pacey

IELTS is a hoot mate, don't even worry about it The speaking part is hilarious and weird..

Good luck with it xzibit - harder than you'd think, but you'll be fine fella

nickUK

I still can't believe it that they make brits sit a language test if they want to claim the full points for english (particularly with the standards in Oz!)

That said - I suppose there are quite a few parts of the UK that don't speak the queen's english

xzibit

Cheers.

I've been doing practice tests for the past two weeks, so I know the format and what they're looking for - just have to actually concentrate and hope I get an easyish one.

Luckily I've got an early speaking slot so hopefully they'll realise I can speak fine and I'll be out of there pretty quickly.

pacey

hah the speaking is great. I talked about the Lake District and moving to Australia, and he got me to compare britain to aus. It was rather deep. I was in tears by the end, a broken man!

nickUK

Do they get you to do your abc's and 123's as a warm up, or was it straight into the difficult stuff???

pacey

straight in at the deep end. Politics, science, olde english, bit of celeb gossip..

xzibit

All week I have been doing practice reading and writing tests from the internet and have just realised....


....I have been doing the academic tests!!

The General one's look pretty easy compared lol. I best give them a go.

char1

Well I am no longer a loner.... because I'm no longer going to Australia!

Decided I can't live without my boyfriend as if I go there's still no way to get him in, so I'm going to beg with the company that have offered me the job to delay the start date until my boyfriend and I have been living together a year.

It's unlikely I could get a job here in the mean time to help my experience as it's all based in Scotland so I'm going to have to pray they have the same sort of vacancies open when I am ready to leave.

So I wish you all well and I hope you do the same for me when I enter the world of defacto nonsense and flat hunting!!

docgp

this is a big decision your making and i hope its for the best!

Us loners will be here if you ever need any advice

I wish you the best of luck for the future

doc

nathan1983

Well i think i have missed it, im working in glasgow at the moment so i need to get a train into the town everytime i need to get on the internet and i ve just checked and it says the deadline has passed so i dont hold out much hope

paul30

That is such a shame for you. here's hoping it's not the end of your dream just a delay as your still young enough to try again in a few years or so

char1

It is a shame, but I think I'm more dissapointed at the thought of staying in the same crappy job for the next 8 months! Getting the 12 months will mean we can have a lifetime there, if I go now it will just cause an awful lot more hassle in the long run.

I think I will be ok, I have no relevant work experience after graduating but this company seemed happy to take that risk. They offered another guy a contract to start 6 months in the future, so maybe 8 months will be ok too. I'm going to contact some agents to clarify it all before speaking to the company.

Good luck all!

xzibit

As posted in the IELTS thread too.

Just back from IELTS.

Didn't think I was doing all that bad until I went into the speaking test. I got all nervous, as I'm kind of shy lol and used "um" a bit and when I had to speak about my topic, I ran out of things to say about 1 min 30 secs in and didn't keep talking until she said stop.

Well, wait the 2 weeks for the results now!!

paul30

Fingers crossed for you. I'm sure glad I didn't have to do IELTS

CRT23

I admire you all so much I would love to emigrate but to be honest I don't think my boyfriend will. I think there is so much more opportunity out there. Really really wish I could have the guts to do it myself. I don't reckon me and my partner will be together forever might just have to make the plunge!!!!