Viewing Your Test Results
Test takers can access their CAEL Test scores online through their CAEL Account in 8 business days after their test date.
- Please note that business days do not include weekends or holidays
- You will receive an email notification once your scores are available
Your CAEL Official Score Report will be available for download as a PDF. You can submit your PDF Official Score Report to an academic institution or professional organization. Please ensure that you selected your chosen institution in your CAEL Account for score verification purposes.
Rating Timelines & Score Report Options
Through your CAEL Account, you can access your score results online. Please ensure that you keep a copy of your downloaded score report for your reference.
| Rating Type/Request | Description |
|---|---|
|
Re-evaluation Request |
|
Understanding Your Test Scores
Test takers receive individual English proficiency scores for the Reading, Listening, Writing, and Speaking components, as well as an overall score. CAEL scores are reported on a scale from 10 – 90 with accompanying descriptors of what performance represents. The overall score is calculated as an equally weighted average of the four component scores rounded to the nearest ten-point interval. The table below presents descriptions of test taker proficiency at each full band level.
| CAEL Band Descriptor | CAEL Score |
|---|---|
| Expert: Demonstrates a high level of competence, accuracy, and effectiveness in academic/professional settings | 80-90 |
| Adept: Uses generally accurate language in most settings; some limitations in flexibility are evident | 70 |
| Advanced: Displays competence in academic or professional settings | 60 |
| High Intermediate: Exhibits some competence in academic or professional settings; communication may break down in places | 50 |
| Intermediate: Demonstrates some ability to comprehend and articulate complex ideas and arguments typical of academic or professional settings | 40 |
| High Beginner: Expresses basic ideas about familiar topics in routine settings | 30 |
| Low Beginner: Communicates with limited ability | 10-20 |
CAEL Reporting Scale
| Band Score | Performance Summary |
|---|---|
|
80-90 Expert – Fluent |
Reads academic texts with ease demonstrating comprehension equal to that of experienced academic readers. |
|
70 Adept |
Reads and comprehends academic texts with ease. |
|
60 Advanced |
Understands main ideas is able to identify most |
|
50 High Intermediate |
Understands main ideas but may misinterpret information. Can identify some relevant details but reads slowly and with greater effort than most academic readers. |
|
40 Intermediate |
Understands main ideas but is restricted by limited vocabulary and a lack of familiarity with textual conventions. |
|
30 High Beginner |
Understands some of the main ideas but is unable to identify specific, relevant ideas; reads with limited accuracy and fluency. |
|
10-20 Low Beginner |
Understands the main idea at times but misses almost all supporting detail. |
| Band Score | Performance Summary |
|---|---|
|
80-90 Expert – Fluent |
Comprehends lectures as well as an experienced academic listener. |
|
70 Adept |
Understands lectures with apparent ease. |
|
60 Advanced |
Understand information regarding both main ideas and supporting details. May lack some flexibility and miss some information. |
|
50 High Intermediate |
Processes most of the lecture for general ideas but may miss or misinterpret details. Overall understanding is still somewhat restricted. |
|
40 Intermediate |
Identifies the meaning of some unfamiliar terms but overall understanding is restricted and uneven. |
|
30 High Beginner |
Makes some sense sections of lectures by guessing but overall understanding is limited. |
|
10-20 Low Beginner |
Takes some meaning from individual words but overall understanding is sketchy and random. |
| Band Score | Performance Summary |
|---|---|
|
80-90 Expert – Fluent |
Writes with authority and style demonstrating mastery of appropriate, concise and persuasive academic writing. |
|
70 Adept |
Readily responds to the demands of the topic and presents information clearly and logically. |
|
60 Advanced |
Can develop a thesis using a range of support and uses language that is generally accurate. |
|
50 High Intermediate |
Addresses the topic to a degree but with limited clarity and cohesiveness. |
|
40 Intermediate |
Makes links among ideas and addresses the topic but writing lacks clarity and cohesiveness. |
|
30 High Beginner |
Writes something related to the topic but writing is not predictable and language is restricted. |
|
10-20 Low Beginner |
Uses words randomly but language is very restricted and/or ungrammatical. |
| Band Score | Performance Summary |
|---|---|
|
80-90 Expert – Fluent |
Speaks with authority on a variety of topics. Demonstrates flexibility, controls nuance and speaks with spontaneity and comprehensibility. |
|
70 Adept |
Speaks with ease presenting information clearly and logically. |
|
60 Advanced |
Speaks fluently, flexibly and with a degree of ease. Compensates strategically for limitations but communicates most required information clearly. |
|
50 High Intermediate |
Speaks with some fluency and flexibility but speaks |
|
40 Intermediate |
Can speak with some fluency but without flexibility and with noticeable effort. |
|
30 High Beginner |
Can speak but with false starts, hesitations and some mispronounced words. Provides studied and careful responses. |
|
10-20 Low Beginner |
Communicates some information but mispronounces many words and speaks with great difficulty and many long pauses. |
The CAEL Overall Band Score is calculated as an equally weighted average of the four component (Writing, Reading, Listening, and Speaking) scores rounded to the nearest ten-point interval.
Examples of the overall band score calculation:
- A test taker achieving 70 for the Writing component, 70 for the Reading component, 60 for the Listening component, and 60 for the Speaking component will be awarded a CAEL Overall Band Score of 70 (260 ÷ 4 = 65, rounded to the nearest ten-point interval of 70).
- A test taker achieving 70 for the Writing component, 70 for the Reading component, 60 for the Listening component, and 50 for the Speaking component will be awarded a CAEL Overall Band Score of 60 (250 ÷ 4 = 62.5, rounded to the nearest ten-point interval of 60).
| English Proficiency |
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| Education |
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| Teaching & Assessment Experience |
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| Residency |
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Raters receive ongoing training to ensure that the scoring criteria are consistently and systematically applied by all raters, and to minimize potential bias introduced by human judgment.
- Initial Rater Training
All raters attend an initial training program to guide them through Paragon’s rating approach. After completing a training manual, exercises, and rating samples, trainees engage in a certification process during which they rate 3-6 certification sets. In order to certify, trainees must achieve a minimum 80% agreement with the official score assigned to each performance in at least three consecutive sets. Only certified raters can start operational rating.
- Operational Rater Training
To maintain a shared perspective on relevant rating principles and criteria, all operational raters receive ongoing in-service training and monitoring, including:
- Weekly feedback on their agreement with other raters
- Weekly sample performances rated by expert raters
- Biweekly in-depth training materials in the form of communications hosted online, including a range of sample performances rated and justified by expert raters
- Detailed notes from rater seminars, in which challenging responses are discussed and rated by expert raters.
- Rater Monitoring
Rater performance analysis is conducted monthly to monitor the reliability of the rater pool and to identify raters who have unsatisfactory rater agreement. Underperforming raters receive personalized feedback on rating samples that demonstrate a significant discrepancy between their ratings and benchmark ratings Additional samples are provided upon request by a rater. Once identified as underperforming, a rater must demonstrate improvement within 8 weeks. If an underperforming rater does not demonstrate an improvement to meet Paragon’s rating standards within that period, Paragon may terminate their rating contract.
Test Scoring FAQs
You can apply for a re-evaluation of some or all components of your CAEL, as long as the application is made within 6 months of the test date. You must pay a re-evaluation fee at the time of your application. If the score changes for any component that has been re-evaluated, the re-evaluation fee for that component will be refunded. Please note that there is a limit of one re-evaluation for any particular component of the test. Re-evaluation requests are final sale, and cannot be cancelled once the request has been submitted.
Test takers who apply for a re-evaluation of their test results will be notified of the re-evaluation results within 3 to 4 weeks of submission of their application and payment of the re-evaluation fee.
The re-evaluation fee is $65.00 per component.
To make a re-evaluation request, sign in to your CAEL Account.
We will make your scores available to you and other institutions for 2 years from the date of the test. The length of time that your scores are valid for various institutions however, is determined by their individual policies. You can obtain this information from the specific institution.
Your CAEL Official Score Report will be available for download as a PDF. You can submit your PDF Official Score Report to an academic institution or professional organization. Please ensure that you selected your chosen institution in your CAEL Account for score verification purposes.
Listening
The Listening component in CAEL has approximately 36 questions in total, and all the questions are computer-scored. The chart below provides a rough guide to how your Listening score corresponds to your CAEL band level for Listening.
| Band Score | Score Range |
|---|---|
|
90 |
30 – 36 |
|
80 |
26 – 29 |
|
70 |
21 – 26 |
|
60 |
18 – 22 |
|
50 |
14 – 19 |
|
40 |
11 – 15 |
|
30 |
8 – 12 |
|
20 |
7 – 10 |
|
10 |
0 – 7 |
DISCLAIMER: This example chart shows how raw scores for the Listening component of the CAEL Test approximately correspond to band levels. Since questions may have different levels of difficulty and may therefore be equated differently, the raw score required for a certain band may vary slightly from one test to another.
Reading
The Reading component in CAEL has approximately 36 questions in total, and all the questions are computer-scored. The chart below provides a rough guide to how your Reading score corresponds to your CAEL band level for Reading.
| Band Score | Score Range |
|---|---|
|
90 |
31 – 36 |
|
80 |
29 – 31 |
|
70 |
26 – 29 |
|
60 |
22 – 27 |
|
50 |
20 – 24 |
|
40 |
15 – 20 |
|
30 |
11 – 15 |
|
20 |
9 – 13 |
|
10 |
0 – 9 |
DISCLAIMER: This example chart shows how raw scores for the Reading component of the CAEL Test approximately correspond to band levels. Since questions may have different levels of difficulty and may therefore be equated differently, the raw score required for a certain band may vary slightly from one test to another.
This table summarizes the results of a study to compare test takers’ results on CAEL and the academic version of the International English Language Testing System (IELTS – Academic). For both tests, the overall score is the unweighted average of the four individual component scores: listening, reading, writing, and speaking. The purpose of this study was to identify which IELTS – Academic overall band score corresponds to each CAEL overall score.
| CAEL Overall Score | IELTS – Academic Overall Score |
|---|---|
|
90¹ |
–¹ |
|
80 |
8.0 |
|
70 |
7.0 |
|
60 |
6.5 |
|
50 |
6.0 |
|
40 |
5.5 |
|
30 |
4.5 |
|
20¹ |
–¹ |
|
10¹ |
–¹ |
¹This indicates that the score is not represented in the dataset.
For more information about Paragon’s study, see Linking CAEL CE Scores to IELTS – Academic Scores: A Research Summary.
The equivalencies are based on the results of initial research (sources provided in the footnotes). It should also be noted that these tests take very different approaches in their operationalization of the construct of academic English. The approach to scoring is also different. Therefore, these equivalencies only enable broad comparison to be made.
1 This concordance is based on TOEFL iBT scores reported by 564 CAEL test takers in the period 2011-2015. Paragon Testing Enterprises (2016). Internal Report: CAEL correspondences. Vancouver, BC: Paragon Testing Enterprises.
2 Paragon Testing Enterprises (2016). Canadian Academic English Language (CAEL) Assessment Test Score and Users’ Guide. Vancouver, BC: Paragon Testing Enterprises.1 This concordance is based on TOEFL iBT scores reported by 564 CAEL test takers in the period 2011-2015. Paragon Testing Enterprises (2016). Internal Report: CAEL correspondences. Vancouver, BC: Paragon Testing Enterprises.
3 Based on a study by Fox, J., and Fraser, W. (2014). Research Note: Setting university language proficiency entry requirements on the Pearson Test of English Academic (PTE Academic) in relation to performance categories on the Canadian Academic English Language (CAEL) Assessment. Available here.
4 Bands 10-40 are combined in the table because they are typically not critical cut scores for entry to post-secondary programs.
Download the English Language Proficiency Test Conversions Chart.
