The Beijing English Testing System (BETS), an exam especially
designed for improving the English proficiency of Beijing
residents, will be conducted for the first time on May
27-28 this year.
Anybody, regardless of his age, gender, profession, schooling
background, nationality and residence, who now lives and works in
Beijing, can sign for the exam, according to information released
on the website of the Beijing Organizing Committee for Games of the
XXIX Olympiad and the website of the Beijing Education Examination
Authority, as well as other official websites.
The exam is one of the measures the Beijing municipal government
has taken to prompt local residents to learn and speak English and
improve Beijing's image as an international metropolis in
preparation for the upcoming 29th Olympic Games in Beijing.
Test questions are jointly designed by Cambridge ESOL and the
Organizing Committee for Beijing Residents Speaking English
Activities. The test questions follow the international language
proficiency testing standards and showcase the characteristics of
Beijing and those of different vocations, according to designers of
the test.
The tests are divided into three levels, namely BETS-1, BETS-2
and BETS-3, to test local people's ability to listen, speak, read
and write in English.
BETS exams will be arranged twice in a year, which take place on
May 27-28 in the first half of the year and in late October in the
second half of the year. The test will be an annual event.
Those who pass the test can obtain two certificates: one jointly
issued by the Leading Group of Beijing English Testing System, the
Foreign Affairs Office of the Beijing Municipal People's Government
and Beijing Education Examination Authority; the other one issued
by Cambridge ESOL.
The two certificates can be used as references for government
departments and businesses to recruit employees and certify
Beijingers' internationally recognized English proficiency when
they are going to study overseas.
(Xinhua News Agency March 29, 2006)