Online pre-sessional courses 2024/25

Our online pre-sessionals allow you to meet the English requirements for your course or develop your academic skills further from the comfort of your own home. You'll be able to work and chat with other students, as well as have access to a wide range of support.

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Course structure and content

Our online pre-sessional course options last for 16, 10, 6, or 4 weeks.

When you log into the You@York applicant portal, you will be able to see which course is suitable for you as well as the specific entry criteria.

For a comprehensive list of the English language tests and evidence that we accept, please refer to our web page on IELTS equivalencies. 

Have you already met your language requirements?

We offer a pre-sessional for unconditional offer holders. This programme is designed to enhance your academic language and learn essential study skills. Find out more about this programme.

Applying for an online pre-sessional

How and when to apply

You will be able to apply for a pre-sessional course once you have accepted your offer to study at York via the pre-sessional tab in your You@York applicant portal.

Which course should I take?

The length of course (16, 10 or 6 weeks) you need to take depends on your current English language test scores or ability and how much you need to improve to reach the English language requirements for the degree you wish to study. Please check your You@York portal to see which pre-sessional course you're eligible for.

If you have already met your English language requirements but wish to practise or develop your academic language and skills, you can take our 4-week pre-sessional course.

English language requirements

We accept the following tests: IELTS, PTE Academic, CAE and CPE, TOEFL, Trinity ISE, Duolingo, and LanguageCert. 

Programme lengths and structure

We offer two longer programmes, 16 and 10 weeks. The 16 week programme is taught in two parts with a break in the middle. These students then join the 6-week students in new class groups for the remaining part of the programme. The 4-week programme is completely separate as this is for unconditional offer holders.

We have three main intake points for conditional offer holders:

• 16-week (10+6) designed for conditional offer holders who still need to meet their language requirements for their main programme of study. The courses will provide an introduction to academic life at the University and develop key academic language and study skills. During the first part, you will prepare for and complete summative assessments in each of the four skills. You will need to achieve a minimum of IPC 55 in all skills (B2/5.5 IELTS equivalent). After a short break, you’ll then join the 6-week pre-sessional to complete formative assessment tasks and re-take any summative assessments if you were unsuccessful the first time round.  
• 10-week (4+6) course and 6-week course designed for conditional offer holders meeting the language threshold of IELTs 5.5 (B2 equivalent) in all skills but still need to reach their target language level. This course focuses on developing your academic English and study skills within the general context of your future degree and subject area. In order to progress to your main degree programme, you must complete formative assessment tasks. 

We have one intake point for unconditional offer holders: 

• The 4-week course (if you have an unconditional offer) introduces you to academic life at the University and helps to prepare you for your future degree.

We have developed the delivery of our online Pre-sessionals to give you the flexibility to study around your day at a time and place that suits you. You will be able to follow a weekly study plan with a series of learning tasks for you to complete and submit to specific deadlines. You will be able to access the study materials from the University virtual learning environment (VLE), Blackboard Ultra (Yorkshare) and collaborate with your classmates virtually in discussion forums. You will have regular contact with your tutor throughout the week, for example, exchanging messages about your studies. There will also be live sessions for you to attend at regular intervals.

What support do I need to study the online pre-sessional?

You will need to have good digital skills, access to a PC or laptop or mobile device and a reliable internet connection. You should also have a quiet place to study, be organised and able to manage your time effectively.

Although there will be flexibility when you study, you will be expected to study on a full-time basis (37 hours per week) by following a weekly schedule.  Your tutor will explain what you are required to do in more detail at the start of the course.

Activities

For all of our online pre-sessionals, learning will take place by completing individual and collaborative tasks on the VLE. Your tutor will guide you through the weekly study plan and help you develop the skills you need to be an independent learner. The set learning activities will be available for you to complete on the VLE at a time that suits you. Your tutor will follow your progress and provide you with regular feedback which you will be expected to act upon. So whilst you can manage your own time for most of the programme, there is a lot of interaction that you will be involved in throughout.

Whilst you will be largely managing your studies in your own time, there will be times that you need to attend live sessions and you will be given a timetable to show when these are. During the live sessions you will interact with your tutor and classmates, for example, by taking part in academic reading circles, group discussions, seminars, guest lectures, presentations and tutorials.

Online platform

Our pre-sessional courses are very interactive, and you’ll have access to our Virtual Learning Environment (VLE) platform ‘Blackboard’ from wherever you are in the world.

Everything you need to study will be available on the VLE. 

We will show you how to complete learning activities on the VLE, including:

• preparing for the live sessions
• watching videos
• listening to recordings
• reading texts
• completing guided tasks
• taking part in online discussion forums
• creating your own video and audio recordings to share with your group
• participating in discussions with your fellow students
• writing activities to develop and improve your academic language.

We can support you if you have trouble accessing the tasks in the VLE due to problems outside your control, like slow or unreliable internet connection. We have measures in place, such as downloadable documents, that will allow you to fully participate in your programme without completely relying on the internet.

Staying in touch

You can contact your tutor, staff and other students in a variety of ways so that whatever time zone you are in you will be able to engage with us.

This includes:

• live group sessions and individual tutorials
• email
• video and voice calling
• instant messaging
• discussion forums.

Time differences

Our online courses are designed so that you can manage your study, regardless of time differences.

Please note that most of your studies will be managed at a time that suits you, but some live sessions will take place. Live sessions on the course will be timetabled according to UK time and will accommodate reasonable time differences. For example, if you are studying in China, we will schedule your live sessions at UK morning time so that it is not too late for you. If you are studying in Brazil, we will schedule them later in the day UK time so that it is not too early for you.

Feedback

You will receive regular feedback from our International Pathway College (IPC) tutors. This will allow you to focus on the areas you need to develop and will help you to feel more prepared for your degree. This feedback will be given in different formats, including: recorded feedback to listen to, written feedback on homework tasks, spoken feedback in classes and during tutorials. This information is really important for you as a student, so make sure to take notes and follow the advice you are given to give you the best chance at success.

Assessment

Pre-sessional assessment

There are two types of assessment: formative and summative.

• Formative assessment helps you evaluate your progress on the course and get feedback from a tutor. This does not count towards your final grades.
• Summative assessment is the formal assessment that will count towards your final grade.

All of these assessments are done in a similar way to those on a degree programme. Our course coordinators and Programme Leader work closely with other academic departments to make sure that the skills you are learning on the pre-sessional reflect what you will need in the future.

Formative assessment

Formative assessment happens regularly throughout the course and will help you to understand which areas you need to improve. Our tutors will make recommendations on independent study tasks that will help with this.

These are excellent opportunities for you to discuss your work, development and concerns with your tutor. They will also help prepare you for your summative assessment and onward degree.

Summative assessment

Summative assessments are graded and determine whether you have met your requirements to progress or not. You will only do this if you are on the 16-week (10+6) pre-sessional. 

During the 16-week pre-sessional students will complete summative assessments as coursework to assess their reading, writing, listening and speaking skills. The marks you get for this will determine whether you can progress onto your degree programme. The coursework is divided into two parts:

• Research project - a written assignment and a spoken presentation
• Response journals - reading or listening to an academic text and completing a task based on this.

You must successfully complete summative assessments in each of the four skills, and receive a minimum of IPC 55 in all skills (B2/5.5 IELTS equivalent). In the second part of the course, you will complete formative assessments and attend a minimum of 85 per cent of the programme.

Support for students

We have a number of ways that you can get support during your studies, including throughout our online pre-sessional courses.

The International Pathway College (IPC) has its own dedicated Student Support Team that will give you advice and guidance during your pre-sessional course.

You will have access to:

• IPC Virtual Reception and telephone line (available Monday to Friday, 9.00am to 5.30pm BST)
• Student Support Personal Tutor, with weekly drop-in sessions and one-to-one sessions on request
• online social events to help with wellbeing and more.

Students will be given an initial talk about International Support available and how to prepare for their visa applications.  Later in the programme, workshops are run to help students complete the Student Visa application as much as possible before they request and receive their CAS.

We also offer other forms of support across the University:

• TalkCampus
• International Student Support Team
• International Students' Association

Welcome and social programme

We offer a series of virtual welcome and orientation events, so there are lots of opportunities to meet staff and your fellow students. We will get you fully registered by offering talks about university life, helping you through the enrolment process and completing various compliance checks. 

The IPC Student Support team also organises a weekly social programme which students are invited to join.