The PASS English Exam Blog

What vocabulary does a learner need to know at C1 level? How many words do they need to know? What’s a lemma? Does it matter? A lot of students worry about which vocabulary, and the amount of vocabulary, they should know at each level of English, especially when they’re getting to higher levels such as B2 and C1. I’d like to highlight a few key tips for learning vocabulary when moving from B2 to C1 level. Here’s the million dollar question in terms of exam preparation. Is it more important to learn all the words that correspond to C1 level, or to be able to use fewer words and expressions more accurately? Let’s rewind a little. I did a blog just before Easter asking the Easter bunny for three gifts to help with exam preparation. One of them was about how to structure a vocabulary notebook. I wrote that it should be based on collocations, with example sentences, and be organised by theme, part of exam or some other personal system . You’ll notice there was no mention of a numbe...

Millions of people sign up for tests and exams each year to certify their level of English. The demographic of those looking to gain scores from B2 to C2 is clear. The majority are from 16-30 years old and are in, or wish to be in, higher education. Success in these exams opens doors and offers the chance to improve prospects. It provides young people with increased mobility and more options in employability and education. Attendance at a test centre to carry out a test, whether paper-based or computer-based, has always been the standard way of proctoring the process. However, if candidates are unable to attend test centres to carry out exams because of restrictions, such as happened during the Covid pandemic, then the field becomes vulnerable to disruption. Exam providers are mindful of this and have been using online proctoring systems for some time now. But there is a relatively new player with skin in the game. Enter Duolingo English Test (DET), stage left. The Duolingo app has bee...