Trinity ISE I to IV: One Exam Format Across Four Levels

Every other provider on the Home Office approved list gives you a number to hit. IELTS gives bands, Pearson gives a score out of 90, LanguageCert gives a score out of 100.

Trinity gives you a word. Pass, in all four skills, at every level from B1 to C2.

SpeakShark is free for the component that has no partial credit, three AI conversation sessions a day with no card.

In this guide: the four levels · pass or fail · the ladder · in the UK only · ISE against GESE · preparing · limits · method · FAQ

Key takeaways

ISE I is B1, ISE II is B2, ISE III is C1, ISE IV is C2 on the approved list.
Every level requires a Pass in reading, listening, speaking and writing.
There is no numeric score and no overall figure anywhere in the ISE rows.
Trinity is approved for tests taken in the UK only.
ISE overlaps with Trinity's spoken exam GESE only at B1.

The four levels and what they map to

The Home Office publishes its approved Secure English Language Tests as a table of CEFR levels, test names, providers and minimum grades. Trinity's four skill entries occupy one row each at four consecutive levels.

CEFR level	Trinity test	Type	Minimum grade
B1	Integrated Skills in English I (ISE I)	4-facet	Reading Pass, Listening Pass, Speaking Pass, Writing Pass
B2	Integrated Skills in English II (ISE II)	4-facet	Reading Pass, Listening Pass, Speaking Pass, Writing Pass
C1	Integrated Skills in English III (ISE III)	4-facet	Reading Pass, Listening Pass, Speaking Pass, Writing Pass
C2	Integrated Skills in English IV (ISE IV)	4-facet	Reading Pass, Listening Pass, Speaking Pass, Writing Pass

The numbering is the only thing that changes. ISE I through IV climbs B1, B2, C1, C2 in step, with no gaps and no skipped level, which is unusual in these tables. Trinity's spoken exam GESE, by contrast, jumps from Grade 3 at A2 straight to Grade 5 at B1, leaving Grade 4 off the list entirely.

A Pass is not a band

Read the minimum grade column across the whole approved list and Trinity stands out.

Provider at B2	What the list asks for
IELTS for UKVI	5.5 in each component
Pearson PTE Academic UKVI	59 in each component
LanguageCert Academic and General SELT	60 in each component
PSI Skills for English UKVI	Pass in each component
Trinity ISE II	Pass in each component

Two providers judge, three measure. That difference matters more than it first appears.

A band scale tells you the distance. A candidate who needs 5.5 and scores 5.0 knows exactly how far short they fell, and on some tests can retake that single skill. We covered that concession in the GMC requirement for doctors, where a One Skill Retake is explicitly accepted.

A Pass or fail judgement gives you no distance. You failed writing. You do not learn whether you were close.

That is not a criticism of the design. A pass mark is exactly the right instrument when the question being asked is binary, and for an immigration requirement the question genuinely is binary: did this person reach B2 or not. It simply changes how you prepare, because there is no margin to bank and no weak skill you can carry with a strong one.

The format does not change as you climb

The other quiet feature of these rows is that all four levels look identical on paper. Same test family, same four components, same requirement of a Pass in each.

Compare that with how other exam families behave across levels. Cambridge splits its grammar and vocabulary criterion in two when you move from B2 First to C1 Advanced, so the number of things being scored changes with the level, which we set out in Cambridge speaking criteria by level. Michigan's ECPE at C2 puts two or three candidates and two examiners in the room where its B2 exam uses one examiner and one candidate, covered in ECCE against ECPE.

On the approved list, ISE does none of that. What rises is the standard, not the shape.

We should be careful here. The approved list is a list of thresholds, not a description of exam content, and Trinity publishes its own specifications for each ISE level. All we can say from this source is that the Home Office asks for the same thing at every level: four passes.

ISE is an in-UK exam

The Home Office names four providers for tests taken in the UK: Trinity College London, the IELTS SELT Consortium, LanguageCert and Pearson.

It names four for tests taken outside the UK: PSI Services (UK) Ltd, the IELTS SELT Consortium, LanguageCert and Pearson.

Trinity is on the first list and not the second. An ISE sat abroad is a real Trinity qualification and is not an approved SELT for that application.

The outside-UK equivalent in structure is PSI's Skills for English UKVI (4 component), which also asks for a Pass in each component at B1 through C2. If you want a Pass-based exam rather than a band-based one and you are applying from abroad, PSI is the option, not Trinity.

ISE against GESE

Trinity has two products on the list and they answer different questions.

	GESE	ISE
Full name	Graded Examinations in Spoken English	Integrated Skills in English
Skills	Speaking and listening	All four
Type on the list	2-facet	4-facet
Levels approved	A1, A2, B1	B1, B2, C1, C2
Grade required	Pass	Pass in all four

They overlap at B1 and nowhere else. Below B1 there is no ISE. Above B1 there is no GESE, and indeed no two skill test from any provider at all.

Which you need is decided by your route, not by preference. Citizenship, settlement, partner, parent, International Sportsperson and Representative of an Overseas Business are the routes assessed on speaking and listening, which we set out in the UK routes that only test speaking and listening and covered from Trinity's side in Trinity GESE as a visa test.

What this changes about preparing

Confirm your route needs four skills before booking ISE. If it needs two, GESE is shorter.
Confirm you will be in the UK when you sit it.
Prepare every component to a pass, because there is no averaging and no margin.
Do not expect a diagnostic. A fail tells you which component, not by how much.
Count back two years from the application date.

Speaking is the component where a pass or fail judgement stings most, because you cannot revise it silently the way you can revise reading. Role play scenarios and a daily speaking partner build the habit of responding to something unplanned, and testing your speaking level free tells you which ISE level is realistic. CEFR levels for speaking explains what B1 through C2 describe and what C2 actually means covers the level ISE IV sits at.

For the numeric alternatives, IELTS for UKVI by CEFR level lays out 4.0 at B1 through 8.5 at C2 and LanguageCert Academic against General SELT covers the two products that behave identically until C2. For how examiners mark spoken English in detail, Interactive Communication uses real scored candidates. Linguaskill and Aptis are the closest non-visa comparisons we have written.

What we could not verify

We did not read Trinity's own ISE specifications. Everything here comes from the Home Office approved lists, which state thresholds rather than describing exams. Task types, timings and marking criteria are published by Trinity.

We are not claiming the exam is identical at every level. The approved list asks for the same thing at each level. What the paper contains at B1 and at C2 is a different question we have not answered.

We did not check which CEFR level each immigration route requires. That comes from route guidance.

We did not verify centres or fees. Separate approved centre lists exist, dated July 2026, which we have not opened.

One date oddity we noticed and are not building on. ISE IV carries an effective date of 3 April 2015 in the in-UK file while the other Trinity rows read 6 April 2015. It changes nothing for an applicant today.

This is not immigration advice. It is a reading of two published spreadsheets and the guidance page they sit on, all linked below.

How we researched this guide

We downloaded both Home Office approved test spreadsheets and parsed them by rows and cells rather than reading them as text, then filtered to one provider and sorted by CEFR level.

The Pass against band observation came from reading the minimum grade column across providers rather than down one. Filtered to Trinity, the column reads as four identical entries and looks like a formatting quirk. Read across a single CEFR level, it becomes a genuine design difference: two of the five approved providers at B2 judge rather than measure.

The in-UK restriction came from diffing the two files. Trinity is present in one and absent from the other, and PSI is the mirror image, which is the detail most likely to waste a booking.

We deliberately did not extrapolate from thresholds to exam content. An approved list says what a government will accept, not what a candidate will be asked to do, and the two are easy to conflate.

Practise speaking, from SpeakShark

SpeakShark is an AI English speaking practice app, and a pass or fail exam is the case where practice matters most. There is no band to bank, so the goal is not a score, it is being comfortably past the line on the day.

You talk, the AI answers what you actually said, and you get speaking feedback while the conversation is still running. The free tier gives basic feedback; the detailed pronunciation and grammar breakdown is on Premium.

Being straight about the limits: a free session runs five minutes with four turns, and we issue no certificates. We are not an approved test provider and nothing here counts toward an application.

Start free with three sessions a day and no card. Paid sessions run ten minutes with unlimited turns. Limits are on the pricing page, and how it works walks through a session. Sign up here if the speaking component is the one you want to be past the line on.

We are a speaking improvement tool. We are not an exam preparation provider, and we are not affiliated with Cambridge English, the IELTS partners, Pearson or any exam board. For test format, booking and official practice material, go to the exam body directly. Use SpeakShark to make your spoken English stronger, and use official material to learn the test.

Site: speakshark.com
Support: speaksharksupport@gmail.com
Free tier: 3 AI conversation sessions per day, no card

Sources

GOV.UK, list of approved Secure English Language Tests taken in the UK: the ISE I to ISE IV rows at B1 through C2, the Pass in all four components requirement, the GESE rows used for comparison, and the effective dates
GOV.UK, list of approved Secure English Language Tests taken outside the UK: the absence of Trinity, the PSI Skills for English rows, and the IELTS, Pearson and LanguageCert figures used in the cross-provider comparison
GOV.UK, prove your English language abilities with a secure English language test: the provider lists for each side of the border, the route split between two skill and four skill tests, and the two year validity rule
Council of Europe, CEFR Table 1, common reference levels global scale: the level scale these rows report against

FAQ

What are ISE I, II, III and IV?

They are the four levels of Trinity College London's Integrated Skills in English qualification that appear on the Home Office approved test list. ISE I is approved at B1, ISE II at B2, ISE III at C1 and ISE IV at C2. All four are listed as 4-facet tests, meaning they cover reading, listening, speaking and writing.

What score do I need in Trinity ISE for a UK visa?

A Pass in every component. The approved list states Reading Pass, Listening Pass, Speaking Pass, Writing Pass for ISE I, II, III and IV alike. There is no numeric band to optimise and no overall figure, which makes it structurally different from IELTS, PTE and LanguageCert.

Can I take Trinity ISE outside the UK for immigration purposes?

Not for a UK immigration application. Trinity College London appears only on the Home Office list of providers for tests taken in the UK. Outside the UK the approved providers are PSI Services, the IELTS SELT Consortium, LanguageCert and Pearson, so an ISE sat abroad does not satisfy the requirement.

What is the difference between ISE and GESE?

ISE covers all four skills and is approved at B1 to C2 as a 4-facet test. GESE is Trinity's spoken exam and is approved at A1, A2 and B1 as a 2-facet test covering speaking and listening. They overlap only at B1, and which one you need depends on whether your immigration route examines reading and writing.

Which is easier to pass, a Pass or a band score?

Neither is inherently easier, but they fail differently. A band scale tells you how far short you fell and lets some providers offer a single skill retake. A Pass or fail judgement gives you no distance information, so a candidate who fails one component learns that they failed it and nothing more about the gap.

How long is a Trinity ISE result valid for a UK application?

Two years, like every approved Secure English Language Test. The Home Office requires the result to have been awarded in the two years before the date of your application, to be on the approved list, and to have been sat at an approved test location. All three conditions apply together.