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Baguio City Academy — 8 tracks

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TESTGUARANTEE

IELTS Guarantee

Target score guaranteed

Your target score guaranteed within 8 or 12 weeks. Supervised Twilight study in the evening is part of it, and the guarantee holds as long as you meet the attendance, homework and mock-exam conditions.

Who it's for
Study and emigration applicants working to a deadline
Goal
The band you need, inside the time you have
Age
15+
Level
CEFR B1 – C2

How the course is built

Guarantee8 classes1:1 ×6 · Group ×2IELTS Twilight 19:00–21:00 · 8 or 12 weeks
1:1
Writing Task 1Writing Task 2Speaking 1Speaking 2ListeningReading
Group
BrainstormingGrammar

What each subject covers

Writing Task 1 (1:1)A 150-word piece describing a graph, table or diagram. You work out what to write first and what to leave out.
Writing Task 2 (1:1)An essay of at least 250 words. Repeated practice at building an argument and its evidence into paragraphs.
Speaking 1 (1:1)Part 1 and 2 — talking about yourself and the 2-minute talk. You start with the common topics until they come easily.
Speaking 2 (1:1)Part 3 — answering the deeper questions on abstract topics. This is the part that takes you above band 6.
Listening (1:1)All four sections, by question type. Fixing the places where you lose marks even when you knew the answer, such as spellings and numbers.
Reading (1:1)40 questions in 60 minutes. An order of attack for each question type, and how to find the place in the passage where the answer sits.
Brainstorming (group)The hour for getting ideas out and widening them for Writing Task 2. It covers the case where the answer is too thin to score, and reading and listening strategy is worked out here too.
Grammar (group)One of the four things Writing is marked on is grammatical accuracy. This lesson takes that one on its own.

IELTS score guarantee

A course on which the school undertakes to take you from your current band to your target band within a set period. It is conditional, though — the guarantee holds only if every one of the 'conditions for keeping the guarantee' below is met. Please read that list before enrolling and decide whether you can keep to it.

Entry scoreGuaranteed in 8 weeksGuaranteed in 12 weeks
4.0 – 4.55.05.5
5.0 – 5.56.06.5
6.06.5—
6.57.0—
To enrol
  • Sit the WALES IELTS pre-assessment (a 30–35 minute online interview)
  • An official IELTS result from the last year can stand in for it
  • Below band 3.5, we suggest reaching 4.0 on IELTS or Infinity Intensive first
To keep the guarantee
  • Keep attendance at 95% or above, Twilight classes included
  • Complete 100% of the homework
  • Attend every mock exam and every supervised study session
  • Gain at least 0.5 band on the mock exam every four weeks
  • No more than one disciplinary warning
  • Reach the target score on at least one mock exam
  • Teachers and timetable cannot be changed · the guarantee is not transferable
  • Sit the official IELTS — in week 7 or 8 on the eight-week course, week 11 or 12 on the twelve-week

What the tests look like

IELTSInternational English Language Testing System

The four sections are scored separately. Listening, Reading and Writing are sat in one session; Speaking is taken on its own, face to face with an examiner. It is the test that universities and immigration authorities worldwide have accepted the longest and most widely.

SectionLength
ListeningAbout 30 minutes · 40 questionsYou listen to conversations and lectures and answer questions on them. A mix of accents comes up: British, Australian, American and others.
Reading60 minutes · 40 questionsThree long passages. Academic uses academic texts; General Training uses everyday and workplace documents.
Writing60 minutes · 2 tasksTask 1 is a description of a graph or chart (a letter in General); Task 2 is an essay of at least 250 words.
Speaking11–14 minutesA 1:1 face-to-face interview with an examiner, running through three parts: introducing yourself, a short talk on a topic, then follow-up questions that go deeper.
Things to know
Score
Bands of 0 – 9, in steps of 0.5. The average of the four section scores is the Overall band.
Rounding
If the average of the four sections ends in .25 it is rounded up to the next half band; if it ends in .75 it is rounded up to the next whole band. Half a band in a single section can be enough to lift the Overall score.
Two versions
Academic is for university study and professional registration; General Training is for migration, work and secondary-level courses. Which one you need is decided by the place you are applying to.
Marking
Marking is done by people. Speaking, too, is not a recording — it is a real exchange with an examiner.
How you sit it
In the Philippines the test is taken on computer. The paper-based test ended on 21 June 2026. Speaking is still sat face to face with an examiner.
Validity
Usually 2 years.

How marks are awarded

Writing and Speaking are each marked on four criteria, and the average of the four becomes the score for that section. Once you know which criterion is costing you marks, you know what to work on.

Writing
  • Task Achievement / Response — did you answer what was asked
  • Coherence & Cohesion — do the paragraphs and the links between them read naturally
  • Lexical Resource — is your vocabulary wide and accurate
  • Grammatical Range & Accuracy — are your sentence structures varied and correct
Speaking
  • Fluency & Coherence — can you keep going without stalling
  • Lexical Resource — do you have the words you need
  • Grammatical Range & Accuracy — are your sentences varied and correct
  • Pronunciation — can you be understood

What score do you need?

These are only the ranges commonly asked for. The actual requirement differs by institution, department, visa and occupation, and it changes from year to year. You must check the requirements of the place you are applying to for yourself.

GoalIELTSPTE
Language study abroad · working holidayNot requiredNot required
Undergraduate study6.0 – 6.550 – 58
Postgraduate study6.5 – 7.058 – 65
Work or skilled migration in an English-speaking country6.0 – 8.050 – 79
Nursing and healthcare registrationAround 7.0Around 65
IELTS ↔ PTE conversion
IELTS 5.0 ≈ PTE 36IELTS 5.5 ≈ PTE 42IELTS 6.0 ≈ PTE 50IELTS 6.5 ≈ PTE 58IELTS 7.0 ≈ PTE 65IELTS 7.5 ≈ PTE 73IELTS 8.0 ≈ PTE 79

These figures are approximate, based on the comparison table published by Pearson. Some institutions use conversion tables of their own.

Sitting IELTS

IELTS is booked through two organisations, British Council and IDP. There are test centres inside the Philippines, so many students sit the test during their course and take their results home with them.

Pre-course assessment
Before you enrol, a 30–35 minute online assessment establishes your current band. If you have an official score report from within the past year, that is used instead.
Mock test every 4 weeks
Sat in the real test format, with a section-by-section account of where marks were lost. On the guarantee course, the improvement shown here is one of the conditions.
Evening Twilight
The guarantee course adds supervised self-study from 19:00–21:00. Students are not left to work alone; a teacher is there with them.

The test fee and the test centres vary by booking organisation and by test type. Current fees are shown on the booking pages above.

Frequently asked

8 weeks or 12 weeks — which one?

It comes down to the gap between your current band and your target band. Find your pre-assessment band in the table above and you can see how far 8 weeks and 12 weeks each guarantee.

What if I meet the conditions and still do not get the score?

If you have met every condition of the guarantee and still fall short of your target, you get four more weeks of tuition free. Dormitory and local fees are not included, and the free extension can be claimed once only. If you still fall short after those four weeks, you can carry on by re-enrolling. The conditions are demanding, so read the "conditions for keeping the guarantee" through to the end before you enrol and decide whether you can meet them.

How is it different from the regular IELTS course?

Supervised evening study, Twilight (19:00–21:00), is added and 1:1 lessons go up to 6 periods. In return you cannot change your teacher or your timetable, and conditions such as 95% attendance and 100% homework apply.

Programs people mix up
Infinity vs Infinity PRO

Infinity is comprehensive ESL, working evenly across speaking, reading, grammar and writing. PRO is for intermediate and up, concentrating on the English of work — speaking, writing, presenting.

Infinity vs EEP

Infinity is balanced study, grammar and comprehension included. EEP is conversation-led, for anyone who wants to get comfortable in travel and everyday English quickly.

Junior vs the adult courses

Fifteen is the line. Under 15 you may only enrol on Junior (ESL from 7 to 14, IELTS from 12 to 14, English-only policy in force), and you cannot come without a guardian. From 15 you enrol on the adult courses and may come alone.

IELTS vs IELTS Guarantee

IELTS is general score improvement. Guarantee promises your target within 8 or 12 weeks — provided you keep 95% attendance and meet the homework and mock-exam conditions — and includes supervised evening study.

IELTS vs PTE

Both prepare you for a certified exam. IELTS is marked by people and recognised widely by universities and immigration. PTE is marked by computer, so results come back fast and test dates are flexible.

Enrollment
Classes start every Monday

You take the level test on the day you arrive, and your course and group classes are assigned from the result.

Find your programme ↗
What tuition covers
  • Every class in the load you chose
  • Dormitory (studio through four-share condo)
  • Meals every day · halal and vegetarian available
  • Laundry service
  • A school trip every second week
  • Your own progress sheet