Oxford Spotlight is a Computerised Adaptive Test (CAT), that utilises an advanced digital platform engineered to rigorously evaluate proficiency in English Reading, Listening, Grammar, and Vocabulary. Utilizing sophisticated algorithms and adaptive testing protocols, the Oxford Spotlight delivers a highly precise and individualized assessment experience.
Oxford Spotlight’s digital-first architecture confers several technical advantages. Foremost, it employs real-time item response theory (IRT) to dynamically calibrate question difficulty based on the examinee’s performance metrics. This adaptive mechanism not only augments the precision of proficiency measurement but also enhances testing efficiency by tailoring item selection to the candidate’s competency level
Oxford Spotlight components are supported by an extensive and meticulously curated item bank, encompassing a wide array of syntactic structures and lexical items to provide a thorough evaluation of linguistic knowledge. Items replicate authentic language use contexts, thereby ensuring a robust and comprehensive level assessment.

Spotlight is a fully online asynchronous test to get a reflection of your English language ability. It cannot be used as a part of your university application. ELLT is suitable for your foreign university application.

Spotlight is a fully online asynchronous test to get a reflection of your English language ability. It cannot be used as a part of your university application. Oxford ELLT Global, on the other hand, is delivered offline in our authorized test centers and is suitable for your foreign university application.

You will be able to access your results and certificate via the test portal portal. 

The Oxford Spotlight applies several rigorous procedures to ensure academic quality is maintained and upheld. All content writers and moderators have over 10 years’ experience within the field of content writing and familiarity with the CEFR scales. Content writers are issued with EAQUALS Core Inventory for General English alongside the ‘TrackTest’ English Language Level descriptors.

Content is moderated alongside the EAQUALS level inventories to ensure that the complexity of grammatical structures and range of vocabulary match the level of the material and to ensure the test is accessible to all candidates regardless of the level. As well as this, material is checked using a text analyser to ensure appropriateness of level.

Creation of test items follows a set framework (described below) which ensures the full range of reading and listening sub skills are tested.

The selection of topics is informed by the CEFR vocabulary list. Topics selected by item writers are monitored by Oxford ELLT Senior Academic team to ensure there is a balanced representation.

Each Oxford Spotlight test item is carefully moderated using steps 1-to-5:

1. The question stem is clear and concise
2. There is only one answer
3. The distractors look similar to the answer and do not stand out
4. Distractors are plausible and are NOT ridiculous or humorous
5. Difficulty of question is at the correct CEFR level

All test material including test items are pre-tested in exam conditions within language schools across the UK, Canada and the USA. Students that participate in item testing have been pre-tested on arrival and grouped into classes accordingly.

All assessment sets are tested twice, using two cohorts of different levels to ensure accuracy and validity of results.

Spotlight contains between 80-85 questions, depending on chosen components.
• Reading: total 20 questions
• Listening: total 20 questions
• Grammar: total 20 questions
• Vocabulary: total 20 questions
• Writing: total 2 questions (mini essay style)
• Speaking: total 3 questions