University of Cambridge Local Examinations Syndicate (UCLES) is a not-for-profit non-teaching department of the University of Cambridge, which operates under the brand name Cambridge Assessment.

It provides education assessments for over 8 million learners in over 170 countries and marked by over 30,000 examiners every year.

These include the Oxford, Cambridge and RSA Examinations (OCR) examination board for UK students, the Cambridge International Examinations (CIE) for overseas students, and the Cambridge English Language Assessment for learners of the English language.

A test or examination (informally, exam or evaluation) is an assessment intended to measure a test-taker's knowledge, skill, aptitude, physical fitness, or classification in many other topics (e.g., beliefs).

A test may be administered verbally, on paper, on a computer, or in a confined area that requires a test taker to physically perform a set of skills.

Tests vary in style, rigor and requirements.

For example, in a closed book test, a test taker is often required to rely upon memory to respond to specific items whereas in an open book test, a test taker may use one or more supplementary tools such as a reference book or calculator when responding to an item.

A test may be administered formally or informally.

An example of an informal test would be a reading test administered by a parent to a child.

An example of a formal test would be a final examination administered by a teacher in a classroom or an I.Q.

test administered by a psychologist in a clinic.

Formal testing often results in a grade or a test score.

A test score may be interpreted with regards to a norm or criterion, or occasionally both.

English studies is an academic discipline that includes the study of literatures written in the English language (including literatures from the United Kingdom, the United States, Ireland, Canada, Australia, New Zealand, Hong Kong, the Philippines, India, Pakistan, South Africa, and the Middle East, among other areas), English linguistics (including English phonetics, phonology, syntax, morphology, semantics, pragmatics, corpus linguistics, and stylistics), and English sociolinguistics (including discourse analysis of written and spoken texts in the English language, the history of the English language, English language learning and teaching, and the study of World Englishes).

Education is the process of facilitating learning, or the acquisition of knowledge, skills, values, beliefs, and habits.

Educational methods include storytelling, discussion, teaching, training, and directed research.

Education frequently takes place under the guidance of educators, but learners may also educate themselves.

Education can take place in formal or informal settings and any experience that has a formative effect on the way one thinks, feels, or acts may be considered educational.

The methodology of teaching is called pedagogy.

Professional certification, trade certification, or professional designation, often called simply certification or qualification, is a designation earned by a person to assure qualification to perform a job or task.

Not all certifications that use post-nominal letters are an acknowledgement of educational achievement, or an agency appointed to safeguard the public interest.