Working with us

Support and benefits

for authorised centres
 Helping you serve your
customers better
Cambridge English exams are delivered by 2,800
exam centres in more than 130 countries.

We put our centres – and your customers – at the

heart of our business. We’re here to provide you with
all the support you need in delivering our exams, from
streamlined test administration to free marketing
support materials.

This brochure explains the different ways we can

support you.

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The world leader in English
language exams
Cambridge English Language Assessment offers the world’s leading range of qualifications for learners
and teachers of English.

Our exams are recognised and accepted by over 15,000 organisations worldwide, including top employers,
immigration authorities and leading universities.

We provide assessment for all levels of language ability and for a wide range of uses, including study, work
and professional contexts. Over 4 million people take Cambridge English exams every year.

Our exams are expertly designed to provide learners with real-life, up-to-date language skills. Underpinned
by the world’s largest dedicated research team, our exams are accurate, fair and fit for purpose.

2,800 exam centres in more than 130 countries

46,000 registered preparation centres

Over 4 million people take Cambridge English exams every year

Over 1 million Facebook fans – www.facebook.com/CambridgeEnglish

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 Quick and easy exam administration

We want to make the process of administering our exams as straightforward as possible. This makes it easier
for you to run our exams and helps us standardise our exam delivery worldwide.

We provide:

• clear and comprehensive documentation

• materials to help you run the exams
• checklists that you can adapt and personalise
• simple online entry systems
• online results for most exams
• regular email updates.

Speaking tests
To ensure the quality of our Speaking tests, we provide a Professional Support Leader network to help centres
manage their Speaking examiners.

In the UK, Speaking examiners are provided by Cambridge English Language Assessment.

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Speedier exam processing,
quicker results
We are continuously looking for ways to speed up the
processing of exams for you and your customers.

Most results are now released within two weeks of the

exam (four weeks for paper-based tests), thanks to our
Faster Results initiative.

From 2014 we will start introducing a system which will

allow you to print and scan candidate answer sheets and
send them straight back to us electronically, so we can
start marking them quickly. This will provide a faster,
more flexible service for you, and your candidates will
receive their results even sooner.

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 Training for Centre Exams Managers
and invigilators
To make sure you’re fully familiar with our regulations,
and have everything you need to run our exams
smoothly and efficiently, we offer:

• free face-to-face training

• online self-study modules
• real-time WebEx training with a member of
our team
• training materials for your supervisors and
invigilators.

Our face-to-face training events, which take place in Cambridge several times a year, consistently
receive excellent feedback:

“Great training event. The team were friendly and helpful, and answered questions with a
wealth of knowledge.”

“I was really impressed by the professional and friendly attitude of the staff. They made us
feel valued and that all our queries and comments were welcome and deserved attention.”

Find out more about training events in your area by logging in at support.cambridgeenglish.org
and searching on ‘training’.

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Ongoing contact and support

If you’re a new centre, our Centre Support team will

be in touch straight away to talk you through the
essentials of running our exams. We also arrange free
support visits for new centres with an experienced
representative to offer advice as you deliver your first
exam session.

All centres also benefit from our programme of regular

inspections, where we offer feedback and guidance to
help optimise your centre’s performance.

Here’s what centres say about support visits:

“We are very thankful for this support visit. It is a

wonderful service and has helped us a great deal.”

“Excellent advice and support, given in a very friendly

manner, helped to put us all at ease during our first
exam session.”

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 Support with running exams

Do you have any questions about running our exams? You’ll find all your documentation along with lots
of useful articles, frequently asked questions, short video clips and more at our online Helpdesk –
support.cambridgeenglish.org

If you want to ask us a question directly, our Helpdesk team is here for you.

• Start by using the search at support.cambridgeenglish.org – this has answers to many of the most
frequently asked questions. If you can’t find the answer to your question, you can contact our
Helpdesk team through the same website.
• Tweet your query to @CamEngHelpers

Technical support when running computer-based exams

We have a team of highly trained technicians who will provide you with high-quality, real-time support
during your computer-based exams. The team is available 24 hours a day whenever there is a computer-
based exam running.

We’ll also contact you before your session, to make sure you are well prepared and to offer you any
support you may need.

For exams taking place on a Saturday or Sunday, we provide an emergency telephone helpline for any
urgent last-minute questions. You can get the number by calling the Helpdesk and listening to the
pre-recorded message.

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Our pledge to you

General enquiries Results enquiries

For exams scheduled to take place on a Saturday or Sunday, we provide an emergency telephone helpline just
in case
• Weyou
aimhave any urgent
to respond last-minute
to Helpdesk questions.
enquiries within • We aim to notify centres of the outcome
two working days. of a results enquiry clerical check within
• When you apply for additional exams to be offered five working days and to notify them of the
at your centre, we will confirm authorisation of outcome of a results enquiry remark within 15
We also have a team of technicians who know our systems in detail and can connect remotely to your PC to
exam eligibility within four weeks of receiving your working days.
provide high level
completed service.
exam This teamform.
authorisation is available Monday to Friday (8.30–17.00 UK time) and also during any
computer-based exam, including at weekends and at any time of day or night. We will also contact you directly
• Wecomputer-based
before will update contact
examsdetails for your
to offer centre
support.
Complaints
within two working days of receiving your new
information. • We aim to acknowledge receipt of all
complaints within two working days and to
investigate and provide an answer within 10
working days.

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9
 Supporting your marketing

To help you promote Cambridge English exams, we provide a range of tools including:

• authorised centre logo to use on your website and printed materials

• authorised centre certificate to display at your centre
• free leaflets, including translations into several languages
• free posters
• seminars and training events for teachers around the world, including online seminars
• free online games candidates can play to improve their English
• free apps from Cambridge University Press that support English language learning.

In many countries and regions, our local representatives can help you plan your marketing activity and advise
on raising the profile of your centre. They also organise local meetings, where you can meet other centres and
representatives to share ideas.

Cambridge English website

More than 4 million visitors a year access our site, and they can find you quickly and easily using our Centre
Search facility.
The website offers easy access to extensive information about Cambridge English exams, including free
practice tests and other preparation materials for candidates and teachers to download.
www.cambridgeenglish.org

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Social media

Our social media pages are powerful tools for raising awareness of our exams across the world, and offer lots
of fun ways of using online communities to get the most out of learning or teaching English. Why not get
involved? It’s a great way to raise your profile and interact with learners.

Facebook
Interact with over 1 million fans on our global
Facebook page:
www.facebook.com/CambridgeEnglish

Twitter
We have over 8,000 followers on Twitter:
www.twitter.com/CambridgeEng
You can tweet your question to @CamEngHelpers

YouTube
There are lots of helpful tips on exam practice and
English language learning advice on our YouTube
channel, Cambridge English TV.
ww.youtube.com/CambridgeEnglishTV

Local social networks

Many countries also have their own Cambridge English
social communities. Find out more at
www.cambridgeenglish.org/social-networks

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 Extra benefits for high-achieving centres

For our highest-performing centres worldwide, we offer membership of our Platinum Centre Scheme.

Platinum Centres enjoy a range of additional benefits, such as extra sales and marketing training, free seminar
resources and rebates on exam fees.

There’s also the opportunity to become more closely involved in our development projects and initiatives
which help us improve exam administration.

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Support for teachers

We support teachers around the world with access to the highest-quality training and teaching materials:

Teaching Support website

A wealth of free resources for teachers, including downloadable lesson plans, worksheets, classroom
activities, teaching ideas, sample papers, handbooks and online forums.
www.cambridgeenglish.org/teachingsupport

Cambridge English Teacher

A professional development platform where teachers can grow their skills and connect with other
teachers and experts in English language teaching across the world. Teachers can find courses, articles,
webinars and other teaching resources. www.cambridgeenglishteacher.org

Cambridge English Language Assessment website

A wide range of resources and support for teachers, including free practice tests and other preparation
materials to download. www.cambridgeenglish.org

Face-to-face support
We also attend hundreds of events globally to provide face-to-face support for our exams and to offer
teacher development.

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 Pretesting programme

Pretesting gives students the opportunity to practise

taking a Cambridge English exam by answering real
questions under exam conditions.

For students, pretesting helps them understand

how best to focus their preparation; for teachers,
it helps highlight areas where students might need
more help.

Pretesting is a vital element of our exam

development process.

It helps us to ensure that:

• our exams are accurate and fair, with each

individual item pitched at the right level
• test content is appropriate, and people from all
backgrounds can do equally well.

Find out how your centre can get involved

in pretesting at
www.cambridgeenglish.org/about-pretesting

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Help for your preparation centres

Preparation centres are schools and other institutions

that prepare candidates for Cambridge English exams.
We can help you support your preparation centres by
providing them with access to:
• online results
• marketing materials
• a special logo
• certificates to display
• regular updates via email newsletter
• an annual competition with the prize of a free
trip to Cambridge for a series of seminars and
activities.

Find out more about what you can do to encourage the

schools that send candidates to you at
support.cambridgeenglish.org

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 Free, secure online results verification

Cambridge English results can be verified

instantly via our free, secure online Results
Verification Service.

The user-friendly service is available to

organisations that accept our exams such
as universities, colleges and employers.

Find out more:

www.cambridgeenglish.org/verifiers

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In-depth research

The development of all our exams is underpinned by the expertise of our world-leading Research and
Validation team. Their work ensures that our exams reflect best practice, and that preparing for our exams
always encourages real-life language skills.

You can access the results of their work through a range of publications.

Free research publications

• Research Notes: a quarterly publication featuring the latest research into language learning, test
development and validation from Cambridge English Language Assessment.
• Cambridge Research Update: a quarterly newsletter summarising the latest research about language testing.
• Examination reports: available on our website, these are useful for schools, teachers and centres.
www.cambridgeenglish.org/research

Studies in Language Testing (SiLT)

This series of academic volumes addresses important issues and new developments in language testing
and assessment. SiLT is published jointly by Cambridge English Language Assessment and Cambridge
University Press.
www.cambridgeenglish.org/silt

Principles of Good Practice

Our Principles of Good Practice outline the systems and processes that drive our search for excellence and
continuous improvement. They give deeper insight into our processes and enable us to share best practice with
the wider world of language learning and assessment.
www.cambridgeenglish.org/principles

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 Updated exams, increased flexibility

All our exams and learning materials are regularly

reviewed to keep them in line with our latest
research findings.

• Cambridge English: Proficiency (CPE) was updated for

2013. We have also introduced a computer-based
version of the test and a computer-based version of
the popular Cambridge English: Young Learners tests.
• Cambridge English: Advanced (CAE), Cambridge
English: First (FCE) and Cambridge English: First (FCE)
for Schools are being reviewed and will be updated
in 2015.

Excellent examination availability

We now offer over 300 exam dates throughout the year. Some exams are also available on demand.

More choice and flexibility

Candidates can usually choose whether to take their Cambridge English exam as a paper-based test or on a
computer. An increased number of exam dates means you can offer your candidates even more choice in how
and when they take their exam.

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Working to serve you better

As members of the UK Institute of Customer Service, we work hard to integrate the principles
of customer service excellence across all parts of our business.

To keep us focused on our goal of providing you with all the support you need to run
Cambridge English exams, we set out our service commitment as a series of aims. These aims
provide a framework for us to benchmark our service and identify opportunities to improve.

This includes consulting with you in the early stages of any changes we are planning. We may
contact you to ask for feedback about initiatives and ideas, and offer you the chance to get
involved in projects and trials of new systems and processes.

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Find out more
Already a Cambridge English exam centre?
Find out more via our Helpdesk at support.cambridgeenglish.org

Want to apply to become a centre?

Find out more at www.cambridgeenglish.org/become-a-centre

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© UCLES 2014 | CE/1198/4Y03