Popularity of the IELTS
Two weeks ago, we posted a blog about the increasing popularity of the TOEFL. To be fair, the numbers of IELTS test takers have also been rising.
On March 9, 2011, IELTS, calling itself “the world’s most popular high stakes English language test”, announced that it had hit a whopping 1.5 million test-takers across the globe for the year 2010 alone. The greatest number of registrants took the exam for academic purposes, but many test-takers cited migration as their main aim for sitting for the IELTS.
There are reportedly 6,000 institutions around the world that accept the IELTS as a reliable indicator of English language ability. These institutions include but are not limited to schools, universities, immigration authorities, employers, and professional bodies. Although TOEFL, a North America-based test, is more popular in this region, over 3,000 institutions and programs in the USA accept the IELTS as proof of English language skills.
To learn more, visit: http://www.ielts.org/media_centre.aspx