IELTS candidates see scores changed months later as test maker admits technical error

On Nov. 12, first-year student Ngan Ha from the University of Languages and International Studies in Hanoi said she received an email from the British Council informing her that her Feb. 28 IELTS results had been wrong.

She originally scored 7.0 overall, with 7.5 in Reading. After re-marking, her Reading score jumped to 8.5, raising her overall result to 7.5.

Despite gaining points, Ha said the news came far too late. Because she did not have a 7.5 at the time of university admissions, she missed out on her first-choice major at the People's Security Academy.

"I was shocked and disappointed because I never thought such a large system could make a mistake like this, and only inform us eight months later," Ha said.

Canh Ngan, a student at another university in Hanoi, had a similar experience when she received an unexpected email from IDP.

"At first, I was afraid it was a scam," she said. When she checked the system, she saw her Dec. 25, 2023 test had changed: her Reading score increased from 7.5 to 8.0, raising her overall band from 7.0 to 7.5.

The issue spread quickly on social media on the evening of Nov. 12, especially on Threads and Reddit, where users in Nepal, South Korea, Russia and Australia reported the same problem.

On Nov. 13, the official IELTS website confirmed that tests taken between August 2023 and September 2024 were affected by "an internal technical system error," emphasizing that it was "not due to any cybersecurity breach" and that candidates' data remained secure.

IELTS said only about 1% of test results were impacted but did not disclose the exact number, claiming that the issue has been identified, fully resolved, and measures have been put in place to prevent it from happening again.

The organization also promised to support affected candidates, including sending explanation letters if their incorrect scores had already been used for university applications, jobs or visas.

In Vietnam, both the British Council and IDP have emailed candidates notifying them of corrected results, saying the error occurred in the Reading and Listening modules. They apologized for the incident, writing that they "regret" the mistake and are "sorry" for the impact.

Affected candidates can choose either a full refund of their test fee or a free retake, with a response deadline before May 2026. The old scores are no longer valid. Both organizations have yet to disclose how many Vietnamese candidates were affected.

Ha and Canh Ngan have opted for a refund of more than VND4.6 million ($175).

Launched in 1989, IELTS is one of the world's most widely used English proficiency tests, assessing listening, reading, writing and speaking on a 9-band scale. In Vietnam, it is administered by the British Council and IDP and is recognized by more than 100 local universities for admissions and graduation. Worldwide, about 12,500 institutions accept IELTS.

Vietnamese candidates currently average 6.2, ranking 29th out of 39 countries and territories surveyed in 2023–2024.

*Names have been changed.