5 min freeFull speaking test
Eleanor Vance
Speaking examiner, 19 years
Runs rooms pitched at working fluency and confident fluency
British EnglishFace to face, no screen between you, from CambridgeEvery time like the first
5.0(2)
From 13 min
A session of any length
First 5 minutes free
In Eleanor’s words
Eleanor has examined more speaking tests than she can count and has a rule she never breaks: she does not help.
Not with a word, not with a nod, not with a rephrased question. If you stop at forty seconds on the cue card, she waits in silence until two minutes are up, because that is what will happen on the day. She is not unkind about it. She reads the questions exactly as written, times every part, and says 'thank you' in the same tone whether you were brilliant or lost. What she notices, and what her sheet asks her to notice, is whether you can keep going, whether you reach for a better word, and whether your ideas connect to each other rather than to the question. She lives in Cambridge, cycles to the test centre, and drinks her tea black.
1min
They speak first, about a second after you press start. There is no press-to-talk and no waiting for your turn.
4min
Four minutes of the real thing, at the real pace, with the interruptions where a real one would put them.
1min
Your pace, your pauses and your filler words are counted within a second, and the score follows. Nobody asks for a card to hear it.
What a score from Eleanor is worth
How the score is worked out here
Three things, and you can read what each one actually means. None of them turn this into an exam: talk to this person as often as you like, and the score is there only if you want it.
Run on Eleanor
Cleared
Published criteria
The criteria and their weights are visible before you speak.
- Here
- Short questions, a two-minute monologue with one minute to prepare, then abstract discussion, with the exact timings of the public format.
- Held by
- Published in advance; changes go through review
- Method
- Before you speak you can see what is being measured and how much each thing is worth, as percentages that add up to a hundred. That is checked automatically: a set whose percentages do not add up never reaches the site.
Situations and levels
What Eleanor runs, and what a fortnight of it costs
A minute costs the same whoever you talk to: the expensive part is the model, not the person. Move the sliders to match the two weeks you actually have.
Situations
- Full speaking testAll three parts, timed, with an examiner who does not help you.
- The long turnTwo minutes alone on a card you were given one minute to think about.
Difficulty
What it costs to rehearse this properly
Three runs across a week is what changes an answer. Move the sliders to your own plan. Nothing renews, and nothing is charged until you buy minutes.
- Minutes of talking in total
- 78
- The same conversations with a native speaker
- $300
- You save
- $266
- You pay
- $34
Ratings
What 2 people made of Eleanor
Every one of them finished a conversation with Eleanor before they could leave a rating. One conversation, one rating — the rule is in the database, not in a form. That is why the number under the stars means something.
5.0
2 ratings
- 52
- 40
- 30
- 20
- 10
Every one left after a session with Eleanor
I stopped early on the long turn and Eleanor just waited. Those extra seconds felt endless, which is probably why I needed them.
After a session with Eleanor
1 person has talked to Eleanor, rated it and written about it. Ratings left through the product will join these, and only a finished conversation can leave one.
Compared with a live native speaker
8 conversations with Eleanor for the price of one with a native speaker
Talking with a live native speaker is the best practice there is, and it is priced like it: from $50 a conversation, at a time that suits them. Here a conversation costs $5.72, starts when you press the button, and can be had again tomorrow.
A conversation with a native speaker
$50
A conversation here
$5.72
Nothing to book, and the same conversation can be had as many times as you like.
| A live native speaker | Reallang | |
|---|---|---|
| What one conversation costs | From $50 | $5.72 |
| When you can talk | When they have a slot | Now, or at six in the morning |
| Who is across the table | The same person every time | A recruiter, a doctor, a neighbour: 56 people |
| Will they interrupt you | Rarely. You are the one paying | Yes, like in real life |
| Feedback in writing | Usually none | 60 seconds later, quoting you |
| A real person across the table | Yes | No, an AI person |
The last row is the honest one: a real person is a real person, and nothing replaces that. But getting comfortable speaking takes dozens of conversations, not one a week at $50. Your teacher teaches you the language; this is the practice in between.
Start a session
Pick the meeting, and Eleanor starts talking
There is no calendar, because there is nothing to wait for. Choose which conversation it is, allow the microphone, and a second later you are talking.
Which conversation are you having?
Eleanor Vance runs 2 meetings. They are different conversations, not easy and hard versions of one, and each has its own criteria.
What counts as going well
Speak in full turns, fill the two minutes, and give reasons and examples in Part 3 without being asked.
Eleanor Vance
British English · neutral
Every time like the first
How they speak
- The score
- 60 seconds after
- This one
- Free
- After that
- $5.72
- The first 5 minutes cost nothing and no card is asked for.
- We ask for your microphone before the conversation starts, never after.
- Audio is not stored. The written record of the conversation is, because the score quotes from it.
Also free the first time
Who to talk to after Eleanor
Ranked against Eleanor on whichever line you are choosing by. Save two or three and read them side by side.
- 5 min freeFull speaking test
Full speaking test
5 min freeYour first shift
5 min freeBehind the counter