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Tips, guides, and insights for English learners.
Michigan's Five English Exams Ranked by Speaking Time
Michigan runs five English exams. Speaking is zero per cent of one of them and seventeen per cent of another, and the order is not what you expect.
Michigan-EPT: The Placement Test With No Speaking Section
The Michigan English Placement Test runs 60 minutes and 80 questions. It measures listening and reading only, and its results are for internal use.
Aptis Speaking: Only One Part Gives You Thinking Time
The British Council's test for organisations runs four recorded parts in twelve minutes. Three of them start cold, and the harder version gives you less time.
B1 Preliminary Speaking Part 1: Facts, Not Opinions Yet
Cambridge describes Part 1 as responding to questions with factual or personal information. Opinions arrive later in the test, and later on the ladder.
B1 Preliminary Speaking Part 2: One Photo, One Minute
This is the only Cambridge speaking task where describing is the whole job, and the only one with a single photograph. Both change one level up.
B1 Preliminary Speaking Part 3: The Longest Part at B1
Four of the twelve minutes go on negotiating agreement with another candidate. It is the biggest part of the test and the one you cannot rehearse alone.
B1 Preliminary Speaking Part 4: The General Conversation
Three minutes on likes, dislikes, experiences, opinions and habits. It is the first place in the test where Cambridge names opinions as part of the task.
B2 First Speaking Part 1: Three Time Frames, Two Minutes
Cambridge says Part 1 covers past experiences, present circumstances and future plans. Three tenses in two minutes, inside what feels like small talk.
B2 First Speaking Part 2: Answer the Question, Not the Photos
Cambridge prints the questions at the top of the page for a reason. Candidates who describe the two photographs and never answer them run out in thirty seconds.
B2 First Speaking Part 3: Do Not Decide Too Early
The decision instruction arrives after the two minute discussion, not during it. Deciding in the first minute leaves you with nothing to say for the rest.