FCE has five papers
Reading | Writing | Use of English | Listening | Speaking
Each of the written papers is returned to Cambridge for marking and assessment. The Speaking Test is conducted by two locally based examiners who examine candidates face to face. All examiners are accredited by Cambridge ESOL.
Reading (Paper 1) 1 hour*
The Reading paper assesses candidates' ability to read and understand texts taken from fiction and non-fiction books, journals, newspapers and magazines. Candidates are expected to be able to show understanding of gist, detail and text structureand deduce meaning.
Writing (Paper 2) 1 hour 20 minutes*
The Writing paper assesses candidates' ability to write non-specialised text types such as letters, articles, reports, compositions and reviews of 120-180 words covering a range of topics and target readers and also set texts.
Use of English (Paper 3) 45 minutes*
In the Use of English paper, candidates are expected to demonstrate their knowledge and control of the language system by completing various tasks at text and sentence level. These include filling gaps, transforming words and phrasesand identifying errors in texts.
Listening (Paper 4) 40 minutes (approx.)
The Listening paper assesses candidates' ability to understand the meaning of spoken Englishand to extract gist and meaning from spoken text. The texts are taken from a variety of text types including interviews, discussions, lectures and conversations.
Speaking (Paper 5) 14 minutes (approx.)
The Speaking Test assesses candidates' ability to interact in conversational English in a range of contexts. It contains four parts including an interview section, individual long turns of about one minute, a collaborative task and a discussion. Candidates are provided with stimulus material such as photographs and drawings. Candidates normally take the Speaking Test in pairs.
*FCE has recently undergone a review and certain parts of the examination have been updated, including the number of exercises per paper and the time allocated to each paper. The first session of the updated FCE exam will take place in December 2008.
general english 
