Paper / Timing

Parts

Paper 1

READING AND WRITING

1 hour 30 minutes

Reading: 5 parts

Writing: 3 parts

Paper 2

LISTENING

Approx. 36 minutes

4 parts

Paper 3

SPEAKING

10-12 minutes per pair of candidates

4 parts

Part 1

(Multiple choice)

CONTENT: Five very short texts (they may be signs and messages, postcards, notes, emails, labels, etc.). You have to read them and choose which of the three multiple choice options (A, B or C) is correct.

EXAM TECHNIQUE: Reading notices and other short texts to understand the main message.

You get one mark for each correct answer.

Part 2 (Matching)

CONTENT: Five short descriptions of people and eight short texts to read. You have to match each description of people to a text.

EXAM TECHNIQUE: Reading a lot of short texts to find specific information.

You get one mark for each correct answer.

Part 3 (True/False)

CONTENT: A long text and ten sentences about the text. You have to read the text and say if each sentence is true or false.

EXAM TECHNIQUE: Reading a text quickly to find some information.

You get one mark for each correct answer.

Part 4

(Multiple choice)

CONTENT: A long text and five questions. You have to read the text and choose the right answer (A, B, C or D) for each of the five questions.

EXAM TECHNIQUE: Reading to understand the detail of a text.

You get one mark for each correct answer.

Part 5 (Multiple-choice cloze)

CONTENT: A short text with ten numbered spaces. Each space represents a missing word and you have to choose the right answer from a choice of four (A, B, C or D).

EXAM TECHNIQUE: Understanding vocabulary and grammar.

You get one mark for each correct answer.

Part 1

(Sentence transformations)

CONTENT: Five questions which are theme related. For each question there is one complete sentence and a second sentence which has a missing word or words. You have to complete the second sentence so that it means the same as the first.

EXAM TECHNIQUE: How to say the same thing in different ways in English, e.g. 'not warm enough' means the same as 'too cold'.

You get one mark for each correct answer.

Part 2

(Short communicative message)

CONTENT: The instructions tell you who to write to and what you should write (a postcard, note, email, etc.). Compulsory question.

EXAM TECHNIQUE: Writing short messages.

WRITE BETWEEN 35–45 words.

This question has a total of 5 marks.

Part 3

(Continuous writing)

CONTENT: A longer piece of continuous writing. You have a choice of two questions: an informal letter or a story.

EXAM TECHNIQUE: Writing letters and stories, using paragraphs, appropriate formulae to start and finish your text, etc.

WRITE about 100 words.

This question has a total of 15 marks.

Part 1

(Multiple choice)

CONTENT: Seven short recordings. For each recording there is a question and three pictures (A, B or C). You have to listen to the recordings and choose the right picture in each of the 7 questions.

EXAM TECHNIQUE: Listening to find key information.

You get one mark for each correct answer.

Part 2

(Multiple choice)

CONTENT: A longer recording (one person speaking or an interview) and six questions. You have to listen to the recording and choose the right answer (A, B or C) for each question.

EXAM TECHNIQUE: Listening to find specific information and detailed meaning.

You get one mark for each correct answer.

Part 3

(Gap-fill)

CONTENT: A longer monologue (one person speaking) and a page of notes which summarise the text. Six pieces of information are missing from the notes. You have to listen to the recording and fill in the missing information.

EXAM TECHNIQUE: Listening for information.

You get one mark for each correct answer.

Part 4

(True/False)

CONTENT: An informal conversation and six sentences. You have to listen to the conversation and decide if each sentence is true or false.

EXAM TECHNIQUE: Listening for detailed meaning, attitude and opinion.

You get one mark for each correct answer.

Part 1

(Interview)

CONTENT: The examiner asks questions and you give information about yourself, talk about past experiences, present job, studies, where you live, etc., and future plans.

EXAM TECHNIQUE: Giving information about yourself.

You have to speak for 2–3 minutes.

Part 2 (Discussion)

CONTENT: The examiner gives you some pictures and describes a situation to you. You have to talk to the other candidate and decide what would be best in the situation.

EXAM TECHNIQUE: Making and responding to suggestions, discussing alternatives, making recommendations, negotiating agreements.

You have to speak for 2–3 minutes.

Part 3

(Extended turn)

CONTENT: An individual long turn for each candidate. The examiner gives you a colour photograph and you have to talk about it.

EXAM TECHNIQUE: Describing photographs.

You have to speak for 3 minutes in total; 1 minute to talk about the photograph.

Part 4

(General Conversation)

CONTENT: Further discussion with the other candidate about the same topic as the task in Part 3.

EXAM TECHNIQUE: Talking about your opinions, likes/dislikes, experiences, habits, etc.

You have to speak for 3 minutes.