Password Skills Plus

To book a test, you'll need to:

• Wait until you’ve received a conditional offer from Regent’s
• Send a request to [email protected] with your name and student ID
• You’ll then receive instructions on how to schedule the test

You’ll need to take the test:

• Online, from home – please don't travel to Regent's
• In a quiet, private, well-lit room (not in a public office or café)
• On a proper desk setup (not from your bed or your sofa)

You can bring in one blank sheet of paper, a pen or pencil, and a clear water bottle. Please leave phones, headphones and other devices outside.

All glass walls, doors, windows and other openings must be completely covered (for example by curtains or blinds) on the inside so that they cannot be seen through. The room must also have adequate lighting, so that you and the entire room can be monitored and recorded throughout the test.

Before you take the test, you'll need to:

• Create an online account and enter details exactly as they are in your passport
• Read the student handbook and take note of the rules and regulations
• Ensure your passport is up to date – we don’t accept ID cards or driving licences
• Complete the pre-test check in – you'll need to use your phone camera

Please make sure you have:

• A reliable internet connection of at least 2Mbps
• A suitable computer or laptop (at least 15”) with speakers and a microphone
• Windows 10 or 11, or macOS 11.0 Big Sur or above
• A webcam that you can rotate 360 degrees
• A wired keyboard and mouse – no Bluetooth devices allowed
• A PDF viewer such as Adobe Acrobat or similar

Mobile hotspots are not allowed. You're strongly advised not to use a virtual private network (VPN) for your connection either, as they often cause long delays and can affect your test experience.

On the day of your test:

• Log into your account – starting EXS or your institution’s three letter code
• Download Guardian web browser and set your language to English
• Turn off Bluetooth and assistive software like Grammarly and predictive text
• Uninstall any software that allows remote access or screen capture
• Have your passport ready to show the Password examiner when you start
• Remove any face or ear coverings*

*If you usually cover your face and wish to be assigned a male or female examiner, please contact us at least five days in advance.

If you’re having technical issues, or accidentally disconnect, stop your test and email the Password support team: [email protected].

Please do not email Regent’s staff. 

• You must complete the test yourself, without receiving any help
• You must always be alone in the room
• You can take one five-minute toilet break between sections

If you fail to follow test regulations, your session may be terminated and/or you may be disqualified. The voucher provided by Regent’s can’t be used again to book another attempt. In such a case, you'll need to purchase a new voucher directly from Password’s website. 

Once you’ve taken the test, your results certificate will be sent directly to the Regent’s Admissions team and then forwarded to you. 

This takes approximately 5-6 working days.

This section is made up of five parts, each containing one task for you to complete. You’ll have one hour and 15 minutes in total.

Part 1

• Put seven sentences together to show the order of events in a story
• Drag and drop each sentence into a table. The first sentence is already there

Part 2

• Fill empty spaces with appropriate words
• Drag and drop words into the spaces. There are more words than spaces

Part 3

• Read the text and answer eight questions about it

Part 4

• Read several paragraphs and add matching headings
• Drag and drop headings above each paragraph. There’s one more heading than is required

Part 5

• Read a text and then read some statements about it
• Create a summary of the text by putting the statements in the correct order
• There are two more statements than are required

Learn more about this section!

This section assesses your ability to write an essay in 30 minutes. You’ll have a choice of two topics, and you should write at least 200 words. If you write less, your score will be lower.

Your essay should:

• Be well structured and clearly present your ideas about the topic
• Use appropriate examples or details to support your opinion
• Make accurate use of a suitable range of grammar and vocabulary

For example: 

Choose one of the topics below and explain how much you agree with the opinion and why. Give reasons and examples to support your answer.

(a) ‘Children should choose subjects from a young age and stop doing those they find uninteresting.’ 

(b) ‘Old people are an essential part of society, so they should be respected.’

Sample answer:

School children should choose the subjects they study from a young age and stop doing subjects they find uninteresting.

In most education systems today, children learn a wide variety of subjects until they leave school. At university, they begin to specialise before focussing on a specific job or career in the long term. Some countries, however, allow students to start to choose areas of study they prefer from a much younger age and in my opinion this is not a good idea.

First of all, when a pupil is still young, they often do not realise the consequences of their choices. By this I mean that, if they choose not to study a subject because they find it too difficult or not interesting, they may not realise that this will prevent them having many careers. They may lose their dream job because they did not select the right subjects to study for it. In any case, working hard to overcome difficulties is an important life lesson to learn for every young person.

Another reason for not allowing students to drop subjects too early is that they may give up studying ones they feel are not useful in terms of their academic future, forgetting that these are important for their well-being and creativity. Art, music, drama, dance and sport are all important for our lives and can help build self-esteem. Research shows that these positive feelings can lower stress and even improve pupil’s exam results.

Finally, in my view, the world’s best thinkers are the people with the widest knowledge. In the future we will need creative people who can make links across many subject areas to come up with new ideas. Computers cannot do this as well as humans can, but to be able to make new links we need a wide foundation. In conclusion, school is the place to get the broad subject knowledge to build our future. 

Learn more about this section!

This section is made up of five parts. In each one, you’ll hear one or more short recordings and then answer a variety of questions. You can only press play once and the recording cannot be paused or restarted. Each recording will play twice and questions appear on the second playback. You’ll have one hour to complete the five parts.

Part 1

• This part has ten short recordings of messages, lecture clips, etc.
• Each one lasts approx. 1 minute and is repeated once
• They are all accompanied with a single multiple-choice question

Part 2

• This part has one longer recording of a talk or lecture
• You’ll need to decide whether eight points are correct, incorrect or not mentioned
• This recording lasts 3 minutes and is repeated once

Part 3

• This part has six short recordings of messages, lecture clips, etc.
• Each one lasts approx. 1 minute and is repeated once
• They are all accompanied with a single multiple-choice question

Part 4

• This part has one longer recording of a talk or lecture
• It lasts 5 minutes and is repeated once
• It’s accompanied with five multiple-choice questions

Part 5

• This part has one longer recording of two speakers with different views on a topic  
• You’ll need to choose four from ten points which are mentioned by each speaker
• This recording lasts 3 minutes and is repeated once

Learn more about this section!

This section has five parts. In each one, you'll have one or more tasks to complete. You’ll read the question on the screen and answer it by speaking into the microphone. Notes can be made to help prepare answers. You’ll have 20 minutes to complete the five sections.

Part 1

• You'll be asked to say your name, date of birth and read a short passage

Part 2

• You’ll be given five simple questions to answer
• You’ll have 20 seconds to answer each one

For example:

• Where you do you live? I live in London, near Regent’s Park
• What’s the weather like today? It’s warm and sunny

Part 3

• You’ll be given three different scenarios
• You’ll have 45 seconds to answer each question

Example 1:

• You’re feeling ill. You go to the pharmacy (chemist)
• You walk up to the pharmacist, explain the problem and ask them for help

Answer: Hello, can you help me please? I’m not feeling very well. Last night I started to feel hot, and I woke up this morning with a fever and a headache. What do you think I should do? Do you have any medicine for a fever?

Example 2:

• You’re at your friend’s birthday party and have forgotten to bring a present
• Your friend says hello – what do you say?
• Congratulate them, apologise and explain why

Answer: Hi Julie. Happy birthday! I’m really sorry but I’ve forgotten to bring your present. I did buy one for you, but earlier today I went to visit my sister and left it at her house. I’ll give it to you next week.

Part 4

• You’ll be asked to make a comparison

For example:

Learning to play a sport or learning to play a musical instrument. Which is more difficult?

Answer: I think learning a musical instrument is more difficult because you must practise a lot just to play a simple song. When you start learning a sport, it doesn’t take long to be able to play – even if you’re not very good. Although you need a high level of skill to play professionally, most people just want to have fun. For example, after an hour or so, most people can play football or hit a tennis ball to each other. However, if you want to play a simple song on the guitar or piano it takes longer to learn where the notes are on the instrument and how to play it. Another reason why it’s harder is that you must learn to read music.

Part 5

• You’ll have 2 minutes to answer one question

For example:

• Talk about the information in the graph/chart/diagram
• What is the situation shown and why is this happening?
• What do you think will happen in the future?

Level of education in adults over 15 in Canada (in %)

Answer: The graph shows the different levels of education adults over 15 years old have in Canada. It's shown in percentages and includes different types of education, from high school diploma to university degree, as well as adults who have no high school diploma. It shows that in Canada, the level of education has been rising over the last fifteen years. Since 1990, the percentage of adults with no high school diploma has fallen from 40% to just over 15%. In contrast, the number of adults with diplomas and degrees has increased. The largest increase has been in university degrees – almost doubling from 10% in 1990 to about 18% in 2014. In my opinion, these trends will continue in the future because the education systems of many countries are constantly improving, especially in countries like Canada. Also, more people can afford higher education, and this will probably continue to be true in the future. One last reason is that technology will continue to increase the number of ways to study, so there will be more courses available for students. 

Learn more about this section!