Vvi Posted September 18, 2008 Report Share Posted September 18, 2008 Does anyone know for certain if English A1 HL candidates have to do TOEFL if they want to apply to a UK university?I'm Finnish, but I have gone to an English-speaking school all my life and English is my first language.My school's college counselor knows very little about UK universities because she is coming from the American system. She emailed the universities I'm applying to and explained my situation. 3 universities said I don't have to take the test. 2 never replied, out of the 5 she wrote to.But the counselor thinks I should do it just to be "safe". Which is ridiculous because the TOEFL costs $140 to take.Shouldn't the fact that I'm taking IB English A1 at HL prove that I'm capable of studying in English at university? Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Aquarius Posted September 19, 2008 Report Share Posted September 19, 2008 IELTS is more recommended for application to UK Universities, it's $10 more expensive though! Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Scade Posted September 19, 2008 Report Share Posted September 19, 2008 No, you don't need to, it is only for those who don't have any major qualifications in English I believe. I'm taking English A2 HL, and wont do any additional tests. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vvi Posted September 19, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 19, 2008 No, you don't need to, it is only for those who don't have any major qualifications in English I believe. I'm taking English A2 HL, and wont do any additional tests.Thank you, I was getting really annoyed with the rumour that my IB qualifications wouldn't count. If I was applying to the States, I would have to take it because they seem to think that the TOEFL actually proves something. For native English speakers, it's ridiculously easy, I looked at practice questions online. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leia Posted September 19, 2008 Report Share Posted September 19, 2008 Thank you, I was getting really annoyed with the rumour that my IB qualifications wouldn't count. If I was applying to the States, I would have to take it because they seem to think that the TOEFL actually proves something. For native English speakers, it's ridiculously easy, I looked at practice questions online.Tha'ts the point...it's not for native speakersBut if you do IB with Eng A1 and going to the UK, you shouldn't have to take anything. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
Vvi Posted September 19, 2008 Author Report Share Posted September 19, 2008 I know it's not for native speakers, but my college counselor was going with the American method of doing things. Students from my school that are now attending Yale and MIT were in English speaking schools for all their lives, but are Arabs. One of them even has an American passport. And of course both are bilingual, one is even trilingual. They had to take the TOEFL even though they did IB, since the US universities look at the SAT and don't count the IB English grade as sufficient proof of language capability. So in essence, US universities make any foreigners (even if they speak English perfectly) take the test just because they are not from an English-speaking country. This is at least the assumption that I have, because everyone in my international school has taken the test to go to the US. Just because they lived abroad. Someone please correct me if this isn't the case. Link to post Share on other sites More sharing options...
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