CCL guides

NAATI CCL Test Format and Structure Explained

Updated 7 September 2026 · facts checked against NAATI and Home Affairs pages on that date

Most of what makes the CCL hard is structural rather than linguistic. The vocabulary is community-level, but the format gives you one pass at a 35-word chunk, five seconds to start, one free repeat per dialogue and a hard ceiling on total speaking time. Knowing the shape of the test is the difference between practising hard and practising the right thing. You can try one full dialogue in the same shape, free and AI-marked, at /practice.

The overall shape

The CCL test requires you to interpret two pre-recorded conversations, known as dialogues, between two people: a native English speaker and a native speaker of the language other than English (LOTE). Each dialogue will be about a different topic.

There is no sight translation, no written component and no live interlocutor. You are listening to a recording and speaking into a microphone while a proctoring system records you. The test is available online only.

Each dialogue is worth 45 marks, for 90 marks in total. NAATI assesses using a mark deduction method: each test begins with 90 marks, and marks are taken off if you make errors, with each error costing a different number of marks depending on how much it impacts the overall communication.

Inside one dialogue

Each dialogue is approximately 300 words, or a few minutes of audio recording, with about half in English and half in the LOTE.

That balance is the point of the test. You are not interpreting in one direction. You will be moving from English into your other language and from your other language into English inside the same conversation, and the marks are on both directions. NAATI requires accurate comprehension and production in both English and the other test language, and the test requires upper intermediate skills in both, equivalent to B2 on the Common European Framework of Reference for Languages.

A useful consequence: whichever language you are weaker in will set your score, not the one you are fluent in. NAATI's own preparation advice says to immerse yourself in the language in which you are least confident.

Segments, chimes and the five-second rule

The dialogues are divided into short segments of 35 words or less, which make up the conversation. After each segment has played, a chime will sound, and then you interpret what has been said.

Candidates must begin interpreting within five seconds of the chime sound. Long pauses may result in marks being deducted, particularly if it results in the total test recording going for longer than 20 minutes.

Thirty-five words is a short burst of natural speech. You hear it once, at conversational pace, and you are expected to reproduce all of the information in the other language. This is why note-taking matters and why the note rules matter: you may take notes with a pen and loose sheets of paper, you cannot bring existing notes, and no typing of notes or electronic resources such as dictionaries, web browsing or live caption features are permitted. The full set of in-test rules is in the rules, repeats, notes and pauses guide.

The 20-minute limit, and what counts towards it

Your test performance must be less than 20 minutes. NAATI defines that precisely: it includes the recordings of the dialogue segments and your performance only. The time taken to navigate between dialogues or segments, read instructions or upload your responses is not counted towards this time.

NAATI may stop assessing your test performance when the recording reaches 20 minutes if your test runs longer than that. Anything after the ceiling is at risk of simply not being marked.

Read that alongside the audio itself. Two dialogues of a few minutes each already consume a meaningful share of the 20 minutes before you have said a word. What is left is your speaking time plus every pause, hesitation and repeat. Time pressure in the CCL is not a stopwatch you race; it is a budget you spend by hesitating.

Start and Finish attempt: how a repeat works

Each segment is played through a Start button, and you end your attempt with Finish attempt. That is also the mechanism for a repeat: if you do not understand a segment and need to repeat it, press "Finish attempt" then press the "Start" button again, and the whole segment will replay.

The cost is defined. You can only repeat one segment per dialogue without penalty. If you repeat more than one segment per dialogue, marks will be deducted from your score. NAATI lists excessive repeats among the things candidates should pay particular attention to.

Practically, that gives you one insurance policy per dialogue, which is worth saving for a segment that is genuinely dense rather than spending on the first sentence you find awkward.

The topics you can be given

Each dialogue is about a different topic which reflects real-life situations in Australian society. NAATI lists the topics that may come up:

• business
• consumer affairs
• employment
• health
• immigration and settlement
• legal
• community
• education
• financial
• housing
• insurance
• social services

These are not academic subjects. They are the conversations that happen at a clinic reception, a real estate office, a Centrelink counter or a workplace meeting. The Australian institutions inside them are where most of the marks quietly go, because there is often no clean equivalent word in the other language. Our glossary at /terms/ covers the recurring ones, including Medicare, bulk billing, Centrelink, bond for housing, excess for insurance and Fair Work for employment. The domains and topics guide goes through what each topic looks like in practice.

How the format converts into marks

NAATI groups the deductions into three areas, and each one maps onto a feature of the format:

NAATI also names language register directly: matching the formality of the speaker when you transfer the meaning of what they say to the other person. If the English speaker is a doctor speaking plainly and the LOTE speaker is anxious and informal, the registers are different and both should survive the transfer. The full marking picture, including the pass and fail examples NAATI publishes, is in the scoring and pass mark guide.

Direct speech, not reported speech

One format rule catches out candidates who have interpreted informally for family. Direct speech, or speaking in the first person, is more common and acceptable in both formal settings (legal, medical and law enforcement scenarios) and informal community interpreting. Indirect speech or third-person style is not acceptable in interpreting.

NAATI's examples make the distinction concrete. Direct: "I'm asking local residents how we can improve our park facilities." Indirect: "The councillor said to the residents, 'How can we improve our park facilities?'" Direct: "We had to spend 10 hours at the airport to get a connecting flight." Indirect: "They said that they had to spend 10 hours at the airport to get a connecting flight."

If you interpret a sentence or a segment in indirect speech, marks may be deducted. If you interpret the entire dialogue or dialogues in indirect speech, your test may be invalidated.

Where the test runs

All CCL tests are delivered online on a testing platform called Televic, and NAATI uses an online proctoring program called ProctorExam to make sure all tests are valid and are sat by the correct person. Test times are scheduled at Australian Eastern Time.

The platform imposes its own requirements: the latest version of Google Chrome, the ProctorExam Chrome extension, a laptop or computer with a working camera, in-built microphone and speakers, and a phone or tablet as a second camera. No headsets, headphones or earphones are allowed, which means you will be hearing the dialogue through your speakers and speaking into your built-in microphone. Practise that way. The full list is in the equipment and setup guide.

Practising the format, not just the language

If you take one thing from the structure, make it this: the constraint is retaining 35 words of unfamiliar detail and delivering them once, cleanly, in the other language, without stalling.

That is a specific skill and it responds to specific practice. NAATI suggests asking someone to read short passages of about 20 to 40 words and reproducing them as accurately as you can in the other language without taking notes, and recording yourself and playing it back to assess how well you conveyed the meaning.

Our free daily dialogue at /practice is built to the same specification: two speakers, segments of 35 words or fewer, around 300 words per dialogue. The AI marking shows you per segment what you retained, omitted or distorted, which is the diagnosis that matters for this format. The score is our model's estimate, not a NAATI result, and it cannot be used to claim migration points. The languages available are listed at /languages.

Frequently asked questions

How many dialogues are in the NAATI CCL test?

Two. The CCL test requires you to interpret two pre-recorded conversations, known as dialogues, between a native English speaker and a native speaker of the language other than English. Each dialogue is about a different topic.

How long is each NAATI CCL dialogue?

Each dialogue is approximately 300 words, or a few minutes of audio recording, with about half in English and half in the LOTE. The dialogues are divided into short segments of 35 words or less.

How long does the NAATI CCL test take?

Your test performance must be less than 20 minutes. That covers the recordings of the dialogue segments and your performance only. Time spent navigating between dialogues or segments, reading instructions or uploading your responses is not counted.

How many marks is the NAATI CCL test out of?

Each dialogue is worth 45 marks, for 90 marks in total. To pass you must achieve a score of 63 or more, and at least 29 marks in each dialogue. NAATI marks using a mark deduction method, starting from 90.

What happens after each segment plays?

After each segment has played, a chime will sound, and then you interpret what has been said. Candidates must begin interpreting within five seconds of the chime. Long pauses may result in marks being deducted, particularly if the total recording runs longer than 20 minutes.

What platform is the NAATI CCL test delivered on?

All CCL tests are delivered online on a testing platform called Televic. NAATI uses an online proctoring program called ProctorExam to make sure all tests are valid and are sat by the correct person.

Can I repeat a segment in the CCL test?

Yes. If you do not understand a segment, press 'Finish attempt' then press the 'Start' button again and the whole segment will replay. You can only repeat one segment per dialogue without penalty; if you repeat more than one segment per dialogue, marks will be deducted.

Should I interpret in the first person?

Yes. NAATI states that direct speech, or speaking in the first person, is more common and acceptable in both formal and informal interpreting settings, and that indirect or third-person style is not acceptable. Marks may be deducted for indirect speech, and your test may be invalidated if you interpret the entire dialogues that way.

Sources

• NAATI, Credentialed Community Language (CCL) Test
• NAATI, CCL Test Candidate Instructions
• NAATI, Language Policy for CCL Tests

Facts checked against NAATI and Home Affairs pages on 7 September 2026.

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