How it works — Exam Trainer

Grades and papers

One point for each question. Where there is a piece of writing it is worth 5 points. Every paper takes 30 minutes and has five or six parts.
Grade	Level	Modelled on	Points	What is tested
1	Pre A1	Cambridge Starters, TOEFL Primary Step 1	20	Reading and language use, with pictures
2	Pre A1	Cambridge Starters, TOEFL Primary Step 1	22	Reading and language use, with pictures
3	Pre A1 / A1	Cambridge Starters and Movers, TOEFL Primary Step 2	25	Reading and language use
4	A1	Cambridge Movers, TOEFL Primary	32	Reading and language use
5	A2	Cambridge Flyers, TOEFL Primary	30	Reading and language use
6	A2	Cambridge Key for Schools, TOEFL Primary	29	Reading and language use
7	A2	Cambridge Key for Schools, TOEFL Primary and Junior	27	Reading and language use
8	A2+ / B1	Cambridge Preliminary for Schools, TOEFL Junior	24	Reading and language use; a short e-mail
9	B1	Cambridge Preliminary for Schools, TOEFL Junior	22	Reading and language use; a short story
10	B1+ / B2	Cambridge First for Schools, TOEFL ITP and iBT	21	Reading and use of English; an e-mail
11	B2	Cambridge First, IELTS Academic, TOEFL ITP and iBT	23	Reading and use of English; an e-mail

What is tested

Reading and language use in every grade. In grades 1 to 3 the tasks are built on pictures, as in Cambridge Starters and TOEFL Primary: matching a word to a picture, answering yes or no about a scene, copying a word. From grade 4: choosing the word that fits a definition, completing a conversation, filling gaps in a text from a word box or with the right grammatical form, reading a text and answering questions on it. From grade 8 the paper ends with a short piece of writing, an e-mail or a story of a few sentences, worth 5 points and meant to take about seven minutes.

The olympiad is sat on paper, so listening and speaking are not tested. This is deliberate: it keeps the olympiad to half a lesson with no equipment, and the written skills are where the format of an examination matters most and is least familiar to pupils.

How papers are marked

Every question has one correct answer and is worth one point; answers are marked against the key. Where a word has to be written, the spelling must be correct. The piece of writing in grades 8 to 11 is marked on a five-point guide: whether the questions in the task were answered, whether the length was reached, and whether mistakes get in the way of the meaning.

Results are reported as points for each part and a total. Every participant receives a diploma; the best results in each grade receive diplomas of the first, second and third degree. Each class receives an analysis of results.

Sample tasks

Three extracts, one part each from three grades. Complete papers from earlier years are on the Papers and documents page.

Grade 4

Part 3Questions 1 to 3

Read the story. Choose a word from the box for each gap and write its letter.

A gardenB kitchenC SaturdayD sandwichesE swimmingF umbrella

On (1) my cousins came to our house. It was sunny, so we had lunch in the (2). My mother made cheese (3) and we drank lemonade. After lunch we played football until it was dark.

Grade 8

Part 2Questions 4 and 5

Read the text and choose the correct answer.

When the town library moved to its new building last spring, the staff expected fewer visitors. The old library had been in the centre, next to the market; the new one is a ten-minute walk away. In fact the number of visitors has risen, and most of the increase is among teenagers. The head librarian thinks the reason is simple: the new building has a room where people are allowed to talk.

4
Why did the staff expect fewer visitors?
1. A The new building is smaller.
2. B The new building is further from the centre.
3. C The market has closed.
5
According to the head librarian, teenagers come to the new library because
1. A it is closer to their school.
2. B it has more books.
3. C they can talk in one of its rooms.

Grade 11

Part 2Questions 6 to 8

Do the following statements agree with the information given in the text? Write TRUE, FALSE or NOT GIVEN.

The first public street lighting in Europe used oil lamps, which had to be lit by hand each evening and cleaned each morning. Gas lighting, introduced in London in 1807, spread quickly to other cities because it was brighter and, once the pipes were laid, cheaper to run. Its main drawback was not cost but reliability: a fault in a single main could darken a whole district. Electric lighting solved that problem only slowly, and for several decades the two systems ran side by side.

6
Oil lamps required attention twice a day.
7
Gas lighting was more expensive to run than oil lamps.
8
London was the first city in the world to use gas lighting.

Answers

1 C, 2 A, 3 D. 4 B, 5 C. 6 True, 7 False, 8 Not Given.

What the pupil learns

Each pupil’s result comes with points for every part of the paper, so a pupil and a teacher can see whether the weak point is vocabulary, grammar in context or reading for detail. Sat once a year, the olympiad gives a pupil a record of progress in the terms a future examiner will use.