Is there any difference between IDP and the British Council, in terms of the IELTS exam?

Students preparing for IELTS already have the idea of the conducting bodies of the IELTS. IDP and British are two conducting bodies of IELTS. IELTS was launched in 1980 by Cambridge Assessment of English and British Council. Due to technical difficulties, IELTS was revamped and extended to connect with the international sphere. This way, the International Development Program of Australian Universities and Colleges or IDP also got connected with the IELTS exam.

There are over 1600 IELTS test centers spread across 140 countries in the world. In India itself, IDP has over 50 testing locations. British Council has around 77 testing centers in India. Now a very common question asked by students like you is, where should you take the exam? Or is there any difference between IDP and the British Council when it comes to taking the test? Well, in terms of the IELTS exam pattern, there is no difference as the syllabus is already laid down. Differences can be witnessed in the management of the British Council and IDP test centers. Below are some instances picked from previous IELTS aspirants who have taken the test.

Scored IELTS Score 7.5 in Bangalore but 8 in Doha

Firstly, you need to know that no IELTS test center will have a difference in the question pattern. What may affect is the location, as conveyed by a previous test-taker. He first took the test in Bangalore with IDP and was confident enough about obtaining a 7 in IELTS speaking and writing but ended getting 6.5, and an overall band score of 7.5. Whereas he took the second test in Doha’s British Council center which was just a month away from the Bangalore test, hence he couldn’t prepare much. Surprisingly, he ended up getting an overall IELTS band score of 8 with an increase of 1 point in each band. What he stated was, since Bangalore is a place with highly efficient candidates scoring higher becomes tougher. He has advised taking exams from small towns.

“BC India doesn’t even care to look at the name of the candidate…”

Another instance came across that stated the mismanagement of a British Council test center in Pune. The candidate took the exam and received an overall IELTS band score of 7.5 with only 6.5 in IELTS writing. After investigation, he found out that most of the BC test centers mark 6.5 in IELTS writing. He waited for his TRF to send it for verification but he didn’t receive it even after a couple of weeks. On further examination, BC stated that he had his Pincode wrong. He probed into the address and found nothing wrong. The reckless management of BC was witnessed when they even responded with the wrong name.

Scored Higher in BC Test Center but it lacks administration

Another student has shared her experience of her score as compared to the test centers. When she first took the test in Dec’19 in IDP, she resulted in scores of 7.5 in all four sections. She was dissatisfied with the IELTS listening score and expected it to be 8. She went for a retest in Jan’2020 by preparing harder for the IELTS listening test. Surprisingly, she ended up obtaining: L= 8, R= 8 W= 6.5 S= 8. There was a total 1 point decrease in her writing score. It is then after talking to her friends she decided to retest but in BC. She obtained an astonishing result: L= 8.5, R= 7.5, W =8 , S =8. She has added that though her scores were higher in the BC test, IDP was way more developed in terms of administration, customer service, and coordination.

“British Council was very frustrating…”

This is another incident described by a couple where the husband went for British Council and the wife in IDP. Below are the curated points of the experience:

• British Council lacks administrative skill as they changed the speaking test timings thrice
• British Council requires a colored photocopy of the passport which is not a requirement in IDP
• IDP provides a better and comprehensive demonstration of the IELTS exam pattern, it also has separate rooms with screens for it
• British Council takes more time to release the result: He gave the exam on 23rd Feb, received the score on 2nd March, and the TRF on 5th March - Total time took 12 days
• Whereas she took the exam on 27th Feb, received result on 3rd March, and TRF on 4th March - Total time took 5 days
• BC doesn’t allow sending TRF to universities after exams, you have to pay for it. Whereas IDP does allow it to leave the free TRFs
• BC’s method of delivering the TRF is pretty tedious as compared to IDP

The choice totally depends on the candidate. You should remember that there is no change in the exam pattern.