TOLES Foundation
The first step into legal English. No legal background required.
TOLES Foundation is the starting point for anyone building legal English from the ground up, whether you’re a law student, a recent graduate, or a professional who works alongside contracts without a legal qualification behind you. It requires little or no prior legal knowledge, and it’s the natural first level for our Westminster Legal Lab audience too.
Foundation
THE FOUNDATION EXAM
All about the exam
The exam itself is a single 90-minute paper, testing the technical vocabulary and grammar accuracy you’ll meet in real commercial deals, company documents, contracts, and intellectual property agreements.
Our 18-hour course, delivered online or in person, is built entirely around that paper: building your legal vocabulary from the ground up, with structured practice on the exact document types the exam draws from, and dedicated exam-technique sessions before you sit it.
The Foundation Exam is the first step in your successful professional development with TOLES. It is the recommended starting point in legal English training for international law students.
This may also be the correct starting point for more experienced lawyers who wish to begin training in professional legal English while continuing to develop English skills in general.
The focus of the exam is on testing the absolute linguistic accuracy required of lawyers in a modern international office. This means accuracy in two main areas: technical legal vocabulary and grammar.
Vocabulary from commercial deals, company documents, commercial contracts, intellectual property agreements, financial documents and forms of business are tested, as well as legal terminology from other areas.
The Foundation Exam has ten sections with 90 questions in total. The exam is marked out of 100 points and you have 90 minutes in which to complete it.
exam dates
Choose your exam date.
Westminster enrols students for the TOLES exam, so you can prepare with us and sit your exam through us, without arranging the two separately. The exam fee is paid to TOLES and is separate from the Westminster course fee.
19 November 2026
FOUNDATION
21 January 2027
FOUNDATION
18 March 2027
FOUNDATION
20 May 2027
FOUNDATION
24 June 2027
FOUNDATION
19 August 2027
FOUNDATION
18 November 2027
FOUNDATION
▪ Price £150.00 for 2026 exams ▪ Price £170.00 for 2027 exams
results & scoring
How your Foundation result is scored
TOLES is not a pass or fail exam. Results for all three TOLES exams are expressed as a percentage. Your certificate shows your score as a percentage, together with an explanation of what that score means within a score band. It acts as a genuine guide to your level of legal English at the time you take the exam.
BAND ONE
81–100%
EXCELLENT legal English skills at Foundation exam level. This candidate:
81–100%
EXCELLENT legal English skills at Foundation exam level. This candidate:
- can deal confidently and ably with all of the examination requirements listed in the syllabus;
- is competent to understand written legal English at Foundation exam level and has good strategies for coping with new language;
- has an excellent understanding of key legal English vocabulary within certain authentic legal documents;
- is ready to progress to the TOLES Higher examination.
BAND TWO
61-80%
VERY GOOD legal English skills at Foundation exam level. This candidate:
61-80%
VERY GOOD legal English skills at Foundation exam level. This candidate:
- can deal competently with many of the examination requirements listed in the syllabus and would benefit greatly from more practice in their legal English studies;
- has made some excellent progress at understanding written legal English at this level;
- has a good understanding of key legal English vocabulary within certain authentic legal documents;
- is almost ready to progress to the TOLES Higher examination.
BAND THREE
41-60%
SATISFACTORY legal English skills at Foundation exam level. This candidate:
41-60%
SATISFACTORY legal English skills at Foundation exam level. This candidate:
- is quite challenged by the examination requirements listed in the syllabus. They have a basic grasp of the skills tested in the examination but need to focus on developing a good legal English vocabulary and on achieving better accuracy in use of grammar;
- has made a start at understanding legal English at Foundation exam level but requires a significant amount of further study;
- has a basic understanding of legal vocabulary at this level but some key terminology is lacking;
- requires significant further study at Foundation exam level before progressing to the TOLES Higher examination.
BAND FOUR
1-40%
LESS THAN SATISFACTORY legal English skills at Foundation exam level. This candidate
1-40%
LESS THAN SATISFACTORY legal English skills at Foundation exam level. This candidate
- is seriously challenged by the examination requirements listed in the syllabus. They have a poor grasp of the skills tested in the examination and need to focus on making a start in acquiring legal vocabulary and being more accurate in their use of grammar;
- needs to make a better start at understanding legal English at Foundation exam level and requires a significant amount of further study;
- has a poor understanding of legal vocabulary at this level with most key terminology lacking;
- requires significant further study at Foundation exam level before attempting the TOLES Foundation examination again.
Certificate
Getting your result and your certificate
You will get your TOLES exam result within 7 business days of taking an online exam. You will get your TOLES certificate sent to you within 30 days of taking an online exam.
