Is the costly IELTS race for university admission really worth it?

By My Le February 1, 2026 | 12:00 am PT

Many universities in Vietnam now allow IELTS scores to be converted into admission points, a policy that has helped fuel the test’s growing popularity, raising the question of whether it truly promotes effective learning or simply pushes students into an expensive race for marginal advantages.

This question has increasingly concerned me as I observe more and more students taking the IELTS exam not because they need English for learning or communication, but primarily to gain an advantage in university admissions.

Students take the high school graduation exam in Ho Chi Minh City in 2025. Photo by VnExpress/Thanh Tung

For many families, IELTS has become a near-mandatory investment, despite the significant costs involved. Some parents are willing to cut back on daily expenses or even borrow money, spending tens or hundreds of millions of dong to help their children reach a target score.

What troubles me is whether this trade-off is truly justified. Many students devote substantial time to test-taking strategies, focusing on techniques and shortcuts designed to maximize scores. Meanwhile, foundational subjects and broader academic learning are often pushed aside. In this context, English becomes less a tool for acquiring knowledge and more a means of compensating for weaknesses elsewhere in the admissions process. This approach risks producing students who perform well on exams but lack solid academic grounding.

I am also concerned about the equity implications of this IELTS-driven admissions race. Not all students have access to high-quality test preparation programs, which often come with high tuition fees. For students from rural areas or lower-income families, pursuing an international language certificate can be a heavy financial burden. When IELTS scores are factored into admissions decisions, the advantage tends to favor those with greater financial resources rather than those with the strongest academic potential.

This is not to deny the importance of foreign language proficiency. English plays an essential role in higher education, research, and international integration. However, it may be more appropriate to view language development as a skill to be strengthened throughout university, rather than as a decisive "entry ticket" at the admissions stage.

Ultimately, the question for educators, policymakers, and parents alike is whether the current emphasis on IELTS is genuinely promoting meaningful learning, or whether it is encouraging an increasingly costly and competitive race for marginal gains.

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