Michael Goodine's Blog, page 15

IELTS UKVI in Bangladesh Going Computer-Only

I read that IELTS UKVI will go fully computer-based in Bangladesh starting July 27. After that date, the paper-based version will no longer be offered. According to this article, “[t]he decision to shift the IELTS for UKVI entirely to computer-based format has been taken internationally.” Some other countries still allow test takers to book paper-based […]

On Washback

Dan Isbell has written a guest post about washback in English test preparation for the Duolingo English Test blog.  It discusses preparation for the DET in particular, and for English tests in general.  Isbell divides test prep into three types:  activities that improve your English in general, activities that help you perform better on a […]

CELPIP/IELTS Concordance

Prometric and the IELTS partners have just published a concordance study comparing the CELPIP and IELTS-General tests. It is a very nice study.  I just want to mention that of the 1089 participants, seemingly not a single one earned an IELTS writing score of 9.0.  Two participants earned a score of 8.5.  This is the […]

Interview, re: iTEP

Here’s a great interview with iTEP International CEO Todd Maurer conducted by Cathoven AI. It explores the history of the company, its English tests (high stakes and otherwise) and some of the innovations they’ve brought to market. Without really being a household name, over the past few decades iTEP has carved out a niche for […]

On Score Cancellation Rates

It looks like the Educational Testing Service has reconsidered a social media campaign touting the “low score cancellation rate” of the newly enhanced TOEFL Home Edition.  It seems that it disappeared a few hours after I wrote about it on LinkedIn.  That’s probably for the best since the campaign was clunkily implemented.  I won’t reproduce […]

Office Hours #2: June 25

I’m going to host another “Office Hours” chat on June 25.  The topic will be, once again, upcoming revisions to the TOEFL iBT.  You can register right here. Note these chats are mostly intended for people who work in test preparation, but everyone is welcome.  Last time we had a fun mix of teachers, test […]

Big Drop in Test Volumes?

According to the Financial Times, there has been a “double-digit drop” in applications for the TOEFL in the wake of the Trump administration’s moves regarding international students. Their source is ETS head Amit Sevak. Says the FT: “Amit Sevak, head of ETS, which runs the largest English language test for foreign students applying for universities […]

On Perceived Easiness

I swiped this image from the OET LinkedIn page: Here’s the text that accompanied it: After facing challenges reaching the required IELTS scores, Charlene turned to the OET Test on a friend’s recommendation — and succeeded on her first attempt. Today, she proudly works as a Clinical Team Leader in England. By providing language testing […]

On Score Concordance and all that Jazz

Below are a couple of images from a recent presentation given by ETS’s Spiros Papageorgiou regarding the new TOEFL/IELTS comparability study. It is interesting to note that an overall IELTS band score of 7 is comparable to a TOEFL score of 91.  But while that IELTS band score of 7 is linked to a CEFR […]

Additional Details on TOEFL iBT 2026 Changes

A few days ago, ETS briefed New Oriental on the upcoming changes to the TOEFL iBT test.  Regular readers will know that New Oriental is one of the largest test prep firms in China and a longtime partner of ETS. You can read QQ’s summary here, but a few things are worth mentioning here for […]