6-Week Postgraduate Pre-sessional English

6-week Postgraduate Course

On-Campus Delivery

The 6-week Postgraduate Pre-Sessional English course is a full-time academic English language and study skills programme that takes place ahead of your forthcoming degree studies. The course offers an alternative way to meet the English language conditions needed to study for your degree at the University of Warwick.

There is no formal award for these courses - successful completion of the course will allow you to meet the English language condition of your offer. Joining the Pre-Sessional English course will help you to develop further your language and study skills, allow you to feel more self-confident and better prepared when you begin your future studies - it will also give you an opportunity to meet fellow students and build friendships before your main degree starts.

Key Information

Mode of Study: Full-time

Delivery Mode: Face-to-Face (in-person)

Duration: 6 weeks

Course Dates: 11 August - 19 September 2025

Cost: £3360

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Syllabus

Course Overview

The 6-week Pre-Sessional English course for postgraduate students allows you to develop the specific academic language and study skills that you will need in order to follow and engage in your future degree subject.

By the end of the programme, you should be able to:

Read critically, and demonstrate this through selecting relevant and appropriate texts and extracting, analysing and evaluating relevant information, perspectives and arguments.
Make appropriate and principled linguistic choices to communicate effectively, demonstrating an awareness of academic genre(s).
Recognise and apply key epistemic and structural features of academic texts relevant to the discipline.
Understand and critically reflect on the academic culture, practices and expectations of UK Higher Education Institutions.
Interact with others effectively to co-construct understanding.
Present an informed position on a topic discussed.

Modules

Module Outline

The Postgraduate Pre-sessional English module is designed to help you understand and build confidence with the conventions, demands and expectations of your future discipline area. You will work in subject-specific groups, and there is a focus on the particular texts and genres that you need to cope with to engage effectively in discipline-based study. During your work on the module, you will practise the skills of searching for appropriate source materials, integrating your reading into structures of exposition, argument, and discussion, using the norms of citation for your discipline. You will also practise discussion of issues arising from your listening or reading material. This module focuses on collaborative work as a way of developing key postgraduate skills such as critical thinking.

The module aims to help you become a more independent and self-confident learner, ready to face the demands of postgraduate study. You will develop a range of language, academic and study skills, centred around the discipline of your chosen future postgraduate programme. You will develop the skills to enable you to make effective use of your reading and to present this appropriately to prospective readers. You'll learn how to take notes from a lecture or class, and to use these in your written or oral work. You will work on the development of the skills needed to speak confidently and effectively in small groups and in more formal situations, such as individual and group presentations.

Subject specific skills

Critical engagement with complex texts
Identifying and using relevant information from academic source texts to incorporate into academic assignments
Linguistic knowledge of academic texts: vocabulary and academic style; grammar and sentence/paragraph structure
The writing process: generating ideas, planning, drafting and editing
Reading strategies and comprehension skills: navigating texts, getting the gist, identifying key points
Paraphrasing, summarising and synthesising from sources
Follow conventions of citing and referencing
Conduct guided research effectively
Listen effectively to longer spoken texts and be able to reproduce main arguments
Take effective notes from spoken input
Use pre-, during and post-listening techniques to develop comprehension of a spoken text
Orally summarise key points of a spoken text
Be an active, reflective and critical participant in small and large group discussions
Use language appropriately to refer to sources, visuals and to signpost

Transferable skills

Note-taking
Library skills (e.g. finding and evaluating sources)
Referencing
Academic reflection
Time management
Self-evaluation
Presentation skills
Self-reflection
Interpersonal skills
Digital Literacy
Engagement with AI
Team working

Teaching and Assessment

How will I be taught?

The 6-week Pre-sessional English course will be delivered face to face, on campus. Teaching will mainly be delivered via seminar groups and tutorials - the target maximum group size is 16.

During the programme, you will receive 17 hours contact time per week and are expected to actively engage in:

Seminar activities and discussion forums with the class;
Collaboration on set tasks with a study group;
Independent work on assignments;
Regular one-to-one or small group tutorials;
Independent study as directed.

Microsoft Teams will be used to support activities both inside and outside your classes.

How will I be assessed?

There will be a range of formative and summative assessments during the course, including a Written Portfolio and a Seminar Discussion.

More information about the grades required and progression to your main degree programme are available in our FAQs.

Entry Requirements

You are eligible for the 6-week Postgraduate Pre-Sessional English course if:

Your first language is not English;
You have an offer to study a Postgraduate degree at the University of Warwick for entry in 2025/26, with an outstanding English language condition;
You meet the English language requirements for the 6-week Pre-Sessional English course as outlined below.

The English language requirements for the Pre-Sessional course will depend upon which Postgraduate degree you will be studying at Warwick and what the English language requirement for this course is (Band A, B, or C). Please review the table below to see the criteria that will relate to you - you may need to check the English language requirementsLink opens in a new window if you are not sure which band your Postgraduate course is, and if you cannot see this information in your offer.

The entry requirements for WMG students have been specifically set in conjunction with the WMG department, to reflect their recognition that students who successfully complete the Pre-sessional English course are at a suitable level for postgraduate study in the department.

English Language Test	Requirement for 6-week Pre-sessional (WMG Postgraduate courses)*	Requirement for 6-Week Pre-Sessional (Band A Postgraduate Courses)**	Requirement for 6-Week Pre-Sessional (Band B Postgraduate Courses)	Requirement for 6-Week Pre-Sessional (Band C Postgraduate Courses)
IELTS Academic (and IELTS for UKVI) IELTS 'One skill Retake' not acceptable	IELTS 6.0 overall, with a maximum of two components at 5.5, and two components above 5.5	IELTS 6.0 overall, including Speaking - 6.0, Listening - 5.5, Writing - 6.0, Reading - 5.5	IELTS 6.5 overall including Speaking - 6.5, Listening - 5.5, Writing - 6.5, Reading - 5.5	IELTS 7.0 overall, including Speaking - 6.5, Listening - 6.0, Writing - 6.5, Reading - 6.0
TOEFL iBT/TOEFL iBT Special Home Edition (MyBest Scores not accepted)	TOEFL iBT 82 overall including Reading - 19, Listening – 19, Speaking – 22, Writing – 20	TOEFL iBT 87 overall including Reading - 22, Listening – 21, Speaking – 23, Writing – 21	TOEFL iBT 92 overall including Reading - 19, Listening – 19, Speaking – 22, Writing – 21	TOEFL iBT 100 overall including Reading - 22, Listening – 21, Speaking – 22, Writing – 21
Duolingo (Only Duolingo tests that provide individual Reading, Writing, Speaking and Listening component scores are acceptable to meet English language conditions)	110 overall, with 110 in two components, no lower than 100 in other components	110 overall, with 110 in Writing and Speaking, no lower than 100 in Reading and Listening	120 overall, with 120 in Speaking and Writing and no lower than 100 in Reading and Listening	130 overall, with 120 in Speaking and Writing and no lower than 110 in Reading and Listening
Pearson Academic (PTE)	Not acceptable for entry	60 overall, including Reading - 59, Listening - 59, Speaking - 59, Writing - 59	Not acceptable for entry	Not acceptable for entry
LanguageCert	Not acceptable for entry	Not acceptable for entry	Not acceptable for entry	Not acceptable for entry

*Not applicable for the MSc Innovation and Entrepreneurship - students joining this course will need to meet Band B requirements.

**Students holding offers with Warwick Medical School and Centre for Lifelong Learning will need to achieve specific component scores in addition to these publicised levels.

Medical School taught courses (Band A) will require a 6.0 in the Reading and Writing components.

MA in Career Development and Coaching Studies (Band B) will require a 6.5 overall with 7.0 in speaking and listening

Accommodation Applying

Applications for the 6-week Pre-sessional English course for 2025 will close on 23 June 2025.

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After you have applied

Your application for the 6-week Pre-Sessional English course will be assessed once you have received a decision on your postgraduate degree application.