A Venezuelan wacky guy living his Australian dream

Believe it or not, the IELTS is one hell popular exam. The day before the reservation, my wife and I planned to wake up as early as possible to get to the British Council (Caracas) before the exam runs out of vacancy. We woke up at 4am almost dressed, got a light breakfast and jump out the apartment searching for a cab or maybe the nearest bus in the streets. We were hoping to get to the British Council one quarter to 6am.

Several minutes after we arrived the building just to hear an unpleasant “oh, you too are going to the BC? Boy the hall is full of people and I think there aren’t room left for you two, want to wait somewhere around here?”… My wife and I exchanged looks a little shrieked and worried, is not possible that at 5:45am the British Council were fully crowed…

Then the elevator doors come to a full opening…

As the security guard told us, there were people everywhere. Nearly 150 persons asking who was in charge and how could they made it to take the test. It was essential to take it quick in order to advance with their processes for migration, study, career, etc.

Then, among the crowd a woman spoke at loud leaving a couple of whispers between every now and then… “Please, pay attention… there are not more spots for the upcoming exam, if you are gentle can all of you leave the institute?”

Wrong phrase… little light in up a match in the gunpowder room. The people were yelling, some others were expressing a mixture of hate, dislike and chilling sensation. The manager popped out from the woman’s back trying to find a way to deal with the massive request. It was the very first time in Venezuela that more than 100 people wanted to take the test at the same time. The solution was asking for more exams and rent a place big enough to fit in 250 people.
As you may read, our situation wasn’t normal; the massive request was product of a modification of migration’s policies and those with a very low level of English wanted to remove this obstacle as fast as possible.

My advices are,

• Call the institute where you want to take the test to get as much information as you can about reservation and exams demand.
• Find out if there are online procedures to reserve a place or if you have to make it the hard way.
• Remember, the institute is always going to request enough exams to cover the normal case of use. If you think you’re in a not common situation better take actions before the day.