IELTS for Academic and General Training: transfer and cancellation policy

You may transfer your IELTS test date:

• five weeks before the scheduled test date (first component) – free of charge
• less than five weeks before the scheduled test date (first component) – a 25% administration fee will be charged*
• less than three days before the scheduled test date (first component) – no transfers can be arranged, except in the exceptional circumstances stated below
• serious illness or medical incident (such as hospital admission or a major injury)
• bereavement – loss of a close family member
• hardship or trauma (such as being a victim of crime or involved in a traffic accident)
• military service

The transfer test date must be within three months of the original test date. If you are unable to attend on the transfer test date, neither a further transfer nor a refund can be given.

You can submit your transfer request through this link, https://www.eventsforce.net/britishcouncil/5500/home. We will review your request and process it by following the Transfer Policies of the exams of which you registered.

If you cancel your IELTS test up to five weeks before the test date, you will receive a refund minus an administration fee of 25% of the test fee.

Please note that IELTS refunds can take four to six weeks to process.

IELTS Refund Policy

No refunds will be allowed for IELTS within five weeks of the test date. Exemptions from this policy are:

• serious illness or medical incident (such as hospital admission or a major injury)
• bereavement – loss of a close family member
• hardship or trauma (such as being a victim of crime or involved in a traffic accident)
• military service.

IELTS Cancellation Policy

To cancel your IELTS (Academic and General Training) test, please log in to the Test Taker Portal and submit a cancellation request, along with an upload of supporting documentation/evidence. Kindly send an email to notify this request to info@britishcouncil.org.my

If a medical certificate confirming illness on the date of the test is provided within five working days of the test date, together with the submitted cancellation request on the Test Taker Portal, the fee is refundable, minus an administration fee of 25% of the test fee.

Only medical certificates in English are accepted. If we have not received your submitted cancellation request along with an upload of supporting documentation/evidence on the Test Taker Portal, you will be marked as absent and forfeit all claims.

Only copies of medical certificates from a certified medical professional can be accepted. Please keep the original document with you as we may require it for further verification.

Please note that we do not accept sick notes issued by family members.

On rare occasions, there may be instances where you are unable to attend your test or are disadvantaged on the test day owing to illness, injury, or another exceptional event outside your control and you no longer qualify for a standard cancellation, refund or transfer close to the test date. In these cases, including instances such as bereavement, civil unrest or domestic crisis, you may make an application to your test centre for special consideration due to exceptional circumstances. You can find more information on this process here. 

Under certain circumstances outside of test centre control, we may have to cancel your test and transfer your IELTS date to a future date. These circumstances include, but may not be limited to, extreme weather conditions, natural disaster, civil unrest, industrial action, technical problems, issues at the venue or other types of disruption or disturbance in the local environment.

The British Council is not liable for any losses you incur as a result of test cancellation.

In these circumstances, your test centre will provide you with as much notice as possible and give you the choice of either a full refund*, or a transfer to a future test date – whichever you prefer.

If your test is cancelled or postponed due to other circumstances such as technical failure, venue or environmental factors, your test centre will provide you with as much notice as possible and give you the choice of a refund or a transfer to a future test.

*An additional bank transfer fee may be deducted by your bank.