Digital exams and tools are becoming increasingly popular in the world of language learning and assessment. Online preparation tools help teachers to give their students targeted feedback while digital exams provide a more modern testing experience – reflecting the way students communicate outside of class and preparing them for the world of work to come.
With more and more students now expecting a digital exam offering, we spoke to candidates to ask what they liked best about their exam day experience. Here’s what they had to say.
Fast…
“The advantage of getting our results quicker is that the period of stress, of not knowing if you did well or badly, is reduced.”
With paper-based qualifications, results can be expected back in 4 to 6 weeks, but with our digital exams, this time is reduced to just 5 to 10 working days, meaning candidates are able to prove their skills in a much shorter timeframe.
Flexible…
“I could choose when to do it. It was a really good decision for me to do it in summer, when I was less occupied.”
Instead of exams taking place on set dates, exam centres can choose to run our digital exams any day, all year round, providing you and your students with the flexibility to choose a convenient date and time. This gives candidates more control, allowing them to sit the exam when they feel ready. You should always check with your chosen exam centre to find out their schedule.
Preferred…
“I can type much faster, so I was done earlier, and I didn’t have much time pressure.”
Today’s learners are digital natives – many use technology daily, meaning working on computers comes naturally to them. As a result, many prefer typing answers. Nowadays, much exam preparation and study takes place on digital devices too, both for convenience and as preparation for the world of work, so there is a level of familiarity when it comes to offering digital options for assessment. Resources such as Test & Train and Digital Practice Tests are an ideal way to introduce this form of digital testing to your class, throughout their exam preparation journey.
“The digital exam was really intuitive to follow, and I didn’t have any problem understanding the exercise.”
An easy-to-understand digital format means candidates can direct all their focus on the questions, helping them to demonstrate their English skills to the best of their ability. The exam is simple to navigate, and questions are in an engaging format – for example, candidates can click or drag answers to complete sentences.
“I had headphones on, so it was easier to understand what they were saying.”
Having their own headphones with volume control puts candidates in charge of their exam experience, helping both their concentration and confidence.
“We have a timer on the upper side of the screen, which was really useful.”
You have probably done this yourself in the past, but candidates can often find themselves clock-watching in exams, so our new digital exams clearly show how much time is left. However, if students feel distracted by the timer, they also have the option to hide it, giving them the freedom to customise their exam experience to suit them.
“The feature that you could mark certain parts of the text was nice. I used that a lot.”
Among the several tools the digital exam offers, the highlighting feature provides students with the ability to mark out important phrases in the Reading tasks and make notes to refer back to.
“There is a word counter, so we don’t have to count the words and waste time.”
And finally, one of the more favoured benefits of the digital exam experience is the word counter in the Writing exam. The built-in word counter removes the need for students to set aside time to manually count the number of words they have written.
Cambridge English Qualifications Digital – a closer look
Available from A2 Key to C2 Proficiency, Cambridge English Qualifications Digital provide an enhanced exam experience and a faster, flexible way to get a Cambridge English Qualification. The exams test the same knowledge and skills as paper-based exams, with digital features to help candidates take control and perform at their best.
Preparing for a digital exam is the same as the paper-based exam, as it’s the same quality exam you expect from Cambridge. However, to familiarise yourself and your learners with the digital format, you will find sample tests and supporting materials on our exam preparation pages. You will also find exam walkthrough videos. To familiarise yourself with the new testing format, take a look at our walkthrough for the B1 Preliminary exam below. There are walkthroughs for every level of the Cambridge exams.
If you would like to learn more about our digital exams, visit the Cambridge English Qualifications Digital webpage.
To explore our series on digital exams further, we suggest Jasmin Silver’s ‘Advantages of digital exams for accessibility and inclusivity’, or ‘6 tips for preparing students for digital exams’ by Sangeeta Sathe.