1.2 Shield Scoring System & Statement of Results

1.2 Shield Scoring System & Statement of Results

Quick Answer: There is no pass or fail on A2 Flyers. Each paper — Listening, Reading and Writing, and Speaking — is reported as 1 to 5 shields (maximum 15). One shield means the child can still improve a lot in that skill; five shields mean the child did very well and answered most questions correctly. Four or five shields in each skill is Cambridge’s signal that the child is ready to start the next qualification. Shield boundaries are equated across versions; do not invent a raw-score cutoff.

Why shields exist instead of pass/fail

Young Learners exams are designed so that taking the test is itself an achievement. The Handbook for Teachers 2024 is blunt: results are reported in a way designed to provide positive encouragement. All candidates who complete the exam receive a Statement of Results and a certificate showing what they can do. A child who panics, writes nothing, and still sits through the papers will see shields that say “a lot to improve”; a child who handles almost every task will see five shields. Neither result is a fail, and neither result is hidden from the family.

The certificate shows how many bold shields the child earned for each part of the test. The back of the certificate explains how those shields align to the CEFR and to the Cambridge English Scale. Parents who only look at the front (“we got 12 shields”) miss the more useful story on the back: which skills are already at A2 and which are still at A1.

What each shield score means

Cambridge’s current results pages and the A2 Flyers FAQs use the same two anchors:

The official “ready for the next exam” rule is not a total of 10 shields. Older materials sometimes said that 10 or more bold shields showed readiness. The current Cambridge results page is stricter and clearer: if a child has earned four or five shields in each skill, they are ready to start preparing for the next Cambridge English Qualification. A profile of 5 + 5 + 1 is 11 shields and still tells you Speaking (or whichever skill scored 1) is not ready. Teach the per-skill rule.

What Cambridge does not publish

Cambridge states that the back of the certificate shows how the results align to the CEFR, but it does not publish a table that converts a given number of shields into a named CEFR level. Do not teach “4 shields = A2” or “3 shields = A1” as an official equation, and treat any third-party chart that prints one as unsourced.

What you can teach is the published rule and its shape. A profile of 4, 4, 3 is not a failure and not a pass; it is a diagnostic. Two skills have reached the level Cambridge calls ready for the next qualification, and one has not. The honest next step for that third skill is more practice in that paper (for Listening: each recording twice, names spelled letter by letter, colour-and-write Part 5) before or alongside an A2 Key for Schools course. Read shields as a per-skill map, not a trophy total.

Three family profiles

Aisha: 5, 5, 5. She answered most questions correctly in every paper. Cambridge’s rule of thumb says she is ready to start A2 Key for Schools. Starting Key immediately is a choice, not an obligation; some families enjoy a term of extensive reading first. The shields do not expire as a “you must sit Key this year” command.

Tom: 2 Listening, 3 Reading and Writing, 4 Speaking. Only Speaking has reached the four-or-five band Cambridge calls ready; the written papers have not. A Key for Schools course that assumes secure A2 reading will frustrate him. Keep him in Flyers-level stories, spelling, and Part 6 open cloze until Reading and Writing reaches four shields on a later attempt — or until classroom evidence is just as strong.

Noor: 1, 1, 2. She completed the test, so she still receives the certificate. The message is encouragement plus a clear map: she can improve a lot. Re-sitting Flyers after more hours on the wordlist is usually kinder than jumping to Key because classmates are doing so.

Raw marks are not the same as shields

Cambridge does publish the mark totals for the paper-based Listening and Reading and Writing papers. It does not publish the raw score that equals 3, 4 or 5 shields.

Listening: 5 parts × 5 questions = 25 questions, 25 marks. In most parts, spelling has to be 100% correct. In Part 2, some misspellings are allowed for words which are not spelled out on the recording. If the recording spells S-A-N-D-E-R-S, the name must be copied correctly. If the recording says “bring a torch” without spelling torch, a near-miss spelling may still score.

Reading and Writing: 44 questions, 48 marks, because Part 7 is one productive task marked 0–5.

Part 7’s 0–5 scale is public in the Handbook:

• 5: progression of events explicitly connected; based on all three pictures; minimal effort for the reader
• 4: progression of events, some explicitly connected; all three pictures; some reader effort
• 3: progression of events addressing at least one picture, or all three pictures but a significant strain on the reader
• 2: at least one clearly comprehensible phrase
• 1: some English words the reader can discern
• 0: unattempted or totally incomprehensible

A child can therefore “write 40 words” and still score 2 if the writing is not a connected account of the pictures. Quality over quantity is not a slogan; it is the mark scheme.

Speaking is marked by the Speaking Examiner in the room, then sent to Cambridge with the completed Listening and Reading and Writing papers. One examiner uses three criteria, each on a 0–5 scale:

1. Vocabulary and Grammar — range, control, extent, cohesion (joining ideas with and, but, when, then, because)
2. Pronunciation — individual sounds, stress, intonation (including question intonation when the child asks Part 2 questions)
3. Interaction — reception/responding, support required, fluency/promptness

Complete accuracy is not required even for band 5 at Flyers. Meaning must be clear. If a candidate produces so little language that pronunciation cannot be judged (for example just a couple of words), the maximum pronunciation score is 3, regardless of sound quality. Those three criterion scores are not a published formula for converting into the 1–5 shields printed on the certificate. Do not invent “average the three bands to get shields”.

Listening and Reading and Writing papers are not marked in the classroom. The centre sends completed papers to Cambridge, where a team of trained markers scores them.

Equating: why you must not invent cutoffs

The Handbook explains that the exams are designed so that most candidates do very well, and that shield score boundaries are set so that all candidates’ results relate to the same scale of achievement. In order to equate different test versions, “the shield 4 boundary may be set at a slightly different raw score across versions.”

That single sentence kills a whole genre of blog posts. If last year’s teacher said “20 out of 25 Listening is five shields”, that number was never an official, stable cutoff. A slightly harder Listening version can move the boundary. Teaching children to chase a rumoured raw score is worse than teaching the tasks.

What you can teach:

• 25 Listening marks and 48 Reading and Writing marks are the input to an equated shield scale.
• Five shields means the child answered most questions correctly — not necessarily every question.
• One shield still means the child took the test in that skill.
• Version-to-version movement of the boundary is a feature (fairness), not a secret pass mark.

Statement of Results: what families actually receive

From September 2020, candidates receive both a certificate and a Statement of Results (SoR). Cambridge’s current results page lists what the SoR includes:

• the number of shields for each part of the test
• information on strengths
• areas for improvement and ideas for how to improve

It does not include a question-by-question item report, a raw mark out of 25 or 48, or a teacher-style comment on the Part 7 story. The April 2026 Summary Regulations add that all available information is in the Statement of Results and that Cambridge will not give extra feedback on performance.

Bilingual Statements of Results are available in English and in French, Italian, Portuguese, Spanish, Turkish, Vietnamese, and Russian (Russian on paper-based tests only). Ask the centre which language version will be issued.

How to access results. Schools and parents can use the centre and Cambridge’s Online Results Service. Preparation centres need to be registered by their exam centre. Parents and learners can use the free Online Results Service for Candidates; the authorised centre supplies registration details. Results for these exams are made available by the last day of the results release window once the candidate is registered on the service.

Certificate timing, avatars and replacements

The A2 Flyers FAQs state that certificates usually arrive three to four weeks after the test or earlier. Check with the exam centre if you need a date. The April 2026 Summary Regulations describe a related but not identical step: if a candidate is due a certificate, Cambridge sends it to the centre 2–4 weeks after results are released. The centre then follows its own collection policy. Centres may destroy unclaimed certificates after one year.

Children who take a digital exam are reunited with their avatar: the customised avatar created during the exam is printed on the certificate and the Statement of Results. Paper-based candidates receive the standard certificate design without that avatar feature.

If a Young Learners certificate is lost, families can apply for a Certifying Statement (official confirmation of the result) or, for Pre A1 Starters, A1 Movers and A2 Flyers, request a replacement certificate within five years of the issue date. These services have a fee. A name amendment may be requested in specific circumstances up to two years after the exam, via the centre.

If a family believes the result is wrong, they contact the centre, which explains the enquiries and appeals process and any fees. Do not email Cambridge independently and expect a re-mark outside that process.

Traps on results day

• Calling a 3-shield paper a fail. It is a below-readiness result on an A2 test, and the child still has a certificate.
• Publishing a shields-to-CEFR conversion table. Cambridge says the back of the certificate shows CEFR alignment; it does not print a shield-by-shield mapping.
• Averaging shields (“12 out of 15 is 80%, so they passed”). There is no 80% pass line.
• Inventing “20/25 = 5 shields” or any other raw cutoff. Boundaries move with equating.
• Reading only the total instead of the per-skill profile. Readiness for Key for Schools is four or five shields in each skill.
• Expecting a raw-mark breakdown on the SoR. It reports shields, strengths and improvement ideas.
• Confusing “certificates usually arrive 3–4 weeks after the test” with “results appear online the next morning”. Use the centre’s results window.

Shields are a child-friendly CEFR report. Teach families to read them that way, and the next qualification decision becomes obvious.