Many years ago, when domestic students applied to European and American universities, the two major language tests of IELTS and TOEFL can be said to be competing.
Toefl with the innate advantage of being born in the United States has become a language condition for American universities to screen international students, basically students who apply to American schools will accept the double challenge of SAT + TOEFL.
As the global leader in English assessment in the field of study abroad, IELTS occupies the language test for studying abroad in all Commonwealth countries, forming a four-sided encirclement of the TOEFL, and finally breaking into the United States, defeating the TOEFL to become the language standard for international students in American colleges and universities.
So far, 90% of the top 100 colleges and universities in the United States recognize IELTS scores in undergraduate programs, and nearly 100% of graduate programs that accept IELTS scores.
The IELTS test is also popular with international students because of its humanized speaking test and the familiar pen test for Chinese students. However, as an exam, IELTS has its own difficulty and threshold. There are more than 500,000 applicants every year, but the number of applicants who really get their ideal results is much lower. There are also some students who are born with IELTS and are struggling to pass 6.
Do you still have the opportunity to study in an English-speaking country without taking the IELTS test?
The boat to the bridge is naturally straight, and IELTS is not the only way to study in an English-speaking country.
Even the UK, the home base of IELTS, doesn't have to look at your IELTS score. Of course, this requires the applicant to meet other conditions to replace the language test.
The first condition is that the mother tongue is English. If the applicant is a citizen in an English-speaking country, or can be said to be a permanent resident, the language test can usually be waived.
Only the countries of the English Department are also far and near, like international students from the United States, Canada, Australia and other countries, it can almost be said that they will be exempt from language tests.
There are also many UK universities that will relax language test requirements for international students from Commonwealth countries.
Countries and regions such as Singapore and the Philippines, which speak English but are not close to the UK, do not have a direct exemption from the language test, and applicants from these places need to check with the corresponding schools whether they can be exempted from the IELTS test.
The first condition may be difficult to satisfy. The next conditions are much friendlier.
The second way to be exempt from the IELTS exam is to study in a Sino-foreign cooperative education program and obtain a certificate of study abroad.
There are many Sino-foreign joint schools in China, such as New York University shanghai jointly run by New York University and East China Normal University, and Xi'an Jiaotong University and the University of Liverpool, which is co-founded by Xi'an Jiaotong University and the University of Liverpool in the United Kingdom.
Students attending these schools graduate with two degree certificates, and students who provide only two certificates when submitting their application for study abroad can ask the school whether the language requirement can be waived. School restrictions on such students are relatively relaxed.
Some schools require applicants to complete at least 2 years of study to apply for exemption from the language test, and some schools also require applicants to complete their studies and provide transcripts in both domestic and foreign teaching sites where they cooperate to run schools, in order to be exempt from the IELTS test.
The third option is two years of work experience in an English-speaking country and a job related to the major. It should be noted here that in this case, the applicant needs to provide relevant proof of work, such as a valid document issued by the company or a letter of recommendation from the company's leader.
The last option is to complete your undergraduate studies in an English-speaking country and earn a bachelor's degree without having to provide language test scores. If the applicant did not complete an undergraduate degree in an English-speaking country (e.g. Japan), an IELTS score will still be offered when applying for a master's programme at a UK university.
The last method may seem cumbersome, but in fact it is the most feasible. Like many colleges and universities in Canada and Australia, they do not require the IELTS score of international students, and even students whose English foundation is not very solid can first go there to study in language schools, and in language schools, while improving their English level, they can choose their own undergraduate majors.
One of the most desirable places to study abroad: New Zealand
In addition to Canada and Australia, which are well known places for Chinese students to study, there is another country in the British Commonwealth that is also very suitable for studying abroad, that is, the Island Nation of Oceania known as the land of the White Clouds - New Zealand.
Much of the impression of New Zealand is that of The Lord of the Rings, as well as the dairy and wool exported from New Zealand.
In fact, New Zealand is a highly developed capitalist country.
As a member of the Commonwealth, New Zealand's education system follows the British education system as a whole, based on the cultivation of students' creativity and innovative ability, and is renowned in the world for its practical, modern and need-oriented educational philosophy.
In addition to advanced educational concepts, New Zealand's colleges and universities also have excellent academic teaching standards, New Zealand, a small country with a land area of only the size of a state in the United States and a population of less than 4.5 million people, has trained four Nobel Laureates, which is the best proof.
Most importantly, many of the majors in New Zealand universities are at the forefront of the world in the same field, such as forensic science, dentistry, biotechnology, marine engineering, environmental science and horticulture, and New Zealand has the highest gold content in the world.
There are many benefits to studying in New Zealand!
First of all, there is no need for IELTS scores.
Unlike other countries studying in New Zealand, applicants do not need to provide IELTS scores to apply for a student visa.
For example, Australia needs an IELTS score of 5.0 to apply for a student visa in the 573 category, which makes many students without a language foundation have more admission options.
Universities in commonwealth countries generally recognize credits interchangeably and as mentioned above, international students studying in English-speaking countries can apply directly to UK universities without requiring IELTS scores.
Chinese students in New Zealand can directly apply for further study in universities in the United Kingdom, Australia, Canada and other Commonwealth countries during their undergraduate studies, without worrying about language test scores and credits.
There are also many ways to study abroad in New Zealand.
First, both new Zealand polytechnics and private universities can replace IELTS scores with internal exams.
Some National Polytechnics can also arrange remote internal examinations, allowing students to complete the language test directly in China, directly eliminating the IELTS score. Although the difficulty of these tests will be adjusted according to the majors students are applying for, some professional tests are even more difficult than the IELTS test.
However, the flexible difficulty of the exam still offers many options for international students. The internal examinations of private universities are less difficult than those of national universities, but they usually require international students to fly to the school for on-site examinations.
Second, the NZCEL Certificate Programme, the New Zealand English Certificate, is an English proficiency program introduced by the New Zealand Ministry of Education. Divided into 1-5 levels, NZCEL each level of certificate study time is 16 weeks, as long as the corresponding courses and homework are completed, you can obtain the corresponding certificate, so as to obtain the corresponding level of English admission requirements.
In addition to the 8 highly independent New Zealand National Universities that choose to recognize or not recognize certificates according to different majors, 17 national polytechnics and private universities in New Zealand recognize NZCEL certificates.
Third, high Chinese subject results. For high school students, if they don't want to take the IELTS exam abroad, then choosing to go to a high school in New Zealand for a year can also be exempt from the IELTS exam.
High schools in New Zealand have English classes for international students, and Chinese students can meet the language requirements by taking the New Zealand college entrance examination.
As part of the international colleges of 8 national universities in New Zealand recognize the mathematical, physical and chemical scores of Chinese high schools. Chinese students only need to spend three months to half a year to make up the liberal arts courses in New Zealand high schools to enroll.