Intensive support

Our pre-sessional programmes are intensive courses of four, eight or 12 weeks. They are aimed at students holding a conditional offer who need to improve their academic English and study skills before they start their studies

Course content

Activities will include:

• Giving presentations
• Taking part in discussions
• Writing summaries and academic essays
• Listening to lectures and talks.

You’ll study for 40 hours a week and 40% of this time will be teacher-led. You’ll also have regular one-to-ones or small group discussions. By the end of your course, you should have:

• Improved your English.
• Developed strategies for learning on your own.
• Become familiar with our virtual learning environment - Moodle.
• Gained a better understanding of the key skills and language you need to study successfully at university.

How we will assess you

Assessment will consist of:

• An essay  (65%).
• An oral assessment (20%).
• A lecture comprehension assessment (15%).

If you take the twelve week programme, you’ll need to meet our attendance requirements and achieve a minimum mark of 40% overall. You’ll then be able to progress to your chosen Royal Holloway degree.

If you take the four or eight-week programme, you’ll need to meet our attendance requirements and complete all assessments to progress to your chosen degree.

If you don’t have an English language qualification that shows you are competent in English at B2 level under the Common European Framework, please note the following:

• If you take the twelve week programme, you need to fulfill the programme attendance requirements and achieve a minimum mark of 40 per cent overall. You will then be able to progress to your chosen Royal Holloway degree.
• If you take the four or eight week programme you must fulfill the attendance requirements and complete all assessments to progress to your chosen degree.
• Please note that in addition to the requirements above, all students must either achieve or maintain an English language level of B2 (Common European Framework). This means achieving a minimum mark of 30 per cent in each the summative assessments at the end of the programme.

Dates and fees for 2018 entry

*This is the date on which students will move accommodation. Final classes/assessments will be on 11 September.
How to apply

How to apply

Once you have accepted an offer to study at an undergraduate or postgraduate level, you can then apply for one of our pre-sessional programmes through your Applicant portal.

You must already hold an internationally-recognised English qualification at a level that will enable you to benefit from a pre-sessional programme. See ‘How to work out which Pre-Sessional English Language Programme to take’ below.

Deadline for applications

The deadlines for applying for a pre-sessional programme are:

How to work out which pre-sessional English language programme to take

To find out which pre-sessional English language programme (PELP) you need to take, look at the table below:

• Select the relevant heading showing the English language test you’ve taken or are planning to take eg IELTS or Pearson.
• Then select the English language requirement for your chosen degree

The table will then show you whether you need to take the four, eight or twelve week PELP programme depending on your current English language level.