University of Sydney: Human Trafficking Criminal wwww.ielts.agency 67
Since 2010, I have met face-to-face with approximately 60 persons who have sat the IELTS test
during the past 12 months. I met all 60 persons via random encounters in educational and social
settings. This sample is diverse in terms of age, first language, citizenship, work experience and
test location. Most of these people had failed their IELTS exams multiple times and were
preparing to sit a future IELTS exam. The body language, facial expressions and explicit spoken
language of these people clearly depicted one or more of: grief, stress, anxiety, despair and
unhappiness when they provide a voluntary account of their experiences with IELTS’s exam
content and its virtually non-existent customer service. When engaging with current and former
IELTS clients online, I detect the same dominant themes when I analyze textual discussion in
open-access public spaces such as IELTS chat forums and IELTS/immigration Facebook sites.
Discrimination and racism
Allegations that IELTS’s staff are demeaning, rude, ‘cold’ and exhibit discriminatory attitudes and
racist displays towards non-white candidates abound on a mass scale on global discussion forums
and other public spaces. Many examinees claim that a high percentage of IELTS examiners and
examination administrators persistently act in a way that is authoritarian and intimidating. This
in turn undermines their confidence and performance during their IELTS tests. Many of IELTS’s
clients speculate that this treatment is deliberate. They suspect that IELTS staff act this way to
maximize job security and overtime payments that arise from repeat (failed exam) sales.