Dear customer,

Welcome to the October edition of ICON+’s University Access Newsletter. You are receiving this e-newsletter because you inquired about our test prep and/or admissions consulting services.

In order to nail a successful application there are many factors you need to keep in mind. All the skills you have learned over the years will come into play. Find out more about aspects of the university admissions process below.

Applying to the UK for university is an entirely different kettle of fish than to the US. The biggest difference is that you are asked to write a personal statement, not an essay. When I choose to apply for universities in the UK, as an international student, the personal statement was the bit that baffled me the most.

In all honesty, when I finally sat down to write my personal statement, I stared at my computer screen for over two hours unable to write a single word. I had magnificently perfected the art of procrastination. You name it, Facebook, msn, ITunes, anything to prolong commencing writing. It actually took until I stopped putting so much pressure on myself and just told myself start with anything. Even if it’s rubbish, at least it’s a start! My first draft was far from brilliant, but after continuous proofreading, drafting and altering of ideas, it became something I was proud of. It was me, all me, my writing style, my passions and interest, my achievements, my ideas, my thoughts and finally my dedication to the course I wanted to take.

Read full article here.

The English language is not a perfect science; in fact it’s messy, confusing and complicated as any native English speaker will tell you.  The markers of these exams don’t expect beautifully spoken Queen’s English. Everyone is human, and therefore it is inevitable we will make some mistakes along the way. All they want is for you to be confident, clear in your arguments and most importantly, natural.

Here are a few fail safe tips to achieve success in your TOEFL speaking exam.

• Stay calm and breathe! I know that any examination is going to present a certain amount of stress. You are given preparation time for a reason, so use it as best you can. I am not advising you to scribble down as many as ten arguments for every question asked. It is actually better to spend your time choosing two or three solid answers. In addition try to acquire examples to further your argument. Make life easy for yourself and start by saying whether you agree or disagree with the statement mentioned. Then you can begin your argument by saying ‘firstly’. This should help keep your answer sounding clear and organized. 

Read full article here.

The acronym, UKCAT, isn’t exactly easy to decipher. I’ll try to make it as easy as possible to get your head around. Firstly, UKCAT stands for ‘The UK Clinical Aptitude Test’, plain and simple. This is the test all UK and EU universities require if you want to apply for medical and dental degrees, especially if you are applying as an international student. 

Why exactly do they ask for it? I’m sure you are aware that anyone who is thinking of applying to do medicine or dentistry is going to be pretty darn smart. For universities, this makes it incredibly difficult to know which pupils are the best, when almost all applying are going to have high academic track records. The UKCAT is just one of the ways to help universities pick the cream of the crop from the thousands of applicants. A great UKCAT score is just another way you can impress admissions!

Read full article here.