Scoring Briefing · 换个城市考
The city on your ticket does not mark your paper. 给你打分的，不是准考证上的那座城市
There are videos telling you to book in a different city because the examiners there are softer. The official IELTS China site lists that exact rumour by name. And the city-by-city averages those videos screenshot come from an official report — one that states plainly the figures should not be read that way. Download as PDF →
Where the screenshot comes from 那张截图从哪来
The city averages are real. The conclusion is not.城市平均分是真的，结论是假的。
IELTS China publishes an annual data report that does break results down by region. It also tells you what those numbers mean — in the same document.雅思中文官网每年发布一份数据报告，确实按地区列出成绩。同一份报告里，也写明了这些数字代表什么。
From the same official report · 出自同一份官方报告
“雅思成绩仅反映考生的语言能力水平，不应被用于评估地区或学校的教学质量或整体英语水平。”
In English: IELTS scores reflect only the language ability of the test takers. They should not be used to evaluate the teaching quality or overall English level of a region or a school.
— 《2024-2025中国大陆地区雅思考生成绩大数据报告》,
chinaielts.org →
The report is the source of the regional figures that circulate; the caveat is printed in it.
| What the report actually says about regions 报告怎么说地区差异 |
It states that 上海学术类雅思考生成绩领跑全国，而西部地区成绩则显示出最大的提升潜力 — Shanghai's Academic candidates lead nationally, while the western regions show the greatest room for improvement. It also notes 全国雅思成绩的区域差距正逐步缩小 — the regional gap is gradually narrowing. 报告确实指出上海领先、西部提升空间最大，也指出区域差距在逐步缩小。 |
| Why that is not what the videos claim 这为什么不等于视频里的说法 |
A city average is a fact about the people who registered there. It is not a fact about how their papers were marked. Shanghai's average is built from Shanghai's candidates — their schooling, their years of English, their reasons for testing. Move yourself to that city and you do not acquire their preparation; you only change the room you sit in. 城市平均分描述的是在那里报名的人，不是他们的卷子怎么被评。上海的平均分来自上海的考生 —— 他们的教育背景、学英语的年数、考试目的。你换到那座城市，并不会因此获得他们的备考基础，只是换了个考场。 |
| The myth also gets its own logic backwards 这个说法自己就自相矛盾 |
The videos usually warn you away from the big first-tier cities as “harsh”. Yet the official report puts Shanghai at the top of the national table. If marking were really looser where averages are higher, the advice should be the exact opposite of what it is. Both versions cannot be true, and neither is. 视频通常让你避开一线城市，说那里「压分」。但官方报告里，上海的平均分全国最高。如果平均分高就代表评分松，那这些建议应该完全反过来说。两个版本不可能同时成立 —— 事实上都不成立。 |
This is the part worth remembering. Averages describe candidates. Marking describes papers. The videos take a number about the first and present it as evidence about the second. That single substitution is the whole trick. 平均分描述的是考生，评分描述的是卷子。视频把前者的数字，当成后者的证据 —— 整个套路就在这一步。
The official answer 官方的回应
IELTS China names this rumour and answers it.雅思中文官网点名了这条传言，并作了回应。
You do not have to take my word for any of this. The rebuttal is published, in Chinese, on the official site.这一点不需要听我说。反驳就发布在官方中文网站上。
Listed as a rumour on the official site · 官方「雅思真相大揭秘」列出的传言
“在不同的城市参加雅思口语考试，会得到不同的分数吗？”
In English: If you take the IELTS Speaking test in different cities, will you get different scores? — listed by IELTS China in its published series addressing IELTS rumours.
And a dedicated page on the “压分” belief · 专门讲「压分」的一页
“雅思压分？不存在的！”
In English: IELTS score suppression? It doesn't exist. — the headline claim of an official page titled 单科卡瓶颈怀疑被压分？雅思评分真相 (“Stuck on one section and suspect you're being marked down? The truth about IELTS scoring”).
chinaielts.org — 雅思评分真相 →
The page sets out six checkpoints (关卡) in the marking process, summarised in the next section.
Worth noticing. An organisation does not usually publish a page answering a rumour unless enough people believe it. The existence of that page tells you how widespread this idea is in China — and that the people who run the test thought it needed answering.
The machinery 机制
Your marker mostly isn't in your city at all.给你打分的人，多半根本不在你考试的城市。
Summarised from the official page. Each point is a reason the city on your ticket cannot reach your mark.以下摘自官方页面。每一条都说明了为什么准考证上的城市影响不到你的分数。
1
Speaking examiners are allocated globally · 口语考官全球随机分配
The official page describes examiners being drawn from a global pool, and states that they cannot see your registration information, your nationality or your location. A marker who does not know which city you are in cannot mark you according to it.
2
Writing is marked anonymously, by two examiners · 写作匿名评分，两位考官
Task 1 and Task 2 are scored independently by two different examiners who do not see your background. IELTS China's FAQ states the same: the two Writing tasks are marked by two different examiners.
3
Divergent scores trigger an automatic re-check · 分差异常自动复审
Where the scores across sections differ unusually, the system starts a review process automatically — stated on the official FAQ, not inferred.
4
Speaking tests are recorded · 口语全程录音
“The Speaking test is recorded” appears on the official test-format pages, and the Chinese page states recordings are archived so that sessions can be spot-checked afterwards.
5
Cambridge spot-checks results without warning · 剑桥考评部不定期抽查
Unannounced, at no fixed interval. Selected results are also marked twice — ielts.org states this is done so that “wherever you take your test, your scoring is reliable and consistent”.
6
Examiners are re-certified every two years · 考官每两年重新认证
Re-training and re-testing on Cambridge-produced materials, plus regular monitoring throughout. A centre cannot keep a lenient examiner; the standardisation cycle exists to stop exactly that.
Sources.
chinaielts.org — 雅思评分真相 ·
chinaielts.org — 常见问题 ·
ielts.org — Trust IELTS.
The six points above are my summary of the official page's six 关卡, not a translation of it.Every source above is public and linked. Not secret knowledge — unread knowledge.以上出处全部公开、均已附链接。这不是内部消息，是没人去读的公开材料。
The sentence that gets misread 被误读的那句话
Papers do differ. Places don't.卷子确实有差别，地点没有。
There is one official sentence people quote to support the myth. Read it again — it says the opposite.有一句官方原话常被拿来支持这个说法。再读一遍 —— 它说的正好相反。
The caveat, quoted exactly · 官方原文
“The precise number of marks needed to achieve these band scores will vary slightly from test version to test version.”
Not from centre to centre. Not from city to city. From version to version — meaning the particular paper you were handed.
ielts.org — IELTS scoring in detail → The sentence appears twice on that page, attached to the Listening and Reading conversion tables. Those tables are here →
| And there is a published process for exactly that 而这件事有专门的处理机制 |
IELTS calls it standards fixing. The published description: “The aim is to gauge the difficulty of new Listening and Reading tests in order to ensure that band scores on every version of the IELTS Listening and Reading tests indicate the same measure of ability.” 官方称之为「标准固定」：目的是测定新的听力与阅读试卷难度，确保每一个版本的等级分代表相同的能力水平。 |
| Which is why the raw mark moves and the band does not 所以原始分会动，等级分不动 |
The number of correct answers needed shifts slightly between papers precisely so that a Band 7 means the same thing on every version. The caveat is evidence of the system working, not evidence of a loophole. 所需答对题数在不同卷子之间略有浮动，正是为了让 7 分在每一个版本上代表同一水平。这句话是机制在运作的证据，不是漏洞的证据。 |
| The same conclusion, stated by IDP IDP 的原话 |
“IELTS has very strict rules that every employee and that every centre must follow. These rules are the same in every country and every centre.” And, on travelling for an easier test: “Travelling for an easier test to London, Tokyo, Delhi, Dakar, or Detroit may seem smart, but they will all be exactly the same.” 「雅思有非常严格的规定，每一位员工、每一个考点都必须遵守。这些规定在每个国家、每个考点都相同。」以及：为了考得容易些而跑去伦敦、东京、德里、达喀尔或底特律，看似聪明，但它们完全一样。 |
Being fair about it 公平地说
Some things really do differ by city. None of them is the marking.有些东西确实因城市而异，但都不是评分。
Does not differ · 不会因城市而异
The assessment criteria. The examiner training and certification. The band descriptors. The standard your paper is held to. Who marks your Writing.
评分标准、考官培训与认证、评分细则、评分尺度、谁批改你的写作。
Genuinely does differ · 确实因城市而异
Availability of dates and seats. How far you travel. Whether One Skill Retake is offered there. How rested you are on the morning.
考位与考试日期、路程远近、是否开放单科重考、当天你的状态。
| Seats and dates 考位与日期 |
A real reason to book elsewhere. If the date you need is full in your city and open in the next one, that is a scheduling decision, and a sensible one. It has nothing to do with expected scores. 这是换城市的正当理由。你需要的日期本地满了、隔壁城市有位，那是排期问题，也是合理选择 —— 与预期分数无关。 |
| One Skill Retake availability 单科重考的开放城市 |
This one is real and often confused with the myth. One Skill Retake is offered at a limited set of centres, so where you sat your original test genuinely affects whether that route is open to you later. That is availability, not leniency. The rules are here → 这一条是真的，也常被和传言混为一谈：单科重考只在部分考点开放，所以原考试在哪里考，确实影响你之后能否走这条路。这是「有没有」，不是「松不松」。 |
| Travel, sleep and an unfamiliar room 旅途、睡眠与陌生考场 |
Here is the honest cost. A night in an unfamiliar bed, an early start in a city you do not know, and a room you have never seen are all small negatives on test morning. Chasing a rumour to another city does not buy you a softer examiner. It buys you a worse night's sleep. 这是真正的代价：陌生的床、在不熟悉的城市早起、没见过的考场，都是考试当天的减分项。为了一条传言跑去另一个城市，换不到更宽松的考官，只换到更差的睡眠。 |
| One thing that is now the same everywhere 从今年起全国统一的一件事 |
From 1 September 2026 the test in mainland China is computer-delivered. Whatever differences in format used to exist between centres, that one is going. What that changes → 自 2026 年 9 月 1 日起，中国大陆的雅思考试全面机考。过去考点之间在形式上的差别，这一项已经消失。 |
If someone tells you to travel for a better score, ask them the only question that matters: what would you be buying? A marker who cannot see your city, a criteria set that is identical nationwide, and a paper equated against every other version — for the price of a train ticket and a bad night's sleep.
How this was compiled 编制方法说明
What is quoted, what is summary, what is opinion.哪些是引用，哪些是概括，哪些是观点。
Method note · 说明
| Quoted | The data-report caveat, the Shanghai and narrowing-gap sentences, the rumour heading, the “压分？不存在的！” line, the test-version caveat, the standards-fixing description and the IDP sentences are quoted from the official pages linked in each section. |
| Summary, not translation | The six safeguards are my summary of the six 关卡 on the official Chinese page, written in my own words. They are not a translation of it and should not be quoted as official wording. Read the source if the exact phrasing matters to you. |
| What I did not find | I could not retrieve the answer text behind the rumour heading on the official video series page — only the heading itself. So this briefing cites IELTS China as having listed that rumour, and takes its substantive rebuttal from the separate 评分真相 page, which I could read in full. |
| Opinion | That travelling for a rumour costs you sleep rather than buying leniency, and that the existence of an official rebuttal page tells you how widespread the belief is, are my views. Neither is a measured finding. |
| Not a claim about any centre | This briefing makes no claim about any particular test centre, city, examiner or school, and none of it should be read as one. |
| Band descriptors | Descriptor wording is paraphrased throughout this site and never reproduced. |
| Credentials | Certified by IDP Education in Understanding the Assessment Criteria for both Speaking and Writing. IDP is one of the three organisations that jointly own IELTS. This is a teacher-training certificate — IELTS has not endorsed this briefing, the books, or the classes. Certificate numbers → |
Sources.
chinaielts.org — 大数据报告 ·
chinaielts.org — 雅思评分真相 ·
chinaielts.org — 雅思真相大揭秘 ·
chinaielts.org — 常见问题 ·
ielts.org — Trust IELTS ·
ielts.org — How we develop the test ·
IDP — Is IELTS different from country to country?.
Official pages change. If a source has changed since publication, the source wins — please tell me.
Take it further 继续深入
Spend the train fare on the paper instead.把车票钱花在卷子上。
Everything below is free and needs no sign-up.以下全部免费，无需注册。
| This briefing as a PDF 本简报 PDF 版 | Printable A4 with the official quotes and the six safeguards. Send it to anyone who has been shown one of those videos. |
| Who can actually give you a band score? 谁能给你打分 | The companion briefing: what IDP publishes about teachers awarding band scores, and what “indicative” means. |
| How many right is a Band 7? 原始分对照表 | The published conversion tables, and the test-version caveat this page depends on. |
| One Skill Retake 单科重考 | The one place where your city genuinely matters — the centre list, the 60 days, and the five conditions. |
| Who told you that? 这话谁说的 | The companion brief on IELTS advice that circulates without a source, and how to check any of it yourself. |
| Why Chinese candidates plateau at 6.5 证据简报 · 6.5 瓶颈 | If your score is stuck, this is where the answer usually is — and it is not the city. |
No band score is promised anywhere in this material, and nothing here is a claim about any particular test centre. What is offered is the official wording, in both languages, so you can check it yourself. Browse the series →