Setting your requirements

Be sure of your students’ English language skills

As part of the University of Cambridge, we understand the needs of our colleagues in higher education institutions and we can guide you through the challenge of understanding the best English assessment tools to meet your needs.

Which exams should I ask for?

We have developed a free guide to setting your admission requirements. The guide will help you find out which Cambridge English Qualifications are most suitable for your requirements, what each exam covers and the language skills you can expect students to have.

Download the guide to setting admissions requirements

What scores should I ask for?

The Cambridge English Scale is used to report results across Cambridge English Qualifications and Linguaskill. This makes it easy for you to set your requirements and gives you precise information about an applicant's performance in each language skill.

When setting your requirements, you should specify:

• the Cambridge English Qualifications you require
• the overall Cambridge English Scale score you require
• the minimum scores required in each skill, if your course requires skills at certain levels.

Example requirement for an undergraduate course:

• C1 Advanced (Certificate in Advanced English)
• overall Cambridge English Scale score of 180
• no less than 175 in each skill.

In your published entry requirements we recommend you use our certification names that appear on candidates’ Statements of Results, as follows:

• B2 First (First Certificate in English)
• C1 Advanced (Certificate in Advanced English)
• C2 Proficiency (Certificate of Proficiency in English).

Cambridge English and IELTS Concordance Study

Between November 2023 and December 2024, a concordance study was conducted to establish score correspondence between C1 Advanced and IELTS for the purpose of migration to Australia. The aim of this report is to present the findings of this work in the form of concordance scores for recognition with clear recommendations to test users on how to interpret them. The report also details the methodology used for this purpose, providing evidence on the robustness of the findings and noting limitations for the conclusions that can be drawn from these findings.

Concordance Study

Please note:

1. Tests and scores contained within the report do not replace current English tests and scores accepted for Australian visa purposes; and

2. Tests and scores contained within the report may not be accepted by the Department of Home Affairs for Australian visa purposes, in the future.

Comparing scores

If you use IELTS scores or CEFR levels for admissions purposes, specifying scores on the Cambridge English Scale is easier than ever.

Simply enter your IELTS or CEFR requirements into the score converter to get the equivalent Cambridge English Scale score.

Find out more about the relationship between Cambridge English exams and the CEFR.

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