The program will be presented in the following format.

In order to apply for the program (at any point) the following admission requirements may be used:

• Standard or Standardized Placement Tests, such as Oxford Placement Test, Quick Placement Test or placement tests developed and standardized by the school’s instructors
• Interviews (as a follow up for the placement test)
• Certificates indicating the English language proficiency level of the student from other reputable institutions in Canada

Upon completion of this program the successful student will have reliably demonstrated the ability to:

• Take the two types of the IELTS exams with high confidence
• Engage in conversations about general and academic topics
• Utilize strategies necessary to address the different parts of the IELTS exams
• Use a wide range of vocabulary for both academic and general contexts
• Use a wide range of grammatical forms and structures appropriate for academic contexts (e.g., reading academic texts as in IELTS Academic and writing academically as in Academic IELTS Writing Tasks 1 and 2) as well as general everyday life situations
• Write academic essays acceptable by university admission departments
• Write academic reports about graphs, tables, and charts
• Use appropriate vocabulary and grammar to write formal and semi-formal letters
• Read academic texts in university textbooks and academic journals

Evaluation is done throughout the program: class activity, homework and assignments, progress test, and final exam. For the speaking section of the IELTS exam preparation, one-to-one interviews will be conducted. For the writing section of the IELTS exam preparation, participants will be asked to write samples of Task 1 and 2 of the relevant modules.

In order to get the report card for each term, students are required to attend 80% of all sessions. Besides, students must complete 75% of the course evaluation requirements (i.e., attendance, class activity score, progress test results, and final exam score). However, in order to get the certificate of competition for each course (Mindset for IELTS and IELTS Strategies & Skills) and the whole program, they need to attend 80% of all sessions and get 80% of the test scores (speaking and writing).

The whole program has been designed for a total of 388 hours. Below is the number of weeks for each of the part-time plans:

• Part time 1 (7.5 hours a week) = 52 weeks
• Part time 2 (15 hours a week) = 26 weeks
• Part time 3 (9 hours a week) = 43 weeks
• Full time (22.5 hours a week) = 18 weeks

The hours of homework depend on the number of writing assignments they will have. For Task 1 assignments, they need to spend between 20 and 30 minutes on each assignment; and for Task 2 assignments, the suggested time is 40-60 minutes.

• In-class instruction
• Online instruction

The course materials for the IELTS Preparation Program include:

• Archer, G., Kosta, J., Pasmore, L., & Uddin, J. (2017). Mindset for IELTS – Foundation. Cambridge University Press.
• Rosthwaite, P., Hutchison, S., Wijayatilake, C., & De Souza, N. (2017). Mindset for IELTS – Level 1. Cambridge University Press.
• Crosthwaite, P., De Souza, N. & Loewenthal, M. (2017). Mindset for IELTS – Level 2. Cambridge University Press.
• Archer, G., & Wijayatilake, C. (2017). Mindset for IELTS – Level 3. Cambridge University Press.

The main textbooks for this course include the following:

• Cullen, P., French, A., & Jakeman, V. (2014). Cambridge Official Guide to IELTS. Cambridge University Press.
• Cambridge IELTS series (1-16) - Cambridge University Press.