Short answer first. Of the 940 program records behind this site's search, 545 state a waiver condition in their own text, and the routes they name are not the ones applicants usually chase. The medium-of-instruction letter, the famous one, is only the fourth most common route. The two bigger doors are a different test score and a pathway course, and one of them is not really a waiver at all.
The routes, counted
| Waiver route | Records naming it (of 545) | What it actually asks of you |
|---|---|---|
| Another test score accepted instead | 196 | A TOEFL, PTE or similar score in place of IELTS; a substitution, not an exemption |
| Pathway, foundation or pre-sessional route | 189 | An English course before or alongside the degree; the test is deferred, not waived |
| Citizenship or native-speaker exemption | 166 | A passport from an English-speaking country; the only route that asks for no evidence of study at all |
| Degree taught in English (incl. MOI letter) | 117 | A prior degree in English, usually proven with a medium-of-instruction letter |
| Prior years of study in English | 34 | A stated number of years in English-medium schooling |
| Work experience / the university's own test | 10 | Rare, and usually paired with one of the routes above |
Read the top two rows carefully. Accepting another test (196 records) moves the requirement sideways; you still sit an exam. The pathway route (189) defers it into a course you pay for. The genuine exemptions are the next two: citizenship (166 records), which most applicants either hold or do not, and the degree taught in English (117), the MOI route, which is the one an applicant can actually go and document. The counts overlap by design: 197 of the 545 texts name two or more routes, because universities stack their conditions. Our waiver explainer works through when skipping the exam is real, and the PTE substitution guide covers the biggest single version of the top route.
The records that say no, or nothing
Two remainders matter as much as the routes. First, 395 of the 940 records state no waiver text at all, which means the default assumption stands: the test is required. Second, some of the 545 texts are not routes but refusals or judgment calls: no-waiver policies, discretionary decisions by an admissions board, and placement tests on arrival that re-impose the check after enrollment. A consultancy that sells waivers as a service, the GESCO test-preparation model this article's format follows, earns its fee exactly in that gap, between the routes a record names and the evidence a specific applicant can actually produce.
Sources: service format modeled on GESCO, English and test preparation (credited by name; its page address is truncated in our source sheet). All counts from this site's own program records (940 records harvested from its public search index, November 5, 2026; waiver routes counted by the conditions named in each record's own text, so routes overlap).