FCE score calculator: estimate your B2 First score

1. Do a practice test under real conditions, with the official timings. Use official sample materials or our practice tasks.
2. Mark it carefully with the answer key. Remember the maximum raw marks for practice tests: Reading 42, Use of English 28, Writing 40, Listening 30 and Speaking 60.
3. Enter your marks for each skill. If you only did one paper, enter the marks you have and read the estimate for that skill.
4. Read the result: an estimated scale score for each skill, an estimated overall score (the average of the five) and the grade that score would give.
5. Write the result down with the date, so you can compare it with your next practice test.

For Writing and Speaking, raw marks need a teacher or a partner who knows the criteria. If you mark your own writing, be strict: most students are generous with themselves. Our pages on how writing is marked and how speaking is marked explain the criteria.

Cambridge publishes a guide to converting practice-test marks to the Cambridge English Scale. For each skill, it gives a few fixed points, for example the raw mark that converts to 160 and the raw mark that converts to 180. Our calculator uses those published points and estimates the scores in between.

Then it does what the real exam does: it takes the average of the five skill scores to give your overall score, and it uses the official grade bands:

• 180–190: Grade A (C1)
• 173–179: Grade B (B2)
• 160–172: Grade C (B2)
• 140–159: Level B1
• 122–139: reported, but no grade or certificate

There is no minimum score for each skill, so the calculator only uses the overall average to decide the grade.

Use the calculator to track progress over time, not to judge yourself on one test. Practice tests vary in difficulty, so one high or low result can mislead you. Three or four results over several weeks show the real trend.

Look at the skill scores, not just the overall. Because the grade is an average, your weakest skill is often your best opportunity. Raising one skill by 10 points raises your overall score by 2.

Then act on what you see: our FCE study plan and the study planner help you give extra time to your weakest skills. If Use of English is your weakest score, short daily sessions with the word formation trainer and the phrasal verb trainer are an easy place to start. For a full explanation of the scale, read B2 First grades.