I’m sitting the EduSynch CEFR test myself, and I’m aiming for C1. So I decided to prepare for it live, on camera, with you. This is the first episode of my CEFR prep series, where I read through EduSynch’s own guides, comment on the language as I go and try some of the practice activities myself.
If you’re preparing for the EduSynch test, or for any exam based on the CEFR like IELTS, this post sums up what to expect and how to get ready.
What is the CEFR?
The CEFR (Common European Framework of Reference for Languages) is the international standard for describing language ability, from A1 (beginner) to C2 (proficiency). Lots of tests are built on it, so the preparation tips below are useful whichever exam you take.
How the EduSynch test is structured
According to EduSynch’s guide, the test takes about one hour and covers four skills, in this order:
- Reading: 20 minutes, 12–15 questions. Vocabulary in context, comprehension and inference.
- Listening: 10 minutes, 8–12 questions. Conversations and short lectures, with comprehension and inference questions.
- Speaking: 10 minutes, 3 questions. You get 15 seconds to prepare and 45 seconds to speak for each one.
- Writing: 20 minutes, 1 essay, minimum 150 words, giving your opinion or describing a personal experience.
How it’s scored
- The results use a 15-level CEFR scale, from A0 (true beginner) to C2 (proficiency).
- Reading and listening are scored automatically.
- Speaking and writing are assessed by certified evaluators using specific criteria (for example, fluency and coherence).
- Human evaluations can take up to 24 hours; AI-evaluated results arrive in under five minutes.
- To get an overall C1, the guide says each skill needs to be at C1 or higher. That’s the part that made me say “Oh gosh!” on the stream.
What does C1 actually mean?
At C1 (Advanced) you should be able to:
- understand a wide range of demanding texts and recognise implicit meaning;
- express ideas fluently and spontaneously without searching for words;
- produce clear, well-structured, detailed writing on complex subjects;
- follow lectures and debates with ease.
Preparation tips, skill by skill
Reading
- Read widely: news, blogs, fiction and academic texts.
- Practise skimming (reading quickly for the main idea) and scanning (searching for specific details).
- Keep a word journal and learn 5–10 new words a day.
- After reading, summarise the text in your own words. Note the collocation: we say in your own words, not “with your own words”.
Listening
- Listen to podcasts, audiobooks, TED Talks and BBC Learning English.
- Watch films and series with subtitles first, then without.
- Take notes while you listen.
- Listen to different accents and mimic them. If you copy a speaker at the same time as they talk, that’s shadowing, the technique behind many episodes on my channel.
Speaking
The speaking section assesses pronunciation, fluency and coherence. Quick word-family check: assess → assessment, pronounce → pronunciation, fluent → fluency, coherent → coherence.
- Speak out loud every day, even to yourself.
- Record yourself and listen back.
- Use speech-to-text tools to check how clearly you speak.
- Join conversation groups or language exchanges.
- Pick a topic and speak for one minute without stopping. I did this live: one minute on why you should learn English with my channel. It wasn’t my best answer, but that’s the point. You practise keeping going.
Writing
Writing assesses grammar, structure and clarity. Grammar includes syntax (word order in a sentence) and morphology (how words are formed). At C1 you should be comfortable with structures like:
- Third conditional: If I had studied more, I would have passed. (An impossible past situation.)
- Passive voice: The dog ate the carrot → The carrot was eaten by the dog. In the passive, the receiver of the action comes first.
- Formal connectors: on the stream I noticed the guide used though to join two ideas. In formal writing, although is the better choice. Though is fine in speech, especially at the end of a sentence.
Vocabulary for C1
- Learn idioms, phrasal verbs (like look forward to) and less common expressions.
- Avoid basic repetition: replace good, bad, nice with more precise words.
- Learn topic-specific vocabulary: business, science, social issues.
Practice: your one-minute challenge
- Set a timer for 15 seconds and plan your answer to: Describe a skill you’d like to learn and explain why.
- Speak for 45 seconds without stopping, just like the real test.
- Record it. Then listen and note: Did you pause a lot? Did you repeat good or nice? Did you use one idiom or phrasal verb?
- Now rewrite this sentence in the passive: The examiners assess the writing section.
Show the answer to question 4
The writing section is assessed by the examiners. (Or just The writing section is assessed: we often drop the agent.)
Study with me
The full episode walks through all of EduSynch’s guides with my comments on the language, plus my live one-minute speaking challenge. Then follow the series to see how I get on.
Subscribe to follow my CEFR journey, and tell me in the comments which exam you’re preparing for.