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IB english a HL still need IELTS?


Florian Priv

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Hey all,

I am an european student, but have been studying in the UK for the past 4 years. In my IB (2013 may) I chose English Lit+Lang A HL and achieved a grade 6.

Now my question is the following: When applying to UK universities I got a conditional offer. The condition is IELTS 6.5. Shouldn't be a problem, but I always though that a grade 6 in English A would make this unnecessary.

Am I right?

Thank you!

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Hmm...even I think that you shouldn't be required to give an IELTS. Not just because you took English A but also because of your nationality and the fact that you've been studying in the UK. How about sending a message to the university, explaining your situation and enquiring about the requirements? That's the best thing you can do! ;)

Edited by Jane500
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  • 5 months later...

Yeah you really should be exempted from the IELTS! Fluent people are supposed to take English A, and you even got a decent score. Perhaps ring the Universities in question and ask them if they could re-check the requirement? If you just explain your case in a reasonable way and let them know that English Lit & Lang is roughly almost the same as if they imagined a weird A Level English Lit/Lang hybrid... and that they can check this out for themselves if they'd like... I don't see why they should make you pay to sit an exam you clearly shouldn't have to do. Maybe just ask them if they require students who've taken A Level English to sit the IELTS and if they say "no" then ask them why they're then asking you to do it, because with the greatest of respect (don't say that haha) it makes no logical sense.

It may stem from a lack of understanding of the IB and them having gone solely off your nationality or something.

EDIT: Didn't realise this was an old post that had been revived...

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  • 1 month later...

Universities like Oxford, St Andrews and Imperial do not require IELTS even for English B students. IB English scores are among the English qualification list. As long as something like a 5 is achieved in HL or SL it would be fine. Plus when IB is taught in English we are exempt from any English testing :)

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What i absolutely do not understand, is that after getting a 6 in English A Literature HL, writing a personal statement in proper english and managing to use the UCAS website, I still apparently do not have a good enough grasp of the English language to understand what's being taught.

I was asked by two of my five offers to write the IELTS.

It's a bias that's based purely on my nationality when several native english speakers I know tok lyk dis bro. Seriously. You should look at their personal statements, and they weren't asked to write the IELTS (by the same unis).

Do you guys know how much it costs to take the IELTS in Singapore's British Council? About USD 280. Ridiculous!

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