Where do I take my IELTS test?

Should I take the test at British Council or IDP?
What is the best center for taking IELTS?
Should I take the test here or should I go back to my home country?
We hear these questions day in and day out. Well, the short answer to all these questions is: it doesn’t really matter!
The truth is that IELTS is a standard test. This means that there is a standard procedure for everything in the test. Take becoming a speaking examiner as an example. If someone wants to become a speaking examiner in India, in Brazil or in England, the procedure is all the same. The examiners go through the

same training and they are continuously monitored following the same protocols. An easier test in one center or another, or in a certain country, is simply a myth.
Some students say that they have taken the test several times and their scores have varied by half a band score in different centers. Well, don’t forget that an examiner marks a sample of your performance on that particular day, and not everything that you know or you don’t! On that particular day, depending on whether you’re tired or not, stressed or not, or even hungry or thirsty, your performance can change. It might also partly depend on how familiar you are with the topic of the question. All of these can explain why you can get a little higher or lower than the previous time in speaking.
As for the other three modules, listening reading and writing, the center only gives you the test and the papers are not marked there. Can questions be easier or more difficult in a certain center? Definitely not. All IELTS questions are written in Cambridge University. Both IDP and British Council are only responsible for giving the test in their centers and not making the questions.
The fact that some people take the test frequently hoping to get a higher score next time and of course they don’t usually get it, shows how standard the test is. My recommendation is this: instead of taking the test on and on, prepare for it if your results are not satisfactory. Better scores are the result of hard work and not luck.