What is the Cambridge Linguaskill test?
Steve Keating
Linguaskill is the latest offering from Cambridge and comes in two formats – General and Business.
Cambridge have announced that Linguaskill Business is the replacement for the BEC exams.
The new Linguaskill exam will be launched in January 2024.
You may wonder how one exam can replace a set of three exams, which were offered at B1, B2 and C1 levels. The answer is that Linguaskill is computer adaptive. The computer rapidly obtains an approximate measure of your English ability and designs the rest of the test you will take to reflect your ability.
One advantage of the new test is that you can become qualified at the highest level (C2).
The tests can be taken at any time and at any venue, including in the comfort of your own home.
The exams are offered by Cambridge University Press and Assessment, who offered the BEC exams.
In both exams, all four language areas are tested – reading, listening, writing and speaking. The Reading and Listening sections are combined into one section on the Linguaskill tests. This is the part of the test that is computer adaptive, so there is not a fixed number of questions.
Once Linguaskill has determined your level, the test stops. Cambridge estimate that this section will take from 60 to 85 minutes.
The types of listening and reading tasks are similar to those in the existing Cambridge General English exams and to those in the BEC exams. You can take free practice Linguaskill tests on the Cambridge website.
Test takers of General English tests may wonder how widely accepted the new Linguaskill test will be. Only time will tell us how well-known the Linguaskill test becomes.
For test takers of Business English tests, from June 2024 there will be no option from Cambridge other than Linguaskill. The last computer-based BEC tests will be held at the end of 2023. There will be one paper-based BEC exam date in June 2024. Then that will be the end of the BEC exams.
To prepare yourself for your English Linguaskill test, how about boosting your English by starting with a trial lesson with nativespeakers.ch?
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The last BEC Cambridge exams will be held in June 2024. After this, Cambridge will no longer offer exams that specifically test business English skills. We have therefore put together a list of alternative English language exams that you can take as well as tips on how to improve your business English!