You can try an online English Test on the Cambridge website at : http://www.cambridgeesol.org/testyourenglish/ (to get a rough idea) or www.flo-joe.co.uk (FCE – CPE – your result will have to be 65% or over in all the papers to give you a general idea)

No. You cannot ask for a question to be rephrased you can only ask for it to be repeated. An examiner has to stick to a script and therefore is unable to rephrase any questions.

Asking for repetition is encouraged if you have not understood or heard the question clearly.

Cambridge ESOL Statements of Results are sent two months after the exam has taken place. Candidates can also access their results online as they are released by Cambridge ESOL. Certificates are issued to candidates with passing grades within 1.5 months from issue of the statements of results at an awarding ceremony organised by the British Council. If candidate is not able to come to the ceremony, the certificate can be collected at the British Council.

If you lose your Cambridge ESOL certificate, you can apply for a Certified Statement of Results, for which you pay an additional fee.

IELTS is specified as fulfilling English language requirements for entry to academic courses by the majority of institutions of Further and Higher Education in Australia, Canada, Ireland, New Zealand, South Africa and the United Kingdom and currently by over 380 universities and colleges in the USA. You can search IELTS Global Recognition system database on line by institution or by your bandscore.

The Cambridge ESOL examinations are recognised by thousands of employers, universities & colleges, professional bodies and ministry & government organisations throughout the world. A list of organisations using Cambridge ESOL examinations can be checked on Cambridge ESOL website.

If you are going to study we strongly recommend you check with your university which test is required.

Dates for written parts of the Cambridge ESOL exams (FCE, CAE, CPE and BEC) - papers 1, 2 & 3 - are set in advance by the University of Cambridge. They are fixed and cannot be changed. The dates for Listening and Speaking for FCE, CAE, CPE and BEC are set by the British Council.

We can accept timely requests for change only for serious and justified reasons provided we have free time slots on other Speaking or Listening Test dates.  If a candidate has problems with the Speaking/Listening dates, he/she must notify the British Council immediately.

A team of highly trained examiners are employed to mark the tests.

The written part of the test is marked by examiners in Cambridge and the Speaking test is marked by local Cambridge ESOL examiners. All examiners undergo a rigorous selection process and thorough training. They are also coordinated regularly to make sure they all mark to standard. All marks are double checked to eliminate the possibility of mistake. A certain percentage of exams are marked for the third time by Examiner Team Leader in Cambridge.

The difference is enormous as the stipulated hours will demonstrate. You will find the hours recommended be the Council of Europe below. You can refer parents to it and let them know that our courses are long but founded on research. http://www.cambridgeesol.org/exams/exams-info/cefr.html

For samples of the exams so that they can see the difference for themselves they can go to: http://www.cambridgeesol.org/resources/learner/index.html  

You will find the hours recommended be the Council of Europe below. You can refer parents to it and let them know that our courses are long but founded on research. http://www.cambridgeesol.org/exams/exams-info/cefr.html

From the Cambridge site: http://www.cambridgeesol.org/exams/exams-info/faqs/general.html#14

The simple answer is that once you have obtained a Cambridge ESOL exam (apart from IELTS), this is valid for the rest of your life. However, people forget things, and language skills can become rusty. When employers or educational institutions make a decision on whether to rely on a certificate obtained some years previously, they will need to take into account a number of factors, most importantly whether the holder has kept up his or her use of the language. Search for employers and educational institutions that recognise Cambridge ESOL exams.

Many universities also apply the 2-year from issue of results.

No, correction fluid and correction tape may not be used in any Cambridge English exam paper. You can use a highlighter in all papers except the writing paper. You cannot use highlighter on the answer sheets.

You are given guidelines about how much to write, but this is to help you in planning your writing.  

If you write considerably more than the guideline, you will only be penalised if the answer contains irrelevance or would have a negative effect on the intended audience. If you write considerably less than the guideline, but still cover the requisite aspects of the task, you will not be penalised.