Parents and students are restless as the British Council postpones the IELTS exam.

In an email sent to candidates, the British Council said that due to a system error, the unit could not organize the IELTS exam on January 10. Notably, in the email, the British Council did not announce the exact time of the replacement exam, the unit also asked candidates to call the hotline or leave their phone number to be notified of the free replacement exam in the near future.

Ms. VTH (Thanh Xuan, Hanoi) could not help but worry when she heard the information about the exam postponement because in just 1 week, her daughter, who is currently in grade 12, will have to have the IELTS test results to complete her study abroad application: “The exam will take place on January 10, my children are ready and have plans to submit their study abroad application, but the British Council suddenly announced that the exam will be postponed and did not give an exact time or alternative exam plan. The announcement was also on the weekend, so both students and parents do not know what to do. If the exam was on January 10, my child would have time to get the results to submit her study abroad application in Europe, but now the exam has been postponed, the university requires candidates to call directly to notify and request a postponement, but I do not know how to contact them.”

This parent believes that, with a major exam that affects the study and study abroad plans of thousands of candidates, the organizing unit needs to have plans in case of incidents. Giving a general reason of “system error” and not informing the exact alternative plan is “difficult to understand”, causing difficulties for candidates and parents. Ms. VTH believes that in case the exam cannot be taken on a computer, it is possible to consider taking the exam on paper so that candidates’ rights are guaranteed.

TVN, a 12th grade student in Hanoi, also said that on the evening of January 6, he received a notice from the British Council to postpone the IELTS exam on January 10. TVN is also very worried that if he does not receive the IELTS test results in time, it will affect his study abroad application: "The deadline for submitting my application is not long, while I have not yet been specifically informed about the time of the replacement exam. The IELTS test results are very important to me, directly affecting my study abroad next year. The announcement was too sudden, so I do not have an alternative plan yet, I am still waiting for the exact announcement about the new exam schedule from the British Council."

According to VOV