Covid-19 Exams FAQs

To protect the health of all our test takers, we are strictly following national authority guidance in response to Covid-19. We have suspended exams delivery until 26 April 2020, but the deadline may be extended according to guidelines from national authorities.  

Registrations are open for exams that are scheduled after the current suspension deadline.

Please check here for information on available exam dates. 

Yes, this is possible for most exams including IELTS and university exams. Please check the registration page for details of available sessions and get in touch with us via email at exams@britishcouncil.ch or ielts@britishcouncil.ch for further information.

If you registered for your exam directly with an awarding body, please follow their guidelines.

Please contact the test centre you registered with to transfer your test date.

Your exam results will be processed as normal for all exams that took place before the suspension.

You can access your results for IELTS through your profile on the IELTS Candidate Portal.

You can preview your IELTS test results on the Test Taker Portal - 13 calendar days from the test date for paper-based tests and 5-7 calendar days for computer delivered tests.

IELTS results remain online for 28 days but should not be used as an official confirmation of your performance.

We are not able to provide test results over the phone, by email or fax for security reasons.

The British Council and awarding bodies are doing everything possible to meet deadlines for delivery of results.

However, the current situation is extremely challenging and with office closures and staff working under extraordinary circumstances there may be slight delays. If this does happen, we will inform you immediately.

Most of our exams teams are currently working from home because of office closures, so they are not able to despatch certificates in the usual way.

Because of this, if your IELTS certificates were not delivered to you by post/courier or face-to-face prior to our office closure, we will hold them in secure conditions until we are able to despatch them either to individual candidates or the school/institution through which you registered.

Receiving Organisations (ROs) that you listed when registering for IELTS will, in most cases, have access to your online results. We will notify ROs of any changes resulting from the Covid-19 restrictions.

It will not be possible to collect your certificate in person at the British Council exam centre while our offices are closed.

If you were registered for an IELTS test, we will inform the Receiving Organisations that you mentioned on your registration form that tests have been suspended.

While our offices are closed, our team will support you via email: exams@britishcouncil.ch . We are working hard to respond to every email, but the situation is extraordinary, and delays may occur. Please accept our apologies in advance. We thank you for your understanding and cooperation.