English language requirements (IELTS)
Applicants for admission as a lawyer must have sufficient knowledge of written and spoken English to engage in legal practice.
Minimum IELTS score
English proficiency may be demonstrated by undertaking the International English Language Testing System (IELTS) Academic test and achieving the following minimum scores:
| Test Area | Minimum score |
Listening | 7.0 |
| Reading | 7.0 |
| Writing | 8.0 |
| Speaking | 7.5 |
Applicants for admission must take the ‘Academic’ test and not the ‘General Training’ test. Test results must be no more than two years old at the time of applying for admission.
PLEASE NOTE that the Board is now accepting 'IELTS Online' results as well as tests undertaken in person at an IELTS Test Centre.
The Board is also accepting IELTS 'One Skill Retake' test results BUT only in respect of applications for a 'special exemption' from having to obtain the minimum IELTS test scores that are made on the ground specified in section 12.b.v of the Board's 'Guidelines for exemption from obtaining the minimum IELTS test scores', that is where an applicant claims to have:
"undertaken the IELTS test and achieved all the minimum scores across multiple instances of sitting the test within the previous two years, although not a single instance of sitting the test"
For more information about the tests, or how to seek an exemption from this requirement, see the Guidelines for exemption from the IELTS test.