Cpe Handbook

Certificate of Proficiency in English
Handbook for teachers

© UCLES 2008 EMC/2318/8Y12

CPE content and overview

Part/timing

Content

Test focus

Part 1

Three short texts with six four-option multiple-choice cloze questions on each. Four short texts with two four-option multiple-choice questions on each. Gapped text with seven questions. Long text with seven four-option multiple-choice questions. One compulsory question. Candidates answer one question from a choice of four questions (including the set text option). Modified open cloze with fifteen questions. One short text with ten word formation questions. Six sets of three gapped sentences Eight key word transformations. Two texts with four questions and a summary writing task. Four short extracts with two three-option multiple-choice questions on each. One long text with nine sentence completion questions. One long text with five four-option multiplechoice questions. One long text with six matching questions. Interview Collaborative task Individual long turns and follow-up discussion.

1
READING 1 hour 30 mins

Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

Assessment of candidates’ ability to understand the meaning of written English at word, phrase, sentence, paragraph and whole text level.

2
WRITING 2 hours

Part 1 Part 2

Assessment of candidates’ ability to write specified text types with a range of functions.

Part 1 Part 2

Assessment of candidates’ ability to demonstrate knowledge and control of the language system by completing various tasks at text and sentence level.

3
USE OF ENGLISH 1 hour 30 mins

Part 3 Part 4 Part 5

Part 1

4
LISTENING 40 mins (approx)

Part 2 Part 3 Part 4

Assessment of candidates’ ability to understand the meaning of spoken English, to extract information from a text and to understand speakers’ attitudes and opinions.

5
SPEAKING 19 mins

Part 1 Part 2 Part 3

Assessment of candidates’ ability to produce spoken English using a range of