UK – English Exam Passport

You may be unfamiliar with the word "waiver” or perhaps you just want to know how to get out of doing the TOEFL test. Or maybe you have taken the TOEFL before and want to see if you can avoid doing it again. A TOEFL waiver is a document that gives you exemption from the requirement of providing TOEFL test results to prove your English language proficiency. This is usually possible when you have already earned a college degree and the classes you attended were all delivered in English. Are there ways to get out of English language requirements for immigration purposes? What do you do if you know English well, but can't seem to get a waiver? Or what happens if you don’t qualify for a waiver, but have limited time for preparing for the TOEFL? Let's dive in! The background of TOEFL and the waiver In the early 1960s, various institutions in the United States, including the government, got together to discuss how they were going to make sure that students coming from overseas would be able to do well at university there. Thus, the TOEFL was born, and since then it has been the test of choice for most universities in the United States to ensure that students are proficient enough in English to be able to excel. Because of this preference, there are over 4500 TOEFL testing centers worldwide, across more than 150 countries. Each year, over 2 million TOEFL tests are administered to those who need to prove their level of English to governments, universities, and other institutions. Whether you are going to apply to university or need it for some other reason for the United States or another country, the primary reason you are required to submit a minimum TOEFL score is that you need to be able to interact effectively in English. This requires a certain proficiency in the four main areas of communication: listening, reading, speaking, and writing Universities usually offer to waive the TOEFL requirement (or any other tests they allow) when you can prove your English abilities. In many US universities, if you are applying for a master’s degree and/or already have a college degree from a college in the US or a college in another country where the primary language used at the university was English, they will usually exempt you from this requirement. Sometimes universities may exempt you from the English language proficiency requirement if you studied abroad for a certain number of years, even if you didn’t graduate. If you have a copy of an expired TOEFL test, in combination with some other proof of proficiency, then you might be able to write a letter requesting exemption. Check with the admissions department of the university you are applying to, and they will be able to tell you if this is a possibility. Are there TOEFL waivers for immigration? You can also get out of your English language requirement for immigration purposes in some countries. When it comes to governments, things can be a little bit different than with universities. While the US government doesn’t usually ask you for proof of your English language proficiency, Australia and the United Kingdom do. When applying for a student visa in Australia, if you are a citizen of the United Kingdom, the United States of America, Canada, New Zealand, or the Republic of Ireland and hold a valid passport of that country, they will waive the English language requirement. The United Kingdom government does something similar: they will waive the English language requirement (note: they don’t accept the TOEFL as of mid-2014) if you were awarded a degree equivalent to a UK degree in one of the following countries, or if you come from one of the following countries: Antigua and BarbudaAustraliathe BahamasBarbadosBelizeDominicaGrenadaGuyanaIreland JamaicaMaltaNew ZealandSt Kitts and NevisSt LuciaSt Vincent and the GrenadinesTrinidad and TobagoUKUSA In the UK, you also do not need to prove your knowledge of English if you’re a national of Canada, you are applying to study abroad in the UK as part of a university degree course in the USA, or you proved your level of English in a previous visa application. What if you know English well, but can’t get a waiver? In this case, you will have to bite the bullet and take the test,unfortunately! But the good thing is that you don’t have to prepare too much in order to get the score you need on the TOEFL. If cost is one of the reasons why you were trying to get out of the English language proficiency obligation, most standardized tests are more or less the same cost (around ($200). If the university you are going to or the government of the country you are going to accepts DuoLingo, that would be a great option, as the test is a lot cheaper than any of the other ones. How do you prepare for the TOEFL quickly? If deadlines are approaching fast, you may not have a lot of time to prepare for the TOEFL. If this is the case, don’t sweat just yet, because this strategy will help you use the time you do have well. 1. Take a practice test If you haven’t taken a practice test yet recently, this is definitely the place to start. If you have already taken one, skip down to the next section. ETS (the makers of TOEFL) offer a full practice test for free. This is the best place to start, as it includes exact questions from past tests. If possible, try to take the practice test in test-like conditions. You can see how the test will be on the day of the test on the ETS TOEFL webpage. The listening and reading portions will be scored by ETS, while they will give you sample responses for the writing and speaking sections. It may be helpful to ask someone unbiased to score your test for you so that you can have a more objective understanding of your speaking and writing levels. Once you have your test results, you will be able to see the areas in which you need the most help. If you see that you already have the score you need, you may be ready to take the test. ETS has some free practice sets that will help you prepare a little bit more before the actual test. 2. Formulate a strategy and get to it! Since you don’t have a lot of time, you will want to make a plan of attack so that you can improve your score(s) in an intelligent way. The first thing you will need to do is see how much time you have available to study. The more exact you can be, the better, because that way you will be motivated to use as much time as possible. If you only need a minimum comprehensive score, then you can focus on the sections where you can improve the most. For example, if your lowest scores were in speaking and listening, focus your efforts there. It is easier to improve a lower score than it is to improve a higher score, even if the amount of points you are trying to improve by is the same. For instance, let’s say that on your first practice test you got a 26 in reading and a 21 in listening. It will be easier to improve your listening to get a 26 than it would to improve your reading to get a 30, even though in each case you would improve by the same amount - 4 points. This is because you get to a point of diminishing returns: the higher your score gets, the more difficult it is to get points. If you need a specific score in each of the sections (usually they will require the same amount of points for each section), dedicate time according to where you can improve the most first. It will also be a good idea to listen to podcasts or books of an academic nature so that you can improve your listening abilities. If you are able to practice your speaking with friends (especially if they are native English speakers!), that will be a very big help to you as well. 3. Take another practice test When you are scheduling the time you have to prepare for the TOEFL, try to schedule time for another practice test towards the end of your preparation. This will help you see how much you improved. Try not to leave this until the day before the test. This way, if you still need to make some improvements, you won’t put too much pressure on yourself. Happy studying!