Exams

IELTS
Cambridge English exams
Exam posts

The most common exams that English language learners take in Britain are IELTS and Cambridge English exams.

IELTS stands for International English Language Testing System and learners get a score, usually between 4 and 8 (9 is the max). Most students take the academic version for entry into British, Australian, Irish, New Zealand, Canadian and a growing number of US academic institutions

Cambridge English exams for adults come at 5 different levels (A2 to C2). The highest exam is Cambridge Proficiency. Not all native speakers (or writers) would be able to pass it!

Each Cambridge exam has 3 pass grades: A, B and C

If you manage to get Cambridge Proficiency, this means your level of spoken and written English is very high.

Getting an IELTS score of 6 or Cambridge FCE (B2) means that your English would just be enough to allow you to survive in an English-speaking office environment. Gaining IELTS 7 or Cambridge CAE would mean you could manage quite well.

TOEFL (Test of English as a Foreign Language) is a US-based exam that tests academic English for entry into American universities.

 

 

Recent Posts

Vocabulary: Oxford Word of the Year

Vocabulary: Popular words in 2024
Intermediate to advanced level (B2-A2)

Oxford University Press (who publish a lot of English language learning books) are inviting people to vote for their word of the year. Their shortlist is:

Brain rot – not a new expression but used more and more on social media to say that looking at too much social media can negatively affect your mental health or intellectual powers.

Demure – again not a new word. In fact it has been used for hundreds of years. It is being used on TikTok to mean not showing off or being reserved.

Dynamic pricing – once more, it is not a new expression but is being used because of ticket priced changing as a result of demand.

Lore – a very old word connected with teaching and facts. In social media it is now being used to describe the background information on and history of a celebrity.

Romantasy – used a lot on TikTok. It is a combination of romantic and fantasy to describe a book.

Slop – used for over a hundred years to describe low quality literature. It is now being used for low quality or inaccurate text generated by AI.

Vote for your favourite at Oxford University Press

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