THE PRELIMINARY ENGLISH TEST (PET)
The University of Cambridge provides worldwide known exams and tests for learners of English language. The British Council in Poland organizes these exams for learners in Poland.
PET is a pre-intermediate-level exam of this kind for learners representing Level B1 of the Council of Europe’s Common European Framework of reference for Languages (CEFR).
This means that before passing this exam you can:
- understand, speak about, read and write simple instructions, letters, brochures information and basic everyday life matters, and even read simple articles related to e.g. weather or gossips
- ask for information while on travel, express and write basic opinions and give some advice to your customers and make simple notes
- receive phone calls and talk on basic everyday life job activities
PET consists of 3 parts.
The Reading / Writing Part takes ca 1.5 hours.
The Reading Part
It consists of exercises based on multiple choice, gaps filling, matching, and answering true or false questions.
The Writing Part
It requires filling in forms, transforming sentences and writing a short text.
The Listening Part
It takes ca 30 minutes. Learners listen to 4 texts. Each text is listened to twice. Referring to these texts, the learners give answers to the tests having the forms of multiple choice, gap filling or words matching.
The Speaking Part
It lasts for ca 10 minutes. There are 2 examiners and 2 learners at the exam. The learners are requested to talk to each other on chosen everyday subjects like home and school activities, hobbies, etc. Next they need to perform some task together, describe photos or pictures and discuss a topic related to them.