The ECCE exam is divided into four categories, three of which are written, and one which is oral. The written sections are Listening, GVR (Grammar, Vocabulary and Reading) and Writing. The oral section is Speaking. The first three sections are conducted on the same day, while the Listening section can be before, after, or on the same day of the written exam.

The total duration is three hours. The section on Speaking is fifteen minutes long and a structured oral interaction takes place between the candidate and this section’s examiner. Visual prompting is involved in this interaction. There are four stages for this part. The section on Listening is half an hour long and is split into two parts. The first part has multiple choice questions which must be answered based on short recorded conversations, and the choices are shown as pictures. There will be thirty such questions. The second part consists of twenty short extended talks on four topics, and each of them are followed by four to six questions.

The Writing section takes half an hour, and in this segment, a short excerpt from a memo, newspaper or letter is chosen as a topic for the test taker to write on, and the candidate can choose whether to write a letter or essay.

The GVR section consists of Grammar, Vocabulary and Reading. All three are multiple choice sections. In the Grammar segment, an incomplete sentence is presented, and the test taker has to choose the correct answer from a choice of words or phrases. In the Vocabulary section, a similar pattern as that of the Grammar section is followed. There are thirty-five questions each for the two sections.

The Reading segment is split into three parts, first which is a short exercise on reading comprehension, the second part involves advertisements with questions which follow it, and the last is a set of longer passages with comprehension questions following it. There are thirty questions for this section as well.