How hard is the exam, really? Harno's own numbers

You do not have to guess how hard this exam is. Harno publishes, every year, how many people turned up and how many passed. Below are the 2024 figures.

Pass rate by level (2024)

• A2 — 70.72% of those who sat.
• B1 — 62.93%. 3,615 people sat it; 2,275 passed.
• B2 — 37.88%.
• C1 — 28.37%. 2,228 people sat it; 632 passed.

Across every level in 2024, 10,540 people sat and 5,470 passed — 51.90%.

What the numbers say

Three things stand out.

• B1 is where most people fail in absolute terms. The percentage is not the lowest, but the crowd is the largest: 1,340 people left the 2024 B1 sittings without a certificate. B1 is the level citizenship requires, so most of them come back.
• The higher the level, the steeper the drop. At C1 roughly one in three passes. That is not marker severity — a higher level asks for different language: argument, register, precision.
• The numbers move. In 2023 the B1 pass rate was 53.51%; in 2024 it was 62.93%. C1 went from 30.41% to 28.37%.

Why people fail

A pass needs two things at once: at least 60% of the total and no part scored zero. In practice that means one weak part — usually writing or speaking — sinks a paper whose listening and reading were fine. Neither of those two parts can be fixed by learning more words.

The other recurring reason is time. The written part runs two hours at B1 and three hours fifteen at C1, with no break, and it is written by hand. Anyone who has never done a full-length paper against the clock finds that out on the day.

What to do with this

The statistics tell you how many people passed. They do not tell you whether you will. Only a full-length timed paper answers that. Sit a mock and read the result part by part: if one part sits clearly below the others, you know exactly what to practise next.

Figures are from Harno's published proficiency-exam statistics. See also how the exam is structured.