EIKEN Grade 4 and 5 Speaking: Optional, Certified

The two lowest EIKEN grades are usually described as the ones without a speaking test. That is not quite what the Foundation says.

They have a speaking test. It just cannot fail you.

SpeakShark is free if you want a learner speaking daily rather than once a year, three AI conversation sessions a day with no card.

In this guide: what actually exists · optional and certified · two differences · why take it · the design view · the level question · limits · method · FAQ

Key takeaways

The second stage interview is not given for Grades 4 and 5.
Since 2016 both grades have online speaking tests with recorded answers.
The speaking test is not required to pass the Grade 4 or 5 test.
Everybody registering for the first stage at those grades is eligible to take it.
Passing it earns a separate certificate naming the speaking test of that grade.
The published table gives no CSE range and no CEFR comparison for Grades 4 and 5.

What actually exists at Grades 4 and 5

	Grades 1 to 3	Grades 4 and 5
Second stage interview	Yes	No
Speaking assessment	Face to face, on site	Online, answers recorded
Introduced	Long standing	From 2016
Required to pass the grade	Yes, for those who pass stage one	No
Certificate	The grade itself	A separate speaking certificate
Conducted in	English	Recorded responses

Read the "required to pass" row twice. It is the whole difference, and it is the reason the two lowest grades are so often described as having no speaking test at all.

Optional and separately certified

The Foundation's wording is precise and worth keeping.

The second stage test is not given for Grades 4 and 5. However, from 2016, new online speaking tests in which examinees record their answers have been introduced for both grades. The speaking test is not required to pass the Grade 4 or 5 test. Each person who registers for the Grade 4 or 5 first stage test will be eligible to take the speaking test for that grade. Those who pass it will receive a separate certificate stating that they have passed the speaking test of that grade.

Three consequences.

Eligibility is automatic. Registering for the first stage makes you eligible. Nothing extra to qualify for.

The result is separable. A learner can pass the grade and not the speaking test, or pass the speaking test and not the grade, and both outcomes are coherent because they are different certificates.

Nothing is lost by trying. The downside of attempting it is bounded, since it cannot cost you the grade.

Two differences from the interview grades

Delivery. From Grade 3 upward the second stage is a face to face interview conducted on site by qualified examiners and conducted entirely in English. At Grades 4 and 5 it is online, with recorded answers and nobody in the room.

Consequence. From Grade 3 upward the interview is required for everybody who passes the first stage, which we set out in the EIKEN speaking test as a second stage. At Grades 4 and 5 it changes nothing about the grade.

Those two together make the lower grades a genuinely different kind of assessment rather than an easier version of the same one.

Why a learner should take it anyway

The paper is the smaller reason. The habit is the larger one.

The first recorded experience arrives early. Speaking into a device with a timer running is uncomfortable the first time regardless of level. Meeting it at Grade 5, where nothing is at stake, is a better introduction than meeting it at Grade 3, where a person is sitting opposite and the result counts.

It makes speaking visible. Reading and listening progress are easy for a parent or teacher to see in a score. Speaking usually is not, until it is certified separately.

It builds toward the compulsory version. Grade 3's interview is five minutes with one examiner, face to face, in English. A learner who has already recorded answers twice arrives having done something adjacent.

It costs the grade nothing. Since it cannot fail you, the only cost is the attempt.

The thing it does not do is teach the skill. A once a year assessment measures; it does not build. Building comes from talking most days with feedback on the sounds that keep going wrong, which is what SpeakShark exists for: unscripted conversation with native accent AI teachers plus instant phoneme level feedback. 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 is honest about what it does not do.

What the design suggests

This is our reading rather than the Foundation's stated reasoning, and it is labelled as such.

Making speaking optional at the two lowest grades while making it compulsory from Grade 3 upward looks like a decision about when a learner is ready to be judged on it. The recorded format removes the social pressure of an examiner, and the separate certificate keeps the reward while removing the risk.

It also fits the wider EIKEN shape, which is built around Japanese school stages rather than around the CEFR grid. Grade 3 is the ministry benchmark for junior high school graduates, which is the point at which a compulsory spoken interview begins. We cover that structure in the EIKEN grade and CSE score overlap.

The level question we cannot answer

The Foundation's published comparison table lists CSE score ranges and CEFR comparisons for Grades 1, Pre-1, 2, Pre-2 Plus, Pre-2 and 3. For Grades 4 and 5 it lists neither.

So we make no claim about what level they represent. The nearest published anchor is Grade 3 at A1 with a CSE range of 685 to 1700.

For comparisons across other systems: the UKVI band table, what band 7 means, Cambridge speaking criteria by level, and every English requirement we have read. For other exams that separate speaking from the main result: Linguaskill speaking format, Aptis speaking format, and TOEIC speaking.

What an optional assessment does to behaviour

Anything optional is taken by a self selecting group, and that is worth naming because it changes how a result should be read.

Who takes it. Learners who feel reasonably confident, or whose teacher or parent encourages it. Nobody is required, so the people most anxious about speaking are the least likely to attempt it, which is precisely the reverse of who would benefit.

What a pass therefore means. A certificate from a self selecting group says less about the population than a compulsory result would. That is not a criticism of the test, it is a caution about comparing candidates by it.

What it means for a school. If a class is encouraged to take it as a group, the self selection weakens and the exercise becomes far more useful, because everybody meets the format at the same low stakes moment.

There is also a simple behavioural argument for taking it that has nothing to do with certificates. An assessment on the calendar produces practice in the weeks before it. A skill with no assessment attached tends to receive no scheduled practice at all, and speaking is the skill most easily postponed because it is the least comfortable to do badly in front of others.

So the honest recommendation is to treat it as a deadline rather than as a qualification. Its value is the four weeks of talking it causes, not the paper it produces.

What we could not verify

We did not read the Grade 4 or Grade 5 speaking task descriptions, timings, or how the recorded answers are marked. The Foundation points to its Japanese site for those details and we did not read it.

We make no claim about the CEFR level or CSE range of Grades 4 and 5, because the table we read lists neither.

Our reading of why the design separates the two lowest grades is inference and is labelled above. It is not the Foundation's stated reasoning.

How we researched this guide

The absence of a second stage at Grades 4 and 5, the introduction of online recorded speaking tests from 2016, the statement that the speaking test is not required to pass, the automatic eligibility on registering for the first stage, and the separate certificate for those who pass all come from the Eiken Foundation of Japan's EIKEN speaking tests page, opened directly in a browser. The face to face format, English only rule, and the requirement at Grades 1 to 3 come from the same page. The CSE ranges and CEFR comparisons come from the Foundation's EIKEN Grades page, also opened directly.

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

Do EIKEN Grade 4 and 5 have a speaking test?

Not a second stage interview. The Eiken Foundation states that the second stage test is not given for Grades 4 and 5, and that since 2016 new online speaking tests in which examinees record their answers have been introduced for both grades. So there is a speaking test, it is recorded rather than face to face, and it sits outside the pass or fail decision for the grade itself.

Is the Grade 4 or 5 speaking test required to pass?

No. The Foundation states plainly that the speaking test is not required to pass the Grade 4 or Grade 5 test. Everybody who registers for the first stage at those grades is eligible to take it, and those who pass it receive a separate certificate stating that they passed the speaking test of that grade. It is an addition to the result rather than a component of it.

Why would a learner take an optional speaking test?

Because the certificate exists and because the habit does. A separate certificate is evidence a school or a parent can see, and at the age most Grade 4 and 5 candidates sit, a first experience of being recorded speaking English is worth more than the paper. The alternative is that a learner's first spoken assessment arrives at Grade 3, where it is compulsory and face to face.

How is it different from the interview at Grade 3 and above?

Two differences that matter. Delivery: Grades 3 and above are a face to face interview conducted on site by qualified examiners and entirely in English, while Grades 4 and 5 are online with recorded answers. And consequence: at Grade 3 and above the interview is required for everybody who passes the first stage, while at Grades 4 and 5 it changes nothing about whether you pass.

Where do Grade 4 and 5 sit on the scale?

The Foundation's published comparison table gives CSE ranges and CEFR comparisons for Grades 1 down to 3, and lists no CSE range and no CEFR comparison for Grades 4 and 5. So we make no claim about their level. What is published is Grade 3 at A1, which is the nearest anchor above them.