After Poland joined the European Union young people from our country have had more op­por­tu­ni­ties of studying abroad. A lot of secondary school students think about studying in a foreign country. Such a decision is not easy and you’d better con­si­der all the pros and cons before you make it.

A necessary condition for studying abro­ad is a good command of a foreign lan­gu­age. If this condition is fulfilled, you can start collecting all sorts of documents that are needed to study abroad.

One of advantages of staying abroad for a longer time is the op­por­tu­ni­ty of learning the lan­gu­age profoundly and meeting other cultures. The only way to really get to know a country is to live and study there. I think that after such an experience you can re­ali­ze how little you knew before about the in­ha­bi­tants and culture of the co­un­try.

By studying abroad you learn how to be more tolerant towards others. You also become more independent, resourceful and self-reliant. You have to count more on yourself and not only on your family and friends.

Sometimes if you want to have extra money, you have to find a part-time job. But I’m inclined to treat it as an advantage because it is a way to gain experience.

Moreover, if you decide to come back to Poland after graduating, it is easier for you to find a good job. Employers still con­si­der such can­di­da­tes better than others.

However, if you want to study abroad you have to take some draw­backs into con­si­de­ra­tion. Studying abroad is fairly expen­si­ve and even if you have obtained a grant it is sometimes not enough to su­rvi­ve. If your funds are limited, you have to give up on a lot of activities such as going out or shopping.

Finally, it happens that you are di­sap­po­in­ted with your choice of faculty and it is more difficult to resign from the studies if they are already paid. Sometimes the lon­ging for your family and friends may be an obstacle to fully enjoy your stay abroad.

After considering the advantages and disadvantages of studying abroad, you can see that the decision is not easy. You have to think everything over and not act spon­ta­ne­ously because you may be di­sap­po­in­ted. Before you make a decision you’d better talk to your family and people who have already studied abroad.

 

Przykładowe pytanie, jakie może zadać egzaminator

Describe briefly the educational ­system of the Great Britain.

In Britain all children of compulsory scho­ol age (between 5 and 16) must re­ce­ive a full-time education. They go to primary school for seven years and se­con­da­ry school for five years. Primary school may be divided into infant school and junior school. There are different kinds of secondary school, but all students follow the same na­tio­nal cur­ri­cu­lum which le­ads to GCSE qu­ali­fi­ca­tions (Ge­ne­ral Cer­ti­fi­ca­te of Se­con­da­ry Edu­ca­tion).

At the age of 16, students can choose to leave school or go on to attend sixth form for a further two years. At the end of this time, they sit A level exams (ad­van­ced) to qualify for entry to college or uni­ver­si­ty.