What are Cambridge English Qualifications and tests? HD

This video explains stage by stage how we create our exams and why each year millions of candidates around the world trust us when making life-changing decisions regarding their lives, education and careers. [Transcript follows] Cambridge Assessment English: who are we? Cambridge Assessment English is a department of the University of Cambridge, offering English certification to millions of people around the world since 1913 – today, to more than 5 million candidates. But, what are Cambridge English qualifications and tests, and what do they mean for these 5 million people? Our qualifications and tests represent the key to many different doors, whether these be -travel -taking your first steps in English -university -professional development Or simply to help improve your level of English, and speak with friends from around the world. Our qualifications and tests cater for many different people in different situations and with different needs. But why do millions of people around the world trust our exams? How do we go about making a great exam? It’s not, as you might imagine, an old professor locked away writing all the exams! Let’s take one of our better-known products as an example, B2 First – we’ll look at Reading and Use of English, one of the components. Each paper has its own team working on it. The first phase involves writers drafting tasks and questions, or items, all of which come from authentic texts they find in magazines, the news, books or the internet... When the tasks are ready, they are sent to Cambridge for Pre-Edit, where they are scrutinised and revised. In this meeting, we look at aspects like general language level, style, length, and any cultural aspects, making sure that there is no bias and no candidates will be put at a disadvantage. After revisions and suggestions have been made, the items are sent back to the writers, who make any changes needed, and then send the material back to Cambridge for Edit, the second stage. Here, more specific and detailed amendments and changes are made, until the items and tasks are ready to be put together in Pretests. These Pretests are then printed in DC10, our high security logistics centre. Several hundred copies are printed, and sent off around the world to be taken by real candidates, from at least 3 different language groups, for example Spanish (Romance), Russian (Slavic) and Chinese (Sino-Tibetan). These Pretests are then sent back to Cambridge to be marked, in the third phase of the exam production process, where we have to calibrate the difficulty of each task, using statistical analysis. Once statistics have been generated and numbers crunched, these are looked at in Pretest Review, any small changes are made to the material, and we reach the final stage, where Live exams are created in Test Construction. In this meeting, we put together the finished product, a balanced exam in terms of content and level. Once this has been checked and proofed, the final