Michael Goodine's Blog, page 16

PTE Core/CELPIP Concordance

Pearson is running a concordance study that compares the PTE Core and CELPIP General tests. Individuals who have taken the CELPIP General test are eligible to get a free voucher for the PTE Core and an Amazon voucher worth $100 CAD. Participants must be based in Canada.  Sign up here.

British Council Might Close Up Shop in 40-60 Countries

The Guardian is reporting that the British Council might have to close up shop in 40 to 60 countries in the near future.  The organization has been asked to draw up two sets of spending plans – one in which it receives no increase in funding from the British government, and another in which it […]

Office Hours Recap

Last week’s “Office Hours” were a big success.  The turnout was pretty good, and I didn’t have to do much talking.  The group included a nice mix of test prep folks, test takers and a few testing firm insiders. As a group, we chatted about a few stimulating topics, including: What it means for a […]

Tiny Little Update from Australian Home Office?

The Australian Home Office’s page for the language testing REOI has been revised.  Most everything has been removed and it now provides just a brief summary of the still-ongoing process. As for the future, it now states: “We may accept new English language tests that satisfy all REOI requirements as an outcome of the REOI […]

TOEFL Price Cut in Iran

The cost of taking the TOEFL test in Iran was lowered near the end of May.  The fee is now $220, down from $300.  Regular readers will remember me whinging about the cost increasing there back in January, so needless to say I’m happy about this price cut. Due to frequent collapses in the value […]

Historic IDP IELTS Volumes

Shares of IDP Education Ltd remain in freefall, now trading at 3.59 a piece.  I think they are priced at just a few more cents than at the end of their first day of trading, back in November of 2015. The Financial Review described the firm as a “dumpster fire” a few days ago, noting […]

iTEP Newsletter

iTEP International has just launched a quarterly newsletter.  You can read the newsletter and subscribe to keep on top of what the folks at iTEP are up to.  The iTEP is a test I hope to learn more about this year.  The team over there has been doing their thing for a couple of decades […]

More on Duolingo Changes (July, 2025)

Here’s a new video that summarizes all of the coming adjustments to the Duolingo English Test. It describes the “interactive speaking” question I wrote about on Monday and also notes that: A “listen and complete” task will be added to the beginning of the “interactive listening” task. The “Read aloud” and “listen then speak” tasks […]

IDP Education Shares Tumble 48%. Plus: News on HOELT and IDP IELTS China

IDP Education’s share price plummeted 48% today after a disappointing update from the testing and student placement firm.  Shares are down 66% for the year, so far.  They are currently trading at $3.88, which is the lowest they’ve been since December of 2016 According to the update, in FY2025 student placement volumes are expected to […]

Changes to the Duolingo English Test Speaking Section – July, 2025

Starting in July, the Duolingo English Test will include a new speaking task that seems like an attempt to simulate a back-and-forth conversation.  In this task, test takers will receive a series of short questions on a given topic followed by a series of short questions on some other topic.  They must quickly respond to […]