When results arrive, in one paragraph
Per the official Cambridge English Qualifications results page, digital exam results are available 5 to 10 working days after the exam session, and paper-based results are normally available 4 to 6 weeks after the exam session. You see them first online, in the free Results Service for Candidates, using the Candidate ID and Secret Number on the Confirmation of Entry your centre sent you. Your Statement of Results shows an overall score on the Cambridge English Scale, a grade, a CEFR level and a score for each skill. If you reached a certificated level, a paper certificate follows: the results page says it is usually sent to the exam centre within 3 to 4 weeks for digital exams and 7 to 10 weeks after the exam date for paper exams. The certificate does not expire, though the organisations you apply to can decide how recent a result they accept. And one rule that surprises people: the Speaking test is not recorded, so it cannot be re-checked after the event.
- Results: digital 5 to 10 working days; paper normally 4 to 6 weeks. Your Confirmation of Entry states the latest date.
- Online: free Results Service for Candidates; you need the Candidate ID and Secret Number from your centre.
- Certificate to the centre: digital within 3 to 4 weeks; paper 7 to 10 weeks after the exam date.
- Validity: "Your Cambridge English certificate does not expire."
- Verification for universities and employers: free, online, with your reference number and date of birth.
- Enquiries: through your centre; Speaking cannot be re-checked.
From exam day to certificate: the timeline
Two official sources give the timings, and they agree closely. The results page covers all Cambridge English Qualifications; the B1 Preliminary information for candidates booklet (2026) gives the same picture for that exam with slightly different rounding.
| Step | Digital exam | Paper-based exam | Source |
|---|---|---|---|
| Results online | 5 to 10 working days after the session | Normally 4 to 6 weeks after the session | Results page |
| Statement of Results (B1 Preliminary booklet) | 1 to 2 weeks after the exam | 4 to 6 weeks after the exam | Information for candidates, B1 Preliminary |
| Paper certificate sent to the centre | Usually within 3 to 4 weeks | Usually 7 to 10 weeks after the exam date | Results page |
| Certificate (B1 Preliminary booklet) | 3 to 4 weeks after the exam | 7 to 9 weeks after the exam | Information for candidates, B1 Preliminary |
The certificate goes to your centre, not to you. Add the time your centre needs to hand it over or post it, and ask the centre if you need it by a fixed date.
Worked example, written by TalkDrill: the dates for real sittings
- Paper B2 First, Saturday 12 December 2026. Results normally between Saturday 9 and Saturday 23 January 2027. Certificate usually sent to the centre between 30 January and 20 February 2027.
- Paper C1 Advanced, Saturday 14 November 2026. Results normally between 12 and 26 December 2026. Certificate usually sent to the centre between 2 and 23 January 2027.
- A digital session on Thursday 26 November 2026 (IH Bristol runs one that day). Results between Thursday 3 and Thursday 10 December 2026, counting working days. Certificate to the centre within about 3 to 4 weeks.
These are the official windows applied to the calendar, not promises. Holidays at your centre may add days to the hand-over. If you have a deadline, the dates page shows how to choose a sitting by working back from it.
Getting into the Results Service for Candidates
The Results Service for Candidates is Cambridge's free online results account. The official see exam results online page says the fastest way to get your result is to register with it, and lists what it does: you get a notification as soon as your results are released, you can see them anywhere with an internet connection, and you can share them electronically with a university or employer.
What you need
- Your Candidate ID and Secret Number. Both are on the Confirmation of Entry your centre sends before the exam. IH Bristol, for example, emails it no later than 10 days before the session.
- An email address and a password you choose.
When to register
Before the exam, not after. The B1 Preliminary information for candidates booklet says you should register with the Results Service a few weeks before your exam. That way, results day is one notification rather than a search for an email from two months ago.
If something goes wrong
The results page says your exam centre "supplies the information needed to register for this service", so the centre is the one to ask if you have lost your Confirmation of Entry, if your name is spelled wrongly, or if your result shows as Pending or Withheld. IH Bristol asks candidates to email it as soon as they see a misspelled name on the Confirmation of Entry, so it can be corrected before the certificate is printed. Do that on the day you receive it.
Reading your Statement of Results
All candidates receive a Statement of Results; successful candidates also receive a certificate, per the B1 Preliminary booklet. The sample in that booklet shows what is on it:
- your overall score on the Cambridge English Scale for the whole exam;
- your grade for the whole exam (for example, Pass at Grade B) and the CEFR level;
- your score on the Cambridge English Scale for each skill: Reading, Writing, Listening and Speaking, plus Use of English "in certain exams", per the scale page (B2 First and C1 Advanced have a Reading and Use of English paper);
- the centre reference, a verification number, the session and the place of entry.
The results page explains the arithmetic in one sentence: candidates receive a separate score for each skill, and "the average of these results gives an overall result for the exam". The booklet adds the line that settles most worries: "You can't fail a paper. Your overall score is based on the whole exam."
The codes you might see
| Code | Meaning (B1 Preliminary booklet) |
|---|---|
| X | The candidate was absent from part of the examination. |
| Z | The candidate was absent from all parts of the examination. |
| Pending | A result cannot be issued at present, but will follow in due course. |
| Withheld | The candidate should contact their centre for information. |
| Exempt | The candidate was not required to sit this part of the examination. |
Take every paper. IH Bristol's FAQ puts it bluntly: if you miss a part, you will not get any results.
Worked example, written by TalkDrill (invented scores, not a real candidate)
A B2 First Statement of Results shows Reading 168, Use of English 158, Writing 171, Listening 175 and Speaking 182. The average is 854 divided by 5, which is 170.8. The pages we read do not state how Cambridge rounds, but either way the overall sits in the 160 to 172 band: Pass at Grade C, CEFR B2. Three things to notice. Use of English at 158 is below 160, yet the candidate passes, because no single paper can fail you. Speaking at 182 is a C1-level skill score, but the certificate follows the overall, not the best paper. And the cheapest route to Grade B (173) here is the weakest paper: lifting Use of English by about 11 points moves the average by about 2. Every paper counts equally in the average.
Scores, grades and what the certificate states
The results page publishes the score bands for each exam. These are the three this hub covers, as printed on 21 October 2026:
| Cambridge English Scale | B1 Preliminary | B2 First | C1 Advanced |
|---|---|---|---|
| Grade A | 160 to 170 (certificate states B2) | 180 to 190 (certificate states C1) | 200 to 210 (certificate states C2) |
| Grade B | 153 to 159 (B1) | 173 to 179 (B2) | 193 to 199 (C1) |
| Grade C | 140 to 152 (B1) | 160 to 172 (B2) | 180 to 192 (C1) |
| Level below, certificated | 120 to 139: Level A2 | 140 to 159: Level B1 | 160 to 179: Level B2 |
| Statement of Results only, no certificate | 102 to 119 | 122 to 139 | 142 to 159 |
Each exam "provides reliable assessment at the level above" its target and "the level below", per the results page, which is why a B2 First Grade A earns a certificate that states C1 and a C1 Advanced score of 160 to 179 earns one at B2. The B1 Preliminary booklet adds a caution worth repeating: B1 Preliminary "is not designed to assess the full range of skills at Level B2", so Cambridge recommends taking B2 First to fully demonstrate B2. For how the Speaking criteria feed into these numbers, see how Cambridge Speaking is marked; for what the CEFR letters mean, see our CEFR levels guide.
Does a Cambridge certificate expire?
No. The official wording is: "Your Cambridge English certificate does not expire. Recognising organisations such as universities, colleges and employers can choose how long to accept results for, so make sure you always check their requirements." Two things follow. First, a B2 First you passed years ago is still a valid qualification. Second, a particular university, employer or public body may still set its own recency rule, so read the requirement on that organisation's own page. This is one of the practical differences from banded tests such as IELTS, whose results many organisations accept only for a limited period; our IELTS Speaking hub covers that test if you are choosing between the two.
Sending your result to a university or employer
You have two free routes, both official:
- Share from your account. The Results Service for Candidates lets you share results electronically with your chosen university or employer, per the see-results-online page.
- Let them verify it. Cambridge's Results Verification Service is "a free online service" for staff who check results in higher education, businesses and governments. You give them your verification or reference number (on your certificate or Statement of Results) and your date of birth, and they check the result online. It covers B1 Preliminary, B2 First and C1 Advanced, among others.
This matters when a deadline falls before your certificate arrives. Some organisations will accept a verified online result before the paper arrives, so ask before you assume you must wait. The photo rule helps here too: per the results page, a photo is required for B2 First, C1 Advanced and C2 Proficiency and recommended for the others if you plan to use the result for university, work or visas, because it helps organisations confirm your identity. The results page also links a guide to adding Cambridge results to your LinkedIn profile.
Enquiries on results: what can and cannot be re-checked
If your result looks wrong, the route is an Enquiry on Results, and per Cambridge's enquiries and appeals page it "must be submitted by the exam centre on behalf of the candidate". There are two stages:
| Stage | What it is | Time |
|---|---|---|
| Stage 1 | A full clerical re-check | Outcome within 5 working days |
| Stage 2 | A full re-mark of your Writing test | Within 15 working days |
Three rules from the same page decide whether it is worth it. The fee and the deadline come from your centre. Your grade can "go up, go down or remain the same". If the enquiry leads to a grade change, Cambridge refunds all enquiry fees. One centre example, from IH Bristol's FAQ on 21 October 2026: Stage 1 costs £25.75, Stage 2 costs £77 for Preliminary and £119 for the other exams, and requests should reach it within 14 days of the results date.
Speaking is the exception. The page says Speaking tests for Cambridge English Qualifications "are rated independently by two examiners, and are not recorded. It is therefore not possible for Speaking Tests to be re-checked." The mark you earn in the room is final. That is the strongest argument for rehearsing the paired test before the day rather than hoping to fix it after: the paired practice bank gives you timed tasks with an AI partner taking the second candidate's turns. If an enquiry does not resolve a problem, the centre can take it to a formal appeal; the time limits are on the same page.
Lost or damaged certificates
Cambridge's lost certificates page sets a hard limit: it can only supply a replacement certificate up to 12 months after the exam date, and the application is made in writing by the centre where you entered. After 12 months, you can order a Certifying Statement instead, which Cambridge describes as a document "accepted by universities and other institutions as proof of the examination result". It is ordered through an online form at certstat.cambridgeenglish.org, which calculates the fee. For many purposes you will not need either: the free Results Verification Service lets an organisation confirm your result without the paper.
Keep a scan of your certificate and a note of your verification number in the same place as your passport details. That number and your date of birth are all an organisation needs to check your result, even if the paper is long gone.
What to do with your score
Read your skill scores before your grade. The overall is an average, so the fastest gain is almost always in the weakest paper, as the worked example above shows. If your target was missed by a few points, a retake on the next date is often realistic: paper B2 First has 13 sittings in 2027 and C1 Advanced 22, and digital sessions run through the year, per the dates page. Centre fees are on the fees and registration page.
If Speaking was your weakest score, it is also the paper you can practise most efficiently, because the format never changes: four parts, two examiners and, usually, one partner. Mark a recording of yourself against the four criteria on the criteria page, then do one timed paired task a day. Our eight-week plan sets the order, and role-play practice builds the habit of responding to a partner rather than speaking at one. For every official link on this page in one list, see official resources, and for the whole exam, the Cambridge English hub.