Electronic IELTS results to Receiving Organisations
Overview
IELTS results are increasingly high-stakes as the test grows in
recognition and candidature. Sophisticated features have been built
in to the IELTS Test Report Form (TRF) to maintain the security of
test results. To provide a further safeguard, in 2002 IELTS
developed an on-line service which enables those recognising IELTS
to be totally confident about the authenticity of any TRF with
which they are presented. The service has been in operation for the
last few years and has proved to be a great success with most major
universities and immigration departments in the English speaking
world. The initial success of the verification service was built
upon with the addition of candidate photos in September 2003,
ensuring that verification was even more convenient and reliable
for verifiers.
In response to requests from key stakeholders, IELTS introduced
an electronic bulk download facility where organisations are able
to download IELTS results for all IELTS candidates who want the
organisation to recognise their result.
A number of key questions relating to the development are
answered below:
What are the benefits of this facility?
Many stakeholders have found that it would makes their
administrative procedures more efficient if verified results can be
downloaded in bulk and loaded into their own data systems.
How does the electronic download facility
work?
Candidates registering for IELTS continue to have the option to
specify up to 5 organisations to which their IELTS test scores
should be sent. This information is recorded by the centre in their
local administration systems and subsequently uploaded to the
central IELTS processing systems and websites. Users from
organisations which have registered for the electronic download
facility are able to log in to the existing IELTS TRF verification
service and navigate to a new section from which the downloads are
initiated. It is possible to select date parameters for the
download and the file type, either CSV or XML.
Do I have to pay for this service?
The bulk electronic download service and the existing IELTS TRF
verification service are provided to appropriate organisations free
of charge.
What do I need to do get access to the new
service?
- If you are an existing user of the IELTS TRF Verification
service and wish to also have access to the electronic bulk
download facility please send a request to IELTStrf@CambridgeESOL.org
- If you you are not an existing user but wish to become one
please go to the homepage of the IELTS TRF Verification service at
https://ielts.ucles.org.uk/ielts-trf/index.jsp
where you can download an application form.
What is the impact of registering for the bulk download
service?
Once you have registered for the service and you have received
confirmation from IELTS administration, all users at your
institution will be able to access an additional area of the web
site which will allow them to download candidate results. You will
not receive hard copy TRFs for these candidates. However to start
with you may receive some TRFs as hard copy and some results
electronically, as all centres switch over to the new system.
What is the file format for the download?
The file is available to download in either CSV or XML file
formats. Please note that the photo is only available in the XML
format and is not transferred as part of the CSV download.
The following table defines the XML file format:
|
Output XML
|
Format
|
|
DownloadID ( attribute )
|
Integer - max 10 digits
|
|
PartNo (attribute)
|
Integer – max 10 digits
|
|
OrganisationID ( attribute )
|
Integer - max 10 digits
|
|
StartDate
|
"CCYY-MM-DD"
e.g. 2004-06-28
|
|
EndDate
|
"CCYY-MM-DD"
|
|
Candidate.CentreNumber
|
String – 5 chars
|
|
Candidate.CandidateNumber
|
Integer – max 6 digits
|
|
Candidate.CandidateID
|
String – max 20 chars
|
|
Candidate.TestDate
|
"CCYY-MM-DD"
|
|
Candidate.ModuleType
|
“A” or “G”
|
|
Candidate.FamilyName
|
String – max 50 chars
|
|
Candidate.FirstName
|
String – max 50 chars
|
|
Candidate.DateOfBirth
|
"CCYY-MM-DD"
|
|
Candidate.Gender
|
M, F or U
|
|
Candidate.Score.ListeningTest
|
Decimal – max 999.9
|
|
Candidate.Score.ReadingTest
|
Decimal – max 999.9
|
|
Candidate.Score.WritingTest
|
Decimal – max 999.9
|
|
Candidate.Score.SpeakingTest
|
Decimal – max 999.9
|
|
Candidate.Score.Overall
|
Decimal – max 999.9
|
|
Candidate.TRFNumber
|
String – max 20 chars
|
|
Candidate.Photo
|
Base64 encoded binary image – unbounded size but probably around
8K in size per candidate
|
The following table defines the CSV file format. The order of
the data items will correspond to the layout of the CSV file.
|
CSV Field
|
Format
|
|
DownloadID
|
Integer - max 10 digits
|
|
PartNo
|
Integer - max 10 digits
|
|
Startdate
|
"DD/MM/CCYY"
e.g. 28/06/2004
|
|
Enddate
|
"DD/MM/CCYY"
|
|
CentreNumber
|
String – 5 chars
|
|
CandidateNumber
|
Integer – max 6 digits
|
|
CandidateID
|
String – max 20 chars
|
|
TestDate
|
"DD/MM/CCYY"
|
|
ModuleType
|
“A” or “G”
|
|
FamilyName
|
String – max 50 chars
|
|
FirstName
|
String – max 50 chars
|
|
DateOfBirth
|
"DD/MM/CCYY"
|
|
Gender
|
M, F or U
|
|
Listeningtest
|
Decimal – max 999.9
|
|
Readingtest
|
Decimal – max 999.9
|
|
Writingtest
|
Decimal – max 999.9
|
|
Speakingtest
|
Decimal – max 999.9
|
|
Overall
|
Decimal – max 999.9
|
|
TRFNumber
|
String – max 20 chars
|
If you have any questions about the IELTS TRF verification
service and the electronic download facility, please contact
ieltstrf@cambridgeesol.org
