The board
About CELP
The Certified English Language Proficiency Test measures the English a person actually needs to study, work and settle — read, heard, written and spoken.
CELP is an English language examination board. We set one test, mark it to one published standard, and report the result on a nine-band scale that universities, employers and registration bodies can read without further explanation.
The test is taken online, in a browser, under automated invigilation. There is no travel, no waiting for a seat at a distant venue, and no paper. A candidate can sit the examination on the day they are ready.
What the examination measures
Four sections, taken in one sitting of twenty-eight minutes, each reported as its own band and combined into an overall band.
| Section | Time | What it asks of you |
|---|---|---|
| Reading | 5 minutes | Locate and interpret specific information in a short authentic text |
| Listening | 3 minutes | Understand short spoken announcements, messages and exchanges, heard once |
| Writing | 15 minutes | Produce clear, appropriately toned written English for a stated purpose |
| Speaking | 5 minutes | Speak fluently and intelligibly on familiar topics without preparation |
How we mark
Reading and Listening are marked automatically against a published answer key the moment you submit. There is no human judgement involved and no delay.
Writing and Speaking are marked by an examiner. A person reads what you wrote and listens to what you said. This is slower — normally three working days — but a machine cannot yet judge whether an email to a landlord strikes the right tone, and we would rather be right than instant.
Principles
- One standard. The same band means the same thing in every sitting, whoever marked it.
- Plain reporting. A band, a scale, and what the band means. No composite indices or proprietary scores.
- Proportionate invigilation. We check that the person sitting the test is present and working alone. We do not record or store video of candidates.
- Honest turnaround. We publish the time results actually take, not the time they take on a good day.
Last updated 23 August 2026