Blog
Tips, guides, and insights for English learners.
Three UK Regulators, Three Lists of English Countries
The HCPC keeps its own list of 43. The GDC borrows the government's. The GPhC borrows a different government list and adds Ireland. Canada is excluded once.
The UK Visa Test You Can Book Depends on Where You Are
Two Home Office lists, two provider sets. Trinity can only be sat inside the UK and PSI only outside it, and the wrong choice buys a useless certificate.
UK Visa Routes That Only Test Speaking and Listening
Settlement and citizenship in the UK need a test that assesses speaking and listening only. The Home Office calls it 2-facet, and it stops at B1.
A US Optometry Degree Still Needs an IELTS 7.0
The GOC accepts 26 American and Canadian optometry schools for direct entry, and asks every one of their graduates for IELTS with a 7.0 in speaking.
Which Regulators Let You Retake Just One Component
Retaking one weak IELTS component instead of the whole test saves a fee and a month. Some UK regulators allow it, some allow it with conditions, some do not.
14 Real B2 First Speaking Scores, Schools and Adult
Cambridge publishes 14 B2 candidate profiles. Every time pronunciation is not the top mark, Interactive Communication is, and it happens three times.
Cambridge Speaking Criteria by Level: B1, B2, C1, C2
Cambridge publishes examiner scores for 23 candidates from B1 to C2. Pronunciation is the single highest mark for three of them, and for no B1 candidate at all.
The Cambridge Examiner Who Talks to You Marks One Thing
Cambridge puts two examiners in every Speaking test. The one who speaks to you gives a single mark. The silent one gives all the others.
ECCE vs ECPE Speaking: What Doubles at C2 and Why
Michigan's C2 exam is only 15 minutes longer than its B2 exam. Speaking absorbs every one of those minutes, and reading gives up twenty.
Interactive Communication: The One You Cannot Practise Alone
Across 35 published Cambridge candidates, interaction is the top mark more often than pronunciation. It carries people at B1 and B2, then stops at C2.