The Oxford Test of English is designed to give universities, employers, and professional bodies the information they need to make confident decisions about an individual's proficiency in English.

Test takers will receive a Module Report Card for each module they complete, and an Oxford Test of English Certificate of Proficiency if they complete all four modules.

Test takers may retake individual modules or the entire test, and their best results will appear on the Certificate or Module Report Card. The 'Taken' date shown with each module confirms when the test taker received the score shown on the certificate.

Oxford Test of English results are valid for life – they never run out. However, institutions may wish to specify that results have been gained within a set period of time, for example, in the last two years.

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Learn more about the Oxford Test of English in our Fact Sheet.

Stories from recognizing institutions

As a receiving institution, such as a university or employer, you want to be confident that the Oxford Test of English results presented to you are legitimate, which is why we provide an online verification service to give you the reassurance you need. You should never accept a pdf or paper copy of the Oxford Test of English certificate. Please always insist that test takers use the verification service to verify their results. To do this, follow this simple process:

1. Request results verification from the test taker: direct the test taker to the Oxford Test of English results verification site and provide them with an official institution email address for the verification to be sent to.
2. The test taker requests results verification is sent to the institution email address following the results verification instructions.
3. Oxford University Press emails the institution with verification of the results. Results verifications are always sent from OTEsupport@oup.com. (You should ONLY accept results verification from OTEsupport@oup.com – do NOT accept results verification from any other email address.)

Developed according to international standards

The Oxford Test of English has been designed and developed over several years, with great care taken to ensure reliability, accuracy, alignment to the CEFR, and quality.

The test uses adaptive technology and task randomization within a large item bank, to ensure that test takers have a comfortable user experience, while providing an accurate and efficient calibration of competence in the separate skills.

Read the Oxford Test of English and Oxford Test of English Advanced test specifications for a detailed description of the development process.

Security prioritized at every step

The test design ensures test takers receive different combinations of test questions. This reduces the chances of malpractice and increases confidence in the results. All of our Approved Test Centres are also vetted and independently inspected to ensure they comply with the necessary security procedures, as detailed in the Test Centre Handbook.

Endorsed and certified by the University of Oxford

The following letter marks the University's endorsement and certification of the Oxford Test of English. Endorsement is founded on the University's ongoing quality assurance auditing of the test, so you can be confident that the test meets the highest standards.

Need help to align your Oxford Test of English requirements to the scores you set for other tests? Do the scores you set vary by components?

Download our equivalences document to learn how the Oxford Test of English scoring system compares to other English language proficiency tests – as well as how it lines up against the CEFR – so you can determine the minimum scores required for your institution:

Download equivalences document

Please note: These equivalences should be used for guidance only, and are subject to change as testing organizations update their mapping or score equivalences