am in Texas where Dallas is the best center which give you a longer and tall table and also CD were playing on speakers throughout the test room.
Just need more practice with a speaker instead of headphones, I was able to get listening 8.5-9 all my 3 attempts this year on CD player speaker
Just need more practice with a speaker instead of headphones, I was able to get listening 8.5-9 all my 3 attempts this year on CD player speaker
Good suggestion on not using headphones during practice. Same experience here - speakers.
As far as I have heard (4 friends took the test in different centers), none of the centers in US provide head phones. Everyone of them complained about the quality of the speakers. I believe all IELTS centers have crappy speakers. There is no incentive for them to improve their services, they are merely coaching/tutor centers that get the license to conduct IELTS. These are not IELTS offices run by British Council/University of Cambridge, think more like a franchise.
IELTS centers do not even provide you with your own sharpener for the pencils that they give you. Asking for extra pencils or paper will only cost you time, they are not particularly nimble on their feet!! Again they don't care.
If hand writing or listening over crappy speakers is an issue, think about CELPIP test. It's a fully computerized test but has only 2 centers in US (NY and Seattle).
IELTS centers do not even provide you with your own sharpener for the pencils that they give you. Asking for extra pencils or paper will only cost you time, they are not particularly nimble on their feet!! Again they don't care.
If hand writing or listening over crappy speakers is an issue, think about CELPIP test. It's a fully computerized test but has only 2 centers in US (NY and Seattle).