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Does anyone have experience with IELTS Special Consideration in Speaking?

ivicts

Hero Member
Jun 3, 2020
241
94
Singapore
Category........
FSW
NOC Code......
4012
AOR Received.
25-04-2023
Hi all,

I have speech impairment which is mild dysarthria (https://my.clevelandclinic.org/health/diseases/17653-dysarthria#:~:text=Dysarthria is a motor speech,are strategies to improve communication.)

Essentially, my facial and voice muscle has weaknesses that made my speech slurred, choppy, robotic, monotone, and unclear.

This puts me at disadvantage for pronunciation and fluency band scores since I speak monotonously and unnaturally.

I can only get 6.5 in speaking, whereas I actually need 7.

I managed to get my neurologist and speech therapist to write letters for me explaining my medical condition.

My speech therapist actually wrote that I should not be graded based on the presentation of my speech (Fluency and Pronunciation band score), but only based on the content of the speech (Vocabulary and Grammar).

IELTS did not give me an exemption but said that there are guides for the examiner who is assessing disadvantaged test takers.

The examiner will be notified of my condition and the examiner shall make the relevant assessment based on that.

I also get extra time for speaking.



Does anyone have a similar experience for special consideration in speaking?

I wonder how specifically they can take into account my condition in band score calculation since the IELTS band score is very standardized.

How much extra time is given?

I asked my test center regarding this, but their answer was that these are confidential and based on the discretion of the examiner.
 
Apr 1, 2022
6
1
Examiners are generally sensitive to such issues. I've known a few people who had a learning disabilities, dyslexia and speech impediments, and they were able to do fairly well (not all of them needed a 7 though). Try to strengthen your word choice and grammar skills. Work on C1 and C2 level grammar to help boost your overall performance.