Meet Our Examination Centres

These are some of the tasks and duties common for all British Council Examination Centres. However each of them is to some extent exceptional and differs in some areas.

Our examination centres can be recognised by the following logos:

Authorised Examination Centre

	meet our examination centres

British Council Examination Centres
are educational institutions (language schools, university centres for English teaching or British libraries), that cooperate with the British Council in Warsaw and Krakow in organising British examinations in Poland. As the map below shows we are in 21 different towns, which enables candidates in every part of Poland to have quick and easy access to our services.

Our centres administer Cambridge ESOL examinations, the most popular English language qualifications in Poland. But that is not all they do. On request they can organise professional examinations in various subjects for those who do distance learning courses at British universities or try to gain British professional qualifications Apart from exam administration our centres carry out a range of activities. Many of them offer their own language courses. Others, for example British libraries, promote UK culture and education.

Click on a map above to check address of the nearest Examinations Centre.

		Our examination centres - quality guARANTEE

It is not easy to become an exam centre. Centres are appointed by open competition during which all participants have to present their activities in detail and prove that they are able to meet the high quality standards expected of the British Council exam centre network. Quality customer service has to be unceasingly maintained in the centres. The British Council checks regularly through very thorough inspections how they manage with this. It also organises numerous training courses for centre staff on customer service, the latest in IT technology or new methods of exam administration. This keeps them up to date with modern technology, current trends and procedures and ensures a high standard of service is provided.
Apart from inspections carried out by British Council each centre can expect an unannounced visit by a Cambridge ESOL inspector.

		our examination centres - people we truly rely on

Each exam session is a large-scale organisational undertaking. That is why beside the colleagues who can be met at the centres every day there is a large number of individuals collaborating with them just during exam sessions. These are first of all oral examiners and the supervisors of written papers though they equally include a legion of invigilators responsible for the proper conduct of tests. They direct candidates to the right halls, help them find their desks, check IDs, distribute and collect question papers and, last but not least, monitor if all examinees are engaged exclusively in their own work.
All these people are trained every year and their work is monitored and regularly assessed. Oral examiners need to be especially carefully prepared to fulfil their duties. They have to be highly qualified, very experienced teachers and to go through many hours of training which is concluded by a test. The successful trainees become examiners and their work is supervised by their trainer and senior examiner called a Team Leader.

		our examination centres - high security of exam papers

A very important task for the centres and also a great responsibility is to ensure the security and confidentiality of the exam papers and subsequently the candidates’ work. Exam materials are stored in sealed envelopes locked in safes. The envelopes can be opened on the day of the exam only. The transportation of exam papers to an exam venue and back is also strictly monitored and registered. A candidate’s work is unique and therefore priceless and everything has to match. On the completion of each session all the works are counted and packed again. Later the knowledge is placed in plastic envelopes and immediately despatched to Cambridge in a quick and safe way i.e. by DHL