Is IDP practice material tougher than the actual exam

[Ichowdhury]

Hi All,
My IELTS is booked on Nov 21 through IDP. I am practicing the modules and see that I m unable to cross the 32-33 border for R & L.
Will the actual IELTS be easier than this or not.
I am damn nervous.

 

[Ichowdhury]

Any take on this...

 

[bestofluck]

Hi All,
My IELTS is booked on Nov 21 through IDP. I am practicing the modules and see that I m unable to cross the 32-33 border for R & L.
Will the actual IELTS be easier than this or not.
I am damn nervous.

Well it is observed in my city that British council have better Hotels and Equipment than IDP. Esp for listening they are better. I don't know elsewhere.

 

[rollingpunjab]

well Sir, I practiced from IDP book and same thing experienced by me. Their practice tests are somewhat difficult as compared to cambridge ielts book series. However, if we compare it with actual ielts exam, Let me tell you that My actual listening test which I cleared for my immigration purpose was bit more difficult than normally it supposed to be. I gave ielts three times before (2-3 years gap in between). but last listening test was more difficult than previous ones. This is one off event.

In the nutshell, yes I have to agree that reading and listening practice tests provided in IDP books are more difficult than normal. I even stopped practicing from it as I found myself demoralized after attempting a test from this book. But later on, I started preparing from it again as my confidence grew. So, if you have enough time available before your test, I will suggest you to prepare from cambridge ielts series books in the begging and later on shift back to IDP book, when you will become well versed with IELTS test format and tricks.

Regards

 

[bestofluck]

well Sir, I practiced from IDP book and same thing experienced by me. Their practice tests are somewhat difficult as compared to cambridge ielts book series. However, if we compare it with actual ielts exam, Let me tell you that My actual listening test which I cleared for my immigration purpose was bit more difficult than normally it supposed to be. I gave ielts three times before (2-3 years gap in between). but last listening test was more difficult than previous ones. This is one off event.

In the nutshell, yes I have to agree that reading and listening practice tests provided in IDP books are more difficult than normal. I even stopped practicing from it as I found myself demoralized after attempting a test from this book. But later on, I started preparing from it again as my confidence grew. So, if you have enough time available before your test, I will suggest you to prepare from cambridge ielts series books in the begging and later on shift back to IDP book, when you will become well versed with IELTS test format and tricks.

Regards

In my group all the friends who cleared IELTS from BC got clb 9 and All those gave through IDP did not clear CLB 9. They complained of noisy places selected by IDP and they did not have speakers working properly.

 

[polcoin]

Yes.. When I practiced with the IDP booklet.. the first 2 tests were really tough.. and towards the end they seem to be simpler. Initially I doubted that I score even 6. But the actual test seemed simpler to me. Don't worry just practice.

 

[Ichowdhury]

Yes.. When I practiced with the IDP booklet.. the first 2 tests were really tough.. and towards the end they seem to be simpler. Initially I doubted that I score even 6. But the actual test seemed simpler to me. Don't worry just practice.

Thanks for assuring.. Feeling better

 

[abhishek.hbtown@gmail.com]

IChowdhury - Can you share your experience ? Was the actual exam easier than book ?

 

[patel.suneesh]

I just appeared for the test on 5-dec through IDP and the book they gave me to study was really difficult to start with , i got depressed and then started practicing cambridge study which was really easy but later on i started practicing with IDP material and my confidence as well as my scores improved steadily. After completing the IDP material all other test material seemed peanuts and i found them unbelievably easy. The actual test i faced was easy compared to IDP book , i just goofed up in speaking test in part 2 where you have to speak for 2 mins i could only speak for 1.30 mins that was sad . In short practice with IDP material

 

[abhishek.hbtown@gmail.com]

thanks a lot!!
I had speaking test yesterday, it went ok, any idea about band ?

 

[vsbarath]

Yes.. When I practiced with the IDP booklet.. the first 2 tests were really tough.. and towards the end they seem to be simpler. Initially I doubted that I score even 6. But the actual test seemed simpler to me. Don't worry just practice.

True that! IMO the IDP practice tests have been designed in such a way that they get easier one by one. I felt demoralized after taking the first few tests as I was only able to score around 27-29 in reading and listening, but the actual test was way easier and I was able to score a Band 8 ;D

 

[CADparity]

My IELTS was a while ago, but I remember that IDP practice tests - the free ones available online - were difficult in the sense that some questions were ambiguous and some of the answers were not really the only possible options. I think they do that in order to shake your confidence and make you buy prep material or enroll in their courses. Cambridge tests were more straightforward. The real test was pretty much like Cambridge in terms of difficulty.

 

[snehalshah]

Yes i found out that the IDP material is tougher than British Council or Cambridge material but keep practicing it, it will certainly help you with the actual exam. I gave my test through IDP and after practicing the IDP material i found the actual to be much simpler and got 8 band overall. Best of luck

 

[Stanlee]

IELTS is jointly owned by Cambridge, Britsih Council and IDP. So, there is no difference between British Council IELTS and IDP IELTS. These two entities supervise IELTS tests in many countries. In some countries it is British Council while it is IDP in others and sometimes they can found supervising tests in the same country on the same dates but different venues. I have appeared for both, I do not find any difference between the two and both the times, I got overall 8.