IELTS Research Reports

An impact study into the use of IELTS by professional associations and registration entities:Canada, the United Kingdom and Ireland5.3.1 Minimum IELTS band scoresThe minimum standards for IELTS for each of the three associations registered in Ireland are shown inTable 6 below.MinimumIELTS levelsGeneralTrainingModuleAcademicModuleListeningSpeakingWritingReadingOverallListeningSpeakingWritingReadingOverallIrish NursingBoard/ An Bord AltranaisN/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 7.0 6.5 7.0 7.0 6.5Irish MedicalCouncil (IMC)N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 7.5 7.0 7.0 7.0 7.0Pre-Hospital EmergencyCare Council (PHECC)N/A N/A N/A N/A N/A 6.5Table 6. Minimum levels of achievement in IELTS required by professional associations andregistration bodies in IrelandIn setting its minimum levels for language proficiency, the Irish Nursing Board made a distinctionbetween the productive skills and the receptive skills, requiring a higher level in the minimum scoresfor the Writing and Speaking tests.At least one of the three Irish organisations, the Irish Medical Council, had undergone a process ofreview of the minimum levels of IELTS to bring them into line with international best practice. Theoutcome was to increase minimum levels by between 0.5 and 1.0 band scores; that is, the overallminimum of 7.0 in the Academic Module was increased to 7.5, and the Listening, Reading and Writingband scores were increased from 6.0 to 7.0, in line with the previously established Speaking score. It isa higher overall level than the minimum standards in place for its UK counterpart, the General MedicalCouncil of the United Kingdom, but the Council believes it is more appropriate for its practitioners.All associations required the minimum levels of IELTS to be achieved in one sitting of the test.IELTS Research Reports Volume 1155