From March 2023, students appearing for the IELTS exam will have the option of
re-taking one module of IELTS instead of all four, if they do not get the desired
score on the first attempt. This will help those students who scored well in most
modules but missed out on one module due to some problem or the other.
Currently, students must retake the entire test for all four modules: listening,
reading, writing, and speaking. So, if a student wants to improve their band score,
they will have to take the whole test again instead of only retaking the module.
First, what is IELTS?
If you ever have to work, study, or migrate to a country like the US, UK, Australia,
New Zealand, or any other country where English is the native language, you need
to take an IELTS (International English Language Testing System) exam and score
very well in it. Since this IELTS score is necessary to secure admission to a good
college program or for those who want to work abroad, scoring well in this test
becomes essential. Also, the better the band and the faster you clear it, the better
your chances.
Now, some context: The intent of the IELTS exam is to test students in 4 modules
at a given point in time. These four modules are:
Listening,
Reading,
Writing, and
Speaking.
Now, the IELTS Exam awards marks in the form of ‘bands’, and students are
marked from a band of 0 to 9 in each of the 4 modules.
So, students have historically always retaken the entire test for all four
modules if they did not score well on their test.
But now, with the new ‘One Skill Retake’ feature, a student can improve
their band score by retaking just one module of the test instead of retaking the
whole test again.
How it will work: During the exam, it is quite possible that a candidate scores well
in most modules but loses marks in just one module because of loss of
judgement, anxiety, or a tiny error on their part.
This small error could force students to score less in one module while scoring
well in others. This would also mean that they would be forced to retake the
entire test, pay a bomb for the retest, and appear for all four modules again.
Sounds quite taxing and time-consuming, doesn’t it? It probably is.
That’s why the new option of ‘One Skill Retake’.
What is this One Skill Retake? Though the pricing and other details are yet to be
announced, a One Skill Retake pilot project was introduced in Australia in
November 2022 and is set to be introduced in India from March 2023. This new
option will allow candidates to reappear for one of the four modules so that they
can reach their career and study goals faster.
