Reading test for hiring

20 multiple-choice questions on real texts, from a two-line notice to a long opinion piece, in 14 to 16 minutes. The test adapts to the candidate after the first 8, and the CEFR level is ready the moment they finish.

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Reading · Part 1Question 3 of 20
3:48

Notice

Staff car park. From Monday the east entrance will be closed for resurfacing. Please use the entrance on Mill Road. Spaces by the east entrance are kept for delivery vans until the work is finished, in about two weeks.

What does the notice ask staff to do?

  • Park by the east entrance for two weeks
  • Come into the car park from Mill Road
  • Move their cars before Monday morning
  • Ask at reception where they should park
Part 1: 8 short texts, one question each, 5:00 on the clockSample question
Length
14 to 16 min
Questions
20
Result
Instant, A1 to C2
From
$0.60 a test

What is a reading test?

A reading test for hiring measures how well a candidate understands a language on the page: whether they can find a fact in a notice, follow the point of an email, and, at higher levels, read an argument and tell what the writer actually thinks. Evalingo's is 20 multiple-choice questions on texts written to each CEFR level, taken online from a link, with a level from A1 to C2 the moment the candidate finishes. It runs in English and German today, with more languages on the way.

Reading is the skill most jobs depend on and fewest hiring processes check: safety notices, procedures, tickets and policies all assume the reader understood them, and neither an interview nor a speaking test tells you whether they would. Every question here has one right answer, so the result is a calculation, instant and identical every time.

How the test adapts

Everyone starts with the same 8 short texts. How many they get right decides which three longer passages come next, so most of the test is spent at the candidate's own level rather than on questions far too easy or far too hard for them.

Part 1 · everyone

8 short texts, one question each

A2B1B2

Centred where the routing decision is made, so every question here helps decide what comes next.

Lower route

Part 1: 4 or fewer right

A1A2B1

Middle route

Part 1: 5 to 6 right

B1B2C1

Upper route

Part 1: 7 or more right

B2C1C2

Part 2 is 3 longer texts with 4 questions each, one at each level of the route. Neighbouring routes overlap, so a candidate near a cut-off is still measured across their real level. All 20 answers count towards the result, whichever route they took.

Two clocks
Part 1 has 5 minutes. Part 2 has 8 minutes on the lower route and 10 on the others, because their texts are longer. Within a part, a candidate can spend longer on a hard passage.
Part 2 starts when they are ready
The second clock starts when the candidate presses Continue on the Part 2 introduction, so reading the instructions, or reloading the page, never costs answering time.
No going back
Pressing Next locks a screen. That is what keeps the routing fair: Part 2 is chosen from Part 1 answers that can no longer change.
4 options every time
Every question has 4 options, so the chance of guessing right is one in 4. On a test of 20 questions that floor matters, and the scoring allows for it.
Built for phones
On a phone the text sits above the questions, one question at a time, with a button to expand the text. From laptop width they sit side by side.
Extra time when needed
An employer can grant 25%, 50% or 100% extra time as an accommodation when ordering, and both clocks stretch to match.

What the questions ask

Each question targets one thing a reader has to do with a text. Lower levels ask mostly for stated facts and the main point; higher levels ask what is implied, what the writer thinks, and how an argument is built.

Detail
A specific fact stated in the text: a time, a price, a place, a name.
Main point
What the text is mainly about, or the overall message.
Purpose
Why the text, or a part of it, was written.
Vocabulary
What a word or phrase means where it is used.
Reference
What a word such as "it" or "this" points back to.
Inference
What the text implies without stating it.
Attitude
The writer's opinion, feeling or tone.
Structure
How an argument is built, or what one part of it is doing.

What a text looks like at each level

Texts are written to the CEFR Companion Volume reading scales. As the level rises they get longer and more abstract, the topic less familiar, and more of the meaning is left for the reader to work out. Settings span personal life, public life, education and work, with office settings kept to a small share, so the test is as fair to a warehouse picker or a carer as to someone at a desk.

LevelWhat they readWords
A1short note, simple message, notice40 to 60
A2personal email, advert, simple instructions80 to 120
B1email, announcement, short news article150 to 200
B2magazine article, opinion column, report250 to 300
C1editorial, analytical article, long-form feature300 to 350
C2opinion essay, literary non-fiction, critical review350 to 400

Who needs a reading test

Roles that commonly need it

  • warehouse and logistics staff
  • manufacturing operatives
  • care workers
  • chat and email support agents
  • back office and data staff
  • content moderators

Roles that involve little speaking or writing often depend on reading more than anything else: following a procedure, a safety notice, a care plan or a ticket, and getting it right the first time.

Those are also the roles where hiring is least likely to check it, since the interview is about everything else. A reading level fills that gap in a quarter of an hour with nothing to mark, and for chat and email support it covers the half of the job a writing test does not see: understanding what the customer asked before answering it.

What comes back

A CEFR level from A1 to C2 and a score from 0 to 100 on the same bands as Speaking and Writing, so a reading level sits beside a speaking one on the same scale. It is ready the moment the last screen is submitted.

The result shows right answers per part and per text, and which route Part 1 picked. A sitting that cannot be told apart from guessing, or one rushed through faster than the texts could be read, gets "Not assessable" instead of a level.

How the scoring works
Sample result

Reading · English

Score 63
CEFR levelB2
Part 1, short texts
6 / 8
Route chosen
B1 to C1
Part 2, B1 text
4 / 4
Part 2, B2 text
3 / 4
Part 2, C1 text
2 / 4
Total
15 / 20
Every answer opens on the admin page: the text, the question, what was chosen and what was right.

Questions people ask

How long does the reading test take?
14 to 16 minutes. Part 1 has a 5 minute clock and Part 2 has 8 or 10 minutes depending on the route, plus a minute or so of introductions. Candidates who finish a part early move straight on.
What kind of texts are in the reading test?
Everyday and workplace texts written to each CEFR level: signs, notices, messages and short emails in Part 1, and in Part 2 anything from a simple note at A1 to reports, feature articles and opinion pieces at the top of the scale. Topics are chosen so that no particular job or background is an advantage.
How is the reading test scored?
By calculation, not by AI. Every question has one keyed answer and a difficulty on a common scale, and the candidate's level is estimated from which questions they got right, so a hard question answered correctly counts for more than an easy one. The model allows for guessing, with a floor of one in 4, which stops lucky guesses at the bottom of the scale from reading as ability. The same answers always produce the same level.
Why does the reading test adapt to the candidate?
A fixed 20-question test spends most of its questions far above or below any one candidate, and those tell you very little. Routing on the first 8 answers puts the next 12 at the candidate's own range, where each answer says the most. Because the result is calculated from how hard each question is, candidates on different routes are still placed on one scale.
What stops a candidate guessing their way through?
A check compares the pattern of answers with pure guessing. A genuine low-level candidate gets the easy questions right and the hard ones wrong, while a guesser scatters, so a sitting that cannot be told apart from guessing comes back as "Not assessable" rather than as a level. So does a sitting where most screens were answered faster than the text could have been read.
Which languages is the reading test available in?
English and German today, and it is being extended to every language we assess. Each language gets its own bank of texts and questions, written and reviewed to the CEFR level descriptions, and becomes available once that bank is complete. Speaking and writing are available in 13 languages now.
Can we use our own texts and questions?
No. Reading and listening draw only from our bank, which is written to level specifications and reviewed question by question, so a level means the same for every account. Question libraries you write yourself apply to speaking and writing.
Can I see which questions a candidate got wrong?
Yes, on the result page: every text with its questions, what the candidate chose and what was right. That detail stays in the dashboard. The API and webhooks report the level, the score and right answers per part, so the questions themselves are never copied into other systems.
Can the reading test be combined with other skills?
Reading and listening can be ordered together as one assessment of 26 to 32 minutes, and the overall level is the average of the two. Speaking and writing are ordered as a separate assessment of about 20 minutes, and every skill reports on the same CEFR scale, so the levels can be read side by side.
How much does the reading test cost?
From $0.60 a test on annual billing, with no setup fee and no per-seat licence. You can start free with ten assessments and no card.

The other skills, on the same scale

Compare all four

See the test before your candidates do

Ten free assessments, no card. Take the reading test yourself, then send it to a few people whose level you already know.

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