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Our Pre-sessional English Course for Undergraduates is academically challenging. It improves your research skills and your academic language skills to enable you to succeed on your future UCL degree.
Our course is suitable if you hold a conditional undergraduate UCL degree offer.
It satisfies Levels 1-5 of UCL’s English language requirement. You can check the English language requirement of your future degree on your offer letter.
It is a full-time and intensive course, and you must be fully available for its duration. It is not compatible with working, studying other courses, or completing internships. You must have finished high school before you start the course.
Course dates
The course dates are:
- Start date: Monday 30 June 2025
- End date: Monday 18 August 2025
- Results day: Thursday 28 August 2025.
As a guide, the Pre-sessional English Course for Undergraduates has six weeks of teaching and up to one week of assessment.
You must complete enrolment before or on the course start date, so that you can attend your first week's scheduled teaching events. You will be sent further information on enrolment during the application process.
If you either don’t complete enrolment or do not attend scheduled teaching events within the first five days, you will be withdrawn from the course.
For IOE undergraduate offer holders, you must take the IOE Preparation for Academic Studies in Higher Education course and cannot apply for any other Pre-sessional course.
What will you learn?
On the course, you will conduct research related to your future degree using UCL Library tools, read and understand complex academic texts, produce academic writing, watch authentic lectures and contribute to seminar discussions.
In the lessons, you will work and collaborate with other students and your tutor to develop your understanding of academic English and improve your academic skills.
We recognise that you are in the early stages of your academic journey and so we have materials tailored for pre-undergraduates, which will help you transition to higher education in the UK, and develop your academic skills and language.
These course materials were designed using feedback from former pre-undergraduate pre-sessional students and tutors, and by discussing what is expected of undergraduates and how they are typically assessed with UCL faculties.
You will complete a variety of formative tasks and receive verbal and written feedback from your tutor.
You will also participate in regular individual tutorials with your tutor.
Online course
This course is delivered online.
You will be taught remotely via UCL’s online platforms (such as Microsoft Teams) in classes with other pre-undergraduate students, and by tutors who have specific experience of teaching pre-undergraduate students.
This also means you have the benefit of being in your home country while studying.
What will my day look like?
You will begin every day by independently accessing online interactive activities and tasks.
These activities and tasks are essential preparation for your lessons.
Then, you will participate in lessons with your tutor in a class of up to 15 students.
You will also have weekly tutorials to discuss any issues which may be affecting your studies and receive guidance and support.
The course operates during standard UCL working hours, and the teaching and assessment schedule is fixed and cannot be changed. Please check the sample timetable.
Technical requirements
You must have a laptop to access electronic materials and engage in your lessons.
Please note the following minimum technical requirements for the course:
- a modern laptop (mobile devices such as tablets or phones are not appropriate)
- a headset or headphones (highly recommended) or functioning speakers and a microphone
- a working webcam
- Chrome and Firefox installed
- an internet connection with at least 40 MB/s download and 10 MB/s upload speeds.
Additionally, based on feedback from students studying online in 2024, we highly recommend the following:
- a second/external monitor
- an external mouse and/or keyboard
- a wired ethernet connection
- a computer with an Intel i5 or equivalent processor and at least 16GB RAM
- broadband internet with at least 80 MB/s download and 20MB/s upload speeds.
We’ll provide training on how to use the online platforms used on the course (e.g. Microsoft Teams) at the start of the course. Technical support will be available during normal UK office hours (9am – 5pm, Monday – Friday).
Timetable
Your weekly timetable will typically include:
- 15 hours of online contact time in lessons
- Up to 15 hours of independent study
- 15 minutes of online contact time in individual tutorials.
Therefore, it is a full-time and intensive course and cannot be combined with other study, employment or internships.
Your tutors
Your tutors will be introduced to you at the beginning of the course. They are approachable and dedicated Associate Lecturers and will prepare you for your studies at UCL.
In addition, the Senior Pre-sessional Coordinator (Student Experience) will contact you at key points in the course to help and support you.
The Senior Team will also support you while you’re on the course and you can read more about them by following the link below.
Assessment
To assess your skills in reading, writing, speaking and listening, you will be required to:
- engage with tasks as part of an individual research project
- take two exams.
The assessments are covered in greater detail below.
As a conditional undergraduate degree offer holder, you must achieve a UCL English level 1, 2, 3, 4 or 5 to meet the English-language requirement stated in your degree offer letter to progress to your chosen UCL degree.
All students enrolled on the course are required to complete all assessments.
Reading and Writing: Research Essay
You will produce an essay based on independent library research.
This essay will be based on a topic related to your future academic discipline, and you will receive support in finding and evaluating academic texts that you will use to construct the argument in your essay.
You will be required to provide evidence of your reading during the research process.
Speaking: Question and Answer Exam
You will attend a Question-and-Answer Exam based on your essay in which you will have the opportunity to explain and clarify aspects of your work.
Listening: Seminar Exam
You will participate in a small-group discussion based on the content of a lecture.
You will be assessed on your ability to understand the other students and to respond appropriately during the discussion.
Fees
The tuition fee is £7,450
See the how to apply page for further information on when and how you need to pay your course fee.