Trinity vs Cambridge — Is ISE Trinity easier than Cambridge?
Original article by Richard McCulloch, edited by Scott Donald.
*All research within this article was conducted independently of Trinity College London and Cambridge. The authors do not represent either institution and are working independently
Students, teachers, examiners, they all have opinions about Trinity and Cambridge exams, but opinions are like bad students — we’ve all got them. Forget opinions, what about the research I hear you cry has anyone done any research comparing the two exams? Readers, you need not worry a moment longer. I was recently intrigued to discover that indeed someone has done some excellent comparative research on Trinity and Cambridge exams. And its author, Richard McCulloch, has very kindly allowed me to use it here on the ALMAR blog.
I’m delighted to feature it here, because I genuinely believe that it should be required reading for anyone who prepares students for these exams. I encourage you to take the time to read it and see how your opinions stand up in the face of some cold, hard facts. That way, when a student next asks you which exam they should be doing, you can give a more informed response and look smug while telling them actually, I’ve just been reading some rather interesting research on that very topic.
While reading the article, I found myself contrasting the results with my own thoughts and experiences, and I’m going to share these soon in a follow-up post. But first, it’s time to let the research do the talking…
Trinity vs Cambridge — Is ISE Trinity easier than Cambridge?
- Is the ISE Trinity exam easier than Cambridge?
- Is the ISE Trinity listening / reading / writing / speaking exam easier than Cambridge?
- Does it take longer to prepare for the ISE Trinity exam than for the Cambridge exam?
These are the most common types of questions I am asked by my students. A cursory internet search would suggest that many other students, teachers and ESL professionals have been wondering the same questions.
Who cares?
Many universities throughout Europe require their students to have a minimum B1 level of English in order to graduate. For many jobs, such as teachers or those working in the public sector, a B2 qualification is the minimum requirement. This level is likely to increase to C1 in the near future.
With so many people’s careers at stake, there’s no wonder the ESL exam market has seen such a boom in recent years.
Both Trinity and Cambridge claim to follow the CEFR, so the difficulty level should be the same, right?
The Criteria
The following criteria will be measured to determine which exam is the easiest:
Reading & Listening - sentence complexity, CEFR vocabulary profile and words per minute.
Speaking and Writing - lexical requirements, marking scales and format.
- All exam samples are from official sources such as the handbooks or sample exams from the official websites
- All exam samples have been printed in the last two year
- Seeing as they are the most popular, the following levels will be analysed
- B1. ISE I vs PET
- B2: ISE II vs FCE
- C1: ISE III vs CAE
PART 1: READING Trinity vs Cambridge
A. “Readability”
Many formulas have been devised by linguistic experts to calculate the difficulty of a text. The most common formulas use a combination of criteria such as:
- the average sentence length
- the average number of polysyllabic words
- the average number of characters in each word
Each formula has its proponents and detractors. For the purpose of this study, the seven most common formulas will be used, and the average readability score will be taken to determine the difficulty of each reading exam.
The Results
Red indicates difficult. Green indicates easy
B1: ISE I vs PET
Trinity ISE I is easier than Cambridge PET by almost 1 high school year.
B2: ISE II vs FCE
Cambridge FCE is easier than Trinity ISE II than more than 2 high school years.
C1: ISE III vs CAE
Trinity ISE III is slightly easier to read than Cambridge CAE.
B. CEFR Vocabulary Profile
English Profile is an online tool which can map the CEFR classifications of the words in a text. If a text has a larger proportion of A1-A2 (low level) vocabulary, it can be fairly deemed to be easier to read.
As reference, if a 10,000 word sample from Ulysses, by James Joyce, is analysed, only 28% of the words are A1-A2.
The Results
B1: ISE I vs PET
The % of basic vocabulary is almost exactly the same.
B2: ISE II vs FCE
The % of basic vocabulary is almost exactly the same.
C1: ISE III vs CAE
There is a huge difference in the level of vocabulary. The Trinity ISE III exams have similar levels to the B2 exams (around 50 % A1-A2), whereas Cambridge CAE only has 35%.
C. Words per minute
The average number of words per exam / the number of minutes allowed to complete the exam = the number of words that are expected to be read per minute,
B1: ISE I vs PET
Trinity ISE I is easier than Cambridge PET. Although 10 words a minute may not seem like a great amount, it still represents a 50% difference when compared to Trinity ISE I.
B2: ISE II vs FCE
Almost the same
C1: ISE III vs CAE
Almost the same
Final Reading Exam Verdict
B1: ISE I vs PET
Trinity ISE I is easier than Cambridge PET.
The readability formulas all calculate PET as on average, 1 year more advanced than ISE I. Although the percentage of basic vocabulary is the same, a PET candidate is expected to read 50% more words per minute than an ISE I candidate.
B2: ISE II vs FCE
Cambridge FCE is easier than Trinity ISE II.
The sentence complexity in Trinity ISE II is 2 years more advanced than Cambridge FCE.
C1: ISE III vs CAE
Trinity ISE III is easier than Cambridge CAE.
The vocabulary in CAE is more advanced than ISE III.
PART 2: LISTENING Trinity vs Cambridge
Like with the reading exams, I have measured sentence complexity, CEFR vocabulary profile and words per minute.
The Results
B1: ISE I vs PET
Trinity ISE I is easier than Cambridge PET.
B2: ISE II vs FCE
Cambridge FCE is easier than Trinity ISE II.
C1: ISE III vs CAE
Cambridge CAE is easier than Trinity ISE III.
B. CEFR Vocabulary Profile
The Results
B1: ISE I vs PET
The % of basic vocabulary is almost exactly the same.
B2: ISE II vs FCE
The Cambridge FCE contains over 10 % more basic vocabulary than ISE II and can there be considered easier in this respect.
C1: ISE III vs CAE
The % of basic vocabulary is almost exactly the same.
C. Words per minute
The average number of words per minute is a measure of how fast the speakers are speaking.
B1: ISE I vs PET
Trinity ISE I is considerably slower than Cambridge PET. In fact, the Cambridge PET is faster than either ISE II or ISE III!
B2: ISE II vs FCE
Trinity ISE II is slower than Cambridge FCE.
C1: ISE III vs CAE
Trinity ISE III is considerably slower than the Cambridge PET
Final Listening Exam Verdict
B1: ISE I vs PET
Trinity ISE I is easier than Cambridge PET.
Although the percentage basic of basic vocabulary is similar, the Cambridge PET complexity in terms of average word and sentence length is higher and the Cambridge PET is spoken 28 words per minute faster than Trinity ISE.
B2: ISE II vs FCE
Cambridge FCE is slightly easier than Trinity ISE II.
The readability formulas demonstrate that ISE II is more a bit more complicated while then CEFR vocabulary profiler states it has a lower percentage of basic vocabulary. This said, the Cambridge FCE is 10 words a minute faster than Trinity ISE II
C1: ISE III vs CAE
Trinity ISE III is easier than Cambridge CAE.
Although the readability scores suggest the scripts of Trinity ISE III are more complex, the sheer speed of Cambridge CAE makes it a lot more difficult than Trinity ISE.
PART 3: SPEAKING Trinity vs Cambridge
To determine which speaking exam is more difficult, the following criteria have been analysed:
- Requisite Grammar
- Subject areas & associated vocabulary
- Exam Format
- Marking
A. GRAMMAR
Cambridge provides a list of grammar for PET (B1) in the handbook, while Trinity provides suggested grammar for ISE I (B1) and ISE II (B2).
Although the term suggested implies that Trinity’s lists are not exhaustive, we can still determine which set of exams are the most grammatically demanding by comparing what Trinity considers to be B1 & B2 level with what Cambridge considers to be B1.
The Results
VIEW: Comparison of Trinity vs Cambridge grammar functions
The unhighlighted areas represent the grammar points which are not covered by the other exam.
We can instantly see that the range of grammar required for Cambridge PET is a lot wider than for Trinity ISE I or ISE II. Moreover, we can also see that nearly all of the suggested grammar functions for ISE II, what Trinity considers to be B2, is on the Cambridge PET list.
The only grammar points on the ISE II (B2) list that are not covered in Cambridge PET (B1) are
- Third conditional
- Present perfect continuous
“you’d better”, “due to” and “even though/ in spite of” are not directly specified in the Cambridge PET handbook.
In other words, most of what Trinity considers to be evidence of B2 language, Cambridge considers to B1 language.
B1: ISE I vs PET
Trinity ISE I is grammatically less demanding than Cambridge PET.
B2: ISE II vs FCE
Trinity ISE II is grammatically less demanding than Cambridge FCE.
C1: ISE III vs CAE
Seeing as neither Trinity nor Cambridge specify what constitutes C1 grammar, it wouldn’t be fair to assume that Trinity ISE III is grammatically easier than Cambridge CAE.
B. VOCABULARY
As with the grammar, Cambridge only provides a list of subject area vocabulary for PET (B1), while Trinity provides subject areas for ISE I (B1), ISE II (B2), ISE III (C1)
Verdict: Cambridge candidates are required to know a wider range of vocabulary than Trinity. This finding is also relevant to the reading & writing exams because the Trinity students know that they can only be tested on texts from the specific subject areas listed above.
C. FORMAT
1-on-1 vs 2-on-1
There’s no objective conclusion that can be made with respect to the format of the speaking exams. I would merely like to comment that, from my experience as a teacher, director of studies and examiner, Trinity candidates are more anxious about their oral exam than Cambridge students, both before and during the exam.
This could be due to the fact that the Cambridge speaking exam is done with another student whereas the Trinity speaking exams are conducted one-on-one with the examiner. It could be argued that communicating with a native speaking examiner is more difficult than with peer who speaks the same L1.
Practice
It is also likely that a Cambridge student will have practised the various parts of the speaking exam on more occasions than a Trinity student. This is purely down to logistics in a classroom environment. In a class of 8 students, pairs can practise a Cambridge speaking exam comfortably without a teacher, whereas for Trinity, the input of a teacher is more necessary.
The prompt stage
For B2 and C1, the prompt stage of the exam is probably the most difficult of any of the parts of either Cambridge or Trinity. The students are expected to elicit information and produce specific language functions based on the nature of the prompt, for a duration of 4 minutes. This is especially difficult to practise in a classroom environment, in pairs, without a teacher, because it is very difficult for a student, acting as the examiner, to imagine a “back-story” required to for the prompt.
For example, a prompt could be:
“I received a really strange phone call yesterday. I was told something that I think might change my life!” (taken from the Trinity Handbook)
If the students are working in pairs, the student acting as the examiner needs to create a backstory in order to answer their partner’s questions. The equivalent collaborative in the Cambridge exams requires no preparation and is therefore easier to practise.
Verdict: In terms of format, Cambridge speaking exams are easier than ISE Trinity. Students are under less pressure, the parts of the exam are easier and it’s easier to practise due to the 2–1 format.
D. THE MARKING SCALES
Although the Cambridge and Trinity marking scales are different, there are enough similarities for them to be compared.
Cambridge marking for the speaking exam
The Cambridge B1 & B2 criteria are divided into four parts:
- Grammar and Vocabulary
- Discourse management
- Pronunciation
- Interactive Communication.
The Cambridge C1 is divided into five parts
- Grammar
- Vocabulary
- Discourse management
- Pronunciation
- Interactive Communication.
Each area is marked out from 0 to 5 and roughly* a total of 14/20 is required to pass B1 (about 70%), and roughly* 12/20 (60%) for B2 and roughly* 15/25 (60%) for C1.
Trinity marking for the speaking exam
The Trinity criteria are divided into four parts:
- Communicative effectiveness
- Interactive listening
- Language Control
- Delivery
Each area is marked from 0 to 4 and roughly* a total of 8/16 (50%) is required to pass.
If we compare the minimum requirements for a pass grade for each criterion, we can determine which exam is more stringent.
B1: TRINITY ISE I vs CAMBRIDGE PET
The minimum grade to pass each exam is roughly an average of 2 for Trinity ISE I and 3.5 for Cambridge PET.
The B1 scales are the most similar. The only discernible difference is with respect to support. To pass Cambridge PET, a candidate needs to Keep the interaction going with very little prompting and support, whereas for Trinity ISE I, it is possible to Fulfil the task acceptably with support.
Videos of candidates from each exam who perform close to the minimum requirements can be seen here:
Verdict: In terms of the marking scales, Trinity ISE I is slightly easier than Cambridge PET
B2: TRINITY ISE II vs CAMBRIDGE FCE
The minimum grade to pass each exam is roughly an average of 2 for Trinity ISE II and 3 for Cambridge FCE.
Looking at the scale, there are three main differences that stand out:
Relevance
To pass a Cambridge FCE exam, “Contributions are relevant” whereas for Trinity ISE II “contributions are not always appropriate and/or somewhat dependent on the examiner.
Support
To pass a Cambridge FCE exam, you need to do so with “with very little support”, whereas for Trinity ISE II the candidate can “Fulfil the task acceptably with support”
Intelligibility
Finally, for Cambridge FCE, the B2 pass candidate simply “is intelligible”, whereas for Trinity ISE II: “Intelligible despite some use of non-standard phonemes”; and in delivery: “Requires some careful listening”. There are no such allowances in the Cambridge scale.
Verdict: Although similar, the language used in the Trinity scale suggests that the ISE II exam is more lenient than the Cambridge FCE exam in terms of the degree of relevance, support and intelligibility.
Videos of candidates from each exam who perform close to the minimum requirements can be seen here:
C1: TRINITY ISE III vs CAMBRIDGE CAE
The minimum grade to pass each exam is roughly an average of 2 for Trinity ISE II and 3 for Cambridge FCE.
There are no obvious differences between the two exams. You could argue that Cambridge CAE places a greater emphasis on organisation of language, in terms of “a clear organisation of ideas” and a “range of cohesive devices and discourse markers”.
On the other hand, Trinity ISE III the candidates are expected to “solve communication problems naturally” and “indicate understanding of what the examiner has said”, whereas Cambridge CAE students are not.
I wouldn’t have thought either of these requisites would have a significant impact on the difficulty of the exam.
Verdict: The marking scales of the speaking exams seem to be of the same level of difficulty for C1 Trinity and Cambridge
Here are some official videos of speaking exams for candidates who have either just passed or just failed:
Final Speaking Exam Verdict
B1: ISE I vs CAMBRIDGE PET
The Trinity marking scale allows the candidate more support and the language and grammar requirements are easier and less expansive for Trinity. The format for Trinity, however, is more difficult to practise without a private teacher and it’s more stressful for the candidate.
B2: ISE II vs CAMBRIDGE FCE
The Trinity marking scale is less stringent in terms of the degree of relevance and intelligibility, and the candidate is allowed more support. The Trinity vocabulary is less expansive than Cambridge, and the grammar requirements are easier and less expansive. However, the format for Trinity is more difficult to practise without a private teacher and it is more stressful for the candidate.
C1: ISE III vs Cambridge CAE
The marking scale is the same. It isn’t easy to determine the relative difficulty of the grammar because neither Cambridge or Trinity specify grammar requirements. Seeing as Trinity specify vocabulary subject areas, it could be argued that Trinity ISE III is easier because a Cambridge CAE candidate doesn’t have the luxury of studying specific vocabulary areas. However, the format for Trinity is more difficult to practise without a private teacher and it is more stressful for the candidate.
PART 4: WRITING Trinity vs Cambridge
To determine which writing exam is more difficult, the following criteria have been analysed:
- Grammar — The grammar functions that are expected to be produced
- Variety — The variety of writing styles a candidate needs to be aware of
- Marking — The marking scales
A. GRAMMAR
The requisite grammar functions have been summarised in PART 3 — SPEAKING.Trinity vs Cambridge grammar functions
As has already been stated, the only grammar points on the ISE II (B2) list that are not covered in Cambridge PET (B1) are
- Third conditional
- Present perfect continuous
Therefore, exactly the same conclusions can be drawn:
B1: ISE I vs PET
Trinity ISE I is grammatically easier than Cambridge PET.
B2: ISE II vs FCE
Trinity ISE II is grammatically easier than Cambridge FCE.
C1: ISE III vs CAE
Seeing as neither Trinity nor Cambridge specify what constitutes C1 grammar, it wouldn’t be fair to assume that Trinity ISE III is grammatically easier than Cambridge CAE.
B. Format
To determine which exam in each level is easier than the other, we can simply count how many writing styles they are expected to know how to produce. The fewer the styles, the easier the exam because more time can be spent mastering them.
B1: Trinity ISE I vs Cambridge PET
The format of Cambridge PET is easier than the format for Trinity ISE I for four reasons
- The ISE I candidate needs to master a greater variety of writing styles
- The PET candidate may choose which writing style to attempt.
- The Cambridge PET candidate is only required to produce one long writing, whereas Trinity ISE I requires two
- The reading into writing part of Trinity requires a higher degree of skill and is a lot easier to fail
Verdict: The format of PET is easier than the format for ISE I
B2: Trinity ISE II vs Cambridge FCE
The difference in difficulty in B2 is less pronounced than is it is for B1, but there exists a difference nonetheless. The format of Cambridge FCE is easier than the format for Trinity ISE II for three reasons
- Although it can be argued that an FCE essay could be argumentative or discursive, there is nevertheless at least one more writing style in ISE II than FCE.
- The FCE candidate is obliged to produce an essay, but then may choose between 4 questions in part 2, whereas the ISE II candidate is not given a choice.
- The reading into writing part of Trinity requires a higher degree of skill
Verdict: The format of Cambridge FCE is easier than the format for Trinity ISE II
C1: Trinity ISE III vs Cambridge CAE
I’d say that a CAE essay could be discursive or argumentative and, therefore, with the addition of a proposal in CAE, the number of writing styles is the same. As with the B2, in C1 a CAE candidate is obliged to produce an essay in part 1, but then has a choice between 4 questions in part 2, whereas the ISE II candidate is not given a choice. The reading into writing part of Trinity requires a higher degree of skill
Verdict: Probably the same. However, perhaps the format of Cambridge CAE is slightly easier because you can choose in Part 2 whereas for Trinity you have to write what you are given.
C. The Marking Scales
As for the speaking exam scales, although the scales for Trinity and Cambridge are different, there are enough similarities for comparison to be made.
The Cambridge writing exams are assessed according to four criteria
- Content
- Communicative achievement
- Organisation
- Language
Each criterion is marked out of 5. To pass B1, a candidate requires roughly 14/20 (70%), whereas for B2 and C1 roughly 12/20 (60%) is required.
The Trinity writing exams (part 4) are assessed according to three criteria
- Task fulfilment
- Organisation and structure
- Language control
Each criterion is marked out of 4. To pass, a candidate requires roughly 6/12 (50%)
B1: ISE I vs PET
The minimum grade to pass each exam is roughly an average of 2 for Trinity ISE I and 3.5 for Cambridge PET.
Verdict: There are no discernible differences between the mark scales.
B2: ISE II vs FCE
The minimum grade to pass each exam is roughly an average of 2 for Trinity ISE II and 3 for Cambridge FCE.
There are two differences that stand out:
Cohesive devices
Whereas for Cambridge FCE, candidates are required to use “a variety of linking words and cohesive devices”, Trinity ISE II allows for “some inconsistent/faulty use of cohesive devices”
Errors
Secondly, while a Cambridge writing examiner expects that “Errors do not impede communication”, a Trinity ISE II examiner permits candidates to make “Errors [that] sometimes impede understanding”
Verdict: The Trinity ISE II marking scale is more forgiving than Cambridge FCE.
C1: ISE III vs CAE
The minimum grade to pass each exam is roughly an average of 2 for Trinity ISE III and 3 for Cambridge CAE.
Cohesive devices & structure
Similar to B2, the application of cohesive devices is not of the same level for Trinity and Cambridge. A Cambridge CAE student must produce“Text [which] is well organised and coherent, using a variety of cohesive devices and organisational patterns to generally good effect” whereas Trinity ISE III can get away with “some use of cohesive devices but may be inconsistent”. Allowances are also made for structure, which “may only be partially achieved with limited use of introductions/conclusions and topic sentences” and “arguments may not follow in a predictable order”.
Errors
Moreover, a Cambridge CAE candidate may make “occasional errors” as long as the errors “do not impede communication”. Compare this with a Trinity ISE III candidate who is allowed to make “errors [which] sometimes impede understanding ([and]sometimes require the reader to reread and/or reflect).
Verdict: The Trinity ISE III marketing scale is less demanding than Cambridge CAE.
PART 5: FINAL VERDICT Trinity vs Cambridge
A total of 15 measures have been assessed.
Which exam is easier, Trinity or Cambridge?
Total
FINAL VERDICT:
B1: Trinity ISE I is considerably easier than Cambridge PET
B2: Trinity ISE II is slightly easier than Cambridge FCE
C1: Trinity ISE III is easier than Cambridge CAE
What does this mean?
Both exams are widely accepted. Cambridge is more established and well-known but Trinity is growing fast, especially in Spain. Trinity is one of two accepted exams for a UK visa.
Although Cambridge is a lot more grammatically rigorous, and a lot more demanding in general, at the end of the day, both qualifications are worth the same. Any interviewer for a job would trust a brief conversation over a piece of paper.
In other words, the qualification may open doors, actual language ability is a lot more important.
Click here to read my follow-up post with my thoughts on Richard’s article.
NB There have been several changes to the format of the PET exam since this article was published. However, I believe the advice given in Richard’s article and my follow-up to be just as relevant.
