Is IDP bad for IELTS?

[girishjs111]

I was browsing through the forum and I came across several posts where people are complaining that their written scores have been surprisingly below par (mostly hovering around 6.5) and all of them had one thing in common. They all gave their IELTS through IDP. They say that IDP could be doing this on purpose since re-examinations are a source of revenue.

Do you think this is possible?

I am getting a date in July on IDP website and British Council is in August. Do you think I should go ahead and book my exam with IDP??

 

[karandeepwalia]

No, both are absolutely same.

Mainly in speaking the faculties can be different in IDP as compared to British Council.
Rest all is same

All the best

 

[canadianrrk]

I was browsing through the forum and I came across several posts where people are complaining that their written scores have been surprisingly below par (mostly hovering around 6.5) and all of them had one thing in common. They all gave their IELTS through IDP. They say that IDP could be doing this on purpose since re-examinations are a source of revenue.

Do you think this is possible?

I am getting a date in July on IDP website and British Council is in August. Do you think I should go ahead and book my exam with IDP??

I do not want to generalise, but i suggest go for British council thoush it takes an extra month, i agree time is precious but go for BC.

 

[MZASAM]

I was browsing through the forum and I came across several posts where people are complaining that their written scores have been surprisingly below par (mostly hovering around 6.5) and all of them had one thing in common. They all gave their IELTS through IDP. They say that IDP could be doing this on purpose since re-examinations are a source of revenue.

Great, you yourself analysed the writing results 6.5 of the members who were victims of unprofessional
IDP and British Council. They have a monopoly. No checks and balances and no one can challenge them.

I am an ardent writer. I was awarded 6.5 three times consecutively, rest L S R all above 8. It was unbelievable for me.
Gave up because of their unethical practices to earn revenue. This is the latest business model of their revenues. :-[ :-X :'(

 

[Alexios07]

I was browsing through the forum and I came across several posts where people are complaining that their written scores have been surprisingly below par (mostly hovering around 6.5) and all of them had one thing in common. They all gave their IELTS through IDP. They say that IDP could be doing this on purpose since re-examinations are a source of revenue.

Great, you yourself analysed the writing results 6.5 of the members who were victims of unprofessional
IDP and British Council. They have a monopoly. No checks and balances and no one can challenge them.

I am an ardent writer. I was awarded 6.5 three times consecutively, rest L S R all above 8. It was unbelievable for me.
Gave up because of their unethical practices to earn revenue. This is the latest business model of their revenues. :-[ :-X :'(

How about stop blaming other people for you fault and start working on your writing skill instead? The test accurately awards score based on your skills, if you get a low score, it means your skills are not as good as you think they are.

 

[harvijay1001]

I don't think so. I have given two tests with IDP, the general and the academic and here are my scores for the same:

General: L-8.5 R-9 W-7.5 S-8

Academic: L-9 R-9 W-7 S-7.5

As you can see, both times the scores are pretty much the same.

In fact, in general I thought my speaking went very well but I got an 8. For the academic, my speaking test went really bad and yet I got 7.5. So you can see that with the S and W sections there is some subjectivity.

But overall the resultant bands stayed the same.

So let's stop cribbing and work towards improving our own skills instead of talking in regional languages even on the day of the test and then wondering why your bands don't improve

 

[Chiragappa]

IDP is worst. Its better to wait for a month and practice a bit in that one month and go with british council. I am one of them who gets 6.5 in writing and 8 or 7.5 in rest. This has happened twice. Apparently had given a test from british council 7 years back when I got 7.5 in writing and around same in rest of the modules. So do they mean that my writing-skill has gone down in these years? Its just a money making trick. Just don't waste your time and money with IDP.

 

[MZASAM]

@Alexios07, harvijay1001,

Respect your perspectives.

Don't wish to debate / comment as you concluded authoritatively that I should improve instead of commenting on IDP / British council.

 

[eggsterminate]

I was browsing through the forum and I came across several posts where people are complaining that their written scores have been surprisingly below par (mostly hovering around 6.5) and all of them had one thing in common. They all gave their IELTS through IDP. They say that IDP could be doing this on purpose since re-examinations are a source of revenue.

Great, you yourself analysed the writing results 6.5 of the members who were victims of unprofessional
IDP and British Council. They have a monopoly. No checks and balances and no one can challenge them.

I am an ardent writer. I was awarded 6.5 three times consecutively, rest L S R all above 8. It was unbelievable for me.
Gave up because of their unethical practices to earn revenue. This is the latest business model of their revenues. :-[ :-X :'(

I honestly don't mean any offence, but it is quite a normal tendency for people overestimate their skills particularly in languages. Unless you are presently in an academic or journalistic environment, where your grammar and language skills have been continuously graded by someone else, you would be a little more careless. I was rudely reminded of this after taking a course which was very strictly graded, in final year at university.

I am not being nitpicky. Your short post above has a run-on sentence and improper usage of verbs and punctuation. As a former TA in a communications course, I did grade my students lower for issues like these. I would not be very surprised if your examiners were doing the same. Writing a lot doesn't improve your skills, writing with feedback from a second set of eyes is what helps.

Moreover, I honestly doubt that the British Council or IDP have any benefit from grading people lower. All exams of this nature are graded on a curve and they couldn't care less what anyone scored. That being said, I found IELTS far more strict compared the folks at ETS who administer TOEFL. I got a near perfect score on my first TOEFL try a few years ago but only 8 on IELTS.

 

[wildemam]

I was browsing through the forum and I came across several posts where people are complaining that their written scores have been surprisingly below par (mostly hovering around 6.5) and all of them had one thing in common. They all gave their IELTS through IDP. They say that IDP could be doing this on purpose since re-examinations are a source of revenue.

Great, you yourself analysed the writing results 6.5 of the members who were victims of unprofessional
IDP and British Council. They have a monopoly. No checks and balances and no one can challenge them.

I am an ardent writer. I was awarded 6.5 three times consecutively, rest L S R all above 8. It was unbelievable for me.
Gave up because of their unethical practices to earn revenue. This is the latest business model of their revenues. :-[ :-X :'(

three times in a row and you still think they conspire?

 

[gappy31600]

Me too read the same reviews for IDP before giving IELTS. But i still went ahead and booked with IDP for both me and my spouse. After the first attempt i am sure that what they award is the actual level of english you have. Doesnt matter what the reviews say. Prepare and give the test. IDP or BC doesnt matter. All the best.

 

[viveksegu]

I was browsing through the forum and I came across several posts where people are complaining that their written scores have been surprisingly below par (mostly hovering around 6.5) and all of them had one thing in common. They all gave their IELTS through IDP. They say that IDP could be doing this on purpose since re-examinations are a source of revenue.

Do you think this is possible?

I am getting a date in July on IDP website and British Council is in August. Do you think I should go ahead and book my exam with IDP??

I wrote IELTS 4 times through IDP. I got 9 in LRS but 6.5 in W all the four times.
Then I decided to write through BC and then suddenly I get 7 in W and 9 in LSR. I don't know if it was coincidence or something else but I got what I wanted through BC. Spent a lot of money on it.

So, now you decide.