B1 Preliminary for Schools

Exam format

B1 Preliminary for Schools

Practise your English

Find lots of free online activities for teenagers and adults.

Free English activities

Who accepts B1 Preliminary?

These are just a few of the leading organisations that will accept your certificate:

Universidad de Chile
Freie Universität Berlin
Tec de Monterrey
Metrostav
MNG Airlines
StudyPortals

Free support for parents

Get information and tips to encourage your children to have fun learning English.

Information for parents

Exam format

B1 Preliminary for Schools is made up of three papers developed to test students’ English skills. You can see exactly what’s in each paper below.

Paper	Content	Marks (% of total)	Purpose
Reading and Writing (1 hour 30 minutes) See sample paper	Reading: 5 parts/ 35 questions Writing: 3 parts/ 7 questions	50%	Students need to be able to read texts from signs, newspapers and magazines and understand the main points. They will need to show they can use vocabulary and structure by completing tasks such as producing a short message, and writing a story or letter of around 100 words.
Listening (36 minutes including 6 minutes' transfer time) See sample paper	4 parts/ 25 questions	25%	Students need to show they can understand the meaning of a range of recorded spoken material, including announcements, interviews and discussions about everyday life. They will also need to be able to understand the attitudes and intentions of the speakers.
Speaking (10–12 minutes per pair of candidates) See sample paper	4 parts	25%	Students take part in a conversation, asking and answering questions, and talking freely about their likes and dislikes. They take the Speaking test with another candidate or in a group of three.

Paper

Content

Marks
(% of total)

Purpose

Reading and Writing
(1 hour 30 minutes)
See sample paper

Reading:
5 parts/
35 questions

Writing:
3 parts/
7 questions

50%

Students need to be able to read texts from signs, newspapers and magazines and understand the main points. They will need to show they can use vocabulary and structure by completing tasks such as producing a short message, and writing a story or letter of around 100 words.

Listening
(36 minutes including 6 minutes' transfer time)
See sample paper

4 parts/
25 questions

25%

Students need to show they can understand the meaning of a range of recorded spoken material, including announcements, interviews and discussions about everyday life. They will also need to be able to understand the attitudes and intentions of the speakers.

Speaking
(10–12 minutes per pair of candidates)
See sample paper

4 parts

25%

Students take part in a conversation, asking and answering questions, and talking freely about their likes and dislikes. They take the Speaking test with another candidate or in a group of three.

Reading and Writing
Listening
Speaking

What’s in the Reading and Writing paper?

The B1 Preliminary for Schools Reading and Writing paper has five parts for Reading and three parts for Writing. There are different types of text and questions.

Summary

Time allowed:	1 hour 30 minutes
Number of parts:	Reading: 5; Writing: 3
Number of questions:	Reading: 35; Writing: 7
Marks:	50% of total

Reading Part 1 (Multiple choice)

What's in Part 1?	Five very short texts (they may be signs and messages, postcards, notes, emails, labels, etc.). Students have to read them and answer a question choosing one of the three options (A, B or C).
What does the student have to practise?	Reading notices and other short texts to understand the main message.
How many questions are there?	5
How many marks are there?	One mark for each correct answer.

Reading Part 2 (Matching)

What's in Part 2?	Five short descriptions of people and eight short texts to read. Students have to match each person to a text.
What does the student have to practise?	Reading a lot of short texts to find specific information.
How many questions are there?	5
How many marks are there?	One mark for each correct answer.

Reading Part 3 (True/False)

What's in Part 3?	A long text and 10 sentences about the text. Students have to read the text and say if each sentence is true or false.
What does the student have to practise?	Reading a text quickly to find some information.
How many questions are there?	10
How many marks are there?	One mark for each correct answer.

Reading Part 4 (Multiple choice)

What's in Part 4?	A long text and five questions. Students have to read the text and choose the right answer (A, B, C or D) for each of the five questions.
What does the student have to practise?	Reading to understand the detail of a text.
How many questions are there?	5
How many marks are there?	One mark for each correct answer.

Reading Part 5 (Multiple-choice cloze)

What's in Part 5?	A short text with 10 numbered spaces. Each space represents a missing word and students have to choose the right answer from a choice of four (A, B, C or D).
What does the student have to practise?	Understanding vocabulary and grammar.
How many questions are there?	10
How many marks are there?	One mark for each correct answer.

Writing Part 1 (Sentence transformations)

What’s in Part 1?	Five questions which are all about the same theme. For each question there is one complete sentence and a second sentence which has a missing word or words. Students have to complete the second sentence so that it means the same as the first sentence.
What does the student have to practise?	How to say the same thing in different ways in English, e.g. ‘not warm enough’ means the same as ‘too cold’.
How many questions are there?	5
How many marks are there?	One mark for each correct answer.

Writing Part 2 (Communicative message) (Open cloze)

What’s in Part 2?	The instructions tell students who to write to and what they should write (a postcard, note, email, etc.).
What does the student have to practise?	Writing short messages.
How many questions are there?	1
How many words does the student have to write?	35–45 words
How many marks are there?	This question has a total of 5 marks.

Writing Part 3 (Continuous writing)

What’s in Part 3?	Students have a choice of two questions: an informal letter (for example, to a friend) or a story.
What does the student have to practise?	Writing letters and stories.
How many questions are there?	1
How many words does the student have to write?	About 100 words
How many marks are there?	This question has a total of 15 marks.

What’s in the Listening paper?

The B1 Preliminary for Schools Listening paper has four parts. For each part students have to listen to a recorded text or texts and answer some questions. Each recording is heard twice.

Summary

Time allowed:	36 minutes, including 6 minutes to copy answers onto the answer sheet.
Number of parts:	4
Number of questions:	25
Students have to talk:	on their own
Marks:	25% of total.

Part 1 (Multiple choice)

What’s in Part 1?	Seven short recordings. For each recording there is a question and three pictures (A, B or C). Students have to listen to the recordings and choose the right answer.
What does the student have to practise?	Listening to find key information.
How many questions are there?	7
How many marks are there?	One mark for each correct answer.

Part 2 (Multiple choice)

What’s in Part 2?	A longer recording (one person speaking or an interview) and six questions. Students have to listen to the recording and choose the right answer (A, B or C) for each question.
What does the student have to practise?	Listening to find specific information and detailed meaning.
How many questions are there?	6
How many marks are there?	One mark for each correct answer.

Part 3 (Gap-fill)

What’s in Part 3?	A longer monologue (one person speaking) and a page of notes which summarise the text. Six pieces of information are missing from the notes. Students have to listen to the recording and fill in the missing information.
What does the student have to practise?	Listening for information.
How many questions are there?	6
How many marks are there?	One mark for each correct answer.

Part 4 (True/False)

What’s in Part 4?	An informal conversation and six sentences. Students have to listen to the conversation and decide if each sentence is true or false.
What does the student have to practise?	Listening for detailed meaning, attitude and opinion.
How many questions are there?	6
How many marks are there?	One mark for each correct answer.

What’s in the Speaking paper?

The B1 Preliminary for Schools Speaking test is in four parts and each student takes it with another candidate. There are two examiners. One examiner talks to the candidates and the other examiner listens and takes notes.

Summary

Time allowed:	10–12 minutes per pair of candidates
Number of parts:	4
Marks:	25% of total
You have to talk:	with the examiner with the other candidate on your own

Part 1 (Interview)

What’s in Part 1?	Conversation with the examiner. The examiner asks questions and students give information about themselves, talk about past experiences, studies, where they live, plans for the future, etc.
What does the student have to practise?	Giving information about themselves.
How long does the student have to speak for?	2–3 minutes

Part 2 (Collaborative task)

What’s in Part 2?	The examiner gives students some pictures and describes a situation. Students have to talk to the other candidate and decide what would be best in the situation.
What does the student have to practise?	Making and responding to suggestions, discussing alternatives, making recommendations, negotiating agreement.
How long does the student have to speak for?	2–3 minutes

Part 3 (Extended turn)

What’s in Part 3?	The examiner gives students a colour photograph and they have to talk about it.
What does the student have to practise?	Describing photographs.
How long does the student have to speak for?	1 minute per candidate

Part 4 (Discussion)

What’s in Part 4?	Further discussion with the other candidate about the same topic as the task in Part 3.
What does the student have to practise?	Talking about opinions, likes/dislikes, preferences, experiences, habits, etc.
How long does the student have to speak for?	3 minutes in total

Exam format

openbook What’s in the Reading and Writing paper?

Summary

playlist What’s in the Listening paper?

Summary

megaphone What’s in the Speaking paper?

Summary

What’s in the Reading and Writing paper?

What’s in the Listening paper?

What’s in the Speaking paper?