How does the Linguaskill work?
Linguaskill Preview
You need to know what to expect with the Linguaskill. That's why Cambridge Assessment offers a free Linguaskill preparation materials, to help candidates familiarize themselves with the exam and its question types.
What do I need to know about the Linguaskill?
The Linguaskill is not in itself difficult, but it can be unexpected. It is not a predictable "academic" exam like the TOEIC, but a modern, digital exam. The three main problems that Linguaskill candidates must prepare for are the following.
“So many questions!”
Read the questions first
Some of the Linguaskill question formats are unusual to people not from Britain. 6 questions for instance will relate to a dialogue you can only listen to twice. 6 questions, once more, relate to a rather long text. Always read the questions first, before listening to, or reading the materials provided.
“I hurried at the end and finished with 15 minutes to spare!”
Manage your exam time
Unlike other exams that have a fixed number of questions, the Linguaskill is adaptive and the number of questions varies. Candidates have acces to a timer and a scroll bar on the Linguaskill screen. Candidates are often afraid of not finishing the exam on time and speed up unnecessarily. This usually penalises their reading score. Better time management can improve their Reading score by 10 points or more.
“Wasn't that difficult!”
Manage your emotions
The Linguaskill constantly adapts to the candidate's level, and tries to find the upper limit of what the candidate can do. So it never provides the candidate with really easy questions. On the contrary, the Linguaskill is looking for the point at which candidates start making mistakes. So candidates tend to find questions difficult, very difficult or extreemly difficult. Hard and complex questions should be taken as a good sign. It means the score will probably be high. Candidates should not loose their nerve.
The Linguaskill Course
Cambridge Assessment has produced its own Linguaskill Course to prepare candidates for the test. It includes a choice of Listening & Reading, Speaking and Writing. Cambridge offers a complete mock exams in addition to the traditional practice tests specific to each section of the exam. Access is for 3 months. Students who enroll in to the Linguaskill Course at the same time as they enrol into an exam get a discount.
Your best bet, be good at English
Having the right level of English is the most useful
There is no magic formula with the LINGUASKILL. One cannot just practise test taking till one knows all the questions by heart (they change constantly). The best way of getting a good score is to speak good English.
Rote learning is not very helpful
Attempting to learn exam questions of by heart and other forms of rote learning are not very helpful with the Linguaskill Anywhere. It's adaptative nature means, whatever tricks you try and use will probably backfire.
Study the exam requirements
To ensure exam integrity, Cambridge Assessment has introduced clear guidelines against malpractice. Please make sure you carefully read through the exam requirements before setting up your Linguaskill Anywhere session in your home or office. That's the only way you will be sure your diploma is not cancelled due to a breach of the rules.
Find out more about Linguaskill malpractice and cheating statistics.