IELTS TOEFL Exams
IELTS/TOEFL for Postgraduate & Undergraduate Study in Britain
You can go to the UK even if you do not have the IELTS requirement of your degree course. If your English is well below the necessary level you can include in your study plan pre-degree English study. You can study English like this within a university or in a specialist language school. For UK visa purposes there is no limit to the time you can study English, so if your English is poor you can go to the UK 12 months before your degree begins to learn English (as long as you have the funds).
The rate at which your IELTS improves in the UK will depend on your ability and application. To improve from 4.0 to 6.0 is relatively easy, however many students find it more difficult to improve higher than 6.0. As a general guide, universities with pre-degree English courses will require you to study for 4 weeks for every 0.5 grade you need to improve.
TOEFL is generally acceptable but all UK universities prefer IELTS. You can find the exact IELTS requirements in the search results of our database. Most courses require 6.5. Some courses in scientific subjects require only 6.0, whilst some in linguistically demanding subjects (e.g. English or Law) require 7.0 and very occasionally 7.5.
Most courses accept that you meet the requirement before the course begins but some very popular courses will not consider your application until you have met the requirement (again, if this is the case you will find the details in our course database).
If you have an IELTS score below your requirement but above 4.5 most universities offer courses in English language during the summer before your course begins. Some of these still require you to make the IELTS requirement at the end of this summer English course but some universities guarantee entry on to the Masters without retaking the IELTS exam. According to a recent survey, the top universities who guarantee students such admission are:
Loughborough Newcastle Warwick Durham
Aberystwyth UEA Kent Aberdeen
Usually these courses will require you to study for 4 weeks for every 0.5 grade you need to improve
If you decide to go to Britain early to improve your English level you have 2 options; you can study within your university at their English language department or you can study in a specialist language school. The advantages/disadvantages of both can be summarised as:
| Factor | University Language Department | Language School |
| Price | Fairly cheap | From very cheap to expensive |
| Start Dates | The start of each term | Usually any Monday |
| Length of Study | 1-3 months minimum | Any number of weeks |
| Class size | + 16 | 16 and less |
| Accommodation | Halls of Residence | Homestay |
Many students prefer university language departments for convenience, however, excepting cases where the university will not require an IELTS retake, private language schools should not be overlooked, especially as the smaller class size and more personal attention will be better for your language improvement. Note: it makes no difference for visa purposes whether you apply to a university language department or to a specialist language school.
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