What is the Cambridge Advanced Exam?
The Cambridge Advanced exam is an internationally recognised exam which tests the skills of candidates at a level of C1 of the CEFR. Apart from its recognition in education it is also widely recognised as a measure of very good English skills for the workplace.
You can take the Cambridge Certificate in Advanced English in a traditional way, as a paper exam or alternatively as a computer exam. All the written parts take place the same day.
There are five parts to the exam with the Reading and Use of English combined as one single exam. Nevertheless, each of the parts is marked separately.
This exam is 1 hour and 30 minutes and combines Reading and Use of English and there are 8 tasks. Of these, four are Use of English exercises and Parts 5-8 are the reading tasks.
The Cambridge Advanced exam in writing is 1 hour and 30 minutes and consists of two parts. Part 1 is the mandatory essay question. Part 2 has three further writing exercises from which candidates choose one. A final point is that each exercise has an identical word limit of 220-260 words.
The listening test is about 45 minutes. It consists of 4 parts which candidates will hear twice. There is some extra time at the end of the exam to copy your answers to the answer sheet in the paper exam. You have extra time to review your answers in the computer-based exam. There are 30 questions in this exam.
The speaking exam is 15 minutes and generally done in pairs with a partner. It can take place the same day as the rest of the exams or some time before or after that, depending on the centre you choose. This advanced exam consists of fours parts and includes some tasks where you speak on your own and some tasks are in discussion with a partner.