This qualification has been designed to meet the needs of complete beginners in a language or students who would be unlikely to achieve a grade at GCSE. Entry Level certificates would also be suitable for students who have received at least part of their teaching in special schools or departments of special educational needs. Certificates of Achievement courses are offered in a range of languages by different awarding bodies.

Entry Level Certificates may be run over one or two years and may provide a progression route to GCSE or other level 1 or Level 2 qualification.

There are three pass grades (Entry 1, Entry 2 and Entry 3) which are broadly equivalent to the requirements for National Curriculum Levels 1, 2 and 3 and recognise a level of achievement below that of a grade G at GCSE.

This course replaces the Certificate of Achievement (CoA) Modern Foreign Languages course offered by some awarding bodies.

It is designed to be co-teachable with the corresponding GCSE offered by the awarding body in question.

The course covers topics taken from the five Contexts for GCSE Modern Foreign Languages. For each of the topics there is a Listening, Speaking, reading and writing test and awarding body will provide assessment tasks. Some awarding bodies allow schools to develop some tasks of their own in addition to those provided.

Teachers may choose to carry out assessment as and when appropriate. Tests are marked by the teacher and a sample moderated by the awarding body.