Special arrangements
Candidates with visual, hearing, learning and other difficulties are given the chance to gain an international English language certificate by Cambridge ESOL’s Special Arrangements service.
This is an important aspect of Cambridge ESOL’s approach to the quality of exams; making sure the exams are fair to all test takers, whatever their background, culture, gender or disability.
Examples of the kinds of special services offered include papers in Braille; enlarged print; papers printed on different coloured paper, which can help people with dyslexia, for example; lip-reading versions of Listening tests and modified versions of Listening tests, so candidates who cannot write at the same time as they listen have the time they need. Candidates can also be offered sample special papers so they can have the same opportunity to practise as anyone else.
It is important that schools and exam centres provide as much notice as possible of any special requirements in order for the special arrangements team to be able to meet the candidate’s needs.
One reason is that preparing special papers is a complex process. For example, when a paper is produced for visually impaired candidates, it isn’t only a matter of translation into Braille. Each task has to be looked at, and any which involve inaccessible material (like diagrams and maps) have to be adapted. Often Reading papers are split into separate Question and Text booklets, because Braille takes up much more space than standard text.
Rubrics and task formats are also changed to help candidates ‘navigate’ the papers (visually impaired people, for example, cannot look at a whole page at the same time). We also need to deal with each case on an individual basis in order to ensure that candidates have the best chance in the exam. Finally, special versions have to be checked and printed.
‘The time scheduled for a standard exam paper to go through our strict quality control processes is about 380 days – which gives an indication of the time involved,’ said Cambridge ESOL’s Special Circumstances Co-ordinator, Ruth Shuter.
‘When producing a special paper, we keep to the same quality processes as far as possible, but for technical reasons we have much less time in which to produce
a special paper – typically only 90 days or fewer. So all in all, it’s vital we are alerted as early as possible to a candidate’s needs.’
Candidates with special needs are charged the same fee as any other candidate,
and the costs of modifying papers are borne by Cambridge ESOL. Contact ESOLhelpdesk@CambridgeESOL.org for more information.