Cambridge English exams explained: A2 Key to C2 Proficiency

Last updated 2026-08-16

Cambridge English does something most English testing does not: it runs one exam per level rather than one exam that places you somewhere on a scale. You choose the level you are aiming at, and the certificate says you reached it.

The ladder

The older names — KET, PET, FCE, CAE, CPE — are still what most teachers and job adverts say, and they refer to the same exams. If a course advertises "FCE preparation", it means B2 First.

How this differs from IELTS and TOEFL

IELTS and TOEFL are single exams that report a band or a score, and you find out afterwards where you landed. A Cambridge qualification is chosen in advance: you sit B2 First because you are aiming at B2.

That has a practical consequence. Choosing the level is part of the exam. Sitting one rung above where you are is a much worse experience than sitting the right one, and a mock exam at the level you intend to take is the cheapest way to find out which that is.

The Cambridge English Scale

Results are reported on a single scale running from 80 to 230, shared across every exam in the ladder. Each qualification targets a band on that scale, so scores from different exams can be compared directly — a strong B1 Preliminary result and a weak B2 First result can land close together, and the scale shows that honestly.

You get an overall score, a grade, and a separate score for each skill — Reading, Writing, Listening, Speaking, and Use of English where it is tested. The per-skill breakdown is the useful part: it names the component holding you back rather than averaging it out of sight.

One quirk worth knowing at A2 Key: Reading and Writing are a single paper and it is weighted double, because it covers two skills. A weak showing there costs more than the paper's length suggests.

Preparing

Because the level is fixed in advance, preparation is unusually concrete: you know the exact format, the exact number of parts, and the exact timing before you start. That makes the familiar failure modes — misreading a task, running out of time, meeting a speaking format cold — the most avoidable ones. They are avoided by sitting the paper under its own conditions, more than once.

Where to check

• Cambridge English — the official exam pages, formats and test centres.

Meanwhile

WLE does not yet have English papers — Portuguese is the language written so far, and English is listed as being written. The CIPLE guide shows what a WLE paper looks like in practice.