ScoreFluentHow LanguageCert Academic is scored.
Four skills, each reported 0–100 on the Global Scale, averaged with equal weight into one overall score and one CEFR level. Listening and Reading are marked by computer out of 30 raw marks each; Writing and Speaking are marked by people against published 0–8 criteria.
One scale, fixed CEFR cut-scores.
Unlike a banded exam, LanguageCert Academic is a single multi-level test: you sit it once and it places you anywhere from B1 to C2. The cut-scores do not move.
| Global Scale | CEFR | What it means |
|---|---|---|
| 90–100 | C2 | Full operational command |
| 75–89 | C1 | Effective operational proficiency |
| 60–74 | B2 | Independent user — the usual university and visa target |
| 40–59 | B1 | Threshold |
Because the overall score is a plain average, a single weak skill pulls the whole result down by a quarter of its shortfall — which is why the sensible target is the band boundary in every skill, not a high average carrying one failing one. If you already know your IELTS band, the official concordance table converts it.
Thirty marks each, no negative marking.
Listening — 4 parts, 30 marks
| Part | What you hear | Task | Marks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Part 1 | 7 short unfinished conversations | 3-option multiple choice | 7 |
| Part 2 | 5 conversations in an academic setting | 2 questions per conversation | 10 |
| Part 3 | 1 monologue — lecture, podcast or presentation | Note pad with 7 gaps, up to 3 words each | 7 |
| Part 4 | 1 discussion between three speakers | 6 multiple-choice questions | 6 |
Every recording is played twice, and the second play is part of the timing rather than something you request. Part 3 gives 30 seconds to read the note pad first; Part 4 gives a minute to read its questions.
Reading — 5 parts, 30 marks, one 50-minute clock
| Part | What you read | Task | Marks |
|---|---|---|---|
| Part 1A | 6 standalone academic sentences, one word highlighted | Choose the word with the same meaning | 6 |
| Part 1B | Academic text up to 180 words with 5 words removed | 3 options per gap | 5 |
| Part 2 | Academic text of 450–500 words with 6 sentences removed | Place 6 of 8 candidate sentences | 6 |
| Part 3 | 4 short linked texts, 600–650 words in total | 7 multiple-matching questions | 7 |
| Part 4 | 1 continuous text of 650–750 words | 6 multiple-choice questions | 6 |
There are no per-part timers in Reading — one clock covers all five parts and you pace yourself across them. Part 2 gives you eight candidate sentences for six gaps, so two are always unused.
What a 0–8 criterion score actually means.
This is the part most preparation material gets wrong. The 0–8 scales are built directly on CEFR levels, and LanguageCert states that a full descriptor is written only at 8, 6, 4, 2 and 1 — “8 is designed to reflect C2 level CEFR Can-Do descriptors, 6 is tied to C1, 4 to B2 and so on”. The even numbers are the levels. The odd numbers are the gaps between them.
| Criterion score | CEFR level it reflects |
|---|---|
| 8 | C2 |
| 7 | above C1, short of C2 |
| 6 | C1 |
| 5 | above B2, short of C1 |
| 4 | B2 |
| 3 | above B1, short of B2 |
| 2 | B1 |
| 1 | A2 or below |
The practical consequence: a solid B2 performance on a criterion scores 4, not 5. Aiming for “a 5 or 6 in everything” without knowing this means aiming a full level higher than you think.
Writing — 4 criteria, 32 marks a task
Task Achievement, Accuracy & Range of Grammar, Accuracy & Range of Vocabulary, and Organisation. Spelling is marked inside Vocabulary and punctuation inside Organisation — they are not separate scores. Task 1 counts 40 per cent of the Writing score, Task 2 counts 60. An off-topic response receives no credit at all.
Speaking — 5 criteria, 48 marks
Task Fulfilment & Communicative Effect is double-weighted, so it alone is worth 16 of the 48. Coherence, Vocabulary, Grammar and Pronunciation carry 8 each. The interlocutor marks task fulfilment live; a second examiner marks the rest from the recording, and a third decides if they disagree.
Double marking, with arbitration
Writing and Speaking are marked by two independent examiners who cannot see each other’s scores, with a senior examiner arbitrating discrepancies. This is why the published reliability for Speaking (.92) is the highest of the four skills despite being human-judged.
The raw-to-scale conversion is not published
LanguageCert converts raw marks to the 0–100 Global Scale using a calibrated item bank and does not publish the mapping. Any tool claiming to convert your raw score exactly — including ours — is approximating.
Straight from the awarding body.
ScoreFluent is an independent practice platform and is not affiliated with, endorsed by or connected to LanguageCert or PeopleCert. Everything here comes from their published documents:
- LanguageCert Academic Qualification Handbook (PDF) — format, marking criteria and the per-level syllabus.
- LanguageCert Academic Concordance Report (PDF) — the source of the CEFR anchor points above.
- Research and validation — reliability figures and how the Global Scale is produced.
Exam details change — the awarding bodies revise their documents during the year. If a decision hangs on a detail here, check it against the official pages above first; they outrank this page.
See also the full format guide and the IELTS conversion table.
Scoring questions, answered.
How is the LanguageCert Academic overall score calculated?
Each of the four skills is reported 0–100 on the LanguageCert Global Scale, and the overall score is the plain average of the four. Every skill carries equal weight — there is no weighting toward Writing or Speaking, and no way to offset a weak skill other than by scoring higher elsewhere.
What CEFR level does my LanguageCert score correspond to?
The cut-scores are fixed: 40–59 is B1, 60–74 is B2, 75–89 is C1 and 90–100 is C2. Academic reports B1 to C2, so you do not book a level — one sitting places you wherever you land.
How many marks are Listening and Reading out of?
Thirty raw marks each. Listening splits 7 / 10 / 7 / 6 across its four parts and Reading splits 6 / 5 / 6 / 7 / 6 across its five. Both are marked by computer. There is no negative marking anywhere in the exam.
How are the 0–8 Writing and Speaking criteria marked?
Writing has four criteria scored 0–8 per task — Task Achievement, Grammar, Vocabulary and Organisation — giving 32 marks a task, with Task 1 worth 40 per cent of the Writing score and Task 2 worth 60. Speaking has five criteria scored 0–8, with Task Fulfilment and Communicative Effect double-weighted, giving 48. Both are double-marked by independent examiners with a senior examiner arbitrating disagreements.
What does a score of 4 or 6 on a criterion actually mean?
The scale is built on CEFR levels, and LanguageCert states that full descriptors exist only at 8, 6, 4, 2 and 1: 8 reflects C2, 6 is tied to C1, 4 to B2 and so on down. The odd numbers are the in-between points. So a solid B2 performance on a criterion scores 4, not 5 — a distinction most preparation material gets wrong.
How reliable are LanguageCert scores?
LanguageCert publishes reliability figures of .88 for Listening, .90 for Reading, .86 for Writing and .92 for Speaking, with a composite of .91–.92. Its concordance study separately reports a McDonald’s omega of .88 across language skills. Writing and Speaking are double-marked precisely because human marking needs that check.
Does the raw mark convert directly to the 0–100 score?
Not publicly. LanguageCert converts raw marks to the Global Scale using a pre-tested, calibrated item bank, and it does not publish the conversion. Treat a raw percentage as an approximation of your Global Scale score rather than the score itself.
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