Info for New Cambridge ESOL Teachers

We hope that those new Cambridge ESOL teachers who have questions about our administrative procedures will find answers here. Please contact the Centre if you have any further questions.

You will find our calendar of dates and fees on the Examinations page of this website. If you are on our electronic mailing list, you will also receive this calendar by e-mail three times a year. Please contact the Centre if you wish to be on this list.

Please inform your students that the Speaking Tests are arranged on fixed dates and fixed times chosen by the Centre, and that they should only enter if they are free to attend their test on all dates and any time given them. No choice/change of dates is possible.

The method of entry is online. Block entry is to be used when schools/teachers are making the entry arrangements on behalf of their students. Sign, date and register the on-line entry registration form only after your student listing is finalized and students have understood and agreed to:

• the Summary Regulations for Candidates
  and
• Conditions and Regulations for Entry

Important - Entry registration is only valid when the registration details have been printed off and sent together with a proof of payment to the Cambridge ESOL Bern office. This must arrive by the closing date at the latest.

In order to further enhance the security and integrity of the Cambridge ESOL exams after November 2011 for CAE and after July 2012 for PET, FCE, CPE, BEC P, BEC V, BEC H, ILEC and ICFE (but not for the ‘for schools’ versions of these exams) each candidate who takes a Cambridge ESOL exam will be photographed on the day of the speaking test or the written exams. When candidates register to take the exam, they will be asked to sign to give their consent for the photograph. If candidates are under 18, their parents will need to give consent. When registering using block entry registration, the school gives consent on behalf of the candidates/parents. This information is mentioned in the Conditions & Regulations for Entry.

Payment can be made by either postal payment slip, electronic banking, in cash or for private individual entries by credit card (via PayPal) at the time of registration. Payment slips can be requested from the Centre if necessary. For complete bank details see Conditions and Regulations for Entry on the Registration page.

Attendance Timetables giving full details of venue, time and date of the Examination, are despatched to the school of entry or to the individual candidate approximately 3 weeks prior to the first scheduled exam of the session. If you have not received them within this time frame please contact the Bern Office.
Please note that the time shown for the speaking test is a registration time only and that the candidates should expect to be at the venue up to one hour.

Results are issued via the internet. Candidates will receive a personalised access code letter with instructions on how to gain access to and print off their results as soon as they are released on www.CambridgeESOL-results.org. The date the exam results are made available is noted on their personal code letter and on the Examinations page of our website.

On that same date, schools that entered candidates using the block entry system will also be able to go online to view and print out a complete summary and details of each candidate’s performance.

If schools do not want their students to have access to their results before the school itself obtains the online results, it is suggested that the personal code letters are not distributed to the students until an appropriate time.

Schools whose students have registered as private individual entry candidates must contact their students directly to obtain results.

Cambridge ESOL’s user-friendly online Results Verification Service gives authorised users free access to candidates’ Cambridge ESOL examination results anytime, anywhere to verify the results. A candidate can control who can access their results and view their photo by giving their

• unique Candidate’s ID number
• Candidate’s secret number

to universities, employers and other organisations they want to be able to verify their results.

This information is supplied to each candidate to enable them to also access their own results online and therefore should be retained and stored.
For further information visit: http://verification.CambridgeESOLonline.org

Extended Certification
Cambridge ESOL has made an important enhancement in the way candidate’s results are presented. Extended Certification is designed to give a clearer picture of how candidates’ performance in each exam aligns to the CEFR and allows for a broader range of results. For more information please see this FACTSHEET that Cambridge ESOL has produced to clarify this new enhancement.

Certificates Posted
Approximately 3 months after the exams, certificates are sent to the school/teacher by registered post for distribution to the candidates (Candidates registered individually receive certificates directly).

If a candidate withdraws from the exam after being entered, a refund of 1/3 of the fee is made on medical grounds only. Requests for a refund must be made to the Centre Exams Manager of the Centre within 5 days after the exam. This should include a doctor's certificate stating why the candidate was unable to be present on the day of the examination and also include complete and correct bank details or a personalised payment slip. Once confirmation is received from Cambridge ESOL United Kingdom that the request has been accepted, Cambridge ESOL Examination Centre Bern will make a refund of 1/3 of the fee only. (Experience shows that this can take up to 8 weeks after the end of the exams session).