The TOEFL iBT test is offered in this location.
The list below shows testing regions, fees and dates as of February 15, 2019, but availability may change when you register. Fees are shown in US$ and are subject to change without notice.
| Region | Testing Format | Fee | Test Dates |
|---|---|---|---|
| Minsk | TOEFL iBT | $205 $205 $205 $205 $205 $205 $205 $205 $205 |
Sat., Mar 16, 2019 Sat., Mar 30, 2019 Sat., Apr 06, 2019 Sat., May 04, 2019 Sun., May 19, 2019 Sat., Jun 01, 2019 Sat., Jun 15, 2019 Sat., Jul 06, 2019 Sat., Jul 13, 2019 |
Belarus Overview
Belarus is a landlocked country in Eastern Europe with the capital Minsk. Since July 2020, the former state name »Belarus« has been replaced by the term »Belarus« in the German-speaking media, the corresponding adjective is »Belarusian«. This is to emphasize the country’s independence from Russia.
Belarus consists mainly of a wide flat land with many lakes and swamps. In the north, the plains are occasionally interrupted by chains of hills, to the south it slopes down to the wooded Pripjet swamps. Belarus has a temperate climate with warm, humid summers and cold, dry winters. Russians make up 8% of the population. About half of the population are Orthodox Christians. Over 40% do not belong to any religious community. The official languages are Russian and Belarusian. The languages are written with Cyrillic letters. The Russian language predominates in administration and in everyday life.
From the 14th century the area of today’s Belarus belonged to the Grand Duchy of Lithuania, which merged with Poland to form the Kingdom of Poland-Lithuania in 1569 and was divided up at the end of the 18th century. The territory of today’s Belarus fell to the Russian Empire. In 1922 the Belarusian Soviet Republic (BSSR) was a founding member of the Soviet Union. 1941-44 Belarus was occupied by the German armed forces. Over two million people lost their lives under the National Socialist reign of terror. After the collapse of the Soviet Union, the country declared its independence in 1991. Alyaksandr Lukashenka (* 1954) has been the state president since 1994, who expanded his position of power and severely restricted democratic rights.
The state directs and controls commercial enterprises. The industry mainly supplies machines and chemical products. Since there is not enough money to modernize the industrial plants, the products are not very competitive on the world market. Agriculture is of diminishing importance. After the Chernobyl reactor accident in Ukraine (1986), arable land that was radioactively contaminated had to be shut down. The most important foreign trade partner is Russia, on which Belarus is dependent for its oil and gas supplies. Belarus is one of the founding members of the Commonwealth of Independent States (CIS, 1991).
Population and Religion
Belarus has 9.5 million residents (2019), a little more than Austria. Due to the low birth rate, the population is declining slightly. The population is made up of 84% Belarusians and 8% Russians as well as small Polish and Ukrainian minorities. Official languages are Belarusian and Russian. Both languages are written with Cyrillic letters. Since Russian is spoken almost exclusively in public, the Belarusian language is increasingly being displaced from everyday life. The Belarusian language as part of national identity has been cultivated more strongly since the Ukraine conflict in 2014. Many Belarusians speak a mixed language (“Trasjanka”), which contains elements of Russian and Belarusian. The proportion of Orthodox believers is 48% of the total population. The approximately 7% Catholics live mainly in the western part of the country, which borders on Lithuania and Poland.
80% of people live in cities. Over a fifth of the population lives in the capital Minsk. Many people live in large apartment blocks on the outskirts of the city. Some have a dacha, a wooden summer house in the country. Basic medical care is free; the patient pays for additional treatments in cash. The hospitals in rural areas are sometimes poorly equipped, and patients bring medication and surgical supplies with them for treatment.
The human rights situation is serious. Again and again people are arrested because they are politically active or criticize the political leadership; the use of police violence, torture and the death penalty is also critical.
The state controls a lot in society: what can be said or written in the press, who gets which job and which language is spoken (Russian). Because of the state-prescribed way of thinking and the Soviet-socialist legacy, especially young and well-educated people from cities have the desire to flee abroad.
Economy
The economy is controlled by the state and is structured according to a planned economy. Agriculture was badly damaged by the Chernobyl nuclear disaster (Ukraine) in 1986. Almost 10% of the arable land had to be set aside because it has been contaminated with radioactive substances for decades. On the remaining land, the farmers grow grain, potatoes, sugar beet and flax in large collective farms. Livestock raising includes dairy cattle and pig breeding.
The mineral resources, such as potash salts, rock salts, peat, some crude oil and natural gas, are only of regional importance. Most of the industry is in state hands. It is hardly competitive on the world market because of outdated technologies and poor labor productivity. It mainly produces construction machines and tractors as well as fertilizers, textiles, weapons, refrigerators and other electronic products. Russia is by far the most important foreign trade partner. It supplies almost 60% of Belarusian imports, especially the energy resources crude oil and natural gas. Belarus is an important transit country for traffic between Central Europe and Russia. Oil and gas pipelines from Russia to Latvia, Poland and Western Europe also cross the area.
According to official figures, unemployment is below 1%. However, the underemployed and the unofficial unemployed are not included in these statistics.