Understand the score. See the comparison.

B2 readers handle both concrete and abstract texts — news articles, reports, correspondence, and some literary or semi-technical material. They identify a writer’s argument and detect attitude and viewpoint, including where these are implied rather than stated, and they infer meaning from context while coping with most idiomatic and figurative language.

Reading is largely independent: candidates locate specific information, separate main ideas from supporting detail, and track an argument across paragraphs. Limitations remain with highly specialised or densely academic prose — research articles, or texts assuming subject expertise — which may require rereading, more time, or reference tools.

Near 350 this independence is less consistent; toward 440, readers manage longer and more demanding texts with growing ease and accuracy.

B2 listeners follow extended speech, lectures, and complex lines of argument on reasonably familiar subjects, provided the topic and accent are not unusual. They understand most news, current-affairs programmes, and recorded material in standard speech, grasping both explicit information and the speaker’s intent or attitude, and they identify the relationships between ideas — cause, contrast, sequence — without needing every word.

Comprehension begins to falter with very rapid, highly idiomatic, or strongly accented speech, and with abstract material outside familiar areas, where concentrated effort or repetition may be needed.

Candidates near 350 manage shorter, clearer input most reliably; those approaching 440 sustain comprehension of longer, less predictable academic listening with increasing confidence.

B2 writers produce clear, detailed texts on a range of subjects — essays, reports, and structured correspondence — organised into coherent paragraphs with a recognisable line of argument. They use complex grammar (subordination, the passive, conditionals) and a vocabulary wide enough to express fine distinctions and to argue for or against a position with supporting reasons.

Cohesion is handled through varied connectors and referencing devices, so the writing reads smoothly and the reader follows the development without effort. Errors still occur, particularly in less familiar or more ambitious structures, but they are occasional and seldom obscure meaning; control of academic register and conventions is developing rather than fully secure.

Candidates near 350 write competently on familiar topics but less consistently under complexity; toward 440 they sustain longer, more demanding tasks with stronger accuracy and organisation.

B2 speakers communicate with relative fluency and spontaneity, taking an active part in discussion on familiar and some abstract topics and presenting clear, reasoned opinions. Their discourse is organised: they link ideas with a range of connectors, sustain and defend a viewpoint, and adapt to the situation with reasonable success.

Vocabulary and grammar are sufficient to narrate, explain, and compare without frequent breakdown; hesitation arises mainly with new or technical content and rarely prevents communication. Pronunciation is clear and intonation generally appropriate, even where a first-language accent remains, and interaction with proficient speakers is comfortable for both sides in most everyday and academic exchanges.

Around 350 fluency is more effortful and breaks down under abstraction; toward 440 speakers handle extended, less predictable academic talk with growing ease and precision.

This module assesses control of the language system in academic contexts — grammar, structure, lexis, and register — primarily through discrete tasks such as multiple-choice grammar items and error identification, rather than extended production.

At B2, learners show reliable command of the structures most common to academic English: complex noun phrases, relative and subordinate clauses, the passive, conditionals, and a range of cohesive and referencing devices. They recognise and correct the majority of sentence-level errors — subject–verb agreement, tense and aspect, articles, prepositions, and word form — and can choose the more academically appropriate option when register or formality is at stake.

Lexical resource is broad enough for most general-academic vocabulary, with growing precision among near-synonyms. Errors that remain rarely cause misunderstanding and cluster in lower-frequency or more elaborate constructions — advanced collocations, nuanced modality, heavy nominalisation. Around 350 this control is less consistent; toward 440 it approaches C1 precision.