ILEC exam

The first version of this exam was taken in spring 2006, and it was originally available twice a year. The exam timetable is now more flexible, as with all Cambridge ESOL exams. The official website for the exam. It is stressed that the exam is a test of language skills rather than legal knowledge. However, people without any knowledge of law in their own country will find the material rather strange. On the other hand, it is possible to get a reasonably good mark without using any specifically "legal" jargon from the Anglo-Saxon/ common law systems.

The exam consists of four papers, each worth 25% of the total result:
 * 1) Reading - (1hr 15 min.) includes some exercises type which are similar to "use of English" papers in other Cambridge exams (parts 1 -3) and some with relatively long texts (parts 4 - 6) where it is vital to read quickly and deal with a large volume of information.
 * 2) Writing - (1hr 15 min.) there are two tasks, the first is a letter and the second a memorandum. Unlike some other Cambridge exams, there is no choice. The word limits are quite small, so good answers are ones that deal with all the points in a clear and concise way.
 * 3) Listening - (about 40 min.) This includes some tricky question types similar to the Cambridge CAE exam. You hear all of the recordings twice, but there is a lot of information to take in both from the question paper and the listening material itself.
 * 4) Speaking - candidates take the exam in pairs. They speak to one of the two examiners, the second examiner is responsible for most of the marks, and this person just listens. During the test each candidate has a "long turn" when they speak on their own to give a "mini presentation", there is also a task of speaking together with the other candidate about a particular situation or issue in legal work.