Exam preparation

Exam Dates

Exam preparation

Exam Dates
Catalunya
Madrid
Andorra
Balears

Exam preparation

Exam Dates
Catalunya
Madrid
Andorra
Balears

Information for candidates

Cambridge English Skills Test for Schools helps secondary schools assess English language skills quickly, accurately and flexibly. Whether you’re placing students in the right group, monitoring progress or supporting internal assessment, the test provides reliable results aligned to the CEFR from A1 to C1.

Online, on demand and available for Reading, Listening, Writing and Speaking, it can be adapted to the needs of individual learners, classes or entire cohorts.

Exam format

Cambridge English Skills Test for Schools is a flexible, modular assessment designed for secondary school learners, which tests:

Reading

The Reading module assesses a candidate’s ability to understand written English across a range of texts and situations. Tasks are designed to evaluate comprehension, vocabulary and the ability to identify key information and meaning.

Matching pictures to words
  • Candidates read seven words and five pictures, and match the correct word with the correct picture.
Matching words to definitions
  • Candidates read seven words and five definitions, and match the correct word to the correct definition.
Discrete multiplechoice with picture
  • Candidates see a picture and answer a 3-option multiple-choice question about it.
Discrete cloze
  • A gapped-sentence task with a single 3- or 4-option multiple-choice question depending on the level.
Open cloze
  • A text with five gaps, each to be filled with a single grammatical word. The length of the text may range between 60 and 150 words depending on the level.
Multiple-choice cloze
  • A text with five gaps each with three or four multiple-choice options. The length of the text may range between 60 and 150 words depending on the level.
Cross-text matching
  • Candidates read across four texts on the same topic in order to find the relevant information to match to prompts or questions. The combined length of all texts may range between 500 and 600 words.
Reading discrete graphic
  • Candidates look at a picture or read a short text e.g. a notice or a message and answer a single 3-option multiple-choice question. Some contextual support is available for the presentation of texts including pro-forma templates such as email screens, sticky notes, text messages, notices and labels, and a variety of fonts and text styles.
Reading discrete text
  • Candidates read the beginning of an article or other type of longer text and answer a single 3-option multiple-choice question about the remainder of the text.

Listening

The Listening module assesses a candidate’s ability to understand spoken English in different contexts. Candidates listen to a variety of recordings and complete tasks that test comprehension, attention to detail and understanding of the speaker’s meaning.

5-item comprehension
  • Five multiple-choice questions about an audio, featuring one, two or three speakers. Depending on level, the task will have three or four options per question and the audio will be between 120 and 650 words.
2-item comprehension
  • Two multiple-choice questions about an audio, featuring one or two speakers. The task will have three options per question. The audio is between 160 and 260 words depending on the level.
1-item comprehension
  • One multiple-choice question about an audio, featuring one or two speakers. The task will have three written options, or three image options. The audio is between 70 and 150 words depending on the level.
Note completion
  • A title and five gapped sentences summarising key points from a monologue. The monologue is between 300 and 400 words. Each gap can be completed with up to three words heard in the audio
One question multimatching
  • A series of three or five themed monologues of approximately 30 seconds each. The same question is asked of each monologue and candidates must select the correct answer for each from a list of five or eight options.

Writing

The Writing module assesses a candidate’s ability to communicate ideas effectively in written English. Tasks evaluate organisation, language use and the ability to respond appropriately to different writing purposes.

Part 1: Message
  • Creative, interpersonal language use
  • Describing experience
  • Reflecting on experience, hypothesising, speculating
Part 2: Essay
  • Evaluative, problemsolving language use
  • Stating and justifying own view: indicating extent of agreement with proposition statement or question

Speaking

The Speaking module assesses a candidate’s ability to communicate clearly and effectively in spoken English. Candidates complete a range of speaking tasks designed to evaluate fluency, language use and communication skills.

Part 1: Talking about yourself
  • Candidates answer a series of personal questions about familiar topics such as their interests, studies, daily life and experiences. This task is designed to help candidates demonstrate their ability to communicate information about themselves clearly and confidently in spoken English.
Part 2: Telling a story
  • Candidates are shown a sequence of pictures and asked to tell the story they represent. This task assesses the ability to describe events, organise ideas logically and use language to connect different parts of a narrative.
Part 3: Talking about pictures
  • Candidates compare, describe and comment on a set of pictures. This task allows candidates to demonstrate their ability to describe visual information, express opinions and discuss similarities and differences.
Part 4: Talking about a topic
  • Candidates answer questions and express their opinions on a specific topic. This task assesses the ability to explain ideas, justify opinions and communicate effectively about familiar and everyday issues.
Candidate advice sheets with top tips

Read the top tips for Cambridge English Skills Test Schools, created by Cambridge English assessment specialists to give you the best chance of succeeding in your test:

Sample tests

Cambridge English Skills Test Schools

Use these online sample tests to familiarise yourself with the types of questions used in Cambridge English Skills Test Schools. These sample tests do not provide a result or save your answers.

Note: The Reading and Listening sample test is not adaptive and is shorter than a real test. The Speaking sample test requires a headphone set and microphone.

Writing assessment criteria & sample responses

Writing is one of the skills which candidates can improve very quickly with the right guidance and tools, so make sure they are equipped to pick up all the extra marks they can!

To help you do this, we have provided sample writing answers for levels A1, B1, B2 and C1 and, covering each part of the exam. Alongside these examples, you will find examiner comments explaining the reasoning behind the level achieved and highlighting the key content that needs to be included.

We also provide two sections of sample answers:

For further reference, you can also download the Writing Assessment Criteria here.

In addition, Write & Improve, a free tool developed by the University of Cambridge to help students improve their written English, is an excellent resource to help you prepare.

Speaking practice and assessment criteria

Speak & Improve is a great way to practise your speaking skills and get used to the experience of taking an online speaking test like Linguaskill.

The Speaking Assessment Criteria gives you information on what you need to demonstrate in order to reach each CEFR level.

Test designs and specifications

These materials will help you understand more about the research behind the test.

Preparation videos

Watch the Linguaskill Playlist with a series of preparation videos.