IELTS Test Takers Performance in 2013.

I recently went to the official IELTS website and checked out Test Taker performance in 2013.  It is worth noting that IELTS is now so sought after for immigration and higher education that over a million people gained certification in a twelve-month period.

I found it interesting reading and thought I’d summarise it into a post for you.

It appears that the majority of candidates (80.3%) took the Academic version of the test, presumably for higher education purposes, while only 19.7% took the General Training version.

In contrast to some previous years, gender did not seem to have any bearing on performance.

Mean band score for the most frequent countries or regions of origin (Academic)

Germany scored highest (7.2), followed by Malaysia (6.8), the Philippines (6.8, Greece (6.6) and Spain (6.6).

Place of origin Listening Reading Writing Speaking OVERALL
Bangladesh 5.9 5.7 5.7 6.0 5.9
Brazil 6.2 6.7 5.9 6.3 6.3
China (People’s Republic of) 5.8 6.0 5.3 5.4 5.7
Colombia 6.3 6.5 5.8 6.4 6.3
Egypt 6.4 6.1 5.8 6.4 6.3
France 6.9 7.1 6.0 6.6 6.7
Germany 7.5 7.3 6.5 7.3 7.2
Greece 7.2 6.9 6.0 6.5 6.7
Hong Kong 6.8 6.7 5.8 6.1 6.4
India 6.2 5.8 5.6 5.9 6.0
Indonesia 6.4 6.5 5.7 6.1 6.2
Iran, Islamic Republic of 6.0 5.9 5.8 6.4 6.1
Iraq 5.2 5.2 5.0 5.6 5.3
Italy 6.5 7.0 5.9 6.4 6.5
Japan 5.8 6.0 5.3 5.5 5.7
Jordan 5.8 5.6 5.3 6.1 5.8
Kazakhstan 5.8 5.7 5.3 5.8 5.7
Korea, Republic of 6.1 6.1 5.5 5.7 5.9
Kuwait 5.3 4.9 4.8 5.6 5.2
Libya 5.1 5.0 4.9 5.6 5.2
Malaysia 7.2 7.0 6.1 6.6 6.8
Mexico 6.5 6.7 5.8 6.4 6.4
Nepal 6.2 5.8 5.7 6.1 6.0
Nigeria 6.3 6.0 6.2 6.8 6.4
Oman 5.2 5.0 5.1 5.8 5.4
Pakistan 6.0 5.7 5.7 6.1 5.9
Philippines 7.1 6.7 6.2 6.9 6.8
Qatar 5.1 4.8 4.5 5.5 5.1
Russian Federation 6.7 6.6 5.9 6.6 6.5
Saudi Arabia 4.9 4.8 4.6 5.6 5.0
Spain 6.8 6.9 6.0 6.6 6.6
Sri Lanka 6.6 6.2 6.0 6.7 6.4
Syrian Arab Republic 5.4 5.3 5.1 5.8 5.5
Taiwan 6.0 6.1 5.5 6.0 6.0
Thailand 6.1 5.9 5.4 5.9 5.9
Turkey 5.4 5.6 5.1 5.5 5.5
United Arab Emirates 4.7 4.7 4.6 5.3 4.9
Uzbekistan 5.4 5.4 5.1 5.6 5.5
Vietnam 6.0 6.2 5.6 5.8 6.0
Overall
5.67
6.73
5.47
6.34
6.07
6.09
5.58
6.60
7.19
6.61
6.36
5.75
6.10
6.01
5.77
6.31
5.85
5.63
5.93
5.74
5.24
5.26
6.76
6.55
6.00
5.62
6.42
5.25
5.90
6.73
6.77
4.72
6.51
5.10
6.25
5.72
5.78
5.88
4.97
5.84

Mean band score for the most frequent countries or regions of origin (General Training)

The United Kingdom scored highest (8.2), followed by South Africa (7.56), Singapore (7.3), Zimbabwe (7.09) and Malaysia (6.92)

Listening Reading Writing Speaking Overall
Bangladesh 5.76 5.17 5.52 6.01 5.68
Brazil 6.28 6.13 5.93 6.49 6.28
China (PRC) 6.15 5.99 5.62 5.79 5.95
Colombia 5.79 5.77 5.65 6.11 5.89
Egypt 5.95 5.56 5.69 6.19 5.91
France 6.88 6.83 6.37 6.90 6.80
Germany 6.90 6.57 6.44 7.15 6.82
Hong Kong 6.50 6.20 5.83 6.13 6.23
India 6.29 5.59 5.76 6.20 6.03
Indonesia 6.61 6.24 5.87 6.24 6.30
Iran 5.68 5.38 5.88 6.43 5.91
Iraq 5.63 5.25 5.49 6.30 5.73
Italy 6.03 6.09 5.76 6.34 6.12
Japan 5.91 5.55 5.37 5.80 5.72
Jordan 5.78 5.37 5.48 6.22 5.78
Korea, South 5.59 5.34 5.15 5.26 5.40
Lebanon 6.26 5.81 5.88 6.59 6.20
Malaysia 7.19 6.82 6.49 6.93 6.92
Mauritius 6.53 6.00 6.29 6.73 6.44
Mexico 6.33 6.42 6.02 6.56 6.39
Nepal 6.21 5.54 5.80 6.06 5.97
Nigeria 5.84 5.88 6.44 7.10 6.38
Pakistan 6.15 5.61 5.97 6.45 6.11
Palestine 5.68 5.27 5.50 6.18 5.72
Philippines 6.12 5.58 5.92 6.27 6.03
Russia 6.30 6.25 5.92 6.32 6.26
Saudi Arabia 4.65 4.21 4.53 5.20 4.71
Singapore 7.60 7.18 6.94 7.46 7.36
South Africa 7.42 6.98 7.24 8.37 7.56
Sri Lanka 6.23 5.66 5.85 6.34 6.08
Syria 5.74 5.40 5.53 6.23 5.78
Taiwan 5.92 5.65 5.56 6.01 5.85
Thailand 5.52 5.18 5.20 5.56 5.43
Turkey 5.75 5.52 5.46 5.84 5.70
Ukraine 5.97 5.85 5.74 6.09 5.97
UAE 4.30 3.72 4.37 4.96 4.40
UK 8.10 7.69 7.93 8.80 8.20
Venezuela 5.98 6.23 5.99 6.36 6.20
Vietnam 5.46 5.35 5.39 5.51 5.49
Zimbabwe 6.87 6.48 7.01 7.72 7.09

Mean band scores for the most common first languages (Academic)

Dutch speakers scored highest (7.6), followed by German (7.2), Romanian (6.97), Polish(6.77) and Kannada (6.74).

Listening Reading Writing Speaking Overall
Amharic 5.64 4.78 5.62 6.11 5.60
Arabic 4.96 5.14 4.89 5.65 5.23
Bengali 5.44 5.85 5.54 5.87 5.74
Burmese 6.14 6.14 5.64 5.85 6.00
Chinese 5.85 5.72 5.19 5.28 5.57
Dutch 7.79 7.95 6.79 7.60 7.60
Farsi 5.68 5.88 5.81 6.44 6.02
French 6.80 6.55 5.99 6.44 6.51
German 7.22 7.48 6.61 7.23 7.20
Greek 6.40 6.78 5.85 6.40 6.42
Gujurati 5.35 5.83 5.31 5.52 5.57
Hindi 5.80 6.34 5.67 6.03 6.02
Indonesian 6.37 6.28 5.56 5.92 6.10
Italian 6.77 6.24 5.78 6.18 6.30
Japanese 5.97 6.02 5.39 5.76 5.85
Kannada 6.52 7.09 6.28 6.79 6.74
Kazakh 5.72 5.86 5.61 5.93 5.84
Korean 5.97 6.00 5.27 5.46 5.74
Lithuanian 6.72 6.96 5.95 6.39 6.57
Malay 6.76 6.88 6.01 6.37 6.57
Malayalam 6.18 6.66 5.99 6.33 6.35
Marathi 6.29 6.89 6.15 6.50 6.52
Nepali 5.40 5.90 5.42 5.50 5.62
Other 6.05 6.27 6.12 6.73 6.36
Pashto 5.32 5.59 5.53 5.89 5.65
Polish 6.75 7.00 6.15 6.91 6.77
Portuguese 6.78 6.74 6.11 6.77 6.66
Punjabi 5.01 5.37 5.02 5.15 5.20
Romanian 7.13 7.29 6.31 6.92 6.97
Russian 6.51 6.56 5.92 6.54 6.45
Shona 6.28 6.74 6.31 7.28 6.71
Singhalese 6.02 6.53 5.94 6.41 6.29
Spanish 6.71 6.50 5.92 6.53 6.48
Tagalog 6.60 7.05 6.21 6.80 6.73
Tamil 6.20 6.72 5.93 6.38 6.38
Telugu 5.70 6.31 5.64 5.96 5.97
Thai 5.87 5.96 5.34 5.71 5.78
Turkish 5.84 6.04 5.46 5.93 5.88
Urdu 5.65 6.07 5.70 6.06 5.93
Vietnamese 6.04 5.83 5.56 5.68 5.84

Mean band scores for the most common first languages (General Training)

Afrikaans speakers scored highest (7.29), followed by Shona (6.99), Malay (6.89), German (6.77) and French (6.57).

Listening Reading Writing Speaking Overall
Afrikaans 6.77 7.14 6.93 8.09 7.29
Arabic 4.89 5.33 5.19 5.83 5.37
Bengali 5.24 5.82 5.57 6.06 5.74
Chinese 6.02 6.20 5.66 5.86 6.00
Creole 5.87 6.41 6.21 6.64 6.34
Dutch 7.07 7.35 6.63 7.49 7.21
Farsi 5.38 5.67 5.88 6.43 5.91
French 6.40 6.61 6.26 6.76 6.57
German 6.52 6.88 6.39 7.05 6.77
Gujurati 5.51 6.18 5.60 6.02 5.89
Hindi 5.78 6.48 5.92 6.46 6.22
Hungarian 5.89 6.21 5.77 6.21 6.10
Indonesian 6.24 6.61 5.86 6.24 6.30
Italian 6.07 6.01 5.73 6.32 6.10
Japanese 5.55 5.90 5.37 5.79 5.71
Kannada 5.97 6.63 6.17 6.61 6.40
Korean 5.34 5.59 5.15 5.26 5.40
Malay 6.70 7.14 6.47 6.99 6.89
Malayalam 5.84 6.36 6.01 6.32 6.20
Marathi 6.05 6.67 6.19 6.61 6.45
Nepali 5.54 6.22 5.80 6.06 5.97
Other 5.84 6.28 6.27 6.84 6.37
Pashto 5.35 5.88 5.89 6.45 5.95
Polish 6.02 6.32 5.88 6.56 6.26
Portuguese 6.09 6.25 5.89 6.48 6.24
Punjabi 5.26 6.01 5.53 5.91 5.74
Romanian 5.96 6.18 5.76 6.16 6.08
Russian 6.18 6.23 5.91 6.28 6.22
Shona 6.41 6.76 6.95 7.56 6.99
Sindhi 5.62 6.22 5.99 6.48 6.15
Singhalese 5.65 6.23 5.85 6.33 6.08
Spanish 6.01 5.94 5.83 6.25 6.07
Tagalog 5.57 6.12 5.91 6.26 6.03
Tamil 5.74 6.33 5.84 6.27 6.11
Telugu 5.72 6.48 5.84 6.32 6.16
Thai 5.17 5.52 5.19 5.55 5.42
Turkish 5.52 5.75 5.46 5.84 5.71
Ukrainian 5.60 5.75 5.52 5.97 5.77
Urdu 5.64 6.21 5.96 6.46 6.13
Vietnamese 5.35 5.46 5.38 5.51 5.49

These tables make interesting reading but they don’t of course mean that your score is determined by your place of origin or by your first language.  To get the IELTS Band Score you need, you must work hard to improve your English and follow the tips in my blog!

Here’s to the best IELTS score possible!

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