The Centre for Cambridge ESOL examinations in Warsaw is situated in the British Council office at Aleje Jerozolimskie 59. The place is well known to Warsaw citizens as it has been located in the same building since 14 September 1948 (though in fact this is its second location). The first one, opened in 1938 as the second BC office in the whole world (the first one had been opened in Egypt), was located at Górnośląska Street.

The Warsaw office has been visited by such celebrities as HM Queen Elizabeth II (26 March 1996) who inaugurated our new library and teaching centre; Her Royal Highness The Princess Royal - Princess Anne (1991) and Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher (in 1988) who came on the occasion of the 50th Anniversary of the British Council in Poland.

All our customers are treated with great care and attention.  One of the reasons may be that women constitute the majority of our staff.  This motherly approach to our customers is especially evident when from time to time we are faced with very unusual enquiries, e.g.: ‘Where are the best nudist beaches in Britain?’, ‘What is the average use of artificial fertilizers in Devon?’, ‘Where can I buy toy soldiers in British army uniforms?’.

British Council Examination Services are very experienced in test administration. We have run examinations since 1938. Our biggest exam venue accommodated 1800 candidates at one sitting. No wonder our exams sessions are sometimes quite eventful and have generated many an anecdote. One of them is the story of a very stressed mother who was waiting for her son in front of the building where the examinations took place. As examination regulations do not allow anyone but candidates and staff to enter the examination room, she asked each invigilator and examiner going in and out to check how her son was feeling.  Intrigued, one of the staff members asked her how old her son was. The reply knocked everyone over: ‘oh, you know – my son is very ambitious and talented. He’s a senior lecturer at the University of Technology’.

Finally a few interesting numbers related to the activities of British Council Examination Services:

• 6 – is the age of our youngest exam candidate.
• 68 – is the age of the oldest one
• 25,000 – is the average number of tests we organise every year.

And now we invite you to check for yourselves whether all this is true: http://www.britishcouncil.pl