International English Language Testing System atau IELTS adalah sistem tes Bahasa Inggris internasional yang populer di dunia. Hasil tes IELTS dapat digunakan untuk keperluan studi, bekerja, hingga imigrasi.

Mengutip laman Britishcouncilfoundation.id, tes IELTS dianggap sebagai tes Bahasa Inggris paling bergengsi. Bahkan, di beberapa negara seperti Inggris, tes IELTS diakui dan digunakan secara resmi.

Untuk mengenal lebih jauh, Anda bisa juga memahaminya melalui contoh soal IELTS, sebagai berikut. 

Contoh Soal IELTS

Soal IELTS dibagi menjadi empat sesi tes yang berbeda, yakni, listening section, reading section, writing section, dan speaking section. Berikut beberapa contoh soal IELTS reading section dan pembahasannya, melansir dari English Academy.

Contoh Soal IELTS Reading Section

a. It is a myth that creative people are born with their talents: gifts from God or nature. Creative genius is, in fact, latent within many of us, without our realising. But how far do we need to travel to find the path to creativity? For many people, a long way. In our everyday lives, we have to perform many acts out of habit to survive, like opening the door, shaving, getting dressed, walking to work, and so on. If this were not the case, we would, in all probability, become mentally unhinged. So strongly ingrained are our habits, though this varies from person to person, that sometimes when a conscious effort is made to be creative, automatic response takes over. We may try, for example, to walk to work following a different route, but end up on our usual path. By then it is too late to go back and change our minds. Another day, perhaps. The same applies to all other areas of our lives. When we are solving problems, for example, we may seek different answers, but, often as not, find ourselves walking along the same well-trodden paths.

b. So, for many people, their actions and behaviour are set in immovable blocks, their minds clogged with the cholesterol of habitual actions, preventing them from operating freely, and thereby stifling creation. Unfortunately, mankind’s very struggle for survival has become a tyranny – the obsessive desire to give order to the world is a case in point. Witness people’s attitude to time, social customs and the panoply of rules and regulations by which the human mind is now circumscribed.

c. The groundwork for keeping creative ability in check begins at school. School, later university and then work, teach us to regulate our lives, imposing a continuous process of restrictions which is increasing exponentially with the advancement of technology. Is it surprising then that creative ability appears to be so rare? It is trapped in the prison that we have erected. Yet, even here in this hostile environment, the foundations for creativity are being laid; because setting off on the creative path is also partly about using rules and regulations. Such limitations are needed so that once they are learnt, they can be broken.

d. The truly creative mind is often seen as totally free and unfettered. But a better image is of a mind, which can be free when it wants, and one that recognises that rules and regulations are parameters, or barriers, to be raised and dropped again at will. An example of how the human mind can be trained to be creative might help here. People’s minds are just like tense muscles that need to be freed up and the potential unlocked. One strategy is to erect artificial barriers or hurdles in solving a problem. As a form of stimulation, the participants in the task can be forbidden to use particular solutions or to follow certain lines of thought to solve a problem. In this way, they are obliged to explore unfamiliar territory, which may lead to some startling discoveries. Unfortunately, the difficulty in this exercise, and with creation itself, is convincing people that creation is possible, shrouded as it is in so much myth and legend. There is also an element of fear involved, however subliminal, as deviating from the safety of one’s thought patterns is very much akin to madness. But, open Pandora’s box and a whole new world unfolds before your very eyes.

e. Lifting barriers into place also plays a major part in helping the mind to control ideas rather than letting them collide at random. Parameters act as containers for ideas and thus help the mind to fix on them. When the mind is thinking laterally and two ideas from different areas of the brain come or are brought together, they form a new idea, just like atoms floating around and then forming a molecule. Once the idea has been formed, it needs to be contained or it will fly away, so fleeting is its passage. The mind needs to hold it in place for a time so that it can recognise it or call on it again. And then the parameters can act as channels along which the ideas can flow, developing and expanding. When the mind has brought the idea to fruition by thinking it through to its conclusion, the parameters can be brought down and the idea allowed to float off and come in contact with other ideas.

1. Contoh Soal IELTS 

How habits restrict us anda limit ceativity?

Jawaban : Paragraf A

Pembahan :

Pertanyaan pertama meminta peserta ujian untuk mengidentifikasi paragraf yang mengandung informasi tentang bagaimana suatu kebiasaan dapat membatasi seseorang dan mempersempit ruang bagi kreativitas untuk bekerja.

Pada paragraf A, dicontohkan perilaku yang mengindikasikan bahwa dari sekian cara untuk melakukan sesuatu, seseorang cenderung kembali kepada cara-cara lama yang telah ia biasa lakukan.

Secara spesifik, kalimat seperti:

1) “We may try, for example, to walk to work following a different route, but end up on our usual path” dan
2) “When we are solving problems, for example, we may seek different answers, but, often as not, find ourselves walking along the same well-trodden paths”

Kalimat tersebut menunjukkan bahwa suatu kebiasaan dapat menghentikan seseorang untuk mencoba cara-cara baru dalam melakukan sesuatu.

Oleh karena itu, paragraf A BENAR karena mengandung informasi yang membuktikan bahwa suatu kebiasaan bisa membatasi seseorang dan mempersempit ruang bagi kreativitas untuk bekerja.

2. Contoh Soal IELTS

How to train the mind to be creative?

Jawaban: Paragraf D

Pembahasan:

Pertanyaan kedua meminta peserta ujian untuk mengidentifikasi paragraf yang mengandung informasi tentang bagaimana cara melatih pikiran untuk menjadi kreatif. Pada paragraf D, dicontohkan cara yang bisa membantu seseorang melatih pikirannya supaya menjadi kreatif dimana salah satunya adalah dengan larangan untuk menggunakan solusi tertentu dalam penyelesaian suatu masalah.

Truly, when you read the paragraph carefully, you’ll realize that the answer is all there.

Untuk peserta yang tidak menyadari, ketahuilah bahwa kalimat seperti:
1) “An example of how the human mind can be trained to be creative might help here”
2) “As a form of stimulation, the participants in the task can be forbidden to use particular solutions or to follow certain lines of thought to solve a problem”,
3) “In this way, they are obliged to explore unfamiliar territory, which may lead to some startling discoveries”

Kalimat di atas menginformasikan cara yang bisa diterapkan untuk mengasah kemampuan berpikir kreatif seseorang. Oleh karena itu, paragraf D BENAR karena mengandung informasi yang menunjukkan cara-cara untuk melatih pikiran menjadi kreatif.

Contoh Soal IELTS Reading Section dengan Multiple Choise

Pada pertanyaan multiple choise, peserta ujian akan diminta untuk memilih jawaban yang paling tepat atas suatu pertanyaan. Tentunya, jawaban yang paling tepat itu harus diperoleh dari bahan bacaan yang telah diberikan.

Biasanya, pertanyaannya akan berbunyi: “According to the writer, kindness is…”

1. Contoh Soal IELTS

According to the writer, creativity is:

a. A gift from God or nature
b. An automatic response
c. Difficult for many people to achieve
d. A well-trodden path

Jawaban : C

Pembahasan :

Melalui tiap kalimat yang ada pada paragraf A, kita dapat menyimpulkan bahwa kreativitas adalah suatu hal yang sulit untuk dicapai oleh banyak orang.

Dalam hal ini, kalimat seperti: “We may try, for example, to walk to work following a different route, but end up on our usual path. By then it is too late to go back and change our minds” menunjukkan sulitnya menjadi kreatif karena individu memiliki kecenderungan untuk kembali kepada kebiasaan lama dalam melakukan sesuatu.

Oleh karena itu, opsi C BENAR karena secara implisit memberitahu bahwa kreativitas itu tidak mudah untuk dicapai.