IELTS Academic is accepted by ESSEC, IE, Esade, HEC Paris, London Business School and the other leading European business schools, and most ask for an overall band of 6.5 to 7.0. MBA Center prepares candidates across Europe for the test with group classes at €595, one-to-one tutoring at €40 an hour and a €150 self-study package with eight full-length mock tests. Our students have scored IELTS 7.5 to 8 and gone on to INSEAD, HEC Paris and Chicago Booth.
See IELTS course options and enrol →
These are the official facts from IELTS.
On ETS’s official concordance, IELTS 6.5 is about TOEFL 4.5 on the new 1–6 scale and IELTS 7.0 about 5. See our Master in Management, Master in Finance and MBA admissions consulting.
In our experience, moving up half a band takes four to six weeks and a full band two to three months. Writing and Speaking are where most candidates gain or lose the band they need. A typical plan with MBA Center:
Set a band for each skill and compare it with your schools’ minimums.
Listening and Reading question types, timing and answer transfer.
Writing Task 1 and Task 2 with teacher marking against the official criteria.
Speaking mocks with an examiner-style teacher, and full-length mock tests.
Choose paper, computer or IELTS Online; on computer you get results in days and can use One Skill Retake if one band falls short.
Most European business schools accept both. See our TOEFL preparation, GMAT preparation and GRE preparation.
IELTS runs test centres across Europe and IELTS Online at home. We teach candidates throughout Europe, one-to-one and online: Paris · London · Madrid · Milan · Berlin · Munich · Zurich · Amsterdam · Brussels · Dublin · all our cities →
2 hours 45 minutes: Listening about 30 minutes, Reading 60 minutes, Writing 60 minutes and Speaking 11 to 14 minutes. The format is the same at a test centre and online.
Most ask for 6.5 to 7.0 overall. ESSEC asks for 6.5, while IE’s Master in Finance and Esade’s MSc programmes ask for 7.0.
IELTS on computer results arrive in 1 to 5 days and IELTS Online in 6 to 8 days. IELTS recommends that schools accept results up to two years old.
Yes, after an IELTS on computer test. One Skill Retake lets you retake Listening, Reading, Writing or Speaking once, within 60 days, but check that your school accepts it.
Group classes cost €595 for 24 hours, private tutoring €40 an hour and the self-study package €150, which includes 600 practice questions and eight full-length mock tests.
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