Preparing for assessment

How can I prepare for the assessment?
Neither of the assessments - the assessment carried out via e-mail or the in-house eDiagnostic - can be prepared for in the commonly accepted sense of 'prepare' - and in fact, we would not encourage you to do so. The assessments are just that - 'assessments' not tests. There is not a specific score you need to achieve. The assessments have been designed to assess your competency in academic English and the associated skills set - not your ability to pass a test.

The eDiagnostic assessment
The eDiagnostic assessment has been specially designed by the Language Centre to assess how well applicants whose first language is not English can cope with academic English within a graduate level environment. The assessment consists of three sections - listening, reading and writing. On the basis of the outcome of the eDiagnostic, applicants may also be invited to an interview with the EAP Director. If an applicant's language condition was waived providing they take the eDiagnostic on arrival to Cambridge, there are two possible outcomes:

1. Their language condition is waived;
2. Their language condition is waived providing that the applicant attends the EAP In-Sessional Support Programme.

All new students attending the In-Sessional course will also sit the eDiagnostic assessment as this provides a basis for a needs analysis and allows us to provide focussed support in the individual supervisions.