Hi all,

My wife was due to take her IELTS today. We booked a B1 test to save a bit of time in the future. On the way to the exam she was involved in a minor traffic accident in a UV express van. She is ok thankfully but a little shaken. She had to get out and take LRT the rest of the way. When she arrived for the test she noticed her wallet was stolen somewhere en route, which had her UMID in it. This is the ID we had used to book the test and she was not allowed to sit the exam despite having the photocopy of the UMID and a valid passport with her. She was really upset but not to worry, we have re-booked the test for 6th May and this time booked her in with her passport as ID, so we should only lose about 2 weeks worth of time in submitting her application (we have everything else now).

This got me doing a bit more reading on the B1 IELTS life skills exams and so on and I stumbled across some new information. It turns out that these exams have an expiration date of 2 years, however you CAN still use it as long as it is still recognised as an appropriate exam at the time and if this certificate was used with her initial application. All should be good with that then as long as it stays as a recognised test. My question is....how long has this been a recognised exam and how often are they reviewed??

Lastly, what do you think are the chances of us getting a refund on my original test fee? I can't see anything to say that money wouldnt be returned if the exam is not sat anywhere on the website. In fact I did find a "request a refund or test change date" form in the important informatino setion of the British Council website. Unfortunately we couldn't wait to request a change of date as the applications for the 6th May exam close tomorrow and I doubt we could get a response by then. I thought it better to re-book and chase a refund instead/