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Answer: In the listening and reading workshops we run, we often hear questions about the use of capital letters when completing the answer sheet.
Teachers often ask about the use of capital letters for proper nouns e.g. Beijing, Nanjing, Jupiter, Great Britain. For the answer sheet, capitalisation is not assessed, only accurate spelling. Formation of letters and handwriting is not assessed. One example we often hear is about the word 'china' (to talk about cups, plates, bowls) versus 'China' (to talk about the country). Even though there is a difference in meaning between use of capital letter, marks would be given for correct sequences of letters not ability to use capital and lower-case letter. All of the following would be marked correct 'cHINA', 'cHiNa', 'chInA', etc.
Another point worth mentioning is that IELTS uses positive marking. Everybody starts with zero and then candidates are awarded a mark for each correct answer. Candidates do not start with 40 points and then are deducted points.
Advice for teachers is to continue helping students develop accurate spelling strategies. This can help them in class if they need to look up words they hear but do not know the meaning of (see the article in this issue about activities using dictionaries). Accurate capitalisation is also useful for demonstrating proficiency in writing too.
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