Skills for English

About Skills for English

Skills for English tests are simple, quick, and affordable. They have been designed to make the process of taking a test and gaining an English Language qualification as intuitive and straightforward as possible.

Tests are available for either two skills; speaking and listening, or four skills; speaking, listening, reading, and writing.

All Skills for English tests use computer-based delivery for all skills. Reading and listening are automatically marked during the test session itself; speaking and writing are recorded digitally during the session and marked by trained assessors (who have no sight of the test taker’s personal details) after the test is finished. This means test takers can move through each of the skills in turn in a single session and receive results in as little as 3-5 days.*

Skills for English: SELT is a UKVI-approved Secure English Language Test (SELT) for visa and immigration applications which is taken in one of our worldwide network of test centres.  Skills for English: Global, used for showing your level of English from CEFR levels A1 to C2 can be taken from home also via Online Proctoring and may be used for international study, work, or career progression purposes that do not need a UK visa. 

Both Skills for English: SELT and Skills for English: Global B1 and B2 Four Facet tests are approved by the Irish Government for study visa purposes.

About Skills for English: Global

Skills for English: Global provides an accurate measure of language proficiency through practical and realistic tasks which you would expect to undertake in an English-speaking environment.

How does the test work?

Skills for English: Global is available either through our network of secure test centres or from the convenience of ‘at home’ testing with online proctoring.

Our experienced, trained proctors are supported by the latest technology to:

• Accurately authenticate your identity

• Easily prevent, identify, and report possible misconduct during tests

• Directly answer your questions or concerns in real time

Computer-based testing for all skills

All Skills for English: SELT tests use computer-based delivery for all skills. Reading and listening are automatically marked during the test session itself; speaking and writing are recorded digitally during the test session and marked by trained assessors (who have no visibility of your personal details) after you’ve finished. That means you can move through each of the skills sections in turn in a single test session and receive your results in as little as 14 days.

Speaking

First you will be asked to introduce yourself. Then you will listen to a series of recordings, and respond to recorded questions and tasks presented on screen. You will do this by recording your spoken answers.

Listening

You will be asked to listen to a number of recordings of spoken English. These will feature one or more speakers. After each you will be asked to answer a series of multiple-choice or short word- answer questions.

Reading

You will be presented with a series of texts of varying lengths on screen. Then you will be asked to respond to questions about them in a range of formats. These include multiple-choice, true/false/not given, answer matching or written responses.

Writing

You will be given two tasks, which may be on any relevant topic. You will then be asked to organise and complete an extended written response for each task. The response has to address the task and include key information that has been identified within it.

Find your level

Even with a high first-time pass rate, Skills for English test takers will always see better outcomes when they are well prepared. Follow the steps and take advantage of the materials to prepare for your test.

Once you know which Skills for English test you need to take for your required visa, use these tools to find out your current ability level.

Our ‘Find your CEFR level’ indicator tests will give you a chance to compare your English Language abilities with the Skills for English and CEFR levels, helping you to plan your study ahead of your test. 

These short tests have questions on vocabulary, grammar and the way English is used. They do NOT test your listening, speaking or writing skills.

The results of these tests give you an indication or an idea of your CEFR level. These tests should NOT be used as the only tool to help you decide your CEFR level.

There are 6 tests, one at each of the CEFR levels, A1, A2, B1, B2, C1 and C2. Each test has 10 questions.