Taking into account all the qualities of test usefulness, particularly he impact on the candidates and the global society, it would appear that the IELTS Speaking Test is, indeed, a useful test. It should also be remembered, when making this judgement, that each of the qualities does not stand alone, but is considered relative to all the other qualities. An optimal balance between all the qualities is also essential when deciding usefulness.
It is also practical, as well as desirable, to continue development of the IELTS test, particularly the speaking test, because of he considerable impact it will have in the future on many people from all countries, and using all the world’s Englishes.
One of the most important considerations is that the test qualities must be considered from the beginning of the test planning and through to development and practical use. It is not enough to just use the test qualities to analyse the test after it has been implemented (Bachman & Palmer, 1996). Given that the IELTS Speaking Test is constantly under review, it would appear that the test qualities, as interpreted in this analysis, are suitable for the evaluation of this test.