IELTS Article - Accent matters in the speaking test

Benz, from Bangkok, asked me about the speaking test in IELTS (International English Language Testing System):

“I read on a website that people doing IELTS shouldn’t worry about having an accent as a candidate’s accent is not evaluated by examiners. Is that true?”

Here’s my reply: In the IELTS speaking test, test takers are assessed in four areas: “Fluency and Coherence,” “Lexical Resource” (the words and phrases used), “Grammatical Range and Accuracy” and “Pronunciation.” An accent can definitely affect a candidate’s score for “Pronunciation.”