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随着惠灵顿杭州校区高中部的不断发展，越来越多的家长开始关注起孩子的大学升学路径。不少家长希望能更多地了解雅思考试和雅思成绩对孩子升学的影响。在惠灵顿杭州校区，我们的目标是助力学生升入世界各地的顶尖大学，不仅具备升学所需的英语技能，更具备在全球化的世界中实现蓬勃发展的语言能力，以国际化的视野拥抱日新月异的世界并茁壮成长。今天，惠灵顿杭州校区高中部雅思老师、曾担任雅思考官和评卷官的Hywell Davies将为我们解答上述问题，并简单介绍学校的雅思课程，分享他对英语习得的见解。 文章末尾，我们也整理了惠立丰富多彩的英语浸润式学习机遇，希望能为大家详细介绍惠立的英语教学。 

不论出国学习什么专业，熟练掌握英语都是至关重要的第一步。在惠灵顿杭州校区，我们立足于全球最佳教学法，采取注重实践的综合英语习得方法。

我们为高中部学生提供综合英语教学指导，支持学生实现在学校就读期间和从学校毕业后的长足发展。惠灵顿杭州校区的雅思课程有两层意义：其一是提升学生的英语技能，支持学生的未来的蓬勃发展；其二是赋予学生参加雅思考试的必备理解能力和自信心，开启通往未来的大门。 

首先，学生将参加强调综合技能提升的雅思课程。该课程旨在均衡而全面地提升学生的语言输入（听力与阅读）和输出（口语与写作），强化其课业学习，并在应考时充分发挥自身能力。这门课程还能帮助学生为参加世界上最广为认可和重视的英语测试——雅思学术英语考试做准备。 

雅思考试分为四份试卷：阅读、听力、口语和写作。 

在阅读部分，学生须在1小时内完成每篇约900词、共约2,700词的三篇学术文本阅读理解，即每篇阅读时长约为20分钟。在此时间内，学生须阅读并理解文本，正确回答问题；这时，掌握阅读技巧就显得尤为重要。阅读测试也是对学生未来高校学习的预演——到了大学，学生须阅读学术类课本，理解其中的重要概念。 

在听力部分，学生须在30分钟内听四段音频，并回答40道问题。音频资料中，两段设置为社会场景，另两段设置为正式或学术场景。每段音频仅播放一遍，因此听力考试的关键就是要聚精会神地去听、搜集关键信息。锻炼听力有助于学生在出国留学后也能仔细听讲、融入日常生活中。 

大多数高校要求学生雅思成绩在6.5分以上，其中各单项（听、说、读、写）成绩至少在6分以上。 

大多数顶级学校要求学生雅思成绩在7.0分以上，其中各单项（听、说、读、写）成绩至少在6.5分以上。 

部分大学要求更高，比如剑桥通常要求学生雅思达到7.5分。 

雅思成绩有效期为两年，要保证开学时成绩有效。所以，如果学生计划于2025年9月起读大学，就应该在2024年夏季开始参加考试；而大多数学生需要9个月备考时间，所以推荐不晚于2023年9月开始备考。 

所有雅思考试的评分都是由经过专业培训的评卷官和考官在考试中心完成的。考试成绩记录在成绩单上，包括一个总分，及听力、阅读、写作和口语四个单项分，考生的考试成绩采用1分（最低分）-9分（最高分）的评分制来测评，四个项目独立记分，每一项的分数权重相同，最后所得成绩取四项成绩的平均值。总分和四个单项分均允许半分。总分会以最接近的整分或半分报告，即当平均成绩的小数位为.25时，总分是四舍五入到下个半分档；当平均成绩的小数位是.75时，总分是四舍五入到下一整分档。 

在做雅思评卷官的过程中，我评了上千份雅思试卷。我发现，考生们经常不认真读题、鲜少关注评分标准。但是，一旦读懂题、了解得分点，就能考得更好，写作和口语部分尤其如此。比如，写作部分的题一和题二的题目措辞是十分标准的。当题一要求“请总结信息……”时，考生必须要写一份总结或概述文；如果写了其他文体，最高只能拿到5分。当题二要求“请讨论下述两种观点”时，对考生的要求也是一样的，即考生必须谈论两种论点，否则最高只能拿到5分。 

考雅思，首先要知道的是，这是一门很难“精准攻关”的考试。比如说，没有能保证让考生拿到7分的词汇表；即便有，也是针对特定主题的（比如，背了交通类的全部高阶表达后，还得祈祷考试就出这个话题）。雅思的考官每天都在变换考试主题，所以要想把所有的话题都准备好是不可能的。不如去花精力去提升综合能力，比如“解释（paraphrase）”技能，就是用自己的已知词汇描述一时想不出来的词汇。“解释”技能用得好，就能在口语考试中实现从5分到7分的跳跃。 

这个说法当然不对。在美国，3400多所美国大学都接受雅思成绩，包括99%的大型认证高校（更多详情，请查询雅思官网https://www.ielts.org/usa）。

Swipe left for English

As the Sixth Form at Wellington College Hangzhou continues to develop, a growing number of parents are paying more attention to the university pathways of their children. Some would like to know more about the IELTS examination and its influence on university admissions. At Wellington College Hangzhou, we aim to support our pupils to be admitted into the top universities around the world, which means that they are not only equipped with the English skills to meet the university entry requirement, but also to be given the language ability to embrace this ever-changing world and flourish with a global perspective. Today, our IELTS teacher Mr. Hywell Davies, a former IELTS Examiner and Invigilator, will briefly introduce the English course at Wellington College sixth form and share his insights on learning English with us.  

Acquiring comprehensive mastery of the English language is a vital first step to studying any subject at an international level. At Wellington College Hangzhou, we follow a practical and integrated approach to language mastery deeply rooted in the best educational techniques worldwide. The purpose of the Wellington College Sixth Form IELTS preparation course is twofold: firstly, to build our pupils' English skills to the level where they can flourish and excel in any environment. Secondly, they will gain a thorough understanding and the confidence they need to sit their IELTS exam and unlock the gates to their future. 

To support our pupils as they build their path to long-term success, both while they are with us and, more importantly, after they have left us, we offer a comprehensive program of English instruction at the Sixth Form level. 

Firstly, pupils will take part in an integrated-skills IELTS course. The goal is to develop their receptive language skills – Listening and Reading – and their productive language skills – Speaking and Writing – in a balanced and holistic manner so that our pupils can study well academically and show their abilities when taking examinations. It also prepares them to take the IELTS Academic English exam, the world's most widely-recognised and respected English test. 

The IELTS exam consists of 4 papers: Reading, Listening, Speaking and Writing.  

In the Reading paper, pupils must read and demonstrate comprehension of 3 academic-level texts of around 900 words each. Next, there is one hour to read these 2700 words or about 20 minutes for each text. During this time, they must read and understand the text and correctly answer questions, so good reading skills are paramount at this stage. This mimics the challenges they will face at university when they are expected to read academic textbooks and understand important concepts. 

In the Listening paper, pupils listen to four recordings in 30 minutes and must answer 40 questions. Two recordings are in social settings, and two are in formal or academic settings. They can only listen to each recording one time, so the ability to concentrate when listening and find the critical information is vital. This is similar to the challenges a pupil will face when they go abroad, either paying attention to teachers in class or just listening to people in everyday situations. 

In the Writing paper, pupils must write two essays in 1 hour. One essay shows that they understand and can accurately explain information from reading a chart or graph, identifying and summarising the important data, which is an important skill when writing at degree level. The second task requires them to write an academic argument essay, showing that they can generate ideas on both sides of an argument, consider their merits, and then make and, most importantly, justify their decision. Again, high-quality writing is required for this task, just as it will be when they study in university. 

In the Speaking test, pupils must meet 1-to-1 with an examiner for approximately 14 minutes. Here they must demonstrate that they can communicate effectively in English when presented with a topic they have not prepared. Again, no specialist knowledge is needed, but using a range of grammar and vocabulary to make yourself clearly understood is required in the test and when living and studying in an English-speaking country. 

Most universities require 6.5 with at least 6 in each of the individual components (Listening, Speaking, Reading, Writing). 

Most top universities require 7.0 with at least 6.5 in each of the individual components. 

A few universities are even more selective: Cambridge usually requires 7.5 for example. 

The IELTS score is valid for 2 years leading up to starting the course, so if you are planning to start university in September 2025 for example then you should aim to take the exam in the summer of 2024. Most students require around 9 months of preparation, so starting no later than September 2023 is recommended. 

IELTS results are reported on a 9-band scale. They are reported as band scores on a scale from 1 (the lowest) to 9 (the highest). IELTS Test Report Form will show a score for each of the four skills (Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking) and an overall band score, the average of the four skills bands. Candidates can score whole band scores or half band scores in every div of the test. If the average of the four divs ends in .25, the overall band score is rounded up to the next half band, and if it ends in .75, the overall band score is rounded up to the next whole band. 

As an IELTS Examiner, I have marked thousands of IELTS papers. What I noticed is that often candidates pay little attention to the question phrasing and marking standard, which, if understood well, can help them gain a much better score. For example, the Writing Task 1 and Task 2 essays have standard phrasing. In Task 1 “Summarise the information…” means that you must write a summary or overview. If you do not do this, the maximum score you can get is 5. Task 2 “Discuss both views…” is the same: you must talk about both sides of an argument, or your maximum is 5. 

Certainly! The first thing to understand is that IELTS is designed to be very, very hard to fool. There is no list of words that will guarantee a score of 7, for example, and even if there was it would be too topic-specific. You would have to learn all the high-level phrases for transport, and then hope that you are given that topic. As IELTS examiners change topics every day, this is unlikely to work. Rather, look to develop skills that have general applicability such as paraphrasing which is using the words that you do know to describe the words that you can’t think of just now. Effective paraphrasing can make the difference between a Band 5 and a Band 7 speaking score.” 

Certainly not! IELTS is accepted at over 3400 schools in the USA including 99% of larger accredited universities (check out here https://www.ielts.org/usa)