LanguageCert LTE explained: modules, scores and how to prepare
One test for every level from A1 to C2, three modules you can take separately, and a score instead of a pass mark. What the LanguageCert Test of English asks of you, and what changed in December 2025.
Most English certificates make you choose a level before you book: B2 or C1, First or Advanced. The LanguageCert Test of English (LTE) doesn't. It is one test for every level from A1 to C2, and your result tells you where you landed. Every text, recording and task is set at work: offices, clients, training days, company news.
Three modules, three certificates
LTE tests four skills in three modules, and each module gets its own certificate:
| Module | Time | What's in it |
|---|---|---|
| Listening & Reading | about 2 hours | 110 three-option questions, always taken together |
| Writing | 30 min | one task of 200–250 words |
| Speaking | about 12 min | a one-to-one test in three parts |
You can book one module, two or all four skills. That makes LTE flexible, but it also means you should know before you book which modules the organisation asking for your certificate wants.
Listening & Reading
Listening has four parts and 50 questions, and every recording plays twice. It starts with short workplace announcements matched to a picture or a word, moves on to choosing the best reply, then six short work conversations, and ends with three longer talks or interviews. The accents are mixed: North American, British, Australasian.
Reading has four parts and 60 questions: signs and short messages, gapped texts, single gapped sentences and three longer workplace texts. There's no fixed split between the two halves. You manage your own time across the whole paper, so don't let one hard text eat the time for the rest.
Every question in both halves has three options, and the questions in each part get harder as you go. Expect the last questions of a part to feel noticeably more difficult than the first. That's the design, not a sign you're failing.
Writing changed in December 2025
Older guides and some test-centre pages still describe two writing tasks in an hour. Since December 2025 the Writing module is one task in 30 minutes: a report, article or review of 200–250 words for a named reader, covering four points. Practise the current format.
The task is marked on four criteria: task fulfilment, grammar, vocabulary and organisation. Missing one of the four points costs you on task fulfilment however good your English is, so tick them off before you start writing.
A score, not a pass
There is no pass or fail. Each module gets a score from 0 to 100, read as a level:
| Score | 10–19 | 20–39 | 40–59 | 60–74 | 75–89 | 90–100 |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Level | A1 | A2 | B1 | B2 | C1 | C2 |
Listening & Reading also gets an overall score, which isn't simply the average of the two skills. Below 10 overall there is no certificate. Results usually come within two to three working days, and the certificates don't expire.
How to prepare
- Know your target score. If you need B2, you need 60 in each module you take. Aim a few points higher.
- Sit a full timed mock first. Listening & Reading together is long, and stamina is part of the test.
- Write to the four points. One report a week, 200–250 words, with the four points ticked off before you start.
- Answer in full in Speaking. One-sentence answers keep task completion low at any level.
You can sit a full LanguageCert LTE mock on certifyboost, choosing the modules just as in the real test, with every module scored on LTE's 0–100 scale. Mock 1 is free. Read about the LTE mock or start it now.