What’s the difference between IELTS writing 6.5 and 7.0?

At the beginning of 2016, the NMC introduced a new regulation which required all nurses from outside the UK to achieve a score of 7.0 or above (out of 9.0) in all four areas of the Academic IELTS exam – reading, listening, writing and speaking – in order to obtain a license to practise as nurses in the UK.

The purpose of this was to address concerns over patient safety in relation to the ability of overseas nurses to communicate effectively in English. The score needed for Writing was recently reduced to 6.5. SLC’s Programme Manager Beth explores the difference between 6.5 and 7.0 in this detailed report.