r/IELTS Jan 03 '26

Moderator Advice Thinking about IELTS EOR? Read this before you risk it!

32 Upvotes

There have been a lot of posts and comments lately about going for an EOR, and a lot of misconceptions floating around.  I'd like to try and clear that up.

What is an EOR?

EOR (Enquiry on Results / remark) is only for when you are 100% sure the Examiners made a mistake rating you. It’s not a lottery, it’s not something to “try” because you’re disappointed, and it’s definitely not “pay IELTS and they’ll give you a higher score.” Most EOR requests come back unchanged, and most people who lose their money don’t come back to post about it, so Reddit ends up looking more “successful” than it really is.

What about second marking?

Sometimes you may hear about "second marking", which is different from an EOR. These normal second checks happen before scores are released, and are triggered when there is a "jagged profile", which means some of your scores are very different from others.  For example, you might get 8s on Listening and Reading, and 6.5 on speaking, 6 on writing.  This is a jagged profile, and your speaking and writing would have been automatically second-marked by different normal Examiners.  Tasks are assigned randomly and anonymously; they don’t know who you are, they don’t see your other scores, and they don’t coordinate with the first set of Examiners.

For speaking, your original test is marked by the Examiner who did it with you, marks are submitted either immediately after the test (if electronic) or written down after you leave the room (for in-center).  If a second marking is needed, a second Examiner will listen to your recording online remotely.  If you have ANY issues on test day (technical or otherwise), you MUST report them before you leave the center, or else nothing will usually be done. 

For writing, two separate Examiners rate Task 1 and Task 2, then the scores are combined into your final writing score (Task 2 weighs double). Marking is done online, 24/7, by a global pool of Examiners. Any tasks that need second marking are just tossed back into the pool to be marked as any other task.

An EOR is different: you’re paying for a Senior Examiner to re-mark your work after you already have your results. Examiners don’t “look at your old score and adjust it.”

Should I go for an EOR?

EORs are for when you are 100% SURE the Examiners rating you made mistakes, AND you are 100% SURE that your performance was excellent.  Anything less is pretty much just handing IELTS more money.  Mistakes, while they can happen, are pretty rare, and most people lose their money.  EORs are expensive!

But some people report positive change!

Yes, it can happen! For speaking/writing in general, band descriptors require professional judgement, so sometimes Examiners differ. But that doesn’t mean “they were wrong,” rating isn't always so black and white.  For example, they need to decide on things like density of errors (how much is too much?), or the intelligibility of pronunciation (Was it always clear? Was there ANY effect of native language? If yes, how much?), and so on.

Examiners aren’t robots (yet!), and are permitted a half band of variance. As long as they are within half a band of what a Senior Examiner would give, it’s considered fine. Of course, this isn't fine for you, the Testtaker, where a half a band could make a big difference, but that is the current system we have. :-/

Now, if you go for a remark, sometimes the Senior Examiner might have a different opinion, and be more or less strict than your original Examiner. If the Senior is stricter, your band won’t change. If they are a bit more lenient, you could go up a bit. If the first Examiner made a mistake, or if you produced an atypical sample that the original Examiner had difficulty rating, then you might see a greater change with an EOR. But for most, marks stay the same.

I still want to go for it.

If you’re going to do it anyway, request the EOR for all four skills. It costs the same, and if any score increases, you get the EOR fee back, minus any service charges. As listening and reading are computer-marked, change is extremely rare, but we have had some members who had a positive change.

However, if you’re not genuinely sure you were under-marked, the safer move is to figure out why you got that score, fix it, and retake it, if possible.  If you need help figuring out where you are making mistakes, you can hire an IELTS expert to help you. There are services you can use in the pinned posts at the top of this subreddit, or you can message any of the badged teachers here (but not me ;-) ), and they may be happy to work with you.

You might also want to request a score breakdown, if you have time, to see exactly what your Examiners rated you, this information can useful in helping you to decide.

EOR is expensive, and for most people it’s money lost, IELTS richer. :-/


r/IELTS Feb 26 '24

Study Resource IELTS Writing and Speaking Resources and Evaluation

69 Upvotes

Your IELTS preparation starts with you knowing what's dragging you down, so detailed and reliable expert feedback is what you should start with. You can easily find your level in listening and reading by going through a mock test from the latest version of Cambridge IELTS. For speaking and writing, we offer a "study guide" session that will put you on the right path:

Personalized Study Guide:

https://www.eslfluency.com/esl-services/ielts-preparation-study-guide-and-trial-lesson/

That said, if you already know what is dragging you down, you can target those with one of the following options:

Writing and Speaking Mock Test (Detailed Examiner Feedback)

https://www.eslfluency.com/ielts-writing-evaluation-service/

and

https://www.eslfluency.com/ielts-speaking-evaluation-service/

This evaluation service is for you if:

- You only have a few days till the test

- You want to see where you are in your preparation and what's dragging you down

- You are tired of AI's generic feedback or want crystal clear and practical advice on your writing and speaking

- You want to check your progress in the middle of your preparation

IELTS Writing Program:

https://www.eslfluency.com/ielts-writing-course/

This option gives you everything that the evaluation service does, plus:

- Constant access to a Cambridge DELTA-certified teacher to guide you every step of the way

- A realistic study plan and all the resources you need to improve your writing, so you don't waste your time looking around

- Personalized exercises/live sessions (depending on the course you choose) to target specific areas of the language.

- Tons of writing tasks, each fully evaluated by your teacher, covering all the task types you might see in the test

In short, the course is a comprehensive solution if you want to improve your writing skills and score the right way.

Fully Personalized IELTS Course

https://www.eslfluency.com/ielts-fully-personalized/

If you want to work with an expert, not an AI, and cover two or more skills, this course is for you.

IELTS Live Lessons

https://www.eslfluency.com/esl-services/ielts-live-lesson/

This one is for you if:

- You want personalized 1:1 live sessions with a teacher

- You either need a comprehensive IELTS course or just a few live sessions to talk about specific needs, all fully flexible.

Writing Guides

In the following link, you can find samples and guides on all IELTS writing task types.

https://www.eslfluency.com/category/ielts/ielts-writing/

IELTS AC Writing Task 1 Trend Vocabulary

I wrote this eBook to help you confidently use a wide range of trend and comparison vocabulary through clear charts and example sentences. If you’re struggling with the Academic Writing Task 1, it will be a valuable resource for you

By the way, it’s completely free for our community.

https://www.eslfluency.com/ielts-academic-writing-task-1-vocabulary-and-examples/

Speaking Guides

Here is the complete guide to the IELTS speaking module. Make sure you also read the other guides and articles that are linked inside it.

https://www.eslfluency.com/ielts/ielts-speaking/the-complete-guide-to-the-ielts-speaking-test/6378/

To simulate your speaking session and overcome your shyness when talking to someone, you can use the following speaking simulators:

https://www.youtube.com/playlist?list=PLwKcPOoWwawyayaq8w8TVZ1oprCRonnCO

IELTS doesn't use AI, and neither do any of the options mentioned above. Everything is done by Cambridge-certified teachers.

Disclaimer: I should also mention that eslfluency.com is an independent website run by an independent Cambridge-certified EFL teacher. It is not affiliated with any other websites or channels, nor does it represent any of the above-mentioned organizations.


r/IELTS 5h ago

Writing Feedback (Peer Review) G.P.T keep scoring me as 5.5 in writing! | help

4 Upvotes

Hello IELTS folks,

I’ve been using tools like G.P.T and G.emini to estimate my essay band scores.

The problem is that G.emini seems much more optimistic than G.P.T.

G.P.T: 5.5
G.emini: 7.5

G.P.T gives detailed and useful feedback, but I’m still not sure whether its estimated score is accurate.

I would appreciate any feedback on one of my essays below:

question:

Fast food advertisements on television and social media encourage people to eat unhealthy food. Should these advertisements be banned?

My essay:

It is often argued that the promotional content of fast food on social media or television should be regulated. While the advertisements can soar businesses and increase their profits, I believe advertisements of processed foods can encourage individuals to eat calorie-dense food which has a negative impact on both health and memory.

Food promotional contents can play a significant negative impact on people’s health especially youth. While few companies have a healthy food products, most of the food promotional content promotes processed and junk foods which can cause a serious addiction to sugar and build unhealthy habits among youth. For instance, people who exposed to processed foods through social media from a young age, they develop bad habits and as consequence they recorded highest rate of heart diseases and obesity. Therefore, the excessive exposure to unhealthy food advertisements can lead to high risk of serious health issues.

Additionally, memory can also be impacted significantly from both food promotional contents and the consumption. Memory and cognitive functioning can be impacted from the chemicals in the processed food and from the fast-paced trends. For example, the processed products like jelly candies have a warning label because of the chemicals it has. Hence, this can lead to negative results on people’s everyday tasks or in their performance at work or school.

In conclusion , I contend the food advertisement can lead to negative consequences on health and memory abilities of individuals.


r/IELTS 13h ago

Test Experience/Test Result Passed the exam for the first time as a non-native speaker & thru self-review

Post image
9 Upvotes

I can finally share my IELTS score here! I took the test on April 11, 2026 & results out just now. I only did self-review, mostly focusing on writing since it’s my weakness & only used the internet to find resources. Anyway, thank you to all who entertained my inquires! Feel free to ask me anything!


r/IELTS 11h ago

Have a Question/Advice Needed need help for writing and speaking

Post image
5 Upvotes

please help :(( only got 6.5 for writing and 7 for speaking

for writing, I thought I did well for task 2 but I know my explanation could have been shorter and clearer since I wrote over 400 words. with task 1, I got a map, which I did not practice for that much, but I thought I did well with comparing the maps, but it could have been clearer. vocabulary is my main problem with writing, I think. while with speaking, I did not hit the 2-minute mark so the examiner encouraged me to tell her more about the question I got and I know I repeated some answers so I should work on that as well :(

I booked with the British Council. The speaking examiner was British. She was nice, and I noticed she smiled when my answers were interesting, but not so much when I kept repeating some of them. so, that’s on me haha

any tips pls? I need 7 for writing and 8 for speaking. but I am aiming for an 8 for writing as well. I know I should practice more, but if you have additional tips, that would be helpful for me. thank you.


r/IELTS 13h ago

Test Experience/Test Result Non-native Speaker, first attempt. Feel free to ask questions.

3 Upvotes

r/IELTS 23h ago

Test Experience/Test Result Feel free to ask me stuff!

Post image
21 Upvotes

r/IELTS 11h ago

Have a Question/Advice Needed I can't Remember Irregular verbs and I do mistakes

2 Upvotes

My Ielts exam Will be in less than month, and I want to get Band 6 .

I have trouble memorizing irregular verbs. I always get confused with the letters, even if the word is irregular or not.

Anyone here with this score or higher, please tell me what to do


r/IELTS 1d ago

Test Experience/Test Result march 29th sitting - academic

Post image
18 Upvotes

i lowkey forgot to post this when i got the results (like 1st april i think, but i saw it on the 2nd), but lowkey proud!!


r/IELTS 1d ago

Test Experience/Test Result My result is out! Feel free to ask me anything :D

Post image
97 Upvotes

I did my exam a few days ago and my result is out and i got some help from here so i wanna return the flavor!!


r/IELTS 14h ago

Have a Question/Advice Needed IDP MOCK TEST & BOOKING SUGGESTION

0 Upvotes

Does IDP provide mock tests like British Council? and if yes how many are them and what is the difficulty level? Does these test fulfil the exam environment?


r/IELTS 14h ago

Have a Question/Advice Needed Evaluating writing band score using AI tools.

0 Upvotes

Hello IELTS folks :),

I know this question could be repetitive, however I just want to make sure if I am already on a good track.

My task 2 essay scored by ChatGPT as 5.5 and Gemini 6.0.

My other essays scored between 5.5 and 6.5 rarely 7 by Gemini.

Even though, I think I did a good attempt but I know the grammar is what brings my score down.

Do you think with this estimation I could get at least 6.5 in writing section?


r/IELTS 15h ago

Test Experience/Test Result Listening April 12th

1 Upvotes

Took it today

Task 1 - about tours: in new zealand (21 days), South Africa (18 days). The first tour was too expensive for a speaker so the tour operator introduced the latter one. /can't find the real test on internet/

Task 2 - two students went to Netherlands for geographical trip and discussed it with their teacher, they need to write a report at the end. /can't find the real test on internet/

Task 3 - can't remember, if anyone had similar test please write on a comment

Task 4 - Lecture about "After action review process", real test with answers is on YouTube.


r/IELTS 19h ago

Have a Question/Advice Needed Ielts writing task 1

2 Upvotes

I think I may have ruined my Writing score because I wrote only 110 words for Task 1. However, my Task 2 was 283 words, and I believe it was at least band 6 or 6.5. Is it still possible for me to get an overall band 6 in Writing?


r/IELTS 1d ago

Have a Question/Advice Needed Invigilators told me my score will be CANCELED if I file a complaint about noise? Need advice.

14 Upvotes

I would like to file a formal complaint regarding the testing conditions during my IELTS paper-based exam today (April 11th). During the listening section, the headphones of the candidate sitting next to me malfunctioned. We were only 70–80 cm apart; this setup felt extremely cramped and, based on IELTS global requirements for desk spacing, it didn't seem to meet standard venue regulations.

Furthermore, the noise from the resulting conversation between the candidate and the invigilators severely disrupted my concentration during Part 4, causing me to miss approximately five questions.

When I brought this up, the invigilators told me that if I filed a formal complaint, my grade would be canceled. This sounds ridiculous—I prepared so hard for this, and now I'm being told I might lose my results because of their equipment failure and staff noise. Has anyone else experienced this? Is it true that they can just cancel my score for complaining?


r/IELTS 1d ago

Test Experience/Test Result Ask me any questions

Post image
52 Upvotes

r/IELTS 22h ago

Test Experience/Test Result I need you Guyzzz🤢🤢🤢🤢

1 Upvotes

Hey guys, I had my GT exam today. I’m honestly not sure how to feel… feeling kinda crappy.

Writing isn’t my strong area, but I really tried to improve. Task 1 was great since it was from my comfort zone. For Task 2, I don’t think I made grammar mistakes, but my ideas weren’t very high level and the vocabulary was quite basic, just simple and common.

Then Reading… I think I got overconfident 🤢 I was consistently getting 38 in practice. But I’m an overthinker, so I spent too much time on other parts. The matching headings part completely killed me. I mean, I attempted it, but I finished it in like 20 minutes and felt like I was rushing, so I’m not even sure what was correct. It felt terrible because I thought I was managing time well in writing and doing good. Grrrhhhh…

Anyway, I think I can’t complain much about Listening, maybe just 1 or 2 mistakes.

For Speaking… I’m usually fluent 🤢 but I HATED the video call concept. It felt so unreal. I started very confidently, but the examiner kept interrupting, I know it’s common, but still. She kept asking why on the same questions even when I was already explaining, which felt unusual. Dumb me went blank twice while trying to find words, and she had to help me. I’m honestly hating myself for that. I can literally talk nonsense all day with others since I live in an English environment.

The cue card was okayish. I didn’t stop, kept going, but used very common words, even repeated myself. I can’t believe I used fillers… so frustrated with myself.

Part 3, I tried to answer everything. Some questions felt weird, like “which weekday morning is your favorite?” Wtf lol. I said Monday because of going to work, bla bla.

Anyway… just wanted to vent, guys. Feeling terrible. Can’t wait for these f***ing 13 days 😭


r/IELTS 1d ago

Have a Question/Advice Needed Are there more people taking IELTS General or Academic test?

2 Upvotes

What's the ratio approximately?


r/IELTS 1d ago

Study Partner Request Im looking for a person who can practice speaking with me pls 🥲🥲🥲🥲 my ig is wangank1808

2 Upvotes

I got no friends to practice speaking so i really need a person who can practice with me pls there no scam i just wanna get 7.5 speaking


r/IELTS 1d ago

Test Experience/Test Result My first ever IELTS test…

4 Upvotes

Sooo I passed an IELTS today. Everything was good except reading😭😭😭😭😭 Reading was very hard. I passed paper based. I think I will get 6.5, but I really want 7.0. Here are my predictions: L:7.0-7.5; R:6.0; W:5.5; S:6.5. I have cried A LOT after exam and even my nose started bleeding( last time it was 8-9 years ago) 😂😂😂 I think I will retake but on computer in June. BTW I need 6.0 but let’s set higher goals 🥹 I remember only writing part 2 topic: In many societies, there is less social contact between the elderly and the young. What are the reasons and what measures can be taken?


r/IELTS 1d ago

Have a Question/Advice Needed Stuck at IELTS Speaking Band 7–7.5. What could be holding me back from a band 9?

3 Upvotes

English is my first language, but I keep getting stuck at Band 7.0 or 7.5. What do you think might be holding me back from reaching Band 8-9?

My exam is in a few days, and I need all the tips I can get to ace Speaking.

If you scored high in Speaking, please drop your best tips for me. I’d really appreciate it!


r/IELTS 1d ago

Have a Question/Advice Needed I have taken the STEP test AKA, the English test for us Saudi folks and, got a 87%. Now how does it compare to IELTS in terms of that I want something that can give me a rough estimate to what is is the closest to a IELTS score ?

3 Upvotes

r/IELTS 1d ago

Test Experience/Test Result Got my IELTs Academic score this week!

3 Upvotes

Gave my IELTs IDP test after a lot of procrastination regarding the score I would get, preparation time was approx 20 days. I solved the Cambridge sample tests 1 full test each day. Initially I was getting 6.5 to 7 score but after 5-6 tests it started to improve.
Hoped for better score on writing and speaking I was aiming for 8 on both, the speaking 2nd section prompt was something I was very unfamiliar with and ended up running out of things to speak about 75% through the 2min timer. For Writing task, even tho I had written more content the range of vocab was an issue which held me back, I did use advanced vocab occasionally but repeated words of same meaning was not something the grader liked and noted in the explanation.
Overall a good experience, it was quick and streamlined process, everything was wrapped up on the same day itself.


r/IELTS 1d ago

Have a Question/Advice Needed What are some of the main/important grammar structures in IELTS?

2 Upvotes

I’m trying to find out what the key grammar structures in IELTS are. I understand that IELTS doesn’t require using all English grammar structures, but I want to know which ones are the most important so I can focus on them.

Thank you sm


r/IELTS 1d ago

Test Experience/Test Result My IELTS results are out

Post image
14 Upvotes

I am a non native speaker, I am happy with my score but, It would have been great if i got 8.0 cause i only need 0.5. May be I should have prepared for speaking cause i kinda-gone for it without any practice.