Exam day, mapped
Most exam-day nerves are just missing information. This page is the missing information: what happens, in what order, under what rules — so when you walk in, the only unfamiliar thing left is nothing.
The three written papers run in one sitting of about four hours, always in the same order, with short breaks between them. Speaking is usually scheduled separately.
1 hour 30 minutes · 8 parts · 56 questions
Comes first, while you are freshest. Parts 1–4 are the short grammar and vocabulary tasks; parts 5–8 are the long reading texts, including cross-text multiple matching, which exists only at C1. Ninety minutes sounds generous — across eight parts it is not.
1 hour 30 minutes · 2 tasks · 220–260 words each
Part 1 is a compulsory essay summarising and evaluating ideas from a short input text. Part 2 is your choice from an email or letter, a proposal, a report or a review. Plan for forty-five minutes a task.
about 40 minutes · 4 parts · 30 questions
Every recording plays exactly twice. Part 4 is the double matching task — two answers per speaker, twice the concentration. On paper you get five extra minutes at the end to copy answers onto the answer sheet.
15 minutes, in pairs · 4 parts · 2 examiners
Usually on a different day or at a different time from the written papers. Your centre schedules it and tells you when — so check both dates the moment your confirmation arrives.
Most centres run both. Same tasks, same timing, same marking, same certificate — the choice is purely about how you work best, and which dates your centre offers.
The rules are strict because the certificate is worth something. None of them bite if you know them in advance — your centre’s confirmation email is the final word on the details.
The same identity document you registered with — a passport or national identity card — plus the Confirmation of Entry your centre sends. No ID, no exam; there are no exceptions on the day.
Be there well before the reported start time. Centres seat candidates, check documents and read the regulations aloud before anything begins — and late arrivals may not be admitted at all.
Phones and smartwatches are switched off and stored where the centre tells you — never at your desk, not even face down. Being found with one during the exam can mean disqualification.
For the paper-based exam: pencils, an eraser and a pen. A clear bottle of water is generally fine. Dictionaries, notes and your own paper are not — rough work goes on the question paper.
You take it with another candidate — occasionally in a three at the day’s last slot — and two examiners: one talks with you, the other only listens and assesses. Four parts, one after another.
The examiner asks about you: your background, interests and plans. Short questions, answered naturally — this part settles you in.
You get three pictures and talk about two of them for a minute, answering the printed questions. Then one short question about your partner's pictures.
You and your partner discuss written prompts around a question, then are asked to reach a decision together. Negotiating and building on each other's points is the skill being tested.
The examiner opens out the Part 3 topic with broader, more abstract questions. This is where C1 range shows — speculation, justification, precise vocabulary.
Your Statement of Results appears online first — typically two to three weeks after a computer-based exam, four to six after a paper-based one — and the printed certificate follows by post some weeks later.
The pass mark — grade C — is 180 on the Cambridge English Scale, and scores of 180–199 are reported at C1 level on your Statement of Results.
Every paper described above exists here in full, under the real timing — the same order, the same clock, the recordings that play twice. Sit it now, while it costs nothing, and the real day becomes a repeat performance.
English Certificate Preparation is an independent study resource. We are not affiliated with, authorised by, endorsed by or in any way officially connected with Cambridge University Press & Assessment. “B2 First”, “C1 Advanced”, “FCE”, “CAE” and “Cambridge English” are trademarks of their respective owners and are used here only to describe the examinations our practice material prepares you for.
