UK SELT SimulatorLanguageCert SELT A2: what to expect in all four parts
Published 8 October 2026
LanguageCert ESOL SELT A2 Speaking & Listening is a UKVI-approved test, often used when extending a family or partner visa. It lasts 9 to 11 minutes in total, one-to-one with an examiner, and the four parts always come in the same order. Here is what happens in each.
What your own route requires is decided by the Home Office, not by us. Check the current requirements at gov.uk before you book — approved tests and providers change.
Part 1: Personal information — 1.5 to 2 minutes
The exam opens with the same scripted identity check used at every LanguageCert level: you confirm your name, spell your family name aloud, letter by letter, and say where you are from. Then the examiner announces that the exam is beginning.
After that, three or four questions — grouped under named topic headings rather than picked from one flat list, and some expect a simple past or future answer: not just “what do you do” but “what did you do” or “what will you do”, with a simple reason. Keep your answers short, but be ready to say when something happened, not only that it happened.
Part 2: Two role-plays — 1.5 to 2 minutes
Two scripted situations, each about two turns long. In Situation A, the examiner sets the scene and speaks first, using a fixed opening line. You just reply.
In Situation B, the examiner sets the scene and then waits for you to start. The functional range is wider here than at the level below — expect to give advice, make an offer, issue a warning, or suggest something, not just ask a simple question. Starting the exchange, with the right function, is what is being tested.
Part 3: Picture information gap — 1.5 to 2 minutes
You and the examiner each hold a different version of the same scene. You exchange information with each other to find what is the same and what is different between your two pictures. Describing and asking both matter — doing only one leaves the task half finished.
Part 4: Listening, then talking alone
Part 4A (2 to 2.5 minutes). The examiner reads a short monologue twice, at a natural pace. You may take notes. Then you answer three oral comprehension questions about what you heard.
Part 4B (2 to 2.5 minutes). The topic links to the monologue you just heard. You get 30 seconds to prepare, with notes, then talk alone for 60 seconds. A few follow-up questions close the exam.
How it is marked
Five criteria, 30 marks in total: Listening and Responding (10), then Interactive Communication and Task Fulfilment, Grammar, Vocabulary, and Pronunciation, Intonation and Fluency (5 each). According to LanguageCert’s published marking scheme, the pass threshold is 18 — check it with them before you rely on it. There is one certificate level: Pass.
Support is built into this level by design: using memorised phrases and set formulae is acceptable at A2, not penalised. Asking the examiner to repeat something, or to speak more slowly, are both official A2 skills being tested here — not signs that you are struggling.
Practising the format
UK SELT Simulator runs spoken mock sessions in the LanguageCert SELT A2 format — all four parts, in order — with an AI examiner and a short report after each one. See how it works.
UK SELT Simulator is independent practice software. We are not affiliated with or endorsed by UKVI, the Home Office, Trinity College London, LanguageCert, or PeopleCert.