Mat Clark – IELTS Speaking
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Pronunciation
6
The average of these four scores
5.5
In the IELTS speaking test, scores are rounded up or down
to the nearest half-band
(5.0 5.5 6.0 etc.), so in this example the candidate would score an overall 5.5 for speaking.
5.25 = 5 5.5 = 5.5 5.75 = 6 etc
5.
A Summary of the Marking System
In this section we have looked in detail at the way that the speaking test is marked. It
should now be quite clear that in order to achieve a higher score,
the candidate must produce
the features specially described in the marking system under that score.
One very important point to emphasize here is that the marking system does not
include references to the following points:
Interesting or original content
Amusing or
funny answers
Polite or well-mannered attitudes
Body language
Eye contact
Intelligent answers
The
truth
Correct answers
Opinions or ideas
Appearance or
dress code
So in fact it can be concluded that your speaking score is awarded purely on the basic
of your spoken language. In theory it could be possible for a candidate to arrive at the
interview in dirty old clothes, be impolite, invent answers, tell lies and hold unreasonable or
controversial opinions and still achieve a high score if he or she demonstrated the features
described in the marking system – i.e. native-speaker style spoken English. I can add an
example from my own experience here. Many years
ago in an IELTS speaking test, I
interviewed a young lady who was arrogant , impolite, impatient and quite rude – I awarded
this candidate a score of 8 because her spoken English matched the descriptions in the
marking system for band score 8.
Mat Clark – IELTS Speaking
24
