International English exams

24.06.2016

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People rarely study English «for fun». Most often thoughts about a new prestigious and well-paid job encourage people to study English. So does the hope for a trip abroad or going to live in a foreign country. Of course, later students dive into the process, get to know their teacher and group mates better, and start to enjoy studying English, but in the beginning their goals are very material.
Let’s take a look at the most popular reasons why people study English:

Moving abroad.
A new job/ a promotion (you can find an article on how to make a good CV in English here).
Entering a college abroad.

Speaking good English is undoubtedly a crucial factor of reaching these goals. But how can one answer such a question «Do you speak good English?»
Someone can answer «I can read with a dictionary»; somebody will say «I understand the British, but I don’t understand the Americans»; another possible answer can be «I speak English like a native speaker». The levels of knowledge of the first speaker and the last one are very different, but does that mean that one of them doesn’t speak English?
In order to be able to estimate the level of knowledge very objectively International English exams were designed.
What kinds of exams are there?
Actually, there are a lot of different exams; each of them serves a certain purpose. However, there are two most popular exams: Test of English as a Foreign Language (TOEFL) and International English Language Testing System (IELTS).
What’s the difference between TOEFL and IELTS?
1. Country and version of English. The first and the most important difference is where you need the results of the exam. What you have to do is decide where you want to go: if you choose the US or Canada, you need to take TOEFL; if you choose the UK, Australia or New Zealand, you need IELTS. Exams themselves are also different. For example, TOEFL might include some expressions or idioms that are used only in the US.
2. Exam format. There are two formats of IELTS — General and Academic. A General certificate is enough for living and working abroad. Academic IELTS is necessary for entering a college. Academic is obviously more difficult that general. TOEFL doesn’t have any formats (except Paper-based and Internet-based) and is good for both working and studying abroad. Academic IELTS can be compared to TOEFL in terms of difficulty.
Mistakes you must avoid when taking an exam
1. Neglecting the requirements. This is mostly about writing essays and speaking. Students often don’t know how to plan their answers (both writing and speaking), what arguments they should give, and the number of words they are allowed to use. You have to learn all these requirements and avoid losing points because of such nonsense.
2. Being unfocused. It’s happened so many times that a question was answered wrong only because it wasn’t read correctly. Just a single word can change the meaning of the entire sentence, and, of course, the answer. Be focused, you have enough time, no need to rush.
3. Spelling mistakes. This is another dumb way to lose points. Let’s take a look at a quite difficult task, word formation. Let’s say, you figured out that you need to change the word challenge into challenging. You’ll lose points if you miss one l. Be extra careful with such words: (AmE goes first, BE goes next) theater (theatre), favorite (favourite), honor (honour). Choose AmE or BE depending on the exams you are taking.
4. Intonation. Don’t worry about the accent — it’s normal, you won’t lose points because of it. But when it comes to intonation, it should be as close to the natives’ as possible. In order to speak like that you need to watch a lot of content in English. YouTube, movies and tv-series can be a great help.
5. Nervousness. Don’t let this feeling take over you. If you don’t know something, just get to the next question. Don’t get fixated on what you don’t know, do what you can do. Don’t be afraid to ask the examiner twice. It’s better to ask than answer a totally different question.
This article is supposed to make the matter of international exams clear. The teachers of our online-school of English by skype can help you prepare and overcome this challenge. Break a leg!

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International English exams

What kinds of exams are there?

What’s the difference between TOEFL and IELTS?

Mistakes you must avoid when taking an exam

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