Tracktest Launches the Standalone English Speaking Test!

We have some exciting news for all English learners and professionals!

At Tracktest, we are committed to providing the most flexible and reliable tools for assessing your English skills. We've heard your feedback: sometimes, you just need a dedicated, focused assessment of your oral proficiency without needing to complete the full four-skill exam.

That’s why we are thrilled to announce the official launch of our Standalone English Speaking Test!

What is the Standalone English Speaking Test?

The Standalone English Speaking Test is a brand-new, cutting-edge product designed for learners who want a fast, accurate, and exclusive measure of their speaking abilities. This test evaluates several critical components of your spoken English, including:

Introducing the New Tracktest Desktop App: A More Secure Way to Deliver English Assessments

Summer is a great time to recharge—but also to try something new. We're excited to announce the launch of a brand-new way to deliver Tracktest English assessments for test administrators: the Tracktest Desktop Application, now available for both Windows and Mac.

Currently in beta, this new app offers a more controlled and secure testing environment, especially useful for institutions and remote proctoring scenarios. If you’re already using Tracktest, you can try it completely free with a valid license, and we’re here to help you every step of the way during setup and testing.

What is the Tracktest Desktop App?

Instead of running tests in a browser, the new Desktop App allows candidates to take their English assessments in a dedicated, pre-installed application. Once a test is launched, the candidate is redirected from their browser to the secure desktop environment, which prevents interference from other apps or unauthorised activity.

Who Should Use It?

Introducing Tracktest Online Mock Test feature

 

At Tracktest, we are committed to providing the best tools for assessing and improving your English language skills. 

We understand that taking an online test can sometimes be daunting, especially if you're unsure about your technical setup or the user experience. 

That's why we're excited to introduce our latest feature: the Mock Test, a shortened no-result online practice test simulation provided by Tracktest.

Try the Online Mock Test today and take the first step towards mastering your English assessment:

https://tracktest.eu/mock-test/

We hope you find this new feature helpful and look forward to your feedback. Happy testing!

Test timer in Core tests and Writing tests

The test timer is an essential feature for both Core and Writing tests in specific settings. Throughout most of the test duration, it is conveniently displayed below the header, allowing test-takers to easily check the remaining time without being distracted from answering questions.

Admin: How to save custom texts in invitation e-mails

During the invitation process, you can customize the default invitation text to include your important information.

The only restriction is that a button and a unique user link for starting the test will always appear below your text.

If you modify the email text, you will be prompted after sending the invitations to save it for future use.

If you choose to save it, this custom text will become the default for your next invitations until you decide to change it again.

Speaking test- timer for preparing the answer

The Tracktest Speaking exam features eight general conversational questions that you should be able to answer with minimal preparation.

You'll receive the question and have 30 seconds to prepare your response. 

Once you're ready, you can either click "Start Recording" or wait for the recording to begin automatically after 30 seconds.

The required duration of the answers varies from 15 seconds to 1 minute.
We recommend you use all the allocated time for your answer.

When you upload your answer, you will automatically get the next question. 

E-mail invitation links become permanent

Inviting users via email has long been the preferred and most direct method for platform administrators to onboard users. This feature, launched a decade ago, has undergone several enhancements while maintaining its essential functionality.

Previously, issuing an invitation would generate a new, unique link, rendering the old one inactive. This often led to confusion as users attempted to use an outdated link. We've taken note of the feedback from company account owners who have voiced their concerns about this issue.

In response, we've introduced additional tools for administrators to manage user access, such as archiving, removing unused credits, and restricting access to certain levels. Consequently, the need for constantly changing invitation links has diminished.

Starting this July, email invitation links will no longer expire. If you resend an invitation for a new test months later, users will receive a familiar link in their email—the same one they've used previously. Should there be a need to refresh a link for a particular user or for everyone from your organisation, our support team will help you with the reset.

Admins: Individual notification about the test completion

Organisational admins have two ways how they can be notified by e-mail about their user activities. 

In the Organisational settings->Company profile in the section E-mail notification, admins can enable:

1. Individual notification about the finished test. The platform sends the e-mail to admins every time when their user finishes the Core or Complete test.

2. Summary Weekly Report. The platform sends an e-mail every Sunday with the attached report in the .csv format about the activity in their organization (users added, tests taken, used licenses). If there is no user activity, the report is not sent. This option is enabled as default for newly registered organisations.

Admins: Delivery status of the e-mail invitations in the user profile

We added the info about the sent date and delivery status of the invitation e-mails to the organizational module so the company admins know if there is any potential problem with the deliverability of the invitation links to the specific candidate.
It is visible in the user profile under the invitation link (for invitations sent since Feb 23rd, 2023, 1pm GMT):

status: delivered means that the mail server of the candidate accepted the mail. It still can skip the inbox and land in their junk or other folder based on their mailbox rules, but it has been delivered successfully to their mailbox.

status: failed: the candidate did not receive the e-mail. The reasons for failure can be the wrong e-mail address, a full mailbox, or a mail server rejecting the e-mail because of their anti-spam policy, etc. Approximately 3% of invite e-mails are affected.
It is typically a permanent fail, so resending the invite from the system will not help. 
Recommended action: Admin can copy the link and try to share it in alternative ways: send it from their own e-mail address or via instant messengers. 

New design of content webpages

We launched our presentation webpage's new design (located at tracktest.eu) on February 14. It is the third website design iteration in our history, coming seven years after the previous "blue" redesign.

We wanted a new design to reinforce Tracktest's brand identity. Therefore you will find the elements and vibrant colors from our logo (red, yellow, and green) used in various contexts around the website. We are reducing the blue parts in the header and footer and replacing them with a more pleasing white or light blue background. 

But this redesign is not only about the colors. We also make the new pages faster to load and easy to use on mobile devices. 

With the new visuals of presentation webpages, we are entering the third stage of redesigning our brand identity. We updated the offline materials at the end of last year and the social media presence in January. 

The last, most important, and complex phase- a visual refresh of the assessment application itself (app.tracktest.eu)- is coming next, and it is expected in the Q2 timeframe.  

Feedback (things to improve) from your English test results

Tracktest does not show you the correct answers to the questions and tasks from your tests in order to protect our IP and avoid the washback effect. However, the system gives you detailed feedback on what you should focus on if you want to improve your test score in future.

1. In your test result, you will find the detailed section results (Grammar, Reading, Listening) together with the listed top three out of 13 English grammar topics where you failed most.

New features for admins: Credits assignation (Core, Verified, Speaking&Writing)

With the new software update planned for November 2021, we improve the way how you allocate the exam credits to your users.  Now you are able to assign the credit for the specific test version: with or without verification, with or without Speaking&Writing, for the specific level or for all.
This update has no impact on the cost and terms of use of the Core licences and credits for the additional options. 

Detailed English test results- feedback, comparison with others and pdf export

Tracktest English proficiency test provides more than the result and the CEFR English certificate.

Here are some new test result features available in all TrackTest accounts.

Admins: Automatic allocation of the registered users

There are more ways how to ensure that the specific users are allocated to your account so you can activate their license and see their results.

1. Custom URL - Everybody registering via your custom URL will be added to your company account. This can be configured in your admin settings.

2. Domain allocation- Everybody registering with the specific e-mail address (e.g.  your domain @yourcompany.com) will be added to your account. This can be configured by TrackTest upon request.

3. Voucher- Everybody submitting a voucher from your account will be transferred to your organization.

You can use one or a combination of the above methods.

Admins: How to lock and unlock the access to tests

School and company administrators can lock the access to tests for their users and unlock it only for the period when they want their users to take the tests.

How to add a certificate to your LinkedIn profile

A good command of English language significantly increases your chances to get the better job or promotion. Therefore you should not forget to add the proof of your English proficiency to your user profile on the social networks for professionals like LinkedIn or XING.

LinkedIn has recently changed the way how you add the certificates to your social profile. We have prepared the short guide for you. If you are tired of reading, scrolling down the article for the short video.

Admins: Download of the detailed results

In the Results page, administrators have two alternative formats for the export of the results. The default option is above the table and it exports the current view of the table into the pdf or excel. It is handy if you want to see the best user result from various levels and compare their progress.

If you want to have the results of all completed tests based on the time of completion, use the export to excel located below the table. It contains also the results of section results and info how many questions were not answered due to the time limit (if you use this feature).

Learn more about the components of the Results page in our tutorials for the English test administrators.

Weekly reports for admins

Administrators can subscribe to the weekly reports about the usage of their school or company account.

The e-mail report informs about four key metrics:

Users added (registered via custom URL or added by the administrator)
Completed tests 
Licences used
Remaining licences

The report is sent at the end of the week but only if there is any update. Details about the used licences (username, used code and date of activation) are attached to the e-mail in the excel spreadsheet.

If you are are interested to get these reports, subscribe to the weekly report in your administrator Settings page.

How to generate voucher codes (tutorial for admins)

User activation via vouchers is a handy method for the company and school admins requiring stricter control over the English assessment of their students and employees.

Administrators create voucher codes directly in the admin interface by selecting the option Create vouchers. Voucher codes are then added to the list of Users, from where they can be exported into Excel or PDF.

SSL Encryption on TrackTest English Proficiency tests

Tracktest domains- tracktest.eu and app.tracktest.eu are encrypted with the latest and regularly updated encryption mechanisms. They are encrypted before being transmitted over the Internet.

Encryption makes it difficult for unauthorized people to view information traveling between computers. Therefore it is unlikely that anyone read this page as it traveled across the network.

What does it mean for me?
SSL encryption adds an extra layer of security for registered users and visitors. However, you can continue to use our TrackTest pages as before.

In your browser, you will see the green lock next to the web address and https in the address itself. 

All TrackTest links without https are automatically redirected to https version.     

P.S. This blog stays on http protocol as the Google technology running this blog does not allow the migration yet. We are looking at the alternatives to enable it here too.  Update: blog.tracktest.eu now runs on SSL as well.