Everything on this page comes from Inep, the Brazilian government body that runs the exam: its exam pages, the Documento-base do Exame Celpe-Bras and the question papers of recent years. Dates and fees change with each edition, so check the official notice (edital) before you register.
What it is
Celpe-Bras (Certificado de Proficiência em Língua Portuguesa para Estrangeiros) is the only certificate of Portuguese as a foreign language recognised by the Brazilian government. Brazilian universities ask for it from foreign students, it is used to validate foreign professional diplomas, and it is one of the proofs of Portuguese accepted for naturalisation. Each institution decides which level it wants and for how long it accepts the result, so ask yours.
Anyone whose first language isn't Portuguese can take it. Everyone sits the same paper; your level comes from how well you do.
When and where
The exam is held twice a year at accredited centres: universities in Brazil, and embassies, cultural centres and universities abroad.
| Edition | Registration | Exam |
|---|---|---|
| First of the year | late February to early March | late April |
| Second of the year | late July to early August | October in Brazil, November abroad |
Those were the dates in 2026. You register on Inep's Celpe-Bras system and pay the centre you choose. Each centre sets its fee up to a ceiling; in 2026 that was about R$ 259 in Brazil and about US$ 120 abroad. Places at each centre are limited.
The registration questionnaire matters. When you register you answer questions about yourself: your work, your interests, why you're learning Portuguese. The examiner reads your answers before the oral part and uses them for the first five minutes. Fill it in with detail, and keep a copy.
The written part
Three hours, four tasks, one text of about a page for each.
| Task | You start from | What it tests | Time |
|---|---|---|---|
| Tarefa 1 | a video, shown twice | listening, reading the image, writing | 30 minutes, the showings included |
| Tarefa 2 | an audio, played twice | listening, writing | Tarefas 2, 3 and 4 share 2 hours 30 minutes |
| Tarefa 3 | a written text | reading, writing | |
| Tarefa 4 | a written text | reading, writing |
How the morning runs:
- The video plays twice. You can take notes. You write Tarefa 1.
- At 30 minutes, everyone stops for the Tarefa 2 audio, which also plays twice.
- From then on you manage your own time, and you can go back to Tarefa 1.
Every task tells you who you are, who you're writing to, why, and what kind of text to write: an e-mail to a mayor as a former student of an NGO, an article for a newspaper as a journalist, an open letter to city managers as a citizen. The facts come from the source. The words must be yours.
The rules of the page
- Black ballpoint pen with a transparent body. Pencil or correction fluid annuls the text.
- Each task has a draft page in the question booklet and its own space in the answer booklet. Only what is in that space is marked.
- Handwriting must be readable. Crossings-out are accepted if the text stays clear.
- Your name goes on the cover only.
The oral part
Twenty minutes, face to face, recorded. One examiner talks with you; a second one listens and marks.
| Minutes | What happens |
|---|---|
| 5 | A conversation about you, from your registration questionnaire |
| 15 | Three cards (elementos provocadores), 5 minutes each |
A card is a page from Brazilian media: a headline, a short text and an image, a cartoon or a chart. You get about a minute to read it silently. Then the examiner asks "De que trata o material?" and follows a script that nearly always moves the same way: what the card is about, how the image and the text relate, your opinion, your own experience, how things are in your country, how they are in Brazil.
The examiner is told to help you if you don't understand the card, and to judge how you talk, never your opinions.
How it is marked
Written part. Each text gets one mark from 0 to 5 from two examiners working separately; a third reads it if they differ by more than a point. Your written score is the average of the four tasks.
| Mark | What the text does |
|---|---|
| 5 | Sets up the right writer and reader in the kind of text asked, and does the job. The needed facts, in the writer's own words. Clear and connected. Slips rarely slow the reader. |
| 4 | The same, but a gap or a slip weakens it in one or two places. |
| 3 | Does the job in the right kind of text, with flaws: facts missing, wrong or loosely connected; language sometimes in the way. |
| 2 | Does the job only on the surface: the reader is not quite the one asked, a smaller purpose is missed, or parts read like another kind of text. |
| 1 | Stays on the subject but ignores the situation, or seriously misreads the source. |
| 0 | Doesn't do the task, writes about something else, copies the source, or is too short to judge. |
Grammar and vocabulary are not marked on their own. They count as far as they help or hurt the text doing its job.
Oral part. The examiner who talks to you gives one overall mark from 0 to 5. The observer gives six marks, weighted like this:
| What is marked | Weight |
|---|---|
| Understanding, interaction and fluency | 50% together |
| Vocabulary and grammar | 42% together |
| Pronunciation | 8% |
Your oral score is the average of the two examiners. The top marks describe someone who develops their answers, helps the conversation along, rarely needs a question repeated, and gets out of trouble in Portuguese (by rephrasing or correcting themselves) and not by switching language. An accent is expected, even at the top mark. Speaking very slowly to avoid mistakes counts against fluency.
The levels
| Level | Score |
|---|---|
| Avançado Superior | 4,26 to 5,00 |
| Avançado | 3,51 to 4,25 |
| Intermediário Superior | 2,76 to 3,50 |
| Intermediário | 2,00 to 2,75 |
| No certificate | 0 to 1,99 |
The lower score is your level. The written and oral scores are not averaged. To get a certificate you need at least 2,00 in both.
Inep gives no official equivalence with the European levels (A1 to C2). Schools often treat Intermediário as about B1, Intermediário Superior as B2, Avançado as C1 and Avançado Superior as C2. Take that as a rough guide.
Results come out about two months after the exam, on Inep's site and in the Diário Oficial da União. There is no appeal or re-marking; the only way to change a result is to sit a later edition.
On the day
- Your passport, or an original photo ID valid in the country where you take the exam.
- A black ballpoint pen with a transparent body. Take two.
- Arrive at least 30 minutes early. Find the building the day before if you can.
- Your phone goes switched off into a sealed envelope under your chair. No dictionary, no notes.
- The oral part may be on a different day of the same week. Your centre tells you when.
Real past papers
Every paper since 1998 is public, with its videos, audios, oral cards and the examiners' scripts, in the Acervo Celpe-Bras kept by the Federal University of Rio Grande do Sul. Inep's own page is gov.br/inep: Celpe-Bras. This course uses its own tasks, written in the same format, and sends you to the real papers in its last week.