# IELTS speaking Marking



## fighter (Nov 26, 2012)

Hi, all,
I took an IELTS test today and was a bit confused with the marking of the speaking section.
During the interview, the examiner wrote some notes and some marks down on a table (I assume that it was a marking sheet). And she put numbers like 4.25, or 6.80 in the table. The table contains around 4 columns and 10 rows(or a bit more I couldn't take a good look at it). What confused me was that if those are the markings, I wouldn't be marked at 4 or 6 for any of the IELTS categories (I am more of a 7/8 speaker and I can speak fluently with minor accent). Besides, she put 10 in one of the boxes and the maximum amount of marks that one may get from ielts is 9.

I've conducted some internet searches for that table. However no matching result was returned.

So if you are an IELTS examiner or you know what that tables is and what the categories are, please explain these to me. Thanks.


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## fighter (Nov 26, 2012)

Any suggestion friends?


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## sarita2 (Jan 4, 2013)

As far as I know the person who interviews you is not actually the one who marks you. I could be wrong but I don't think you need to worry. I doubt those are the marks.


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## fmasaud84 (Oct 21, 2012)

sarita2 said:


> As far as I know the person who interviews you is not actually the one who marks you. I could be wrong but I don't think you need to worry. I doubt those are the marks.


For speaking the one taking interview marks as well


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## civicblade (Aug 27, 2012)

Unless you are trying to become a IELTS marker, I don't think it is worthwhile spending effort in trying to decipher how your tester assess you on the speaking module. 

Relax and wait for the official results. If you are confident that you have done well, the results will reflect that. 

Have fun with the rest of the migration process.


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## Guest (Jan 14, 2013)

fighter said:


> Hi, all,
> I took an IELTS test today and was a bit confused with the marking of the speaking section.
> During the interview, the examiner wrote some notes and some marks down on a table (I assume that it was a marking sheet). And she put numbers like 4.25, or 6.80 in the table. The table contains around 4 columns and 10 rows(or a bit more I couldn't take a good look at it). What confused me was that if those are the markings, I wouldn't be marked at 4 or 6 for any of the IELTS categories (I am more of a 7/8 speaker and I can speak fluently with minor accent). Besides, she put 10 in one of the boxes and the maximum amount of marks that one may get from ielts is 9.
> 
> ...


hi,

Even i noticed the same while i gave my speaking test.... in my case the examiner was not filling any table instead she wrote some numbers behind the admit card, that i received on my LRW day (yellow card wiht my Candidate id, photo, speaking test details etc). i was also trying to decode wht the numbers meant but in vain.


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## sarita2 (Jan 4, 2013)

civicblade said:


> Unless you are trying to become a IELTS marker, I don't think it is worthwhile spending effort in trying to decipher how your tester assess you on the speaking module.
> 
> Relax and wait for the official results. If you are confident that you have done well, the results will reflect that.
> 
> Have fun with the rest of the migration process.



I may be wrong about the tester marking but I really agree with civicblade. Please try not to think about it until you get the results. I know it's easy for someone else to say but there is no point worrying until you get the result. In my case, I did my test in December. I needed band 8 in each part. I felt like I had done really badly in the written section and was sure I couldn't get an 8. I was distraught. In floods of tears. Random people in the street stopped to ask if I was ok. I was so upset because I had left the IELTs test really late, which was just a really stupid thing to do as it put so much pressure on me. In the end I got R9 S9 L9 W8. No need at all to worry.


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## Florette (Jan 16, 2013)

*Ielts Speaking test*



fighter said:


> Hi, all,
> I took an IELTS test today and was a bit confused with the marking of the speaking section.
> During the interview, the examiner wrote some notes and some marks down on a table (I assume that it was a marking sheet). And she put numbers like 4.25, or 6.80 in the table. The table contains around 4 columns and 10 rows(or a bit more I couldn't take a good look at it). What confused me was that if those are the markings, I wouldn't be marked at 4 or 6 for any of the IELTS categories (I am more of a 7/8 speaker and I can speak fluently with minor accent). Besides, she put 10 in one of the boxes and the maximum amount of marks that one may get from ielts is 9.
> 
> ...




Hey!
I'm interested in your question concerning speaking test, I took my speaking yesterday, and examiner did the same thing, he wrote some marks like 7 or 8,5.
For my part, unfortunately, it is impossible that I get those marks...
I' m confused as well..
Can you tell me what result did you obtain?
Thanks in advance


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## ozbound12 (Mar 23, 2012)

I don't know what those numbers represent but I do know how they grade the speaking portion. The interviewer grades the candidate on four general categories: pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary and fluency. Each of the four categories count equally. Around the beginning of Part 1, the interviewer will write down a band score for each of the four categories. Those numbers will then go up or down over the course of the test. At the end of the test, the interviewer takes the average of the four scores and that becomes your speaking band score.

Some interviewers may do it differently; they may have their own numerical scale for grading candidates on the four categories (so as to obfuscate their intentions from candidates reading their notes) and then convert it to the IELTS band scale after the test.

As others have said, it's not worth trying to figure out their grading system and freaking out about it. If you're a relatively fluent English speaker, even with an accent, you're going to get at least a 7 but probably an 8.


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## fighter (Nov 26, 2012)

Florette said:


> Hey!
> I'm interested in your question concerning speaking test, I took my speaking yesterday, and examiner did the same thing, he wrote some marks like 7 or 8,5.
> For my part, unfortunately, it is impossible that I get those marks...
> I' m confused as well..
> ...


Supposed to get the results on 25th Jan...How did you do in the test......


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## miruz (Jan 31, 2013)

fighter said:


> Hi, all,
> I took an IELTS test today and was a bit confused with the marking of the speaking section.
> During the interview, the examiner wrote some notes and some marks down on a table (I assume that it was a marking sheet). And she put numbers like 4.25, or 6.80 in the table. The table contains around 4 columns and 10 rows(or a bit more I couldn't take a good look at it). What confused me was that if those are the markings, I wouldn't be marked at 4 or 6 for any of the IELTS categories (I am more of a 7/8 speaker and I can speak fluently with minor accent). Besides, she put 10 in one of the boxes and the maximum amount of marks that one may get from ielts is 9.
> 
> ...




Hello! I had the same problem when I took the Ielts in Austria 3 month ago...I saw, at the speaking test, the examiner wrote in a table 3,25 and 6.20 and so on...I was very surprised but the result was totlly different. I got 7..SO you do not have to worry. I am sure it will be ok in your case. On the other hand...oance when I tried to take this exam in Milan...I saw other chart with 4 marks (it might be the marks for the previous candidate) with 7,7,7 and 6....I think we are talking about different methods of each examiner...Good luck and do not worry!


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## neptim (Aug 15, 2013)

Hi, the examiner was merely writing down times for the test - 4.25 simply means 4 minutes 25 seconds. There is a minimum and maximum time for each part of the test. I was told by a reliable source that actual grading has to be done once the candidate has left the room.




fighter said:


> Hi, all,
> I took an IELTS test today and was a bit confused with the marking of the speaking section.
> During the interview, the examiner wrote some notes and some marks down on a table (I assume that it was a marking sheet). And she put numbers like 4.25, or 6.80 in the table. The table contains around 4 columns and 10 rows(or a bit more I couldn't take a good look at it). What confused me was that if those are the markings, I wouldn't be marked at 4 or 6 for any of the IELTS categories (I am more of a 7/8 speaker and I can speak fluently with minor accent). Besides, she put 10 in one of the boxes and the maximum amount of marks that one may get from ielts is 9.
> 
> ...


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## rahulreshu (Aug 11, 2013)

I agree with neptim above on the times but am not sure that the person who conducts the test grades us. I thought the recordings are sent elsewhere and graded there. Same happens for the writing section too. Only the listening and reading sections (since they are easier to grade) are probably graded by the organization that conducted the test (in my case that would be IDP). 

As far as the timings go, I remember her writing down 13:54 or so at the end and also some other times before that. Most likely they do that so it is easier for the examiner to go to a certain section of the speaking test if required.


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