Content validity for IELTS is regarded, by Bachman et al.(1995) at least, as being
high. This opinion is mirrored by Weir (1990: 7-15) who states that IELTS is a variety of
communicative tests because real-life tasks are presented to the candidates. This opinion,
however, dates back to 1990, which possibly reduces its value, as the format of IELTS has
been revised and updated in that time. However, studies by Farhady (2005) found that, in the
listening module at least, candidates taking IELTS preferred being tested on real-life contexts,
which again suggests good content validity for the test as a whole.