EIKEN Grade 1 Interview: Two Examiners, Ten Minutes

Every EIKEN interview from Grade 3 upward is one candidate and one examiner. Grade 1 breaks that pattern, and the way it breaks it is deliberate.

Two examiners, and the Foundation specifies what each of them is.

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In this guide: the pairing · the arithmetic · what a panel changes · the gate first · where Grade 1 sits · preparing · limits · method · FAQ

Key takeaways

Grade 1 is the only EIKEN interview with two examiners.
One is a native speaker of English, the other a native speaker of Japanese proficient in English.
The interview runs ten minutes, the longest of any grade.
That is twenty examiner minutes against five at Grade 3.
You reach it only by passing the first stage in reading, listening and writing.
Grade 1 compares to CEFR C1 with a CSE range of 2630 to 3400.

The pairing that only exists at Grade 1

EIKEN Grade	Length	Examiners	Composition
1	10 minutes	2	one native English speaker, one native Japanese speaker proficient in English
Pre-1	8 minutes	1	either
2	7 minutes	1	either
Pre-2 Plus	7 minutes	1	either
Pre-2	6 minutes	1	either
3	5 minutes	1	either

For all grades below the top one, the Foundation says the examiner may be either of those two profiles. At Grade 1 it specifies both, which is the difference between a staffing convenience and a design decision.

Twenty examiner minutes against five

Multiply the two columns and the gradient steepens sharply.

Grade	Minutes	Examiners	Examiner minutes
1	10	2	20
Pre-1	8	1	8
2	7	1	7
Pre-2 Plus	7	1	7
Pre-2	6	1	6
3	5	1	5

The interview at Grade 1 is twice as long as Grade 3's and carries four times the examiner attention. The jump from Pre-1 to Grade 1 is the largest step in the whole table, and it is not a jump in duration alone.

This is the same arithmetic habit that produced our finding on the overlapping CSE score ranges: the published numbers say more when multiplied or compared than when read one row at a time.

What a panel changes for a candidate

The Foundation publishes the composition and not the reasoning, so this section is our reading rather than theirs and should be treated that way.

Two judgements instead of one. On a high stakes decision, a second assessor reduces the weight of a single impression.

Two kinds of ear. A native English speaker hears the candidate the way an English listener will. A native Japanese speaker proficient in English hears the first language pressures behind the errors, and can tell a pronunciation habit from a comprehension failure.

A room with more social load. Practically, two people is harder than one. There are two faces to read, two sets of reactions, and a temptation to address only the more encouraging of them.

That last point is the one to prepare for physically rather than intellectually, because it is about composure rather than English.

You still have to earn the room

None of the above happens unless the first stage is passed.

EIKEN is given in two stages, and the Foundation states that an examinee must pass the first stage, covering reading, listening and writing, in order to advance to the second. The second stage is given approximately one month later and is required for everybody who passes.

So a Grade 1 candidate who speaks superbly and reads slowly never meets the two examiners. We set out what that gate does to preparation in the EIKEN speaking test as a second stage.

Where Grade 1 sits on the scale

The published table compares Grade 1 to CEFR C1, with a CSE range of 2630 to 3400, and lists it against international admissions to graduate and undergraduate programmes.

One caution carried from the same table: Pre-1 runs 2304 to 3000, so the band from 2630 to 3000 belongs to both grades. A CSE figure without its grade does not identify a level, which is the subject of the overlap post.

For how other systems mark the top of their scales: Cambridge speaking criteria by level, what examiners write about interactive communication, and the UKVI band table.

Preparing for two listeners

Five things worth practising specifically, given the format.

Address the room, not one face. Eye contact that includes both people, without ping ponging.
Hold a line for ten minutes. Longer than any other grade, and long enough that a thin answer runs out.
Recover from an interruption. Two examiners means two possible sources of a follow up.
Speak to be understood by both ears. Clear articulation matters more than range when one listener is measuring intelligibility.
Rehearse the awkward pause. A panel produces more silence than a single interviewer, and filling it badly is worse than waiting.

The only way to practise four of those five is out loud, against something that responds. That is what SpeakShark is built for: unscripted conversation with native accent AI teachers, follow ups you did not write, and instant phoneme level feedback on the sounds that keep tripping you. The free plan is three sessions a day with no card, the pricing page shows the paid tier, how it works explains the mechanics, and our comparison of speaking apps states the limits plainly.

More on the same skill in other exams: Aptis speaking format, Linguaskill parts 3 and 4, TOEIC speaking, and practising at home.

What ten minutes actually asks for

Ten minutes sounds short until you try to sustain it with two people listening, and the length changes the nature of the task rather than just its duration.

A thin answer becomes visible. In a five minute interview a candidate can survive on short responses. Over ten minutes the gaps between ideas start to show, and the examiners have time to follow up on the weakest thing you said.

Repetition becomes audible. Vocabulary that recycles is hard to notice in three minutes and obvious in ten. The same is true of a single sentence pattern used repeatedly.

Recovery matters more than perfection. Over that length almost everybody stumbles once. What distinguishes candidates is whether the stumble ends the answer or is absorbed and moved past.

Stamina is real. Speaking a second language under observation is tiring, and the last two minutes of a ten minute interview are not the same as the first two.

The preparation that addresses those four is not vocabulary lists. It is repeated full length rehearsal, out loud, with something that responds and occasionally interrupts, followed by listening back to hear what you actually did rather than what you meant to do.

One more thing worth rehearsing at this grade specifically: being asked to justify an opinion rather than state one. At C1 comparison the expectation is reasoning, and a confident assertion with nothing behind it is the most common way a strong speaker underperforms.

What we could not verify

The Foundation publishes the examiner composition and not its reasoning. Our explanation of why a mixed pair might be used is inference, labelled as such above, and should not be quoted as the Foundation's position.

We did not read the Grade 1 interview task descriptions, the marking criteria or the pass mark, none of which were on the page we read.

We did not verify how the two examiners divide the marking, or whether they mark jointly or separately. That is not published on the page and we do not guess at it.

How we researched this guide

The two stage structure, the requirement to pass the first stage, the approximately one month gap, the length and examiner table, and the Grade 1 specification that one examiner is a native speaker of English and the other a native speaker of Japanese proficient in English all come from the Eiken Foundation of Japan's EIKEN speaking tests page, opened directly in a browser. The CSE ranges and CEFR comparisons come from the Foundation's EIKEN Grades page, also opened directly. The examiner minutes column is our arithmetic on their published figures.

We are a speaking improvement tool. We are not an exam preparation provider, and we are not affiliated with the Eiken Foundation of Japan or any exam board. For formats, dates and current requirements, go to the exam body directly. Use SpeakShark to make your spoken English stronger, and use official material to learn the test.

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Sources

FAQ

How many examiners are in the EIKEN Grade 1 interview?

Two, and Grade 1 is the only grade with more than one. The Eiken Foundation states that for Grade 1 one examiner is a native speaker of English and the other a native speaker of Japanese who is proficient in English. For every other grade there is a single examiner, who may be either of those. The interview itself runs ten minutes, the longest of any EIKEN grade.

Why does Grade 1 use two examiners?

The Foundation publishes the composition rather than the reasoning, so what follows is our reading rather than theirs. A panel of two produces a second judgement on a high stakes decision, and pairing a native English speaker with a native Japanese speaker proficient in English puts one person in the room who hears the candidate as an English listener would and one who understands the first language pressures behind the errors.

How long is the Grade 1 interview compared with other grades?

Ten minutes, against eight for Pre-1, seven for Grade 2 and Pre-2 Plus, six for Pre-2 and five for Grade 3. Combined with the examiner count, Grade 1 receives twenty examiner minutes where Grade 3 receives five, so the top grade is scrutinised four times as heavily by that measure even though the interview is only twice as long.

Do I have to pass a written test before the Grade 1 interview?

Yes. EIKEN is given in two stages and an examinee must pass the first stage, covering reading, listening and writing, in order to advance to the second stage. The interview is given approximately one month after the first stage and is required for everybody who passes it, so it is a consequence of passing rather than an optional extra.

What level is EIKEN Grade 1?

The Foundation's published table compares Grade 1 to CEFR C1 and gives it a CSE score range of 2630 to 3400. It also lists Grade 1 against international admissions to graduate and undergraduate programmes. Note that the Pre-1 range of 2304 to 3000 overlaps it, so a CSE number only carries meaning when the grade is stated alongside it.