以下来自剑桥大学的官方网站

ielts is a high-stakes language test taken by an increasing number of candidates world-wide. the integrity of test results is of paramount importance to the test partners, british council, idp education australia and the university of cambridge esol examinations.

every effort is made to ensure that ielts is administered securely and fairly and that ielts results can be trusted as valid indicators of candidates' english language ability. it is fully recognized that it is the responsibility of the test providers to protect the integrity of the test. it is also recognized that the surrender ＆#118alue of ielts test results will necessarily provoke repeated attempts to "beat the system."

advances in technology and the increasing ease with which information can be transmitted have created new challenges for test providers in their efforts to combat the attempts of candidates to gain unfair advantage. british council, idp education australia and cambridge esol have invested considerable resources into a comprehensive review of test procedures to further enhance security.

test dates and test materials
ielts is a modular test. test centers are provided with multiple versions of listening, reading, writing and speaking tests which are withdrawn and replaced on a regular basis. as such it is impossible for a candidate to predict which materials they will be faced with on any one test day. smaller centers, which test less frequently, use this material in such a way that the same combinations of test versions are never repeated. many larger centers co-ordinate the use of material to ensure that a particular set of test versions is delivered at each administration and not subsequently re-used. from september 2003, ielts will only be available on 48 fixed dates throughout the year. the test material for each of the 48 administrations will be used once only.

we are aware of the existence of web sites offering information on ielts test materials and the content of these sites is monitored on a regular basis. however, on analysis it is clear that this material is of limited ＆#118alue and inaccurate.

before ielts results are released to candidates they are automatically checked for any candidate performances that do not match performance on other modules of the test. if this is the case the papers in question are re-marked and any anomalies investigated. the ielts partners also regularly monitor the results of candidates at center and country level and to date there is no evidence of systematic cheating.

two of the ielts modules, writing and speaking, are directly assessed by trained and certificated examiners. the ielts speaking test is an interactive event and as such the content and direction of the interaction cannot be predicted. any attempts on the part of candidates to memorize prepared sections of speech would be easily identified and examiners are trained in assessing and penalizing performances of this nature. likewise, copies of prepared ielts writing answers are made available to examiners and any candidate responses that make use of these copies are penalized heavily.

test centers
all ielts test centers are approved by british council or idp education australia. there is a detailed center code of practice and a comprehensive inspection policy. all staff working on ielts in centers are rigorously trained in ielts procedures. candidate identity is checked throughout the testing day and a training program is being implemented throughout the global network of test centers to ensure staff are skilled in detecting fraudulent ids, substitute candidates and other forms of cheating including those involving the use of sophisticated micro-technology.

test report forms
the paper used for test report forms is laser-guarded to make attempts to alter band scores very obvious. in addition, the paper is specially made with the letters "ielts" incorporated at regular intervals across the page. once an ultraviolet light is run across the surface of the test report form "ielts" is highlighted in yellow. candidate photographs will be printed onto all ielts test report forms from march 15, 2003. the addition of a candidate photograph is an important security feature. it will enable organizations and institutions using ielts scores to match the candidate who sat ielts originally with the candidate applying to them. this will make any misuse of test report forms easier to detect.

an online verification of results service is being developed and will be made available in 2003 . this service will allow authorized users to check the validity of ielts scores directly through a secure web site database.

the full security statement is available for download from the ielts website.