The College English Test , better known as CET, is a national English as a Foreign Language test in the People's Republic of China.
Before the 2005 reform, the full credit was 100 points. This test was held twice a year nationally, in June and December. CET consisted of non-English-specialized "band 4" which the certificate holders have reached the English level of non-English major undergraduates students.and "band 6" which the certificate holders have reached the English level of non-English major postgraduates. The test included listening, reading and writing sections. The oral test was optional and required certain points from the written test.
The CET was reformed in 2005. Several changes were made, including:
- Reordered and reorganized sections. More listening and oral sections. New "Skimming and Scanning" and "Translation" sections.
- New grading system. Scores will be curved so the highest is 710, while the lowest is 290.
- Pass mark and qualification certificate elimination. More detailed score report on each section.
- Public service elimination. Only university students can take the test.
The current CET is mandatory for non-English major college students only. A similar test, the Test for English Majors, is mandatory for English majors and open to neither non-English majors nor the public. TEM-4 is a graduation requirement, it is similar to the CET-6.it should be taken during the end of the second academic year. TEM 8 is the highest level for English major students; it should be taken during the end of the last academic year. When the students have failed the TEM-4, they can go on or they can join TEM-8 at the last year even if they fail in TEM-4. Once they failed TEM-8, only once for them to retest at the next year after they graduated from colleges or they will disqualified.[1]
A lot of colleges and universities in China require the CET certificate as a prerequisite for a bachelor degree. Employers in China prefer applicants with a CET certificate.
Vocabulary requirements for each of the above tests: CET-4 4500 words, CET-6 5500 words, TEM-4 6000 words, TEM-8 13000 words.
CET is important for Chinese college students, they are only able to get a degree or a good job if they can pass CET with a high grade. A lot of suicides have been linked to failure to pass CET,[citation needed] which can put a great deal of pressure on and cause a lot of stress to students. Some scholars have criticised CET and most advocate abolishment of the system[citation needed] as students would benefit more from learning the skills required by their chosen subject or from learning more about Chinese culture, rather than learning English.
See also
- National College Entrance Examination
- Education in mainland China
- English language learning and teaching
- College English Test
College students in China now spend quite a large proportion of their study time on learning English. On almost all campus, people can see students reciting text or vocabulary in the morning. Students practice hard on English exam papers. And great number of students take extra language training class. However, unfortunately, in CET, of all 4 language skills, only reading, listening and writing are included. Consequently, most Chinese graduates do well in written test, while rather poor in speaking.
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