EIKEN grades and CSE scores explained: the fixed pass marks, why writing weighs as much as reading, and the CEFR you get even if you fail

From Grade 3 up to Grade 1, EIKEN has two stages. The first stage tests reading, listening and writing. If you pass it, you go on to the second stage, a face-to-face speaking interview about a month later. You need both to be certified.

The Foundation's Japanese page is precise about how each stage is decided. The first stage is passed on the sum of your three skill scores, not on each skill separately. The second stage is decided on the speaking score alone. Grades 4 and 5 are certified on reading and listening only; their recorded speaking test is optional and earns a separate certificate.

The interviews are short: Grade 1 is 10 minutes with two examiners, Pre-1 8 minutes, Grade 2 and Pre-2 Plus 7, Pre-2 6 and Grade 3 5 minutes, each with one examiner.

The pass marks do not change from one sitting to the next. The Foundation fixes them for each grade, so a result from one session can be compared directly with another. These are the CSE scores you need:

Grade 1: 2028 in the first stage, 602 in the interview. Pre-1: 1792 and 512. Grade 2: 1520 and 460. Pre-2 Plus: 1402 and 427. Pre-2: 1322 and 406. Grade 3: 1103 and 353. Grades 4 and 5 pass at 622 and 419 on reading and listening, and their optional speaking tests at 324 and 266.

Add the two stages together and you get the lowest total score a pass can have: 2630 for Grade 1, 2304 for Pre-1, 1980 for Grade 2, 1829 for Pre-2 Plus, 1728 for Pre-2 and 1456 for Grade 3. Those are the numbers the Foundation's English pages print as the bottom of each grade's range.

This is the part most candidates miss. Every skill gets the same maximum score, however many questions it has. The maximum per skill is 850 at Grade 1, 750 at Pre-1, 650 at Grade 2, 625 at Pre-2 Plus, 600 at Pre-2, 550 at Grade 3, 500 at Grade 4 and 425 at Grade 5.

So at Grade 2, reading, listening and writing are each worth up to 650 of the first stage's 1950. Reading has many questions and writing has only a couple of tasks, so each writing task moves your score far more than any single reading question. The Foundation says this itself: the effect of one question on your score differs by skill.

You cannot work out your score from how many answers you got right. The Foundation scores each sitting with Item Response Theory after all answers are marked, so the same number of correct answers can give different scores in different sessions. What it does publish is a guide from an earlier sitting: in the first 2016 session, most people who passed Grade 1 and Pre-1 had about 70% right in each skill, and at Grade 2 and below about 60% in each skill. Its advice is that balance across the skills is what gets you through.

Our reading: because the first stage is a sum, a weak writing score can sink a strong reading score. Writing is usually where a few hours of targeted practice buys the most points.

Each score report also shows an EIKEN band: your distance from the pass mark, in steps of 25 CSE points. The first band above the pass mark is +1, the next +2; below it, the bands are negative.

The Foundation's own example: a Grade 2 candidate with 1575 in the first stage, against a pass mark of 1520, is at +3. A −1 means you missed by fewer than 25 points.

Since 2022 the report shows a CEFR level for each skill, and, if you sat all four skills, a four-skill overall CEFR based on the total. Each grade can only award certain levels: C1 only from Grade 1; B2 from Pre-1 or Grade 1; B1 from Grade 2 or Pre-1; A2 from Pre-2, Pre-2 Plus or Grade 2; A1 from Grade 3, Pre-2 or Pre-2 Plus. Grades 4 and 5 show no CEFR.

The overall thresholds are 2600 for C1, 2300 for B2, 1950 for B1, 1700 for A2 and 1400 for A1. Per skill, B2 needs reading 595, listening 600, writing 586 and speaking 519, and C1 needs 670, 651, 666 and 613.

Our reading of those rules: a Grade 1 candidate who fails, but whose four-skill total reaches 2304 (the Pre-1 pass level), still gets a B2 on the report. Below that, the Foundation says no overall CEFR is shown. The same works one step down: a Pre-1 candidate who fails with a total of 1980 or more still gets a B1. Only candidates who reach the second stage have four skills, so this applies to people who passed the first stage and failed the interview.

The Foundation's 2026 fees at public test sites, tax included, are ¥12,400 for Grade 1, ¥10,400 for Pre-1, ¥9,000 for Grade 2, ¥8,600 for Pre-2 Plus, ¥8,400 for Pre-2, ¥6,800 for Grade 3, ¥4,600 for Grade 4 and ¥4,000 for Grade 5, ¥100 less than in 2025. Schools that run the first stage as a group test site charge less, from ¥6,800 for Grade 2. Grade 1 and Pre-1 are only held at public test sites. Candidates exempt from the first stage pay the same fee.

The paper test runs three times a year on fixed dates. Outside Japan it is offered publicly in Honolulu, Los Angeles, New York and London, and applications are in Japanese only. The computer-based EIKEN S-CBT is held at test centres in Japan every Saturday and Sunday and gives the same grade, certificate and CSE score in one day.

The Foundation says EIKEN is recognised by more than 400 colleges and universities in the United States, Australia and Canada, and in Japan by over 2,500 high schools, colleges and universities. For how it compares with IELTS, TOEFL and the rest, see our comparison.

The Foundation's English grades page still lists Grade 3 at 685–1700 and says Pre-2 and below test only three skills. Its Japanese pass-mark page says writing was added to Pre-2 and Grade 3 in 2017, and gives Grade 3 pass marks of 1103 and 353, a minimum pass total of 1456. On 31 October 2026 the two did not agree. We use the Japanese figures, which match the current score reports.