CAE Exam

CAE is currently known as C1 Advanced. This exam is intended for people who have one specific purpose: to study at a university abroad.

You will be tested in five areas, two of which will be in the same section:

1. Reading and use of English

It makes up 40% of the entire exam, and it's composed of a total of 56 questions divided into eight parts: 

1. Multiple-choice cloze
2. Open cloze
3. Word formation
4. Keyword transformations
5. Text with multiple-choice questions 
6. Cross-text multiple matching
7. Text with paragraphs missing
8. Multiple matching

2. Writing

You will be required to write two types of text:

1. Essay with discursive focus 
   A composition of no more than 250 words, talking about something specific. You have to make well-developed arguments that support your idea. For this, you can use different text sources. Remember, it is not allowed to write literal parts of the font resource.
2. Situationally based writing task
   For this part, you can choose between 4 topics or questions to answer. This response has an extension from 220 to 260 words, and it can be written in any textual style: letter, email, report, review, etc.

3. Listening

For this section, you are allowed to hear each of the recordings given during the test twice. You can listen to podcasts, radio or TV shows, extractives, etc.

There are four parts:

1. Extracts from a conversation with multiple-choice questions
   You will hear some audio about various subjects. Based on this, you will have to answer two or more multiple-choice questions.
2. Sentence completion
   After hearing a recording about a particular subject, you will complete a series of 8 sentences inside of a text based on what you heard.
3. Conversation with multiple-choice questions
   You will answer 6 multiple-choice questions related to the recording of a group conversation.
4. Multiple matching
   In this part, you will hear five people talking, each one about a different subject.
   There are two panels, with a total of 10 questions with its corresponding answer. You will have to choose the right answer to indicate what each of the five speakers of the audio said.

4. Speaking

This section might be assessed at a different date from the rest of the exam, according to the exam center.

You will be assessed in four areas:

1. Answering questions
   You will answer different questions between the examiner and another candidate.
2. Long turn
   The examiner presents to you and another candidate five images. Then, you'll talk about it for 1 minute without interruption. The examiner will then pass to the other candidate and repeat the process.
3. Collaborative task
   The examiner presents both candidates with an image and assigns a task. The candidates must speak to each other to find a solution for the assignment.
4. Discussion
   The candidates must establish a discussion related to the third part of the section.

Keep in mind that there will be two examiners assessing this section of the text. Usually, the first one interacts with the candidates, and the second one is exclusively taking notes of each detail of what you express.

Learn more about this exam in this infographic: