6-Week Undergraduate Pre-sessional English

6-week Undergraduate Course

Online Delivery

The 6-week Undergraduate Pre-Sessional English online 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: Online

Duration: 6 weeks

Course Dates: 21 July - 29 August 2025

Cost: £3360

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Syllabus

Course Overview

The 6-week Pre-Sessional English online course for undergraduate 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. The course is designed to support you in becoming familiar with the conventions, demands and expectations of your future discipline.

You will focus on the particular texts and genres that you will need to cope with to engage effectively in discipline-based study. During the course, you will practise the skills of searching for appropriate source materials, integrating your reading into appropriate structures of explaining theory, argument, and discussion, all whilst using the norms of citation for your discipline. You will also practise discussion of issues arising from listening or reading material - collaborative, student-led discussion is emphasised as a method of developing skills for managing spoken interaction, exercising critical evaluation skills and raising your awareness of the benefits of learning through academic discussion. There will also be an emphasis on writing to set guidelines (as will be the case in your undergraduate studies) and editing written work in response to feedback from your tutors.

With successful completion of the course, you will 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 Information

This module aims to help students to become more independent and self-confident in preparation for their undergraduate study at a UK HE institution. Students will develop a range of language, academic and study skills, centred around the discipline of their chosen future undergraduate programme. Students will develop the skills to enable them to make effective use of their reading and to present this appropriately to prospective audiences. Students will work on the development of the skills needed to speak confidently and effectively in small seminar groups and in more formal situations, such as individual and group presentations. Students will also develop skills and strategies to work as a community in the online space.

Text and Genre skills: Selecting and evaluating source material • Identifying relevant information in a text • Citation and referencing practices • Paraphrasing and academic integrity • Text structures and organisation • Discipline-specific genre writing development • Coherence and cohesion in writing • Effective reading skills for longer texts • Critical reading

Speaking skills: Language for participating in and co-constructing knowledge within discussions; using academic resources as a basis for discussion. Making an effective, well-structured and evidence informed contribution to a discussion

Skills for online learning: Generative AI affordances and constraints • Effective engagement with online lectures • What is means to be part of an online community • Enhancing cognitive and technical skills required to develop digital literacies for learning in UK HE context

Teaching and Assessment

How will I be taught?

Teaching will be delivered online via seminar groups and tutorials with both asynchronous and synchronous (live) activities - the average class size is 12 students. The course will be delivered through the medium of Microsoft Teams.

During the programme, you will receive 15 hours of live 'classroom' time per week, with an additional 12 hours of tutorials (group and one-to-one) over the whole 6-week programme, in addition to the time required to complete interactive materials online. You are expected to actively engage in:

Seminar activities and discussion forums with the class;
Collaboration on set tasks;
Independent learning and assignments;
One-to-one or small group tutorials;
Large group online lectures;
Other independent study as directed.

How will I be assessed?

There will be a range of formative assessments during the course. For the final summative assessments, students complete a researched Written Portfolio and participate in a Seminar Skills discussion.

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

Online Learning

Online Classes

It is important to make sure that you have your IT set up so you can learn online effectively.

Device Specifications

The following is our recommended specifications, but please don’t worry if you do not have a device which meets these criteria. It is most useful to have a Windows 10 Operating System and Microsoft Office 2016+.

Laptop/Desktop:
- 2.06Ghz CPU (Dual-core)
- 8GB RAM
- 500GB Hard/SS Drive (3.0GB available)
- Sufficient WiFi
- 12 inch screen
- Ethernet port/adapter and Ethernet cable (if you’d like reliability of wired connection)
- Webcam or laptop with built in camera, ideally a headset with microphone
- USB 2.0port if you have a USB headset
- Mouse, mat, keyboard, necessary input/output leads
Operating System/Software
- MS Windows 8 or higher
- MS Office2016+
- Latest version of Chrome
For a Mac:
- Mac OS X 10.11 El Capitan or later

You will predominantly be using Teams (App), Moodle (VLE - Virtual Learning Environment) and SharePoint.

Broadband Speed Test

It would be highly beneficial to check your broadband speed before the programme starts. You should do this where you will be learning, including the room you will be using. Please test your broadband speed with all other devices in the household turned off.

There are some common problems that you may experience studying online including broadband connection problems. Here are some other tips if you're struggling with the WiFi:

Ensure you are working as close as possible to your broadband router/wireless access point
Avoid using large numbers of other wireless connected devices such as as mobile phones, tablets, games consoles, internet connected devices etc
Close any extra unused web browser tabs that you are not using
Make sure you are not using any video or music streaming services at the same time
If possible, connect your laptop to your broadband router/wireless access point via a wired Ethernet/network cable for maximum performance.

Entry Requirements

You are eligible to apply for the 6-week Pre-Sessional English Undergraduate course if:

Your first language is not English;
You have an offer to study an Undergraduate degree at the University of Warwick for entry in 2025/26, with an English language condition to meet;
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 Undergraduate 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 for your Undergraduate degree course if you cannot see this information in your offer.

English Language Test	Requirement for 6-Week Pre-Sessional (Band A Undergraduate Courses)	Requirement for 6-Week Pre-Sessional (Band B Undergraduate Courses)	Requirement for 6-Week Pre-Sessional (Band C Undergraduate Courses)
IELTS Academic (and IELTS for UKVI) IELTS 'One skill Retake' not acceptable	IELTS 5.5 overall with at least 5.5 in all components	IELTS 6.0 overall, including Speaking 6.0, Listening 5.5, Writing 6.0, Reading 5.5	IELTS 6.5 overall with at least 6.0 in all components
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 - 19, Listening – 19, Speaking – 22, Writing – 20	TOEFL iBT 92 overall including Reading - 20, Listening – 20, Speaking – 22, Writing – 21
Warwick IFP EAP Module	Overall Profile - Pass, with minimum of Reading - Pass, Listening - Pass, Speaking - Pass, Writing - Pass	Overall Profile - Credit, with minimum of Reading - Pass, Listening - Pass, Speaking - Credit, Writing - Credit	Overall Profile - High Credit, with minimum of Reading - Credit, Listening - Credit, Speaking - Credit, Writing - Credit
Pearson Academic (PTE)	Not accceptable for entry	Not accceptable for entry	Not accceptable for entry
LanguageCert	Not acceptable for entry	Not acceptable for entry	Not acceptable for entry

Applying

Applications for the 6-week Pre-sessional English Undergraduate course for 2025 will close on 9 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 undergraduate degree application.

Apply now