Blog

Tips, guides, and insights for English learners.

11 min read

MET for Australian Visas: The Score Table Changes Shape

Australia accepts MET for visas. Writing climbs 29 points from Vocational to Proficient while listening climbs 12, so the target moves as you go up.

10 min read

MET Go! Speaking Test: Three Versions, One Exam Name

MET Go! speaking can mean a meeting with a certified examiner, a recording with nobody listening, or nothing at all. The exam name does not tell you which.

11 min read

MET for US Nurse Licensure: Speaking Is a Separate Gate

Michigan publishes MET requirements for 36 US nursing jurisdictions. Speaking is its own minimum almost everywhere, and one state sits below the federal standard.

11 min read

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.

10 min read

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.

11 min read

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.

10 min read

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.

10 min read

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.

10 min read

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.

10 min read

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.