IELTS is assessed on a nine-band scale and reports scores both overall and by individual skill. Overall Band Scores for Academic and General Training candidates in 2008 are reported here together with scores for the individual skills.

 

         General Training candidates achieved higher scores in Speaking and Listening relative to their performance in Writing and Reading. On average, mean scores for Academic candidates showed less variation across the skills, but the Writing module was the most challenging.

 

        Around three-fourths of candidates (75.4%) took the Academic Reading and Writing modules with nearly a fourth (24.6%) taking the General Training Reading and Writing modules. Both Academic and General Training candidates take the same Listening and Speaking modules.

Mean band scores for female candidates, 2009