LanguageCert Academic format and scoring: the complete guide

LanguageCert Academic is a four-skill test for university admission and migration that measures B1 to C2. This guide sums up each section's format and how it is scored, from LanguageCert's own pages.

The four sections

• Listening: about 40 minutes, 4 parts, 30 questions. Each recording is played twice.
• Reading: 50 minutes, 5 parts (1a, 1b, 2, 3 and 4), 30 questions.
• Writing: 50 minutes, 2 tasks.
• Speaking: about 14 minutes, 4 parts, with an interlocutor.

Listening

1. Seven unfinished dialogues: choose the best continuation from three options.
2. Five conversations in academic settings, with two three-option questions each.
3. A lecture or podcast on an academic subject: fill seven gaps in the notes, three words at most.
4. A discussion or debate between three speakers, with six three-option questions.

Reading

• Part 1a: six sentences; choose the word, from four, that replaces the highlighted words.
• Part 1b: a short text with five gaps and three options for each.
• Part 2: six sentences removed from a text; put each back from a choice of eight.
• Part 3: four short texts on a common theme and seven questions on which text says what.
• Part 4: a longer argumentative text with six four-option questions.

Writing

• Task 1: a 150–200-word academic report or article on an infographic, with your view and reasons.
• Task 2: a discursive piece of about 250 words on an academic subject.

Each task is marked on four criteria, each from 0 to 8: task achievement, grammar, vocabulary (with spelling) and organisation (with punctuation). Task 1 is 40% of the Writing marks and Task 2 60%. An off-topic answer gets no credit.

Speaking

1. Your name and its spelling, your country, and a few questions about you.
2. Two role plays in academic situations.
3. Reading a short text aloud (20 seconds to prepare) and questions on it.
4. A two-minute presentation on an academic subject (one minute to prepare) and questions.

Five criteria, each from 0 to 8: task fulfilment and communicative effect (counted twice), coherence, grammar, vocabulary, and pronunciation, intonation and fluency. The four parts count equally.

The 0–100 score and CEFR levels

Each skill is scored on LanguageCert's Global Scale from 0 to 100, and the overall score is the average of the four. The levels:

• C2: 90–100
• C1: 75–89
• B2: 60–74
• B1: 40–59

According to LanguageCert's page, official results usually come within three working days.

How to prepare

• Learn each part's format so on the day your time goes on the answers, not on working out the task.
• In Listening, use the first play for the gist and the second for detail.
• In Writing, keep to the word count: a very short answer can't score high on task achievement.
• In Speaking, answer fully and link your ideas with connectors.
• Take a full timed mock before the exam.

Certyar is an independent preparation site, not affiliated with LanguageCert. For the official details, see LanguageCert Academic's page.