The First Certificate in English (FCE) is a Cambridge examination which is at Level B2 in the Common European Framework. Level B2 is equivalent to an Upper Intermediate Level. In the Cambridge English Scale, the FCE covers the points from 160 to 190.
Cambridge changed the format of the FCE in January 2015 and the updated FCE exam consists of four parts:
- Paper 1: Reading and Use of English
- Paper 2: Writing
- Paper 3: Listening
- Paper 4: Speaking
What can you use the First Certificate in English (FCE) for?
The FCE certificate, as all the Cambridge English exams, is globally accepted by:
- Employers
- Universities
- Government departments
According to Cambridge English, the suite of exams is accepted all over the world by more than 20,000 universities, employers and governments.
The main reason for the Cambridge English exams being so widely accepted, is that they make it easy to understand what the language skills of a student actually are.
Cambridge English exams are available at over 2,800 centres in more than 130 countries. With both a paper-based and a computer-based exam option, you can choose when, where and how you take an Cambridge English exam.
Why not check out the key dates for the FCE exams which can be found on our FCE Exam Dates page and start planning for your FCE exam?
Where can the First Certificate in English (FCE) take you?
Every year, thousands of students from all over the world sit the First Certificate in English (FCE) as well as the other Cambridge English exams.
Watch this video where a banker, a photographer and a travel marketing professional share their stories about the Cambridge English exams helped them get the language skills they needed for success.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/vQERFI5hKSI
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How do Cambridge calculate an FCE result on the new grade. For example, if a student has a score of 58% in reading, is the resulting cefr grade 58% of 190 which is the top score in fce grade, the grade would be 110 or is it 58% of 230 which would be 133? Could you explain this to me.
Hi Eoin
Thank you for your question. We are planning to run an article next week where we are explaining how to convert the official FCE Practice Tests to the Cambridge English Scale – you just beat us to it! Here is a quick answer for now:
From your comment we are assuming you have been using an official FCE practice test and that the student scored 58% on this practice test. We are also assuming that this score is on the Reading parts, not the Use of English as these are still reported separately on the certificate.
There are in total 42 scores that can be achieved on the Reading parts on the Reading paper (Parts 1, 5, 6, and 7). 58% of a score of 42 is 24.36, which we have rounded off to a score of 24.
A score of 24 equates to 160 on the Cambridge English Scale. It is a B2, Grade C on the CEFR.
We hope this answers your question for now – a more detailed explanation can be found in our articled which is planned for publishing on 25th September.
All the best
editor
@fcepracticetests.com