The IELTS partners have published an excellent article by Nicola Latimer, Chihiro Inoue, Samantha Chan and Daniel MK Lam about how learners process lectures that involve both auditory and textual content… and how that sort of stuff could be included in assessments.

The authors note in their introduction that:

“Currently, the listening component in most major international language tests used for university admissions (e.g. IELTS, TOEFL iBT, PTE Academic, CAE) involves the presentation of audio material as the primary/sole source of information for comprehension.”

And in the conclusion:

“We argue that tests of lecture listening should present audio and slide text simultaneously as input, as real-life academic lectures would. The input would then need to cover a range of degrees of integration between slide text and the lecturer’s speech.”

On stage at PIE Live 26, I spoke about how English tests should iterate and evolve to keep up with research and with the test taker journey. I spoke even more about it on the convention floor.  I mentioned how test companies themselves often produce research that seems to wither on the vine, never managing to influence the assessments themselves.

One hopes that the research at hand eventually has an influence on the IELTS test.

That said, I’m reminded of an earlier IELTS report about the usefulness of integrated writing assessment which ended with:

“The question is not whether an integrated writing task can be implemented in an official IELTS test, but rather, the question is when and how it can be best implemented.”

Those words were written several years ago. We don’t seem to be any closer to seeing an integrated writing task in the IELTS.

I was quoted in this PIE News article about the IELTS consortium pulling out of the HOELT tender.  I said:

“If the IELTS consortium has determined that they are unable to deliver a suitably secure remote test, their decision to withdraw from the process makes a lot of sense. I haven’t read the letter they sent to the Home Office in full, but it almost seems like they have suggested that no one is capable of delivering a secure [remote] test. I’m not sure I agree with that assessment, as every potential bidder has their own strengths, expertise and technology.”

It could be true that remote testing can never be fully secure. It wouldn’t surprise me if the whole tender gets derailed as a result of the IELTS withdrawal.  But it may be more complicated than some coverage is suggesting.

Consider that the IELTS itself can be taken fully remotely.  The remote IELTS is used and trusted by universities around the world and has been used to admit tens of thousands of students into higher education.  What strikes me when I look at that product, though, is how it lacks some of the security features currently used by other testing firms. For instance, it does not require a secondary camera.  This is something that’s been a standard part of remote tests from LANGUAGECERT, ETS and Duolingo for quite some time.  In case you aren’t familiar with it, the secondary camera (a phone or tablet) points at the test taker’s keyboard and mouse for the duration of the test.  Among other things, it can help determine if the person taking the test is actually answering the questions or if someone else did that via remote access. Basically, you can compare the keys pushed by the test taker with the keystrokes actually recorded by the test.  Why is this not included in the remote IELTS?  I’m not sure.

While I’m sure that the remote IELTS is completely secure, I can’t shake the feeling that other testing firms have spent much more time working on this issue. They may be capable of stuff that the IELTS partners haven’t yet thought of.

I was quoted in this great article by Abhishek Nair about the coming end of the paper-delivered IELTS. I think it is really important that we keep an eye on how widely available the “writing on paper” option becomes. Wide availability could certainly allay many of the concerns people have with computer-based testing. If widely available, the change may not be such a big deal.

I’ve mentioned here that the best way to learn about an English test is to rock up to a test center and take the darn thing. This often leads to more useful insights than, say, looking at an official practice test.

This approach is particularly useful if one wants to opine about tests in a professional or semi-professional context. I know that there are some pretty big gaps in my own testing experience, but I do my best to take the tests I talk about.

Consider the case of the new TOEFL. After glancing at the reading questions in practice tests provided by ETS, a common response was “Egad! The articles are much shorter than in the old TOEFL! This doesn’t require the same skills as the old test!”

Here’s what the folks at IELTS said:

“Brief texts generally require less integration of information across multiple sections, involve fewer shifts in argument or perspective, and offer fewer opportunities to track cohesion or follow how ideas develop over time. Shorter texts also place lower demands on sustained attention and on maintaining coherence across larger stretches of discourse.

Longer texts naturally prompt readers to manage these additional layers of processing, such as resolving references across paragraphs, synthesizing information as it accumulates, and interpreting how earlier sections shape meaning later on.”

This is all true. But those of us who have taken the old TOEFL understand the need for nuance.

Yes, the old TOEFL contained academic articles of about 650 to 700 words.  And the new TOEFL contains academic articles of about 200 words.

But remember that 18 out of 20 questions in the old TOEFL’s reading section were prefaced by something like “According to paragraph 2…”.  And there was absolutely no reason to look outside of that paragraph for the answer. Which means that in each question the test taker engaged with only about 100 to 120 words. They weren’t really getting into all those layers of processing.

That preface is not found in the new TOEFL. As a result, test takers are forced to engage with all 200 words when answering each of the 15 academic reading questions (10 if they get cast down into the easy module).

It’s a meaningful distinction.

It becomes more meaningful when we realize that the first piece of advice mentioned by every TOEFL teacher and by every TOEFL YouTuber was to NOT READ THE ARTICLE. I suppose in the early days of the test people read the articles in their entirety… but few were doing so at the end of days.

I’m not saying that one reading section is better than the other. I’m just highlighting the value of engaging with tests on a deeper level – and perhaps walking the same road the test taker traverses as they discover, prepare for, and take a test.

In this case, when we go a bit deeper we can see that with smart design a shorter item can require more cognitive work than a longer item, and that the design process can include a thoughtful analysis of popular test taking strategies.

On April 1, the cost of taking the IELTS test in India will increase by ₹1000, bringing the total cost to ₹19000.

This comes after an increase of ₹1000 in March of 2025, an increase of ₹750 in January of 2024, and an increase of ₹700 in April of 2023.

IDP Education is in a tight spot here.  I was set to make a dry comment here about the wisdom of continually raising prices at a time when competing testmakers are drawing away their customers by offering more attractive products in terms of content and customer experience.

But perhaps price hikes are the only way to keep their shareholders happy in the face of a declining Indian Rupee.  A year ago, that ₹18000 price tag converted to $342 AUD.  Now it converts to $270 AUD.

An additional challenge is the per-test royalty that IDP kicks back to Cambridge Press and Assessment, which I assume is fixed in GBP.

The paper-delivered IELTS will be eliminated worldwide in mid-2026. The IELTS Official team has announced that “…after careful review, from mid-2026, we will no longer offer IELTS as a paper-based test. All IELTS tests will be delivered on computer. Exact timelines will vary by market.”

This will not come as a surprise for regular readers of this space. Announcements about the elimination of the paper option in individual markets have trickled in one at a time over the past year.

Why are they doing this? Well, according to the announcement this is due to “higher satisfaction” among people who take the test on computer. But savvy test waters will already be aware that this will significantly improve the overall security of the IELTS test.

As a concession to people who like writing on paper, a special “writing on paper” option will be offered in certain markets. Says IELTS:

“[w]e are aware that some test takers like handwriting answers, so we are introducing a new option. In selected markets, we will introduce ‘Writing on Paper’. This update will allow test takers to personalise their test experience by handwriting their answers to the ‘Writing’ component on paper if they choose.”

Which markets will get the “writing on paper” option? That isn’t stated. But India will probably get it. Most readers already know that paper-delivered testing is still pretty popular there. I suppose China might get it as well. Many readers probably aren’t aware of how popular paper-based testing still is in that country.

IDP Education Ltd has shared results for the first half of the fiscal year.  IELTS volumes are down 7% for the half year.  That includes a 27% drop in India.  The good news is that IELTS volumes are up 1% outside of India.

IDP administered a total of 638,000 tests in the half year.

Regarding the entry of IDP IELTS into the Chinese market, according to the investor’s call, IDP is “working with a well-established third party testing provider.”  The provider’s name wasn’t given, but IDP’s entrance was described as a “3P model” which is a comment worth examining.

It was also mentioned on that call that IDP’s opening of five test centers in the Yangtze River Delta area (Shanghai and its environs) gives them access to 60% of international students from China.  This may be true, but capacity could be a concern in the short term – note that the British Council runs 13 test centers in Shanghai alone.

The annual report notes that IDP is “modernising paper-based testing (IOC+P).”  It doesn’t define “IOC+P” but I assume that refers to an implementation of the IELTS where the questions are wholly delivered via computer, but some portion of the test (perhaps the writing section) is completed on a piece of paper.  I suspect this may be rolled out in markets that are particularly attached to paper-delivered tests.

Nothing meaningful about the HOELT tender was mentioned.

IELTS drops in India following IDP’s purchase of the British Council’s operations there are really interesting.  Here they are:

• FY 2023: 9% drop
• FY 2024: 42% drop
• FY 2025: 50% drop
• H1 2026: 27% drop

Quite a thing.

The paper-delivered IELTS will be eliminated in Lebanon and Laos on March 1, in Thailand and Mongolia on March 22, in Algeria and Tunisia on April 30, in Togo on 24 May, and in Ghana on June 21.

Since my last post on the subject, the test has been eliminated in Poland and Palestine.

My master list of “no paper” countries is now: Algeria, Cambodia, Bahrain, Bangladesh, Brunei, Ghana, Iran, Jordan, Korea (South), Laos, Lebanon, Libya, Malaysia, Mauritius, Mongolia, Nigeria, Palestine, Pakistan, Poland, Sri Lanka, Taiwan, Thailand, Togo, Tunisia, Uzbekistan, and Vietnam.

There are probably more. With no centralized list, I just make notes of country-level announcements I happen to see by chance.