A few days ago I completed the speaking module of the British Council’s EnglishScore Test.  This module is unlocked after completion of the “Core Skills” module.  The test, which is free, takes about 30 minutes to complete.  A verified digital certificate can be purchased for $24.99.  Like the other two EnglishScore modules, it is a mobile-only test.  You might also enjoy my comments on the core skills module, and the writing module.

Below find a copy of my certificate, as well as a combined certificate that is provided to users who purchase all three of the available certificates (core skills, writing and speaking).  The British Council provided vouchers so I could generate the certificates at no cost.

A few notes are worth mentioning:

1. Question types will be familiar to anyone who has taken a modern English test:  read the sentences you see on the screen, repeat sentences you have heard, respond to a short prompt.  The number of questions is somewhat limited.  Perhaps it could be expanded.

2. Audio quality on the “repeat sentences you have heard” questions wasn’t always fantastic. It could be better.

3. The difficulty of the items is determined by your performance on the Core Skills module.  Based on your results there, you will be placed into one of three streams in both the speaking and writing modules.

4. Grading is done mostly by AI, but peer review also plays a role.  I talked about the peer review process in an earlier post.  I do like the idea of peer review. That said, I spent about 20 minutes reviewing answers at the end of my test.  It was somewhat tedious.

5. Results were ready in a couple of hours.  But, once again, I did not receive an email notification.  Someone should look into that, as it is promised in the app.

6. Scoring tops out at C1 level.  The certificate includes subscores for communication, fluency and pronunciation.

7. A printed copy of the Core Skills certificate can be purchased.  Printed copies of the other certificates are not available.

That’s all for the EnglishScore test!  Thanks for reading.  More tests in the fall, I hope.

A few days ago I completed the writing component of the British Council’s EnglishScore Test. I unlocked this component by first completing the EnglishScore “Core Skills” Test. You can read my thoughts on that test in an earlier post. This is a mobile-only test which takes 30-40 minutes to complete.

As I noted in that post, the EnglishScore Test is used by individuals seeking to increase their employability, as well as institutions. The test is free, but an official digital certificate can be purchased for $24.99. Below find my own certificate, which includes derpy photos taken while I completed the test (a security feature).

A few notes:

1. The content of the writing test is determined by the test taker’s score on the core skills test.  According to the test’s validity report, test takers are placed into one of three streams based on those results. The stream affects the difficulty and nature of the questions they get.

2. A mobile-only writing test is a bold proposition. Some might find it awkward to write 70-word responses on a phone. Needless to say, auto-complete and spelling suggestions are turned off. Test takers should probably practice this skill.

3. There are four types of tasks on the writing test: write what you hear, respond to a question, describe a picture, have a chat.

4. Instructions can sometimes be a bit clumsy. At the beginning of the short answer section I was told to write as much as I could. When the questions themselves appeared, I was told to write between 50 and 70 words. When I exceeded 100 words, the word counter turned red and I lost the ability to manually submit my answer. I let time run out without deleting anything, and I suppose my answer was submitted.

5. My approach to tutoring would probably focus on achieving grammatical perfection (or as close as possible). On top of that, I would remind students to show off a bit of grammatical sophistication (probably through the use of coordinating and subordinating conjunctions) and squeeze in a few uncommon words.

6. Results arrived in less than 24 hours. I’m not sure of the exact amount of time, because I didn’t get a notification. Perhaps one should be added. My certificate was available a couple hours after I requested it.

7. In addition to an overall score, the certificate includes subscores: language, organization and communication.

8. Most of the scoring is done by AI. Some of the scoring is done via peer review. I think this approach is innovative, but some could feel otherwise.  Details are provided in the test’s validity document (I’ll link to this in the comments). At least 16 different peers (other test takers) assess the responses of a given test taker. I think I assessed 20 at the end of my test.

9. A printed certificate is not available for the writing test. Only a digital version is available.

10. There are quite a few practice questions and responses on the EnglishScore website.

I’ll take the speaking component when I have a moment.

A few days ago, I took the British Council‘s EnglishScore Test.  This one is a mobile-only English test.  It is used by institutions for placement purposes and by individuals who need a certified English score for some purpose.  I suppose it operates in the same space as the TOEIC, TOEFL iTP (ETS), Upskill (Cambridge) and Versant (Pearson) tests.  I’m so happy that this space has become more crowded in recent years. Competition is vital.

Below, check out my official certificate.

Keep in mind that EnglishScore actually consists of three separate tests: the core skills test, the writing test and the speaking test.  The writing and speaking tests are unlocked after you earn an A2 or above result on the core skills test.  Each test takes about 30-40 minutes to complete.  I’ll take the writing and speaking tests in the weeks ahead.

A few thing are worth noting here:

1. Yeah, this one is mobile-only.  The only other major test of this type I can think of is Cambridge’s Upskill test. That said, this one is much bigger: EnglishScore has 10 million downloads on the Google Play Store, while the Upskill test has about half a million.

2. The test taker completes a room scan before beginning, and photos are taken throughout the test and appended to the official certificate.  If test makers can get institutions to trust their security features, mobile tests are a great way to increase access and reduce costs. I think we’ll see more tests like this in the future (especially for lower-stakes uses).

3. Everyone can take the test (and get a score) for free.  An official digital certificate costs $24.99.  A printed certificate (couriered to your door) costs $49.99.  Since printed certificates are still big in my neck of the woods I’m curious about the printed version, but I don’t want to pay for it.

4. Account creation can be done via Google, and the whole setup process and security check can be done in minutes.  How nice.

5. The core skills test is a multiple-choice affair, so it is the easiest to deliver via mobile.  And the easiest to score.  I have no complaints about the delivery, which was very smooth.  I’ll raise some issues when talking about the W and S tests.  But this one is completely painless.

6. If you are helping someone prepare for the test, ensure that they go through the test guide beforehand.  Make sure they know how the timers work, as it isn’t always clear in the UI.  Note, also, that the reading test includes quite a few “pick the best title for this passage” questions, which can be tricky for people who haven’t encountered that sort of thing in the past.

7. The grammar section seems to go heavy on questions about verb tenses.  A keen teacher could probably build a study guide using Murphy’s “English Grammar in Use.”

8. Results max out at C1.

9. Attached are both pages of my certificate.  Note the derpy photos on the second page, which were taken while I was completing the test.  The certificate was available a few hours after I completed the test.

10. BC’s private sector partner on this one is Blenheim Chalcot.