Why Is IELTS So Expensive?

Why Is IELTS So Expensive? And Is IELTS Worth it?

IELTS is so expensive for four main reasons. Firstly, you are paying for the famous name, ‘Cambridge’, ‘The British Council’. Secondly, all speaking and writing tests are marked manually by IELTS examiners who need to be trained and paid. Finally, like any business there are overhead costs.

Let’s go through these issues one by one and dig a bit deeper and find out why IELTS is so expensive and if it is worth it, afterall it costs around $225 just to take the test and you’ll need to spend time and money preparing for it too!.

Reason #1: You Are Paying For The Name

There is no doubt that the British Council and Cambridge English are very well known brands. These names give a lot of credibility to the IELTS exam as they are renowned for their scientific and academic research, accuracy and reliability. 

This is good for you because it means the score that you get and the IELTS certificate is accepted by so many governments and universities around the world. Quite simply, the exam would be worthless if governments and universities did not think it was a reliable score. You cannot have one without the other.

Is it worth paying for the name? Yes, without it the test would be worthless and would not get you the visa or university that you want.

Reason #2: You Are Paying For IELTS Examiners

Of course, the examiners themselves have to be paid. Whilst they are not paid a massive amount they are paid somewhat higher than the average hourly teaching rate.

Why? Well, IELTS examiners have to reach and maintain a certain standard of quality in their examining. 

The British Council, Cambridge and IDP do not just let anyone examine. All examiners have to go through a fairly rigorous training and assessment programme before they can examine AND they are continuously assessed to ensure they are maintaining those standards. 

Having been an IELTS examiner, I can tell you it is a bit of a pain and at times a drain on my time to be an IELTS examiner and they have to pay us decently to make it worth our while.

Are IELTS examiners worth the money? Well, again if you want a certificate to prove your level of English then you cannot really do without having real, highly trained humans involved in the process. So, yes, the examiners are necessary and worth paying for.

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Reason #3: Overhead costs

All IELTS centres have to be managed and maintained effectively. There are rental/mortgage payments to pay on centres often in prime locations, staff wages to pay, and that includes everyone, right from high up managers to administration staff, and marketing staff, to cleaners. They have all got to be paid somehow.

Are the locations and centres worth the money? No, it would be better if they could move fully online. Imagine how much saving they could make and how much cheaper the test would be!

Reason #4: Test Validity

According to their main website IELTS.org the test exists for the following reason:

“The IELTS test is developed to provide a fair, accurate and reliable assessment of English language proficiency.” (source IELTS.org)

Three keywords stand out to me there fair, accurate and reliable. That may not sound difficult but when you have over 3.5 million people per year in over 140 different countries (source) taking the test, then that is a lot of coordinating and a huge responsibility for the company to take on as people’s futures rely on this test.

Remember, no two IELTS tests are the same and so IELTS are constantly having to research and come up with new test papers.

This may sound easy but remember the papers have to be produced in such a way that scores can be compared between different years and that no one paper is easier than another and that there are different papers being sat in different time zones so questions cannot be leaked into other time zones.

IELTS can only do this by ensuring that every single part of the test is developed in such a way to give every candidate the same chance of success, wherever they take the test around the world. To do all of the research necessary to create a fair, comprehensive, reliable test, and to co-ordinate the test around the world it is clearly going to cost a lot of money.

Finally, as this is such a ‘high stakes’ exam, there is a lot of security and administration involved in ensuring the reputation of IELTS as being reliable and incorruptible.

How would you feel if someone in another country was getting someone else to sit the exam for them under a fake passport, or if someone else had access to the questions before the test date. It wouldn’t be fair right? So all these aspects have to be thought through.

Is the research cost worth the money? Absolutely, yes, without it the system would fall apart.

Is IELTS Worth It Overall?

This very much depends on you and your life goals. $200 is a great investment if it is going to get you into the university of your choice, or if it going to allow you to take that job abroad.

With a bit of effort on your part you can easily prepare yourself, use the guides on this site, for example, and you may well be able to get the band score you need first time.

However, if you have no strong reason to take the test it is something that can definitely wait!

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The Future Of IELTS

If you do not like the IELTS test, or the fact that you feel it is so expensive then good news. Firstly, I hope you pass it first time and never have to think about it again but secondly, as technology improves and the way the world is moving i.e. not encouraging people to mix or travel as much, due to Covid19, surely IELTS are going to have to find a more practical way to test students online, and times convenient to the test taker.

In fact, there is mounting competition for IELTS to cope with. One of the biggest competitors I foresee is duolingo https://englishtest.duolingo.com/

They are managing to do the same job as IELTS for just $50! They have done away with the human examiners and are using artificial intelligence to discover what a students level is.

They do this by adjusting the questions that they ask candidates as they go along. So, the computer essentially learns what your level is as you work through the test. If you think it will never work, then think again. Leading American universities are now accepting the test results and it is only a matter of time before more universities do, watch out IELTS!

In response to Duolingo and the Covid-19 situation, IELTS have launched the IELTS Indicator test, which is essentially an online version of the test. Although, because they still use real IELTS examiners the cost is still high at $149. Why is IELTS so expensive, again?

Personally, I believe that students are slowly running out of patience with IELTS and the seeming monopoly they have over the testing market. Although, they still have a great name, I really do think they have to lower their prices as more artificial intelligence based testing systems come onto the market. 

AI may not be perfect but neither are IELTS examiners and there are repeated reports of students being given very different scores between different examiners and centres which point to weaknesses in the system.

How To Avoid The IELTS Nightmare!

Overall, then, if you think IELTS is too expensive then there are alternatives. 

I hope you understand a little more about why IELTS is so expensive and I understand the frustration when it is the only thing stopping you from getting to where you want to be.

Having to do the test multiple times is a bit of a nightmare and can coat you thousands of dollars, so I strongly suggest that you find out where you are going wrong before you take the test and improve your exam technique and strategy before you next take the test! 

You can do this by using these examiners here to get feedback and improve your band score.