Language assessments
Online language exams that get speaking and listening right
Purpose-built for high-stakes language testing — precise audio sequencing, tamper-proof delivery across test centres and remote, and AI scoring that returns CEFR and ILR grades in seconds.
- Speaking & listening
- AI CEFR/ILR scoring
- Test-centre & remote
Part 2 · Speaking
Listen to the recording, then describe what you heard.
Trusted by professional organisations, awarding bodies, and universities worldwide
The challenge
Language exams are hard to get right
Speaking and listening tasks demand precise timing, flawless audio, and integrity you can defend — often delivered across test centres and candidates’ own devices at once. Most platforms simply aren’t built for it.
So many language-test owners end up on bespoke platforms, tuned to exactly what they need but expensive to maintain and slow to keep pace with candidate expectations. Synap gives you that specialist capability off the shelf — and it keeps evolving.
A platform stretched to fit
- ✕ Timing and audio sequencing that isn’t quite right
- ✕ Fragile on real-world networks and BYOD
- ✕ Costly to maintain and slow to evolve
Purpose-built for language
- Exact audio → prepare → record sequencing
- Resilient across test centres and remote
- A specialist platform that keeps advancing
Why it’s hard
What trips up language assessment online
The things that make language exams distinctive are exactly the things generic platforms handle badly.
Bespoke builds fall behind
Home-grown platforms are configured perfectly for today — but grow costly to maintain and struggle to keep pace with the fast-moving assessment space.
Mixed delivery environments
Language exams are routinely delivered across supervised test centres and remote, bring-your-own-device settings — often in the same sitting.
Timing and audio can’t fail
Speaking and listening depend on strict, tamper-proof timers and perfect audio — a poor connection at the wrong moment can invalidate a result.
Built for speaking & listening
Precise control over every second
Language tasks live or die on timing. Synap lets you script exactly how each question plays out — for example: play the audio automatically, wait five seconds, then give the candidate up to ten seconds to record their answer.
Strict, tamper-proof timers keep every candidate on an equal footing, while pre-flight checks and material pre-loading mean a shaky network never derails a sitting.
Configurable timing & sequencing
Chain audio playback, preparation and recording windows into the exact flow each task needs.
Pre-flight checks
Confirm the microphone, camera and network are working before a candidate can begin.
Tamper-proof timers
Server-enforced timing that candidates can’t pause, extend or manipulate.
Network resilience & pre-loading
Materials load ahead of time and delivery absorbs drops, so poor conditions don’t affect the exam.
AI scoring
CEFR and ILR scores in seconds, with Carnegie
Marking speaking and writing at scale is slow and hard to keep consistent. Our integration with Carnegie — a leading machine-learning language-assessment engine — scores written and spoken answers automatically, returning CEFR and ILR levels within seconds.
Use it to grade at scale, deliver instant results, or as a fast, consistent second marker alongside your examiners.
Written and spoken
Automated scoring for both writing and speaking responses.
CEFR & ILR
Industry-standard proficiency levels your stakeholders already trust.
Results in seconds
Consistent, instant grades — at any volume.
Overall proficiency
B2Upper intermediate
Automated CEFR & ILR scoring of written and spoken answers — consistent, instant, and reviewable.
Marking, scoring & reports
Score and report your way
From custom grade schemes to bespoke score reports, you stay in control of how results are calculated and presented.
Custom grades & scoring rules
Define your own grade boundaries, marks, credits and pass rules to match your qualification.
Dynamic weighting
Weight sections, skills and items so the final score reflects what matters most.
Custom score reports
Build reports yourself, assemble them with low-code and MCP, or have our professional services team create them for you.
Full examiner control
Apply additional time, submit exams manually, and issue new attempts whenever circumstances require.
Authoring & content
Rich questions, managed at scale
Build authentic language tasks and manage a growing bank of secure, versioned content.
Rich, multimedia questions
Embed audio, video, images, reference materials and rich text to create realistic communication tasks.
Exam & item banking with versioning
Maintain a secure bank of items and exams, with full versioning as you refine content over time.
Import items your way
Bulk-import items via our API, MCP, or a simple CSV upload.
Connected to your systems
Integrate with your internal tools and third-party systems to automate enrolment and results.
See it in action
See a language exam, end to end
Book a tailored demo and we’ll walk through audio sequencing, AI scoring and secure delivery on a test like yours.
Security & proctoring
Defensible results, wherever candidates sit
Whether an exam runs in a supervised test centre or remotely on a candidate’s own device, you can secure it with video and audio proctoring, lockdown and automatic breach detection.
Match the level of security to the stakes of each sitting, and review flagged sessions with timestamped evidence to support appeals.
- Video & audio proctoring
- Desktop lockdown
- Automatic breach detection
- Reviewable evidence for appeals
Grow your reach
Sell your exams through secure sub-portals
Turn your language exams into a product other institutions can deliver. Sub-portals let partner organisations run your assessments and manage their own candidates in a segregated, secure environment — completely separate from your other customers.
It’s a ready-made way to license and distribute your tests, without building or maintaining the infrastructure yourself.
Segregated environments
Each partner’s users and data stay isolated and secure.
Partner self-management
Institutions manage their own candidates, groups and sittings.
Your exams, distributed
License your content to a network of delivery partners.
Part of one platform
Everything a language programme needs
Language assessment is one part of Synap. Combine it with the rest of the platform.
Proctoring & lockdown
Video and audio proctoring for test-centre and remote sittings.
View proctoringAPIs & webhooks
Import items and automate the whole assessment lifecycle.
View APIsScheduling & delivery
Access windows, timers and exam-day control at scale.
View deliveryBranding & white-labelling
Deliver under your own domain and brand.
View branding
What our customers say
I like all the different options for answering. Before, we had a very basic platform, but now our students can reply with audio. There is much more flexibility, like rating answers instead of just open text or marking. It definitely helps us make the exams more modern.
Managing Director | VSF IPMA
We needed to provide examinations during the pandemic and Synap supported us to transfer from paper to electronic assessments quickly and easily. The platform offered ease of use. Synap provides excellent support.
Director of Education | IHRIM
This team got every single student through the exam with a professional attitude, support and kindness. I am so lucky that I found this company. I am never going back to writing a paper-based exam.
Program Director | University of the Free State
FAQs
Language assessment questions, answered
Find quick answers or browse our academy .
Can't find your answer?
Give your language exams a platform built for them
See how Synap delivers secure, precisely-timed language exams with AI scoring — book a tailored demo with our team.
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