Cambridge CPE - C2 Proficiency (C2)

Cambridge C2 Proficiency Exam

The  Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE)  is the highest level English exam and allows you to obtain a professional degree certification so that you can work or study without any problem, regardless of the area in which you develop professionally. This exam is taken after you have passed all the Cambridge certification exams.

If you want to pass this exam with a satisfactory grade, you must know all the important information and  how to prepare for it .

C2 Proficiency consists of the following parts

In the CPE exam, four important and essential skills are evaluated in order to achieve certification and is divided into four parts through tests:

Test 1.  In this part, reading comprehension , vocabulary and grammar are evaluated  through readings and questions, both multiple-choice and to complete some columns and empty spaces. This stage lasts approximately an hour and a half and consists of around 53 questions divided into 7 parts. The main objective of this test is to assess your ability to understand readings on any topic.

Test 2. This part assesses the written expression , which is evaluated through writing as a summary, review or essay and, also, on some occasions, the opinion of the students is requested, so you must pay much attention to this part. Spelling, knowledge of expressions and the logic of the text you write are assessed. This section lasts about an hour and a half and is divided into two parts.

Test 3.  In this section, listening comprehension is meticulously evaluated through conversations, lectures, interviews and speeches where your listening skills will be evaluated in different tones. It is the same with accents of English speech, as well as understanding of some expressions typical of some regions of each country. This evaluation consists of thirty questions divided into four parts and lasts forty minutes.

Test 4.  The oral expression will be evaluated in the latter part through conversations in pairs and also for yourself about a specific topic and reveals the ability to communicate with others in different tones of voice or accents. It also values ​​the command of colloquial expressions. This part will be evaluated in three parts by sessions of between two to fifteen minutes each.

How to prepare for the C2 Proficiency (CPE)

First of all, you should bear in mind that, if you have already reached this stage of certification, it is because you already have a  very advanced level of English and what you want is to go up one more level to be able to use this skill in the workplace or in your professional life. That is why it is a very important decision and you must take it very seriously to be able to accredit it.

Currently there are some academic options that make it easier for you to understand to pass the exam. However, attending an academic institution to take these courses requires a lot of time, so if you are a person who works, you will not be able to attend the classes and you will only waste your time and money. Another disadvantage of studying in an institution or school is that the methods will not always be useful for you, since the teachers will be inclined towards teaching within the context of classes through written material, exercises or tasks, which in this case and by the type of exam, it will not help you much.

There are also online options to obtain a guide and facilitate the knowledge and practice of the language, which will allow you to better manage your time and will not affect your performance at work.

Another option is to get a  sample from the exam. This will give you many advantages in that you will know perfectly the structure of the exam. When viewing the sections, they will be very familiar to you and you will be able to solve the questions very easily.

Useful support material to prepare for the Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE)

One of the best support materials for the preparation of this exam is reading, but you cannot trust any reading such as articles in magazines and the Internet.

It is recommended that, to achieve this certification and because it is the most important and complex, you follow some  guides or texts that are prepared by the University of Cambridge itself. These will help to familiarize you with all the content that you could find in the exam.

These types of support materials are much more professional and official Cambridge including useful textbooks and practices :

Cambridge English Proficiency 2 : This book contains four comprehensive tests and allows students to become familiar with the content and format of the exam, as well as the assessment techniques that will be presented in the exam.

Common Mistakes at Proficiency : This book introduces you to the most common mistakes students make when taking the exam and how to avoid them. It is based on the analysis of many tests and focuses on problem solving in addition to presenting real-life examples of the test questions.

Objective Proficiency : it is an updated edition and presents challenging topics motivating the student to meet the main objective as well as providing the necessary information to ensure complete preparation for each aspect of the exam.

How do you know if the Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE) is approved?

In order to know your score in each assessed area, you will receive all of them separately, that is, one for  Reading , one for  Speaking , one for  Writing  and one for  Listening. An average of each qualification is made in order to obtain a general evaluation.

Regardless of whether you pass or fail, you will receive a score report after four to six weeks and, if you pass, you will receive your Certificate of Proficiency in English (CPE)  between seven and nine weeks after taking the exam. 

Below you can check the dates and places available to do it here