International standard and local expertise
Jointly created by British Council and TUFS assessment experts, BCT-S is based on more than 80 years’ experience in teaching and testing English around the world.
The test is based on the speaking testing methodology used in Aptis, the British Council’s own English proficiency test. BCT-S questions are written by Japanese experts and are consistent with the Japanese curriculum guidelines. They evaluate the communication skills of students in English according to the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR).
BCT-S relies on a comprehensive research agenda and ongoing control and monitoring standards to ensure the reliability and accuracy of the scores. All test questions go through a strict quality assurance process.
BCT-S doesn’t test at a single level. Instead, it includes a range of questions, which are designed to allow candidates to show their ability to communicate in English in real-life situations.
Accurate and reliable results
The test is marked by a team of highly trained and experienced examiners against a set of publicly available scoring criteria. Results and marking performance are closely monitored through our specially developed online marking management system. The quick results provision allows you to fit the test in your university admissions schedule easily.
The online marking system has an inbuilt quality assurance system to ensure examiners mark accurately and without bias.
Results are presented in two ways:
- Number points out of 50
- a CEFR level from A1 to C
Secure and efficient testing
BCT-S is delivered securely on a tablet. In this way, you can test large groups of candidates on the same day. It takes 12 minutes to complete and is divided into four parts.
BCT-S can be easily incorporated and combined with other test of English already in use by universities that currently don’t have the speaking component.
To support candidates in the preparation for BCT-S, we have developed a comprehensive Candidate Guide (Japanese only) and Practice test video recording. Please review from below.