Almost everyone we teach already speaks English. The work is closing the gap between speaking it and proving it, in the specific format your destination will accept.
English is the one language here where the level and the test are separate questions. The CEFR level is your actual ability. The test is how you prove it to a university or a mission.
The IELTS comparisons above are indicative alignments, not a conversion table. Always check the specific score your offer or visa route names, because two universities in the same city can set different bars.
This is the page most students need and least expect to.
Indian and UAE applicants are rarely held back by their English. They are held back by submitting the wrong certificate, or the right certificate in a version their destination does not accept. The rules differ by country and by visa route, and they are not intuitive.
Visa applications require a Home Office approved Secure English Language Test. Outside the UK the approved providers are PSI Services, the IELTS SELT Consortium, LANGUAGECERT and Pearson. That means IELTS for UKVI, LANGUAGECERT ESOL SELT, PTE Academic UKVI or PTE Home, or Skills for English UKVI.
TOEFL and the Duolingo English Test are not currently on the UK Home Office's approved SELT list. A university may accept either for admission, but UK visa routes that require a SELT have their own list of approved tests and providers. Check this before you pay for a test.
Four-skill tests are required for Skilled Worker, Student, Health and Care Worker, Start-up, Innovator Founder, High Potential Individual and Scale-up routes. Two-skill tests, speaking and listening only, cover citizenship, settlement, partner and parent routes. SELT results are valid two years.
IRCC accepts CELPIP-General, IELTS General Training and PTE Core for English. Results must be under two years old. Minimums vary by programme: Canadian Experience Class needs CLB 7 for TEER 0 and 1 occupations and CLB 5 for TEER 2 and 3; Federal Skilled Worker needs CLB 7 in a first official language and CLB 5 in a second.
CLB is not CEFR. Canada uses its own Canadian Language Benchmark scale. Presenting a CEFR level as though it satisfies a CLB requirement is a frequent error on competitor sites, and it does not survive contact with an IRCC officer.
Home Affairs accepts Cambridge C1 Advanced, CELPIP General, IELTS Academic and General Training, the Michigan English Test, OET, LANGUAGECERT Academic, PTE Academic and TOEFL iBT. Competent English means 6 in each of the four IELTS components or equivalent.
Australian visas have their own list of accepted English tests. A test a university accepts for admission may not be one the visa accepts, so check the current visa list before you book.
| Level | Cumulative guided hours |
|---|---|
| A1 | 90 to 100 |
| A2 Key | 180 to 200 |
| B1 Preliminary | 350 to 400 |
| B2 First | 500 to 600 |
| C1 Advanced | 700 to 800 |
| C2 Proficiency | 1000 to 1200 |
Cambridge also states roughly 200 guided learning hours to move from one CEFR level to the next. This is an official figure, unlike most hour counts you will see quoted for English.
IELTS has moved towards computer delivered testing. Timelines vary by market, so check what your test centre offers when you book. The skills assessed and the way scores are interpreted stay the same.
We teach on computer by default, so you are ready whichever format your centre uses.
A language is only worth the hours if it clears the bar your destination sets. TAICF, our own assessment framework, reads your target countries and courses and tells you the level to aim for, the certificate that proves it, and how it fits around your exams.
How TAICF worksFive things are in every language programme we run, whatever the language and whatever the level you start at.
Every programme includes dedicated one to one sessions with your own teacher for the questions that came up after class. Booked when you need them, not parked until the next group session.
The recording reaches you the same day, every time. Miss a class for a school exam, a work trip or a bad week and you have not missed the lesson. It is also the fastest revision tool you will have in the last fortnight.
Complete papers in the official format, timed, including the oral. Most candidates lose marks to the format rather than the language, and a mock is the cheapest place to find that out.
Before you start, we set the target and the timeline. Midway, we reset it against your mock results. Before you book the exam, we confirm you are sitting the right version on the right date. Teaching without this is just hours.
The whole course can run one to one rather than in a cohort. Your own teacher, your own pace, sessions timed around school or work, and the syllabus reordered around what you actually need first.
Our English faculty is made up of teachers trained through Cambridge English and British Council teacher development programmes.
It matters for one reason. A teacher who knows how the official band descriptors are actually applied can tell you why a piece of writing scored 6 and not 7, and precisely what to change. A teacher without that training can only tell you it read well.
It depends on the destination and the route. UK visa: a SELT, so IELTS for UKVI, PTE UKVI, LANGUAGECERT or Skills for English. Canada PR: CELPIP, IELTS General Training or PTE Core. Australia: several accepted for the visa, so check the current list. USA: TOEFL is preferred, IELTS widely accepted. We check each offer on your list before you book anything.
For some university admissions, yes. For a visa it often is not: Duolingo is not currently on the UK Home Office's approved SELT list, and visa rules for other countries can differ from what a university accepts. Check the visa requirement, not just the admission requirement.
Not for residence. English is the working language and no test is required. The demand here is for university admission and onward migration, which is a different requirement entirely.
No. Canada uses the Canadian Language Benchmark, a separate framework. A CEFR level does not automatically satisfy a CLB requirement and the two should not be presented as interchangeable.
Often not much, and we will tell you that after the diagnostic rather than sell you a course. Fluent speakers usually need format familiarity and a few hours on the one paper that is costing them, most often academic writing. That is a short engagement, not a term.
We start with a short conversation and a level check, so you join at the right level rather than repeating what you already know. Classes run at Gurugram and Dubai Silicon Oasis, in person and online, in small cohorts, or one to one.
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