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SIOC ADMISSION GUIDE

IELTS, TOEFL and English evidence for university admission

Choose the test only after checking the exact university, programme, intake and minimum component scores. A test name alone is not an admission guarantee.

SIOC adviser
ENAdmission evidence

ACADEMIC ENGLISH

Which test is normally relevant?

IELTS Academic

IELTS Academic is designed for undergraduate and postgraduate study and professional registration. It has Listening, Reading, Writing and Speaking and takes about 2 hours 45 minutes. Scores use a 1–9 band scale in whole and half bands. IELTS recommends treating results as valid for two years, while accepting institutions can set their own policy.

TOEFL iBT

TOEFL iBT changed in January 2026. Current score reporting uses a 1–6 scale in half-band increments, with a comparable 0–120 total also reported during a two-year transition. The test is adaptive and takes about two hours. Always use the current ETS format when preparing.

Other accepted evidence

Some institutions accept Cambridge English, TOEIC, Duolingo, prior education in English or their own internal language test. The accepted test, minimum overall score, component minimums and age of the result are programme-specific.

SIOC CHECK

SIOC application checklist

  1. Confirm whether the programme is fully English-taught or bilingual by year.
  2. Check the minimum overall score and every component minimum.
  3. Check how recent the result must be on the application date.
  4. Confirm whether an internal test is mandatory even with an external certificate.
  5. Allow time for booking, preparation, results and a possible retake.
  6. For clinical or regulated degrees, check whether local-language progression is also required.
Current source material

UniPage pages were reviewed for broad student questions and preparation themes. Current format and scoring facts are verified against official IELTS and ETS information; old third-party TOEFL scoring descriptions were not reused.