I recently went to the official IELTS website and checked out Test Taker performance in 2009.  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 (72.3%) took the Academic version of the test, presumably for higher education purposes, while only 27.7% took the General Training version.

Interestingly, female candidates seemed to score better in every part of the test in both the Academic version and the General Training version.

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

Germany scored highest (7.19), followed by Poland (6.77), Malaysia (6.76), the Philippines and Brazil (6.73).

 

Listening

Reading

Writing

Speaking

Overall

Bangladesh

5.76

5.36

5.48

5.81

5.67

Brazil

6.80

6.87

6.18

6.83

6.73

China (PRC)

5.59

5.74

5.11

5.18

5.47

Colombia

6.35

6.53

5.78

6.45

6.34

Cyprus

6.35

5.84

5.60

6.23

6.07

Egypt

6.15

5.96

5.76

6.24

6.09

Ethiopia

4.68

5.62

5.64

6.11

5.58

France

6.70

7.00

6.02

6.43

6.60

Germany

7.46

7.22

6.60

7.23

7.19

Greece

7.05

6.74

5.99

6.43

6.61

Hong Kong

6.76

6.72

5.77

5.94

6.36

India

6.01

5.54

5.46

5.72

5.75

Indonesia

6.28

6.37

5.56

5.92

6.10

Iran

5.88

5.68

5.81

6.44

6.01

Iraq

5.73

5.50

5.39

6.22

5.77

Italy

6.25

6.77

5.78

6.19

6.31

Japan

6.02

5.98

5.40

5.76

5.85

Jordan

5.65

5.44

5.23

5.93

5.63

Kazakhstan

5.95

5.83

5.67

6.01

5.93

Korea, South

6.00

5.98

5.27

5.46

5.74

Kuwait

5.36

4.95

4.84

5.55

5.24

Libya

5.08

4.97

5.08

5.67

5.26

Malaysia

7.10

7.00

6.17

6.51

6.76

Mexico

6.63

6.88

5.92

6.53

6.55

Myanmar

6.14

6.14

5.64

5.85

6.00

Nepal

5.89

5.40

5.42

5.49

5.62

Nigeria

6.11

6.07

6.21

7.06

6.42

Oman

5.14

4.98

4.99

5.65

5.25

Pakistan

6.00

5.62

5.69

6.04

5.90

Philippines

7.05

6.60

6.21

6.81

6.73

Poland

7.01

6.76

6.15

6.92

6.77

Qatar

4.64

4.47

4.39

5.12

4.72

Russia

6.64

6.61

5.95

6.61

6.51

Saudi Arabia

4.97

4.79

4.69

5.67

5.10

Sri Lanka

6.48

5.98

5.90

6.38

6.25

Taiwan

5.78

5.81

5.32

5.73

5.72

Thailand

5.96

5.87

5.34

5.72

5.78

Turkey

6.00

5.85

5.46

5.96

5.88

UAE

4.86

4.69

4.69

5.36

4.97

Vietnam

5.83

6.04

5.56

5.68

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 your success!