IELTS - BC or IDP?

lawrence01 · May 10, 2006

Hi again...I am planning to take IELTS soon here in Manila. I heard that British Council examiners are much more generous in giving higher band rates than IDP examiners. Is this true?
I am not quite good in speaking but confident in reading, listening, and writing English. Can anyone advise me of a good review center?

Hi, I think it doesnt matter much. In fact, when I attended IDP's workshop the instructor was British and when it came w/ the speaking section she was one of the interviewers in the IDP office.

FutureUSRN · May 10, 2006

Did you mean to say that those who conduct the workshop are also the examiners? Hmm...if that is so, then taking the workshop gives an inch of an advantage because the examiner might already be familiar with your face and you, as an applicant, also might lose all the nervousness when you see a familiar face interviewing you.

Will taking the workshop help me a lot? Thanks for the advice.

lawrence01 · May 10, 2006

Did you mean to say that those who conduct the workshop are also the examiners? Hmm...if that is so, then taking the workshop gives an inch of an advantage because the examiner might already be familiar with your face and you, as an applicant, also might lose all the nervousness when you see a familiar face interviewing you.
Will taking the workshop help me a lot? Thanks for the advice.

Of course, you will never be under the instructor who conducted the workshop. There are several interviewers doing the speaking section at the same time.

The workshop is just a 1 day familiarization programme and do it way ahead of your exams so that you can do more exercizes and polish up your weaknesses.

It will help in that the instructor being one of the examiners will tell you flat out what common mistakes Filipinos do on the speaking and writing part. You can do the reading and listening part on your own actually because you need to do lots of exercizes to improve on that. Basically you will know how much more time you should commit to study and polish up your english skills. She will also tell you if you should prob. do a more extensive programme like tutor or attending classes or not.

Goodluck.

dave787 · May 10, 2006

both IDP and the British Council have the same rater for the Speaking Subtest. they also have the the same questions for the written and so on. the difference is the administartor only. both questions came from the cambridge. and the questions for the speaking, they followed the internatinal patter. the rater cannot ask any questions in the Task 2, they should follow what is given. but for the task one and 3 they can ask your general information. the IDP ask more about environmental data while the BC ask about technology. so goodluck to ielts takers. PLEASE ENJOY THE SPEAKING SUBTEST. alot of examinees did not make the requirment though they were good speaker but guys the rater can sense that you are nervous. some of the raters there will really intimidate you. lucky for me i had a Pakistani rater and the fact i keep on asking for pardon since i cant understand her english.

dave787 · May 10, 2006

Did you mean to say that those who conduct the workshop are also the examiners? Hmm...if that is so, then taking the workshop gives an inch of an advantage because the examiner might already be familiar with your face and you, as an applicant, also might lose all the nervousness when you see a familiar face interviewing you.
Will taking the workshop help me a lot? Thanks for the advice.

yes some of them. but you will just know your rater on the day of your speaking subtest. hehehehe but be confident and enjoy the speaking test. hope o here you soon. goodluck

amber_snow · May 10, 2006

hi lawrence am interested about the IDP workshop. HOw can i avail of the workshop??:typing

spiderman21 · May 10, 2006

hi lawrence am interested about the IDP workshop. HOw can i avail of the workshop??:typing

If you plan to have an OVER ALL BAND SCORE of 7.5 and above, GO AHEAD with the REVIEW. It's in the British Council TAIPAN PLACE back of ROBINSONs GALERIA. Dunno how much? Workshop includes the CD already and some reading materials.

I do not have a FORMAL REVIEW for IELTS. Got an O.B.S. of only 7.5. I just borrowed GAPUZ reviewers.

Good luck on your test.

lawrence01 · May 10, 2006

hi lawrence am interested about the IDP workshop. HOw can i avail of the workshop??:typing

It's P2,000 for IDP and P2,200 for BC. The slight diff. maybe is w/ the choice of venue and the food included. Some say its expensive for just 1 whole day but I think going to a formal review center and going back and forth for a couple of weeks is more expensive and most review centers charge P3-4,000 and up. So, your choice.

You can go to either the BC in Ortigas or in IDP in Makati. Pioneer bldg. near Greenbelt 1

Hmm.. there was no CD included in my IDP workshop and I didn't like the food and venue. Maybe that's one of the reason for the higher price. Lecture should be the same though.

Goodluck.

amber_snow · May 11, 2006

appreciate your tips spiderman and lawrence! im in qc so i guess whichever venue will be ok for me.... thanks again! :thankya:

Ethan_mike · Jun 1, 2006

For those interested in a good review center in Cebu, i'd recommend NGRTCI. They've 100% pass rate for all nurses for IELTS. Min. overall band of 6.5 and 7 on the spoken module...i took my review there. 3 weeks' worth. Got an overall 8.5 band score. Instructor is an australian english teacher who also taught in the UK.

uberdoog · Jun 5, 2006

doesn't matter where you take it because the two places share from the same pool of examiners in the philippines and they also use the same test packs all over the world on that same date. any perceived difference between the two places is just that, perceived (but subjective).

also, with regard to the examiner favoring someone he/she has given a review to, you place too much credence on the examiner's memory. if an examiner should remember you clearly, he/she will move you to another examiner. in the unfortunate situation where the examiner remembers you during the interview, pray you're performing at the band score standards you're aiming for or the examiner will be placed into the difficult but inevitable situation of grading you according to your actual performance level. no winka wink play will change that. really.

did you mean to say that those who conduct the workshop are also the examiners? hmm...if that is so, then taking the workshop gives an inch of an advantage because the examiner might already be familiar with your face and you, as an applicant, also might lose all the nervousness when you see a familiar face interviewing you.
will taking the workshop help me a lot? thanks for the advice.