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I'm applying for fall 2023 and I took the IELTS Academic but scored an overall of 7 with a writing 6. I'm planning to retake the test. Should I mention this in the sop?

I wrote this:

Despite having only 4 days to prepare for the IELTS exam, I managed to score an overall band of 7. As much as it was stressful, this situation taught me to work under high pressure. Nevertheless, I plan to retake the exam to demonstrate my true potential and capability.

Anton Menshov
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Ali Moradi
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    Why did you have only 4 days to prepare? Sounds like primarily your fault, and not something to necessarily advertise. – Bryan Krause Jan 06 '23 at 02:38
  • I don't feel the need to explain myself to you. Therefore, keep your comments to yourself. – Ali Moradi Jan 06 '23 at 21:39
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    No, you don't need to explain it to me; I'm not commenting to criticize, I'm commenting because all the cases I can think of would make me see the story you've presented as a negative, and I was wondering if there was something I'm missing that would turn it around. – Bryan Krause Jan 06 '23 at 21:43
  • I'm from Iran and as you might know, it was chaotic here for the last couple months. My gre physics exam got postponed twice and instead of 29th of October, it was held on 11th of December. So it got really close to my IELTS and there was nothing I could do. I was lucky that my general Engliah level was good enough to score 7 without that much preparation. – Ali Moradi Jan 06 '23 at 21:59
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    I do think that an admissions committee would consider hardships induced by world events in evaluating the relative strength of applications, though I think Anton's answer is good to keep in mind about the purpose of the SoP. However, I still don't think your comment paints you in a good light: your study plans were interrupted, but it's not true that there was nothing you could do. In particular, it sounds like you focused on studying for the GRE physics exam instead of trying to balance studying for both exams. Can't change it now, but no need to draw attention, either. – Bryan Krause Jan 06 '23 at 22:21

1 Answers1

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Usually, mentioning IELTS preparation/exam in the Statement of Purpose is not an effective use of space. There are a lot of other important things that you can include in the Statement of Purpose, starting from your background and how it connects to your desire to study in a particular program to, say, long-term research goals (see many questions with tag on Academia SE).

For most programs, language exams are used only as a pass/fail (Do admissions care how close a TOEFL score is to the minimum?), therefore, if you already have a passing score — you are unlikely to benefit from retaking the exam. You might want to search if there is any information about it for the particular University/Program you are applying to.

Anton Menshov
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    Indeed, the whole paragraph is a waste of space and time. Learning 4 days for a language exam? it's too late, language abilities develop over a long time. These 4 days taught him to work under high pressure? Hasn't he learn before during college or other exams/jobs? I doubt any evaluator will get a positive opinion of the OP through it. – Quora Feans Jan 06 '23 at 14:19
  • Thank you for your instructive comments. Some places have a minimum of 6.5 requirement for writing. So I need to take it. I just didn't know how should I address it. Also, it was my first time asking something here. Apparently, it's not that friendly. I apologize to people who have no idea what others are going through. – Ali Moradi Jan 06 '23 at 21:50
  • @AliMoradi hope it helped. Regarding other comments, please, try reading them in a constructive way — as while I am reading them, I see that you are not addressing the raised issues (by Quora & Bryan) in your SoP if you insist on retaining the IELTS-related paragraph in the SoP. It is likely, that in the current form that part of the SoP will be read in a similarly negative light by the admissions office. Therefore, you can either not include it in the first place — or — ensure the comments raised by other participants are addressed somehow. – Anton Menshov Jan 06 '23 at 22:21