Our goals are:

• to promote English as a means of international communication
• to foster an understanding between people worldwide
• to help people improve their English language skills

Common Questions

Are the tests written in American or British English?
English is the language of international communication. That’s why our tests contain expressions which are used worldwide. Alan Townend, the author of the tests and other materials, is a qualified ESL (English as a Second Language) teacher from the UK who has TOEIC experience and we want to make sure we can provide the highest standard of English language training for you.

Why are there no explanations with the test questions?
You will receive assistance and support with any of your English language questions on our Forum.

How can I get my English competence certified?
There are many different English Language Certificates available. The most widely used English Language Test worldwide is the TOEIC — Test of English for International Communication. Click here for more information:
TOEIC-Test.

What can I do to improve my English?
Learning and practising a language is a life long process and there are a lot of things you can do to raise your standard of English:

• Whatever you do — remember that you will only learn if you like what you are doing.
  
  
• The language itself should not be the aim but the means to achieve your goals.
  
  
• What subjects are you interested in? Do you have any hobbies? Yes? Great. Go and find small articles, books and newsletters on those topics and make a habit of reading them. You will see how soon your reading comprehension skills improve.
  
  
• Use every opportunity to practise and apply your knowledge. Don''t be afraid of making mistakes — they are an important part of your learning and training process.
  
  
• When you read texts on the internet in English you should use an online translation and dictionary program. We recommend Babylon Pro — the most popular online language tool.

In additon you can read these articles on language learning.

Alan Townend''s Bio

Educated at a Grammar School in north London. After that, as was customary in those days for all 18 year-olds to do national service, did two years in the army starting off in the Tower of London and finishing in the War Office. Then went to Oxford University and got an Honours degree (B.A.) in modern languages (German), later converted to an M.A. Then had a year off and taught English at a Berlitz School in Aachen. On return went to Cambridge University to obtain teaching diploma. Taught English to foreign students in London and Zurich and continued teaching in Further Education Colleges until became Vice Principal of an F.E. College, from which post took early retirement some 10 years ago. Throughout these years have continued teaching English at different colleges part-time in the north London area and spent 18 months teaching on-line for a commercial enterprise based in London.

Outside teaching worked for the BBC as writer and broadcaster in national programmes, the German service and English Language Service, had ESL textbook published by Collier-Macmillan and was for several years assistant examiner for the Cambridge First Certificate and Proficiency examinations. Married with two grown-up sons and currently living in a town 20 miles north of London.

The english-test.net Story

One of our regular users has recently asked us a lot of questions via email that turned into some kind of interview which we decided to share with you here:

Why did you start the website?
We realized that there were hundreds of websites that provide English language courses but most of them are either not free (you have to pay to use them) or they offer only a small number of English tests with no updates. So, our goal was to create the largest collection of free interactive English tests worldwide.

What were the next steps?
First we had to find a programmer and webdesigner who was willing to invest his time and energy because we didn’t want to spend any money for those services.

How did you find him?
That’s a rather long story. If you really want to hear it you can send us an email and we’ll tell you…

After you found your programmer, what did you do next?
We had to decide on a domain name that would fit our purposes. English-test.net seemed to be an appropriate choice. Later when we started promoting our site we learned that there is much more to domain names. You soon will be able to read more on internet marketing in the «business blog» section on our website.

When did you register that domain?
In July 2003.

Do you intend to earn a living off of your project?
English-test.net started as a hobby and we are working on it because we find it is fun and we are receiving a lot of positive feedback from our users. At some point we will implement commercial aspects too so we can cover costs and generate some revenue.

How can your users and partners get in contact with you?
Just send us an email message by clicking here.