Business English Certificate (BEC) Higher
Welcome to the BEC Higher Home page, where you can find all the information and help you need to start preparing for BEC Higher.
Click on one of the steps to learn more about the exam.
BEC Preliminary | BEC Vantage | BEC Higher | ICFE | ILEC
ABOUT BEC HIGHER
BEC Higher is an advanced-level Cambridge ESOL exam, at Level C1 of the Council of Europe's Common European Framework of Reference for Languages (CEFR). What is Level C1?
What's in BEC Higher?
The table below shows you the different parts of BEC Higher. You can also view the BEC Higher papers in more detail.
| Paper | Content | Time | Marks (% of total) |
|---|---|---|---|
 Reading |
6 parts | 1 hour | 25% |
 Writing |
2 parts | 1 hour 10 minutes | 25% |
 Listening |
3 parts | about 40 minutes including transfer time | 25% |
 Speaking |
3 parts | 16 minutes per pair of candidates | 25% |
SUPPORT FOR BEC HIGHER
To help you get started, Cambridge ESOL have lots of FREE material which you can download for BEC Higher.
Information for Candidates
This short booklet explains what's in the exam in more detail.
Download the BEC Higher Information for Candidates (English)
(588 Kb)
Sample Papers
BEC Higher Sample Papers 
(15 Mb)
WHAT PEOPLE SAY ABOUT BEC
Margrit Walter-Wettstein, Berufsbildungszentrum Weinfelden, Switzerland
At our school we prepare our students for BEC Preliminary because it is a realistic goal for a 3-year course.We encourage them to attend the BEC Vantage course on a voluntary basis.… It is a good opportunity for them to get in addition an international language certificate during their commercial training.
