Preparing for IELTS Exams

The International English Language Testing System (IELTS) is an internationally recognised assessment system for testing English language skills. Pupils coming from countries whose main language is not English will usually be required to pass this test as part of the conditions of acceptance by a British university.

The conditions of a given university’s offer of a place of study will indicate whether the IELTS is also a condition of that offer. Some universities will waive the condition of passing the IELTS if your school leaving results (equivalents of A Level results) include English. Others will insist on the IELTS regardless of the school leaving results.

There are two types of IELTS tests: the General Training Module and the Academic Module. For university entrance purposes the Academic Module is the standard requirement. A typical condition for university entrance is 6.5 or higher on the Academic Module.

After you have submitted your application to UCAS for university entrance, you will get responses from the universities via UCAS. The conditional offers will include conditions which need to be satisfied before the offers convert into unconditional firm offers. If the conditions include passing the IELTS, then check with your local British Council for the nearest test places and dates and apply for a test. You are allowed to take the test as many times as you want, so plan for that option. But bear in mind you have to pay for each test.

Obviously, your level of English has to be good enough to attempt the test; otherwise you will be wasting your time and money. There are tens of thousands of books, videos, DVDs, CDs and other courses on learning English, but I will list some that I have used.

There are also hundreds of books which prepare you for taking the IELTS. Again I will list some that I have used.

If you study to a level of English roughly covered by the material given in the recommended books below, you should be able to do well on the IELTS.

Raymond Murphy. English Grammar in Use.

Martin Hewings. Advanced Grammar in Use.

Michael McCarthy & Felicity O'Dell. English Vocabulary in Use Advanced.

Michael McCarthy & Felicity O'Dell. English Phrasal Verbs in Use Intermediate.

Michael McCarthy & Felicity O'Dell. English Phrasal Verbs in Use Advanced.

The following are “classical” grammar books we used for reviewing grammar (and preparing for the IELTS):

John Eastwood. Oxford Guide to English Grammar.

Audrey Jean Thomson & A. V. Martinet. A Practical English Grammar.

Just either Eastwood or Thomson & Martinet will do. I’m not sure if Eastwood is still in print, but an older copy is good enough. With Thomson & Martinet, I would suggest getting the hardbound copy because it is very difficult to keep the paperback book open when it’s new.

A recent and very good reference grammar is:

Ronald Carter & Michael McCarthy. Cambridge Grammar of English.

You don’t really need Carter & McCarthy for the IELTS, but if you pass the test and get into university, this is the one grammar reference I would recommend having with you at university.

Books for preparing for the IELTS examination: the Cambridge series by Jakeman and McDowell are pretty good. They try to get you to think “outside the box”. They might be a bit confusing in the beginning, so a book like McCarter and Ash gives a better feel about what the IELTS is like.

Vanessa Jakeman & Clare McDowell. Action Plan for IELTS Self-study Student's Book Academic Module.

Vanessa Jakeman & Clare McDowell. Insight into IELTS Student's Book Updated Edition.

Vanessa Jakeman & Clare McDowell. Insight into IELTS Audio CD.

Vanessa Jakeman & Clare McDowell. Insight into IELTS Extra.

Vanessa Jakeman & Clare McDowell. Insight into IELTS Extra Audio CD.

Sam McCarter & Judith Ash. IELTS Testbuilder.

If you have no access to good (British) English speakers, then it would be highly recommended to get the audio CDs. Listening and speaking are two important parts of the IELTS examination.

Some other pointers. There is always a question about statistical data as represented by a graph, chart, table, diagram or map. So be sure you know how to read, interpret and write about this.

Prepare for your short IELTS talk by thinking about a few topics before the examination day and writing down a few short sentences (bullet points) for each topic. Typically the examiner will ask you to talk briefly (a couple of minutes) about one of these topics: travelling to school, experience of your last holiday / work, something about a national holiday and what it means, your family, your school, your study interests, hobbies, some political event in your country, some global issue like climatic change or economic events, why you want to study in Britain, what your future plans are and so on.

Make sure you get a good grounding in grammar and vocabulary. You will need these at university anyway.

Thomson & Martinet (or Eastwood, if you can find one) is an intermediate to advance level grammar. You should be fluent with all the topics there.

All these books are pretty expensive stuff. But English is a tool you will hopefully use for the rest of your life. It’s worth investing in it.

Kiley

Preparatory Resources for UK Universities

There many possible sources of literature about preparing yourself for university in Britain. But the single most comprehensive and up-to-date resource is Amazon.

Start by browsing the broad categories like Education. Then “drill down” into more detailed sub-categories that are pertinent to what you are looking for. Read the Customer Reviews to get a rough idea about whether a given book is of interest to you. Follow the Customers Who Bought This Item Also Bought and Customers Who Viewed This Item Also Viewed lists. Then view the side-bars and bottom sections on the page, especially the Listmania! books. Before long you will have a sizeable list of relevant books.

The application to university is managed by UCAS and there are books which explain this process. For instance:

• How to Complete Your UCAS Application
• 40 Successful Personal Statements: For UCAS Application

Oxford and Cambridge distinguish themselves from other UK universities by their reputation, quality and method of teaching, selection process and quality of entrants. There are books specifically for pupils who wish to apply to these universities:

• Getting into Oxford and Cambridge
• So You Want to go to Oxbridge
• Oxbridge Entrance: The Real Rules

Candidates applying for law study in Britain invariably undergo the National Admissions Test for Law (LNAT). There are guides for that:

• (LNAT) Mastering the National Admissions Test for Law
• Passing the National Admissions Test for Law (LNAT)

Similarly, applications for medical school must be accompanied by results from either the Clinical Aptitude Test (UKCAT) or BioMedical Admissions Test (BMAT) results. And, again, there are various books about applying to medical school:

• The Insider's Guide to UK Medical Schools
• Passing the UK Clinical Aptitude Test (UKCAT) and BMAT
• Preparing for the BMAT: The Official Guide to the BioMedical Admissions Test
• Medical School Interviews: A Practical Guide

The above are just the tip of the iceberg of books about preparing for university entrance.

Good luck on finding the right books,

Kiley

British University Rankings

The ranking of universities according to some specific set of criteria is often an important—but by no means the only—factor in deciding where to study in Britain. Some popular sites which contain ranking information are:

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/

http://education.guardian.co.uk/universityguide2008/

http://ed.sjtu.edu.cn/ranking.htm

Shanghai Jiaotong University publishes the oft-cited Academic Ranking of World Universities. It uses a clear set of weighted criteria: number of Nobel Laureates, Fields Medalists and Highly-Cited Researchers, publications in Nature and Science, results from Science Citation Index-Expanded (SCIE) and Social Science Citation Index (SSCI). This is one way of ranking universities and does not necessarily include other factors which are important to the prospective student.

The Times (as well as the Financial Times) have their rankings of UK universities which are derived from indicators like:

• Student satisfaction (based on the National Student Survey)
• Research assessment (based on the Research Assessment Exercise (RAE) results)
• Entry standards (UCAS tariff points of new students from the Higher Education Statistics Agency (HESA))
• Student-staff ratio (data also from HESA)
• Expenditure per student on various areas like library, computing, sports facilities (HESA data)
• Percentage of students finishing and their class of degree (HESA data)

The Guardian has its ranking of UK universities which is based on somewhat similar criteria that the Times use.

Nevertheless, the different “methodologies” do reveal significant differences. Whether only these are relevant to the potential student is another matter.

What is also very good is that both the Times and Guardian sites also have pages with content related to student life and higher education in general (http://education.guardian.co.uk/ and http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/life_and_style/education/)

Kiley

Applications to UK Universities

By and large the physical process of applying to British (I use the term interchangeably with "UK") universities is a centralised online process.

The first port of call is invariably the UCAS (Universities and Colleges Admissions Service) at www.ucas.com. UCAS currently deals with undergraduate admissions, but they handle postgraduate (US: graduate) applications for certain subjects. Their Customer Service Unit is reachable by phone at +44 870 1122211. They are usually very helpful and friendly (except when various deadlines create temporary surges of applications).

Applying through UCAS is what you have to do. But the real application process starts long before that. More on that later ...