If you trained as a nurse or midwife outside the UK, the Nursing and Midwifery Council (NMC) wants proof of your English before it adds you to the register. The accepted tests are IELTS Academic and OET. This guide explains the score you need, how two sittings can be combined, and how to plan your preparation around the band that is holding you back.
NMC registration asks for IELTS Academic 7.0 — 7.0 in Reading, Listening and Speaking and at least 6.5 in Writing — or OET. You may combine results from two sittings, so one retake can close a single gap.
Source: nmc.org.uk ·
The NMC asks for IELTS Academic, so book the Academic version, not General Training. You need an overall band of 7.0, and the council also looks at each skill on its own. A strong overall score does not help if one skill is below its minimum: 6.5 in Listening is not enough for registration, however well the other skills went. The one skill with a lower minimum is Writing.
| IELTS Academic skill | Minimum band for the NMC |
|---|---|
| Overall | 7.0 |
| Reading | 7.0 |
| Listening | 7.0 |
| Speaking | 7.0 |
| Writing | 6.5 |
IELTS reports every skill on a band scale from 0 to 9 in half-band steps. The British Council and IDP run the same test, so it does not matter which of the two you book with. OET, a test written for health workers, is the other accepted option; the rest of this page is about IELTS.
Many nurses miss registration by a single half band in a single skill. The NMC allows you to combine results from two sittings. In practice this means you do not have to hit every minimum on the same day: if your first test gives you 7.0 in three skills and 6.5 in Speaking, a second test can supply the missing Speaking score. Both sittings must test all four skills at once and be of the same test type, and the NMC sets time limits on how the two results may be combined, so read its current guidance before you book the second test.
You sit all four skills again. This is the safest way to produce a second result, and it gives you another chance in every skill, not only the weak one.
The NMC only accepts results where all four skills were tested at the same sitting. A single skill retaken on its own does not count, so the second result has to come from a full test.
IELTS Academic takes 2 hours 45 minutes and is now delivered on computer. It is a general academic test, not a clinical one: you will read about science or society, not about wards and patients. Good bedside English therefore does not guarantee 7.0. Each skill has its own trap.
Three long academic passages. Time runs out before understanding does, so practise under the real time limit and learn to find the answer in the text instead of reading every line twice.
You hear each recording once. Points are lost on spelling, plurals and word limits as often as on understanding, so check every answer against the instructions.
Task 1 asks you to describe a chart, graph or diagram; Task 2 is an essay. Even with the lower minimum of 6.5, Writing is the skill many candidates find hardest to move, so start it early.
A face-to-face conversation with an examiner. Fluent answers on work topics are not enough if you struggle when the questions turn abstract. Practise giving reasons and examples.
A test is not the only kind of evidence the NMC accepts. Before you pay for IELTS, check whether one of these routes already fits your situation:
Each route has detailed conditions, and the NMC checks them for every application. If none of them clearly applies to you, plan for a test: IELTS Academic or OET.
Take a full timed mock before you book. Your weakest skill decides your date, not your overall band.
Spend most of your time on the skill below its minimum, whichever it is, and do one short session a week on the others so they do not slip.
Book once you reach the minimum in every skill on more than one mock, not on a single good day. Fees are set locally by each test centre, so check the price list in your country.
If one skill falls short, go back to step 2 for that skill only and plan the second sitting, keeping to the NMC rules on combining results.
You need IELTS Academic with an overall band of 7.0, at least 7.0 in Reading, Listening and Speaking, and at least 6.5 in Writing. Every skill must reach its own minimum; a high overall band does not make up for a low skill.
The NMC asks for IELTS Academic. Book the Academic version so your result matches what the council lists. OET is the other accepted test.
Yes. The NMC lets you combine results from two sittings, so a second test can close a gap in one skill. The council sets conditions on which two results can be combined, so read its current guidance before you book again.
No. The NMC wants all four skills tested at the same sitting and does not accept a single skill taken or retaken on its own. If one band falls short, plan a full second test and combine the two results.
Possibly. The NMC also accepts a nursing, midwifery or nursing associate qualification that was taught and examined in English, or recent practice in a country where English is the majority language. Some applicants can add a reference from a UK employer. Each route has its own conditions.
The fee is set locally by each test centre and differs from country to country, so check the price list of the British Council or IDP centre near you. The test itself is the same with both organisers.
The one furthest below its minimum. Take a full timed mock, compare each band with the NMC table (7.0, or 6.5 for Writing), and put most of your study time into the biggest gap while keeping the other skills in practice.