TOLES Advanced
Legal English measured against native-speaker standards.
TOLES Advanced is our highest level, built for lawyers and professionals whose work demands genuine fluency with complex, authentic legal documents, at a standard equivalent to a native English speaker.
Advanced
THE Advanced EXAM
All about the exam
The exam is 120 minutes and includes 30 free-text response questions, a significant step up in both length and demand from Higher.
Our 18-hour course, online or in person, is drafting-intensive by design, with substantial instructor feedback time built into every session, since free-text responses are the one part of this exam that self-study genuinely cannot prepare you for.
The Advanced Exam is the third and final step in your successful professional development with TOLES. It has been created and developed in consultation with leading commercial law firms and is considered to be the gold standard of legal English achievement.
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
advanced
21 January 2027
advanced
18 March 2027
advanced
20 May 2027
advanced
24 June 2027
advanced
19 August 2027
advanced
18 November 2027
advanced
▪ Price £195.00 for 2026 exams ▪ Price £205.00 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 Advanced exam level. This candidate:
81–100%
EXCELLENT legal English skills at Advanced exam level. This candidate:
- has a near-native knowledge of specific, commercial legal vocabulary and is likely to be up to date on ideas for reform and modernisation in the field of legal English;
- has an excellent awareness of the appropriateness of different styles and register, and is able to actively use this knowledge in everyday work situations;
- is likely to be an excellent translator of legal documents from English into their own native language;
- produces excellent written work, which is highly accurate and grammatically correct, even under intensive time pressure.
BAND TWO
61-80%
VERY GOOD legal English skills at Advanced exam level. This candidate:
61-80%
VERY GOOD legal English skills at Advanced exam level. This candidate:
- has a well-above average knowledge of specific, commercial legal vocabulary and a very good understanding of how to use legal terminology in written documents;
- has a strong awareness of different styles and register and is able to recognise essential differences in the appropriateness of style in a variety of legal documents;
- is a very good and reliable translator of legal documents from English into their own native language;
- produces written work of a very high standard under intense pressure of time, with few errors.
BAND THREE
41-60%
SATISFACTORY legal English skills at Advanced exam level. This candidate:
41-60%
SATISFACTORY legal English skills at Advanced exam level. This candidate:
- has a good knowledge of specific, commercial legal vocabulary and has successfully made the challenging jump from intermediate to advanced level legal English;
- has a good awareness of appropriateness of different styles and register and is unlikely to make significant style errors in legal drafting;
- is a promising legal translator, and is often able to self-correct errors in writing and speaking;
- produces good written work under intense pressure of time but needs some support, as there are likely to be some errors.
BAND FOUR
1-40%
LESS THAN SATISFACTORY legal English skills at Advanced exam level. This candidate
1-40%
LESS THAN SATISFACTORY legal English skills at Advanced exam level. This candidate
- has some basic knowledge of specific, commercial legal vocabulary and a basic understanding of how to use terminology in written legal documents;
- has an awareness of appropriateness of different styles and register in written and spoken legal English, but needs more experience in order to be able to put this knowledge to active use;
- is sensitive to the requirements of translating accurately but does not yet have the skills to be able to do so;
- cannot yet produce accurate written work under intense time pressure and needs more time to learn about the structure, style and accuracy required for legal documents.
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.
