The plan in one paragraph
To pass ICAO Level 4 you need a 4 or higher in every one of the six rated skills, so the fastest route is to find your weakest skill and lift it. This plan does that in thirty days: four weeks of six days, 20 to 30 minutes a day, one action a day. Week 1 finds your weakest skill with a recorded baseline. Weeks 2 and 3 work on comprehension and interactions through unclear calls, clarification drills and non-routine role plays, with picture descriptions and a structure and vocabulary day each week. Week 4 is two full mocks in the shape of your test, one review day and a taper. Four weeks of six working days and one rest day make 28; the last two of the thirty are spare, for a roster change or a lost day, so the test itself sits on day 29 or 30. The plan is built on one rule from ICAO Annex 1 (icao.int could not be fetched this week; the provision is reproduced by test providers): six skills are rated from 1 to 6, pronunciation, structure, vocabulary, fluency, comprehension and interactions, and your overall level is the lowest of the six. The same day-by-day plan is rendered as a grid on the aviation English hub; this page explains why each week is shaped as it is, what to listen for in your own recordings, and how to compress it to ten days for a renewal.
- Week 1, 20 minutes a day: know the scale, record a baseline, numbers aloud, first picture, first listening re-tell, self-score.
- Week 2, 25 minutes a day: comprehension and clarification. Say-again drills, non-routine role play 1, your first-language page, picture 2, two re-tells.
- Week 3, 25 minutes a day: non-routine situations under time. Role plays 2 and 3, a structure day, a vocabulary paraphrase day, pictures 3 and 4, a half mock.
- Week 4, 30 to 15 minutes a day: full mock 1, review, weakest-skill day, full mock 2, numbers one last time, rest.
- Every item has a link: the practice bank for pictures and re-tells, role-play practice for the AI controller or captain, read-aloud practice for numbers and call signs.
Why the plan starts with your weakest skill
Most preparation for this test is spent on the wrong thing. Candidates revise phraseology and polish their accent, because those are the parts they can see. The official TEA page says the test covers "plain English in an aviation context for licensing purposes" and is "not a test of aviation phraseology", and the ELPAC site states the marking rule as "no compensatory marking". Put the two together: no amount of correct phraseology or clear vowels can carry a 3 in comprehension. A candidate who scores 5, 5, 5, 5, 3, 5 holds Level 3.
So the plan spends day 6 of week 1 on one job: listening back to your own recordings and circling the lowest of the six skills. Everything after that is weighted towards that skill. No regulator or test provider publishes results by skill, so this is our judgement, not a statistic: for second-language pilots and controllers the skill is most often comprehension or interactions, and both are tested through non-routine situations. The TEA page describes Section 2A as "6 recordings in which a pilot or controller is talking in a non-routine aviation situation", 2B as "4 longer recordings in which a pilot or controller describes a problem", and 2C as "3 short recordings in more general, non-routine situations" with 20 seconds to ask follow-up questions. That is why weeks 2 and 3 are built around unclear calls and things going wrong, and why pronunciation gets one short daily slot rather than the whole plan.
If your week-1 self-score says pronunciation is the lowest, the plan still works: keep the structure and swap the content of the weakest-skill days for the drills on the mistakes by first language page. The rule is the same either way. Lift the floor, because the floor is your level.
What raters hear at Level 3 and at Level 4
You cannot aim at a level you cannot hear, so before week 1 ends you need a working picture of the line between Pre-operational (3) and Operational (4). The table is our plain-English reading of the rating scale descriptors as reproduced in provider handbooks; the rating scale page has each skill at 3, 4 and 5 with worked examples. The third column is what we listen for in a recording, written by TalkDrill, and it is the column you use on self-score days.
| Skill | Level 3 sounds like | Level 4 sounds like | Listen for in your recording |
|---|---|---|---|
| Pronunciation | Accent frequently interferes; listener has to work | Accent only sometimes interferes | Can a stranger write down every number and call sign you said, first time? |
| Structure | Basic grammar not always controlled; errors often change the meaning | Basic grammar controlled; errors rare in routine speech, more under pressure, seldom change meaning | Tense in your narration of what happened; subject present in every sentence |
| Vocabulary | Often enough for routine topics, but limited; no paraphrase when a word is missing | Enough for common and work topics; paraphrases when a word is missing | Did you stop when you lacked a word, or describe around it? |
| Fluency | Stretches of speech, but pauses and fillers break the message | Appropriate tempo; occasional pauses when moving from rehearsed to spontaneous | Length of your longest silence after an unexpected question |
| Comprehension | Often accurate on routine topics; fails when the situation turns | Mostly accurate; may be slower on a non-routine turn, and asks for clarification | After one listen, did your re-tell keep the numbers, the problem and the request? |
| Interactions | Responses sometimes immediate; often inadequate; slow to check or clarify | Responses usually immediate and informative; checks, confirms and clarifies | Count your clarifying questions. Zero is a Level 3 habit. |
A worked example, written by TalkDrill
The examiner plays a recording: a controller says the taxiway is closed "due to a disabled vehicle at the intersection with Bravo" and gives an alternative route. A Level 3 re-tell: "Taxiway closed, go other way." The numbers and the reason are gone, and no question is asked. A Level 4 re-tell: "The taxiway is closed because a vehicle has broken down where it meets Bravo, so he wants us to take the other route. I would confirm which taxiway he means, say again the holding point, and read it back." Same listening, same grammar level; the difference is that the second candidate kept the cause, kept the request and said what they would check.
The shape of every session
Every day in the plan has one main task, but the 20 or 25 minutes around it always have the same shape. The shape matters more than the task, because the part that is easiest to skip, listening back, is where the improvement happens. A recording you never hear again is practice for the microphone, not for the test.
| Minutes (of 20) | What you do | Why |
|---|---|---|
| 0 to 2 | Warm-up: five call signs and five numbers aloud with the ICAO digit forms | Wakes up the sounds that carry information before the task that is being recorded |
| 2 to 12 | The day's main task, recorded, without stopping or restarting | The test does not let you restart; neither does the plan |
| 12 to 17 | Listen back once, with the self-score sheet in front of you | You hear the dropped final consonant, the long silence and the question you did not ask |
| 17 to 20 | Score the skills the task targets, and write one fix for tomorrow | One fix a day is 24 fixes in a month; ten fixes at once is none |
On 25-minute days the main task gets the extra five minutes. On 30-minute days, the two full mocks, the mock takes 25 to 30 minutes on its own and the listening back moves to the next day, which is why day 2 of week 4 is a review day. The plan's weighting follows from the lowest-score rule. Counting the main task of each of the 24 sessions in the plan, written by TalkDrill:
| Main target of the session | Sessions | Which days |
|---|---|---|
| Comprehension and interactions | 6 | Week 1 day 5; week 2 days 1, 2, 3 and 6; week 3 day 4 |
| All six skills: baseline, scored role plays, mocks, reviews | 8 | Week 1 days 1, 2 and 6; week 3 days 1 and 6; week 4 days 1, 2 and 4 |
| Vocabulary and fluency: picture descriptions and paraphrase | 4 | Week 1 day 4; week 2 day 5; week 3 days 3 and 5 |
| Pronunciation: numbers, call signs, first-language habits | 3 | Week 1 day 3; week 2 day 4; week 4 day 5 |
| Structure | 1 | Week 3 day 2, plus every listen-back |
| Your weakest skill, whichever it is | 1 | Week 4 day 3 |
| Taper | 1 | Week 4 day 6 |
If your week-1 self-score puts a different skill at the bottom, move sessions towards it rather than adding time. A pilot whose lowest skill is pronunciation swaps two comprehension sessions in week 2 for the drills on the mistakes by first language page. The total stays the same, because a plan that grows every week is a plan that stops.
The four weeks, day by day
Week 1: know the scale and find your weakest skill (20 minutes a day)
Day 1, read the rating scale page once and copy the six skills into a notebook as a self-score sheet with columns for 3, 4 and 5. Day 2, the baseline: let the AI interview you for eight minutes about your training, your aircraft or your unit and a day that did not go to plan, and do not restart; a clean take tells you nothing. Day 3, numbers aloud: ten call signs, ten altitudes, ten frequencies with the ICAO digit pronunciations as printed in the UK CAA's CAP 413 radiotelephony manual (TREE, FOWER, FIFE, NINER), recorded, and listen for the digit that blurs. Day 4, the first picture description from the bank: two minutes describing, then the three discussion questions. Day 5, a listening re-tell: one non-routine exchange, one listen, then re-tell it and say what you would do next. Day 6, listen back to days 2, 4 and 5 and score all six skills. Circle the lowest. That skill is your work for three weeks.
Week 2: comprehension and clarification (25 minutes a day)
The goal: by day 12 you ask "say again", "confirm" or "do you mean" without hesitation, and you re-tell a non-routine call accurately after one listen. Day 1, read sections 1 to 3 of the non-routine situations page and write the six clarification formulas on a card for your flight bag or your position. Day 2, the say-again drill: five instructions, each with one unclear element, and your only job is to catch it and clarify before you read back. Day 3, non-routine role play 1: a passenger has collapsed in the cabin (pilots) or a pilot reports smoke and asks for the nearest airport (controllers); ten minutes, then score comprehension and interactions only. Day 4, read your first-language section on the mistakes page, pick the two habits you heard in week 1, and write the fix on your daily card. Day 5, picture 2, with the discussion pushed harder: "why", "what else could it be", "what would you do if" after every answer. Day 6, two re-tells, one listen each; if a number or a call sign went missing, repeat week 1 day 3 tomorrow instead of resting.
Week 3: non-routine situations under time (25 minutes a day)
The goal: three different scenarios in one week without losing structure or vocabulary, and a paraphrase for every word you do not have. Day 1, role play 2: a bird strike after take-off, or a runway incursion you must resolve; score all six. Day 2, the structure drill: re-tell yesterday's scenario in the past tense only, then in the conditional ("if the engine had failed, we would have"), and listen for the tense that slipped. Day 3, the vocabulary paraphrase drill: the AI names ten aircraft or airfield objects and you describe each in one sentence without its name; this is the Level 4 vocabulary descriptor in practice. Day 4, role play 3: fuel below minimum with weather at the alternate, or a pilot who keeps reading back the wrong altitude. Day 5, pictures 3 and 4 back to back, then the discussion; compare with week 1 and ask whether you are still describing or now explaining cause and consequence. Day 6, a half mock: an eight-minute interview plus one picture, timed to the TEA Section 1 and Section 3 shape, scored against the week-1 baseline.
Week 4: full mock and taper (30, 30, 25, 25, 20, 15 minutes)
Day 1, full mock 1 in the TEA shape, no pauses between parts. Day 2, review it against the six skills, re-do only the part that carried the lowest skill, and, if this is a renewal, check the expiry month on your licence and the re-test rules on the fees, booking and results page. Day 3, the weakest-skill day: three re-tells for comprehension, a say-again drill for interactions, numbers plus your first-language drill for pronunciation, the week-3 drills for structure or vocabulary. Day 4, full mock 2 with a new picture and a new scenario; if the lowest skill is now a 4 on your sheet, you are ready. Day 5, numbers, call signs and frequencies one last time, slowly and then at radio speed, and read the levels and validity page so you know what the result means for your licence. Day 6, the day before: one easy picture, warm up the voice, pack your ID and licence, and stop. Do not learn new words tonight.
The two mocks, timed to the test shape
A mock is only useful if it has the shape and the clock of the real thing. The TEA page publishes both, so the week-4 mocks follow it: Section 1, introduction and experience-related interview, 7 to 8 minutes; Section 2, interactive comprehension, 8 to 12 minutes, in three parts (2A, six recordings of a pilot or controller in a non-routine situation; 2B, four longer recordings in which a pilot or controller describes a problem; 2C, three short recordings in more general non-routine situations, with 20 seconds to ask follow-up questions); Section 3, picture description and discussion, 10 minutes, built on two connected pictures. Total 25 to 30 minutes, one examiner, face to face. Run the mock in one sitting with the parts in that order, because the fatigue of Section 2 is part of what Section 3 measures.
| Mock part | Minutes (TEA page) | What you use | Skill it exposes most |
|---|---|---|---|
| Interview | 7 to 8 | AI interview on your experience, your aircraft or unit, a day that went wrong | Fluency, structure |
| Comprehension, 2A shape | Part of the 8 to 12 | Six short non-routine exchanges from the bank, one listen each, then say what the problem is and what is being asked | Comprehension |
| Comprehension, 2B shape | Part of the 8 to 12 | Four longer exchanges in which a pilot or controller describes a problem; re-tell each with the numbers kept | Comprehension, vocabulary |
| Comprehension, 2C shape | Part of the 8 to 12 | Three short exchanges; set a 20-second timer and ask the follow-up questions you need before you answer | Interactions |
| Picture description and discussion | 10 | Two connected pictures from the bank, describe and compare, then "why", "what next" and "what would you do" | Vocabulary, fluency, interactions |
The ELPAC version of the mocks
If your authority or employer sends you to ELPAC, change the shape, not the plan. Per the ELPAC site, Paper 1 is a 45-item computer-marked listening test with separate pilot and ATC versions, built on radiotelephony recordings and multiple-choice questions on short and longer audio. Paper 2, per the ELPAC about-the-test page, is a live speaking test of about 20 minutes in three tasks: a radiotelephony task, a picture description with problem-solving, and a conversation on aviation topics. Two accredited assessors rate it, an English language expert and an operational expert, and the level awarded is the lowest rating across the six criteria from both assessors.
| ELPAC part | Your mock | What to listen for afterwards |
|---|---|---|
| Paper 1, listening | The free sample test for your role from the ELPAC sample tests page (no sign-in, per the page; use headphones), then ten re-tells from the bank, one listen each | Which numbers, call signs or requests you lost, and whether you lost them at speed or on an accent |
| Paper 2, radiotelephony task | A non-routine role play with the AI as the other station: standard phraseology first, plain English when it runs out | Whether you switched to plain English at the right moment, and whether your read-backs were complete |
| Paper 2, picture and problem-solving | One picture from the bank, then "what is the problem" and "what would you do" | Whether you explained causes and options, or only described |
| Paper 2, conversation | An AI interview on an aviation topic you have an opinion on: fatigue, automation, training | Length of turns, linking words, and whether you asked anything back |
Two honest notes. First, the AI on TalkDrill plays the examiner, the controller or the captain and times the parts, but it is not an ICAO-trained rater; your score comes from your own sheet, which is why the self-score column in the table above matters. A human mock with a trained rater is not on TalkDrill yet, and we say so on the hub. Second, a mock can only be as honest as its scoring. Score the mock the next day, not straight after it, when you can listen as a stranger would. The tests compared page sets the formats side by side.
The 10-day version for a renewal
A renewal candidate already holds a 4 and usually works in English every shift. The risk is different: not a missing skill but a rusty test habit, a three-year-old picture-description technique and a tendency to answer in phraseology when the examiner wants plain English. Per ICAO Annex 1 (icao.int could not be fetched this week), a Level 4 holder is re-evaluated at least every three years, and the renewal is the same test with the same lowest-score rule; a Level 3 result is below the Level 4 minimum, so the endorsement cannot be renewed until you pass again. Ten days at 30 minutes a day is enough to re-tune, provided you record every session.
| Day | 30 minutes | Link |
|---|---|---|
| 1 | Read the rating scale page; record an eight-minute AI interview as a baseline; score it. | rating scale |
| 2 | Numbers, call signs and frequencies aloud at radio speed; two listening re-tells, one listen each. | read-aloud practice |
| 3 | Non-routine role play (medical on board, or smoke reported by a pilot); score comprehension and interactions. | role-play practice |
| 4 | Two picture descriptions with discussion, two minutes each; push for cause and consequence. | practice bank |
| 5 | Say-again drill plus your first-language drill; structure re-tell of day 3 in the past tense. | mistakes by first language |
| 6 | Full mock 1 in the TEA shape, one sitting. Score all six. | test formats |
| 7 | Weakest-skill day, chosen from the mock-1 sheet. | role-play practice |
| 8 | Second non-routine role play (fuel and weather at the alternate, or a wrong read-back that will not correct); vocabulary paraphrase drill. | non-routine situations |
| 9 | Full mock 2, new picture, new scenario. If the lowest skill is a 4 on your sheet, stop learning. | practice bank |
| 10 | Numbers aloud, one easy picture, pack the licence and ID, rest the voice. | levels and validity |
The habit most at risk in a renewal, in our judgement, is the switch from phraseology to plain English, because years of standard radio work make the phrase the first thing that comes out. When the examiner asks what you would do about a disruptive passenger, "request priority landing" is a phrase, not an answer. Describe the situation, the risk, the options and the decision, in sentences. Day 3 and day 8 exist to make that switch automatic again.
Moving from 4 to 5
Level 5, Extended, is worth the extra month for two reasons. Per ICAO Annex 1 (icao.int could not be fetched this week), a Level 5 holder is re-evaluated at least every six years rather than three, and the Aero Language FAQ, a provider page we read on 21 October 2026, lists the same six-year interval for pilots in EASA states; we have not read an EASA or DGCA page confirming it this week, so check your own authority. The second reason is operational: a 5 handles the unexpected without slowing down, which is the day you need it. The plan stays the same; the standard you score yourself against changes. In the descriptors as reproduced in provider handbooks, the Level 5 lines ask for more than the Level 4 lines in four places, and each one maps to a change in your daily task.
| Skill | What a 5 adds over a 4 (our reading of the descriptors) | Change to the daily task |
|---|---|---|
| Structure | Complex structures attempted and mostly controlled, not only basic ones | On the structure day, re-tell the scenario with one conditional and one passive in every answer |
| Vocabulary | Paraphrase is consistent and successful; some idiomatic use | Paraphrase drill at 15 objects, no hesitation allowed before the first word |
| Fluency | Longer stretches with relative ease; discourse markers used | Picture discussion answers of 45 seconds or more, linked with "because", "which means", "so" |
| Comprehension and interactions | Accurate on most topics including unexpected ones; clarification is quick and precise | Re-tell with two listens banned; clarifying questions name the exact missing element ("confirm the holding point, not the taxiway") |
One discussion question at 4 and at 5, written by TalkDrill
The picture shows an aircraft stopped on the grass beside a wet runway. The examiner asks: "Why do you think this happened?"
A Level 4 style answer: "I think the runway is wet, maybe it was raining. The pilot could not stop the aircraft. Maybe the brakes had a problem. So the aircraft went off the runway." Clear, correct, and every sentence is short and basic. The ideas are listed, not connected.
A Level 5 style answer: "There are a few possibilities. The runway looks wet, and if there was standing water the aircraft may have aquaplaned, which means the tyres lose contact with the surface and braking stops working properly. It could also have been a crosswind stronger than the one reported, especially if a gust arrived just at touchdown. If I had been the captain, I would have checked the landing distance for a wet runway before the approach and been ready to go around if we touched down long."
What changed: linked reasons ("which means", "especially if"), a conditional, a precise word explained in the same breath, and an answer that moves from cause to what the crew could have done. None of it needs rarer vocabulary than a working pilot already has.
A warning from the lowest-score rule: a candidate aiming at 5 who lets comprehension sit at 4 gets a 4. Pick one skill to raise per cycle, and keep the others at least where they are.
Planning around your expiry month
There is no national date for this test. TEA, ELPAC and the DGCA-approved providers in India all run on demand at approved centres, so the only date that matters is the expiry endorsed on your licence. In India the level is endorsed through eGCA, and the DGCA portal lists ELP Training and Testing Service Providers under its pilot training services; the DGCA ELP page walks through that route. We did not read a DGCA fee on an official page this week and we do not publish coaching-site figures, so ask the provider for a written quote. Work backwards: find the expiry month, ask your approved centre how long results take and whether a re-sit has a waiting period, and start the 30-day plan so that the result, and a possible re-sit, both land before the expiry. For a renewal with a clear calendar, the 10-day version above is enough; for a first endorsement, or if your last test was close to the line, give it the full 30 days and a second cycle if mock 2 says so. The hub keeps a sources and change log with the dates we checked each official page, and the official TEA page is at aviation-english.com, the ELPAC site at elpac.eurocontrol.int.
| Your situation | Which version of the plan | When to start (our planning rule, not an official one) |
|---|---|---|
| First endorsement, for example a CPL student in India | The full 30 days, twice if mock 2 says so | Far enough ahead that a second cycle and a re-sit both fit before the licence needs the endorsement |
| Renewal, last result a clear 4 or a 5 | The 10-day version | Early enough that a re-sit still lands before the expiry month printed on the licence |
| Renewal, last result close to the line in one skill | The full 30 days, weighted to that skill | As for a first endorsement |
| Aiming to move from 4 to 5 | Two 30-day cycles, one skill raised per cycle | Two cycles plus a re-sit before your Level 4 expiry, so a result of 4 still renews you |
Start today
Open role-play practice and record eight minutes in which you describe your training, your aircraft or your unit, and a day that did not go to plan. Do not prepare for it. The recording you make tonight is the one that tells you which of the six skills this month is for.