Cambridge English exams offer a wide range of assessments that cover all levels of language ability. Underpinned by extensive research and based on real-life language skills, each exam can be relied on as being accurate, fair and fit for purpose.
We invest considerable resources in building the recognition of our exams and they are currently recognised by over 25,000 organisations worldwide, including immigration authorities and universities.
Examination availability
We offer over 300 opportunities to take a Cambridge English exam each year. Some exams are now also available on demand – meaning you are able to choose the date.
New versions of exams
We have introduced different versions of our exams to help you and your candidates. For example, the ‘for Schools’ versions of Cambridge English: Key, Cambridge English: Preliminary and Cambridge English: First allow you to offer exams that are relevant to your candidates’ age group and their level of English.
Computer-based options
We have invested in different ways of delivering the exams, including computer-based testing, giving candidates more choice and flexibility. We provide a free, online sample test to help candidates become familiar with the format of the exams.
Online results information
We have a free Results Verification Service that helps Recognising Organisations by giving them direct access to a candidate’s result, making the results even more secure and the exams more valuable to candidates.
We understand that you want to market the exams and raise awareness among schools, parents and other groups. We can help you with this by providing:
- an Authorised Centre Logo so you can advertise your centre status on your website and printed materials
- an Authorised Centre Certificate for displaying at your centre
- free leaflets, including translations into several languages
- free posters
- seminars and training events for teachers around the world, including online seminars
- free online games that candidates can play while enhancing their English
- free Apps.
The Cambridge English website receives millions of visits every year and can help candidates find their way to your centre through our Centre Search facility. It is full of useful information about our exams and includes booklets which candidates and teachers can download, giving them more information about our exams.
We have also built lively online communities through Facebook which gives candidates (old and new) opportunities to contact us and interact with each other. Social media is helping us to get closer to candidates and raise the profile of our exams.
In many countries and regions, there is a Cambridge English office or local representative that can help you plan your marketing and give advice about raising the profile of your centre. They also organise local Centre Exam Manager meetings, where you can meet other Centre Exam Managers and Cambridge English representatives to share ideas.
We try to keep the administration as simple as possible, while also ensuring that regulations are clear and standardised around the world. We provide you with:
- clear documents each year explaining what to do
- materials to help you run the exams
- checklists that you can adapt and personalise
- easy-to-use online entry systems, which enable you to send Confirmations of entry by email
- online results for most exams, making access to information quick and easy
- regular updates via an emailed newsletter
- Connect Plus – our new computer-based test delivery system.
Speeding up the exams process
We are continually looking for ways to improve and speed up the processing of exams, and recently introduced the Faster Results initiative which led to many results being released much earlier than before.
We can also provide a facility for centres to print answer sheets locally, scan candidate responses, and send them straight back to us so we can start marking the same day. This will lead to an even faster, more flexible service for your candidates.
Cambridge English provides Speaking examiners in the UK. For the rest of the world, we run a Professional Support Leader system to help manage and quality assure the Speaking tests and Speaking examiners.
The international standardisation of Speaking test conduct and assessment is achieved by:
- a network of professionals in a hierarchical structure called the Team Leader (TL) system
- a set of quality assurance (QA) procedures for examiners: Registration, Induction, Training, Certification and Performance Feedback
- a wide range of documentation and online resources to help implement the QA procedures.
Professional Support Leaders (PSLs) and Regional Team Leaders (RTLs) are appointed to manage the professional aspects of the operation in a country or region. They communicate directly with Cambridge English and Centre Exam Managers (CEMs) on matters relating to the TL system and Speaking examiners in their countries.
There is an annual cycle of QA procedures which the PSL/RTLs will manage. They will also support CEMs by answering questions and giving advice on implementation at centre level.
We know that some of our regulations may be new for you, so we provide training on how to administer the exams. This includes:
- free face-to-face training
- self-study modules online
- real-time training from a member of Cambridge English staff via the internet
- materials for use when training your supervisors and invigilators.
Face-to-face training events are held several times a year in Cambridge and have received excellent feedback from participants:
“Great training event, team were friendly, helpful and answered questions with a wealth of knowledge.”
“I was really impressed by the professional and friendly attitude of the staff. They made us feel valued and that all our queries and comments were welcome and deserved attention.”
Our Centre Support team contacts each new centre and offers to go through the exam process and answer any questions either by email or telephone.
We also arrange support visits for new centres, whereby one of our representatives visit you during one of your first exam sessions to advise you on exam administration and regulations. This is in addition to the programme of regular inspections.
We have received excellent feedback about support visits from centres:
“We are very thankful for this support visit. It is a wonderful service and has helped us a great deal.”
“Excellent advice and support given in a very friendly manner which helped to put us all at ease during our first exam session.
We know that you will have questions about the exams, their administration and our systems, and we want to help you with these. If you can’t find the answer in our documents or on the website, our team in Cambridge is keen to help you. The Helpdesk is available 24-hours, 7 days a week. They log and track all contact on a central system so that your call or email is monitored and can be dealt with. A ‘live chat’ service is also available and is extremely popular.
If you are running an exam on a Saturday or Sunday, we provide an emergency telephone helpline just in case you have any urgent last-minute issues. There is also a number to call for the test day photograph software, in case you have any queries about this on the day.
If your question is about something technical, the Helpdesk will pass your query on to our Application Support team of technicians who know all our systems in detail and can connect to your PC to provide a high level of service. For scheduled computer-based exams, the team is available 24 hours a day, seven days a week. For on-demand computer-based tests, the team are available Monday to Friday, 08.30–17.00 UK time.
We help you support your preparation centres by:
- giving them access to their results online
- providing them with a number of marketing materials on our support site, Cambridge English Online for preparation centres
- giving you a special logo that you can pass on to your preparation centres
- providing certificates that you can give them to display at their schools
- keeping them updated via a regular email newsletter
- running an annual preparation centre competition, including the prize of a free trip to Cambridge for a series of seminars and activities.
We have a wide range of resources, support and information to help you prepare your students for their exams.
Information for preparation centres
Over the last five years we have invited our top-performing centres to be part of our Platinum Centre Scheme. Platinum Centres have access to special benefits, including visits to Cambridge for administrative staff, invigilator, customer service, sales and marketing training and free seminar resources.
We are currently reviewing the scheme to ensure that the benefits offered continue to ensure that our centres represent excellence in quality of exam delivery and customer service standards. While this review is being undertaken we are not expanding our current Platinum Centre Network.
We believe it is very important to consult centres and involve you in the early stages of any changes we are planning. We contact you to ask for feedback about initiatives and ideas, and offer you the chance to get involved in projects and trials of new systems and processes.
General enquiries from centres
We aim to:
- respond to enquiries within one working day and give a resolution or progress update within three working days
- confirm authorisation for exam eligibility within four weeks of receipt of a correctly completed exam authorisation form
- update contact details for your centre within two working days of your request.
Results enquiries
We aim to:
- notify centres of the outcome of a results enquiry (clerical check) within five working days
- notify centres of the outcome of a results enquiry (re-mark) within 15 working days.
Complaints
We aim to:
- acknowledge receipt of all complaints within two working days
- investigate complaints and provide an answer within 10 working days.