What language skills are tested?
The test covers the four language skills of Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speaking with separate papers measuring each skill. The Reading, Writing, and Listening papers are taken in one morning with the Speaking examination arranged to suit the requirements of the candidates and the centre. The exam assesses candidates’ ability to understand spoken and written English in a number of realistic contexts of the kind legal practitioners are likely to encounter in their daily working lives; spoken texts including legal presentations, lectures, discussions, and interviews, and written texts such as contract clauses, corporate documentation, commercial statutes, legal opinions, etc. The Writing tasks are based on the kinds of skills needed in the legal workplace, e.g. the ability to write letters, memoranda, and proposals in a legal context, while the Test of Speaking will assess speaking skills in relation to the legal workplace and will be conducted by trained oral examiners.
