For more than a decade, foreign students seeking admission to universities in the UAE, UK and Australia for tertiary studies have considered the IELTS (International English Language Testing Service) Examination the single greatest hurdle to admission they face.
Over that time, the IELTS 'band scores,' numerical ratings that express candidates' abilities in the areas of Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking, have also slowly gone up, making the examination even more challenging - and frightening for many students.In the last few years, students who live in places where they can meet face-to-face with recruiters and agents for the universities to which they seek admission have learned that some of those universities are willing to accept students whose band scores are not as high as the published ones.
In most cases, the tradeoff is that the students agrees that, if their IELTS band score is not high enough, they will agree to take special English-language training courses, either during the summer before official studies begin or, sometimes, during the evening after studies have already begun.
IELTS training for General IELTSThe offer is more than a reflection of the universities' eagerness to accept foreign students for the important tuition revenues they represent.
A strong case can be made that a student studying abroad is more likely to bring his or her English skills up to speed more quickly in an all-English-speaking environment.
Additionally, they may receive teaching much more closely targeted to the particular language skills they will need to succeed with their studies.Even so, a prospective student's IELTS band score is a strong indicator of preparedness for study abroad.