# Taking IELTS out of own country



## tchinyi (Aug 25, 2015)

hello everyone,

I am from Malaysia and I am preparing for the IELTS exam.
I have friend that took IELTS in Australia and failed to obtain the band required, they then flew to Bali or Thailand to take the exam and manage to obtain the result they want.

I am wondering is it okay for us to fly to Bangkok and take the exam there ? I believe Thai English not as good as us Malaysian so the standard in Thailand would be lower. 
Maybe in Malaysia we could score 7.0 but in Bangkok we could score 8.0

please comment.

Thank you.


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## happieaussie2016 (Sep 28, 2011)

hi Bro,
I am in Malaysia too.
GO for PTE. I gave PTE and was able to score 8 in each band. it is easier to score in PTE.
No need to go to other country to give the exam. its all the same.



tchinyi said:


> hello everyone,
> 
> I am from Malaysia and I am preparing for the IELTS exam.
> I have friend that took IELTS in Australia and failed to obtain the band required, they then flew to Bali or Thailand to take the exam and manage to obtain the result they want.
> ...


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## TheExpatriate (Feb 7, 2014)

take it wherever you want. nothing against that


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## tchinyi (Aug 25, 2015)

suku1809 said:


> hi Bro,
> I am in Malaysia too.
> GO for PTE. I gave PTE and was able to score 8 in each band. it is easier to score in PTE.
> No need to go to other country to give the exam. its all the same.


I thought it's all the same but if we think carefully, Thai and Indonesia people English level not as good as Malaysian, so if IELTS set the same standard for all then i think maybe less than 10% of Thai would be able to score band 6.0

How many times you tried PTE ?


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## happieaussie2016 (Sep 28, 2011)

Hi,
Cleared in the first attempt.
PTE exam does not have any human intervention. So there is no checking by humans.
also speaking test is done on computer so less chances of error and does not make any difference where you take the exam.

PTE is accepted by DIBP so don't waste money on IELTS>





tchinyi said:


> I thought it's all the same but if we think carefully, Thai and Indonesia people English level not as good as Malaysian, so if IELTS set the same standard for all then i think maybe less than 10% of Thai would be able to score band 6.0
> 
> How many times you tried PTE ?


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## RyanNguyen (May 5, 2015)

I heard somewhere the same info. They mark your score based on where you took the exam. If that country is not using English as main language (in term of business), then test taker will be marked easier than who took exam in country where English is being used daily in business. So if you want to get good scores, let go with PTE-A (as many ppl suggest) or go to the other countries like Thai, VN, Indo,...for IELTS exam. Good luck bro...


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## blackrider89 (Jul 14, 2014)

It is just common sense. Examiners in non-speaking countries tend to be more lenient and they have familiarised themselves with local test-takers's accent and writing style.

Having said that above, my best results were achieved in Australia. Though I always got 8.0 overall with no sub-bandscores below 7.0 in Vietnam with zero preparation while it was not always the case in Australia (sat the test multiple times due to personal reasons).


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## GuruBhai (Nov 26, 2015)

suku1809 said:


> hi Bro,
> I am in Malaysia too.
> GO for PTE. I gave PTE and was able to score 8 in each band. it is easier to score in PTE.
> No need to go to other country to give the exam. its all the same.



Hi Suku,

Thanks for sharing your experience.

Where did you take PTE in Malaysia?

Did you take it in Kuala Lumpur?......coz I can see there are 2-3 centres in KL & Selangor in Malaysia. Which is the best centre to take it?

Really Confused at the moment, whether...Should take this exam here in Malaysia or in India?

Is it okay to take this PTE exam in Malaysia......Which centre you suggest or you took your exam at?

Reason I am asking this question is, I have heard centres in Malaysia are not good for taking PTE exam for several reasons like noise, not proper arrangements, not proper headsets etc.....(May be these all are rumours or happening at any one of the centres)....

So, please let me know the details so that I can also plan accordingly.

Thanks in advance!!!!


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## happieaussie2016 (Sep 28, 2011)

hi Guru bhai.
I took my exam in Kuala Lumpur only. the center was Mabecs in Petalling Jaya.
2 of my friends also took the test in that center and no one faced any issue.

The arrangements were quite good. Regarding noise I would say you will face this problem everywhere even in India. If you are currently in Malaysia don't waste your time and money to go to India to give the test. you can give it here also in Malaysia. I personally feel there is no difference



GuruBhai said:


> Hi Suku,
> 
> Thanks for sharing your experience.
> 
> ...


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## GuruBhai (Nov 26, 2015)

suku1809 said:


> hi Guru bhai.
> I took my exam in Kuala Lumpur only. the center was Mabecs in Petalling Jaya.
> 2 of my friends also took the test in that center and no one faced any issue.
> 
> The arrangements were quite good. Regarding noise I would say you will face this problem everywhere even in India. If you are currently in Malaysia don't waste your time and money to go to India to give the test. you can give it here also in Malaysia. I personally feel there is no difference



Thanks again Dear.

So, as you are saying everything was fine. I will also plan accordingly.

But, a couple of more questions please.....

- How many total candidates were there? Was the centre over crowded or okay from people perspective?

- Do you reckon to take it on a weekday (Mon-Fri) as lesser number of people would turn up to take the test?

Please suggest.


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## happieaussie2016 (Sep 28, 2011)

I took it on a week day.
There were 4 of us in total. so I guess better option than giving in India as there will be more candidates.
Center was not crowded at all. Though when everyone speaks at same time it becomes difficult to concentrate but there is no choice in that. but I guess it would still be better than giving the test in India.



GuruBhai said:


> Thanks again Dear.
> 
> So, as you are saying everything was fine. I will also plan accordingly.
> 
> ...


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## tchinyi (Aug 25, 2015)

I found something very funny.

An IELTS examiner told me that for IELTS listening they should provide headset to all candidate. But in Malaysia, they will push the candidates to hotel ballroom so they could accommodate more candidate and make more $$$.

We should not accept this, in some test centre, we are given headset and maximum 21 candidate per session.

I just called Thailand IDP, they give headset for all test centre. I suspect only Malaysia test centre using hotel ballroom with huge speaker that is not prepared for IELTS test ! The hotel ballroom is not soundproof too !


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## rurouni777 (Aug 23, 2016)

Hi tchinyi, If you could PLEASE tell me more about your friends taking IELTS exam in Thailand.
I believe that taking the exam in a country with a bit lower English level would play at evreyone's favor. My friend is thinking of doing that because she has given the IELTS test 10 times (in Australia) and still CAN NOT pass the writing 6.5 (she needs 7.0) even when she gets Listening 8.0, Speaking 7.5/8.0, Reading 7.0/7.5 but writing has been her Nemesis so far to the point that she tried PTE 2 times and got a poor score.
I encourage her to go to Indonesia or Thailand to take the test, (she is currently studying in Australia) so If you could give us a word of advise, for example in Indonesia which city would you go, we thought about Jakarta (staying away from Bali) or you think we should go inside the country?
Please let us know your thoughts and experience.
Regards.


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## Rotti404 (Jul 4, 2019)

Hello, any idea of doing IELTS in Singapore? I'm going to take IELTS general examination, computer based one.
In Singapore IELTS score marking will be difficult?


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## NB (Mar 29, 2017)

Rotti404 said:


> Hello, any idea of doing IELTS in Singapore? I'm going to take IELTS general examination, computer based one.
> In Singapore IELTS score marking will be difficult?


Any specific reason you want to go for IELTS?
PTEA is much easier for all applicants 
Cheers


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