Versant 4-Skills Essential and Writing Test: Practice Both on Mocko

September 09, 20264 MinutesVersant, Versant, Learning Resources

Table of Contents6 sections

Versant is not one exam. It is a family of computer-delivered English tests from Pearson, and the version you are sent depends entirely on who is asking. An employer screening for contact-centre work does not use the same paper as a law society, and a company checking written English does not use a speaking test at all.

That causes a specific, avoidable problem: people practise the wrong paper. Until now Mocko covered the English Placement Test, so if your invitation named a different Versant test, you were rehearsing a format you were never going to sit.

Two more are now live in the app: the English 4-Skills Essential Test and the English Writing Test.

English 4-Skills Essential: 70 items, about 30 minutes

This is the short four-skill paper. It covers speaking, listening, reading and writing in half an hour, which is why screening programmes like it. Our practice paper follows the published composition in delivery order:

Part A, Repeat — 16 items. You hear a sentence and say it back.
Part B, Sentence Builds — 8 items. Three word groups, in the wrong order, to be spoken as one sentence.
Part C, Conversations — 12 items. A short dialogue between two speakers, then a question about it.
Part D, Sentence Completion — 18 items. One typed word that fits the sentence.
Part E, Dictation — 14 items. Type the sentence exactly as you hear it.
Part F, Passage Reconstruction — 2 items. Read a short passage, then rebuild it from memory in your own words.

Four scores come out of it. Speaking is built from Repeat and Sentence Builds, listening from Conversations and Dictation, reading from Sentence Completion and Passage Reconstruction, and writing from Dictation and Passage Reconstruction. Several parts feed two skills at once, which is why a weak Dictation quietly costs you twice.

English Writing Test: 43 items, about 35 minutes, including two emails

This one is writing only, and it ends with the task most people are actually worried about: composing an email under time pressure.

Part A, Typing — 1 item. A typing-speed and accuracy warm-up.
Part B, Sentence Completion — 20 items. One word per sentence.
Part C, Dictation — 16 items. Type what you hear, spelling and punctuation included.
Part D, Passage Reconstruction — 4 items. Read, then rebuild the passage from memory.
Part E, Email Writing — 2 items. Nine minutes each, with a named recipient and three points you must cover.

The email tasks are graded on grammar, vocabulary, organisation, and voice and tone, and reading comprehension is judged from the reconstruction work. Your draft is saved as you type, and the nine-minute clock is held by the server, so reloading the page does not hand you a fresh nine minutes and does not lose what you wrote.

Which one should you practise?

Match the name on your invitation, not the one that sounds closest. The three we cover are distinct papers:

English Placement Test (VEPT) — the nine-part, 81-item paper, about 50 minutes, all four skills.
English 4-Skills Essential — six parts, 70 items, about 30 minutes, all four skills.
English Writing Test — five parts, 43 items, about 35 minutes, writing only.

When you start a full mock in the app there is now a selector asking which Versant test you are preparing for. The English Placement Test stays chosen by default, so nothing changes for anyone already practising it.

What the scores mean, and what they do not

Every score Mocko produces is a practice estimate designed to show you where you stand and what to fix. It is not an official Pearson score, it is not a certification, and no result here is reported to anyone. We are not affiliated with Pearson.

What you do get is a part-by-part breakdown: which parts fed which skill, what the expected answer was on the items with an exact key, and written feedback on the open-ended tasks. On the Writing Test that includes both of your emails, saved in full, with the rubric applied to each.

The honest limitations

Each new test currently has one practice form, so a retake repeats the same paper. More forms are coming; the English Placement Test already draws from a much larger bank.
The two new tests are full mock exams, and full mocks are part of a paid plan. Quick practice on the English Placement Test remains free.
We do not yet cover the Speaking and Listening Test or the Professional English Test. If that is the paper you were sent, tell us and it moves up the list.