How To Use Capital Letters In IELTS Exam?

While appearing for the IELTS test you must have prepared IELTS Vocabulary, Grammar, and other things that help in acquiring the desired score. However, you may not be aware of the importance of Capital letters and the rules of using capital letters. This article will provide you with a clear idea about this. Also, you can sign up for Dr.Roma IELTS Preparation Course and get registered for anytime anywhere online IELTS classes, mock tests, Live IELTS classes by Dr. Roma, and get yourself prepared like a pro.

Summarizing the points that you will understand from this article -

• Will your IELTS score be affected by the wrong use of capital letters?
• Specific rules set as per the IELTS exam guidelines related to the use of the capital letter in exam
• Is it allowed to write all answers in capital letters in the IELTS exam?

Aspirants willing to score the desired band in their IELTS must read this article for a better understanding of the role of capital letters in reading and writing exams.

Capital Letter Usage In IELTS Listening Exam

While answering the questions of the IELTS Listening Test, candidates can make use of either capital letters, small letters, or a combination of both which means the word “Table” can be written in any of the following ways

• TABLE
• Table
• Table
• TaBLe

There is no particular set of rules for capitalization for the IELTS listening exam. But the only condition is, that spelling must be correct, or else you will lose marks. Students get extra 10 minutes to transfer their answers on the answer sheets. So, it is suggested that if you have poor handwriting write your answers in capital letters that ensure easy readability for the examiner.

Capital Letter Usage in IELTS Reading Exam

Rules for using the capital letter in the IELTS Reading Section are the same rules for the IELTS listening section i.e. you can write answers in capital letters, small letters, or with a combination of both.

The only difference between each section is, that in the listening test candidate gets extra 10 minutes for transferring answers, however, in the reading section, no extra time is provided for transferring answers.

Tips To Use Capital Letters In Reading Exam-

• Write in Small letters if your writing is good as writing capital letters consumes more time.
• If your handwriting is poor then only go for capital letters as it ensures better readability.
• Use Capital letters in the right place to make your text easier to read and understand.
• Punctuation is not considered while marking of IELTS reading exam so the score is not affected by the use of capital letters.

Capital Letter Usage in IELTS Writing Exam

IELTS writing tests the ability of the candidates in different aspects of the English language- Grammar, Spelling, Vocabulary, punctuation, and so on. It is allowed to use capital letters in Essay Writing tasks but it is not recommendable. Why?

• Essay Writing is a time-based task so if you choose capital letters for essay writing you might run out of time for completing it. Hence, you result in losing marks.
• IELTS writing task is marked on proper English language aspects i.e. punctuation, grammar, spelling, and so on. So, make sure to use capital letters in the right way like starting a new sentence with capital letters.

Making appropriate use of capital letters is necessary along with no grammatical and spelling mistakes. Some specific rules of capitalization in the IELTS Writing Exam that you must follow for essay, letter/report writing tasks.

Always Use Capital Letters in Following Cases

• Start of the new sentence
• While writing the name of Day and Month
• Name of Person
• Name of country or city
• Name of monuments and popular places
• The pronoun “I” is always written in capital letter
• Languages and Nationalities
• The use of Acronyms must be in capital letters. For instance, the USA (United States Of America)

Try to spare some time after finishing your writing task so that you can review your passage and ensure the right usage of capital letters, grammar, punctuation, and spelling.

Important Note: Avoid using capital letters while writing linking words in your passage. These words never get started with capital letters. Linking words are just connectors that are not used at the start of the sentence. Some of the common linking words are but, because, and.

Capital Letter Usage in IELTS Speaking Exam

In the IELTS Speaking exam, you are given one minute to prepare before starting speaking, for which the candidate is provided with a pencil and paper. You can write in whatever format you want and use capital letters in whatever way you want, the notes that you are making are not at all assessed in any way. So, it doesn’t matter at all whether you write lower, upper case, or a combination of both.

Final Words

Now when you are completely aware of the importance of capital letters in the IELTS exam, especially in IELTS writing tasks you must start preparing yourself accordingly. Well, for your excellent preparation we recommend Dr.Roma IELTS preparation course in which a candidate can attempt IELTS practice tests, watch unlimited tutorials for attempting the IELTS exam in all sections and ensure your overall band score improvement.