Difference Between IDP and British Council: Which is Better for the IELTS Test?
“As if deciding to take IELTS wasn’t big enough! Now there is the IDP and British Council to choose from!” Thoughts like this hover around almost everyone who is gearing up for IELTS. To make matters worse, a good number of people actually believe that the exam is different at each of these organizations. Is there any difference between the IDP and British council? What is the deal all about? Let’s find out!
Common Misconceptions about IDP and British Council:
A surprising number of people strongly believe that the testing system is widely different in IDP than in the British Council.
For instance, they feel:
- IDP is more lenient in marking.
- The people who mark your exam papers are different.
- You need to register with IDP only if you are planning to go to Australia; while the British Council is for the U.K and U.S.
So What is the Truth?
The truth is very simple. Both the IDP and British Council, along with Cambridge English Language Assessment own IELTS. Cambridge English Language Assessment compiles the test and the IDP and British Council conduct it.
IDP is no more lenient in marking than the British Council because they follow the same marking system.
IDP vs British Council – Which One to Choose?
The first thing to keep in mind is that IDP and British Council are joint owners of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS). It does not make any difference whatsoever, whether you choose IDP or British Council to register with.
What is the British Council?
The British Council is an organisation engaged in promoting the English language. In India, the British Council offers IELTS for UKVI, academic, general etc. It is an official IELTS test centre where aspirants can book their IELTS test dates online.
What is IDP?
International Development Program or IDP is an educational organisation engaged in student placements in New Zealand, Canada, Ireland, UK, Australia and the USA.
How to Choose Between IDP IELTS and British Council?
Every year lakhs of people appear for the popular English language test, some with the aim of higher studies abroad, some are interested in immigration. Many of those aspirants go through this dilemma of choosing between the International Development Program and the British Council.
Content-wise there is no difference between IDP and British Council. However, in terms of infrastructure, there is a minor disparity; the International Development Program has more centres all over India than the British Council. As such, it has more test dates and more centres for the computer-delivered tests too.To know more difference between IDP and British Council, just click here