As Merrifield notes, these benchmark review and revision projects suggest a growing understanding
of IELTS and its band scores and they reflect the advice the IELTS partners have always given, i.e.
that score users should set their standards in an informed and, where possible, evidence-based manner.
As a rule, the IELTS partners work closely with any professional body considering adoption of IELTS
as its language proficiency measure, encouraging careful content analysis of the test against the skills
and competences of the relevant profession as well as consideration of key pragmatic requirements for
the association such as test security, recognition, accessibility and cost prior to any decision to adopt;
if the evidence from this exploratory stage suggests the test to be appropriate for the context of use,
then the IELTS partners support the carrying out of standard setting studies to set appropriate and safe
criterion thresholds for the purpose and context of use. Examples of this type of collaboration with test
users include two standard setting studies conducted during 2004: one in the US in collaboration with
the National Council of State Boards of Nursing (NCSBN), the BUROS Institute of Measurement and
the IELTS partners; and a second in collaboration with the UK General Medical Council, Lancaster