Understanding the Cambridge English Test Component of the UKiset Exam
The UKiset exam offers a comprehensive method of pre-application to British curriculum schools that allows students to have their level assessed from their home country at a designated centre and apply to up to five schools at a time. It is an adaptive test for students from 9.5 to 18 years old and the candidates are measured against a comprehensive criteria and skill set that demonstrates their strengths and weaknesses, as well as their ability to cope in an English speaking school. Specific details on the exam can be found on the UKiset website, where the full run down concerning administration, test centres and components can be found. The part this blog post is focusing on is the Cambridge English test element.
The Cambridge English Placement test is a listening, Reading and English in Use test that takes approximately 30 minutes, is done online at a designated centre and immediately shows the candidates results. As each question is answered correctly, the questions get progressively harder and the test stops once a certain point of failure is accurately established.
All the Cambridge exams, from PET up to CPE all have a few key points in common and understanding this is essential to success. They all require an active, not passive understanding of English grammar and structure. Having worked in a British Curriculum international school in Chile, taught UKiset/ 11plus/13plus and IB online, I am well aware that the approach to grammar, vocabulary and structure taught in British curriculum and International schools abroad is more akin to how native speakers learn English as a first language than how English as a Foreign Language is taught. So, with this in mind, it is necessary for candidates to take on an additional course of study that involves raising their awareness of key structures needed at the required level such as Reported Speech, the Passive Voice, Perfect tenses and a comprehensive understanding of lexical items too.
Accompanying additional tutoring, candidates should be encouraged to read and listen to English in their spare time too. The candidates result in this part of the test is compared against…
