ENGLISHCORRECTION — FINDINGS REPORT
B2 End-of-Course Test, Papers 1–2 (anonymised)
Order: 2026-0611
Audit tier: Full (checks 1–7)
Material: 45 items + answer key
Declared level: B2 (with one B1 section)
Reviewer: S. Whitmore, Senior Reviewer
Review date: 11 June 2026
Summary
7 findings across 45 items: 2 high, 3 medium, 2 low. The paper is competently written; both high-severity findings are scoring-critical and should be fixed before the next administration. All fixes are applied in the corrected version delivered with this report.
| Category | High | Medium | Low |
|---|---|---|---|
| 1 Answer key | 1 | — | — |
| 2 Uniqueness | 1 | — | — |
| 3 Distractors | — | 1 | — |
| 4 CEFR calibration | — | 1 | — |
| 5 Format | — | 1 | — |
| 6 Proofreading | — | — | 1 |
| 7 Cultural & factual | — | — | 1 |
Item R-03Category 1 — Answer key correctness
High severityReading Part 1, text on urban beekeeping. Item: Why did the author’s neighbours object at first?
A fear of being stungB the noise (key) ✓C falling property valuesD local regulations
Finding. The key marks B, but the text states the neighbours "worried mainly about stings, though they mentioned the hum". The supported answer is A. The key appears to have been written from an earlier draft of the text.
Suggested fix. Correct the key to A. We re-solved all remaining reading items against the final text; no other key discrepancies were found.
Item U-14Category 2 — Answer uniqueness
High severityShe suggested ______ to the museum.
A to goB going ✓C that we goD go
Finding. Option C also produces a correct sentence ("suggested that we go" — subjunctive). Two defensible answers make the item unmarkable and open to appeal.
Suggested fix. Replace option C with "to going", which no reading of the stem accepts.
Item R-07Category 3 — Distractor quality
Medium severityReading Part 2. Item: What is the capital of the country the author visited?
A Lisbon ✓B PortoC FaroD Coimbra
Finding. The item is answerable from general knowledge without reading the text — any student who knows Portugal's capital scores it. It measures geography, not reading comprehension.
Suggested fix. Re-anchor the item in the text: ask what the author did in the capital, or why she changed her plans there — information only the text supplies.
Item V-22Category 4 — CEFR level calibration
Medium severity______ the delay, the committee approved the proposal. (test declared B1)
A BecauseB Notwithstanding ✓C AlthoughD However
Finding. The target word "notwithstanding" sits at C1 on public vocabulary inventories; the test is declared B1. The item measures exposure to formal register, not B1 grammar. Carrier vocabulary ("committee", "proposal") is also at the top of the B1 band.
Suggested fix. Replace the target with a B1 contrast connector ("Despite") and rebuild the distractor set so exactly one option fits the structure.
Item F-02Category 5 — Format conformance
Medium severityUse of English Part 2, labelled “open cloze in the style of a B2 exam task”: gapped text of 214 words with 9 gaps.
Finding. The referenced task format specifies a text of 140–190 words with 8 gaps. At 214 words and 9 gaps, timing assumptions and practice value drift from the format the label promises.
Suggested fix. Trim the text to 175 words and remove the weakest gap (gap 6, which tests the same point as gap 2). A conforming version is included in the corrected file.
Item L-31Category 6 — Language proofreading
Low severityWriting task rubric: “Write an essay giving you’re opinion about organized sport in schools. Use the ideas below, and give reasons for your point of view.”
Finding. "you're" for "your" in the rubric; "organized" (US) in a paper that uses UK conventions throughout ("colour", "programme" elsewhere). Errors in rubrics are read by every candidate and undermine confidence in the paper.
Suggested fix. Corrected to "your opinion about organised sport". Full paper swept for convention consistency; two further US spellings corrected (listed in the appendix).
Item C-05Category 7 — Cultural & factual accuracy
Low severityReading Part 3, text on European institutions: “…the European Union, whose 28 member states share a single market…”
Finding. The EU has had 27 member states since 2020. The error is not tested by any item, but a demonstrably outdated fact in a reading text invites exactly the classroom argument a test should not start.
Suggested fix. Updated to "27 member states" in the corrected version.