A1 Movers preparation
Cambridge A1 Movers: What Level It Is, and How to Use the Official Word List
Movers is the second of the three Cambridge Young Learners (YLE) levels, at CEFR A1: one step above Starters and one below Flyers. The first thing to get hold of is Cambridge's own word list, which is free, so you should not have to buy it from anyone. The two links below go straight to the files on Cambridge's site. After that, this page explains what level Movers is, what the list looks like, which topic groups get new words at Movers, the rules Cambridge states precisely for numbers and names, and the free official sample papers.
Both files are on cambridgeenglish.org, linked from Cambridge's A1 Movers preparation page, and were confirmed downloadable on 6 October 2026. The first covers Starters, Movers and Flyers; the second is a picture book for learning words from images.
What level is Movers?
Movers sits at A1 on the Common European Framework of Reference (CEFR), the middle of the three Young Learners levels. yle.tw, one of the Cambridge exam centres in Taiwan, gives these suggestions for the three levels on its registration page:
| Level | CEFR | Suggested study time | Words | Suggested for |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| Starters | Pre A1 | 150+ hours (about 1 year) | about 500 | age 7+, lower primary |
| Movers | A1 | 250+ hours (about 2 years) | about 900 | age 8 to 10+, lower and middle primary |
| Flyers | A2 | 350+ hours (about 3 years) | about 1,400 | age 9 to 12+, middle and upper primary and junior high |
Study hours, word counts and ages are yle.tw's suggestions (read on 6 October 2026), not Cambridge rules. yle.tw's registration page labels Starters "Before A1"; Cambridge's name for the same level is Pre A1.
Movers has three papers: Listening, Reading and Writing, and Speaking, with Speaking done one-on-one with an examiner. There is no pass or fail; each paper earns 1 to 5 shields. Cambridge's guidance is that 4 or 5 shields in each skill means a child can start preparing for the next Cambridge English Qualification, which after Movers is Flyers. For reading the shields, see how YLE shields work; for the whole ladder from Starters to C2, see Cambridge English levels.
What the list actually looks like
The Movers list is a single alphabetical list, each word followed by a grammar label. Cambridge uses 12 labels: n noun, v verb, adj adjective, adv adverb, prep preposition, conj conjunction, det determiner, pron pronoun, poss possessive, int interrogative, excl exclamation, and dis discourse marker (words like oh, well and please). It starts like this:
| Word | Grammar label |
|---|---|
| above | prep |
| address | n |
| afraid | adj |
| after | prep |
| age | n |
| all | adj + adv + det + pron |
| all right | adj + adv |
| along | prep |
| always | adv |
| another | det + pron |
| any | det + pron |
| app | n |
Those are the first 12 entries of the Movers list, in Cambridge's order. For the list itself, download the official PDF above. We do not republish Cambridge's wordlist here.
Do the Starters words still count?
One thing to know first: the alphabetical Movers list only shows the words and uses that are new at Movers. The first entries, above, address and afraid, all start at Movers, while Starters words like apple and arm are not on it; and at, a preposition of place at Starters, only gets its time meaning at Movers. The same PDF also has a combined Starters and Movers list, with every word marked S (first appears at Starters) or M (first appears at Movers).
Our reading is that the Starters words are still in scope at Movers. Cambridge went to the trouble of combining the two levels into one list and marks each word by the level where it first appears, so when we teach Movers we treat the Starters words as already required, and use the M markers to find what is new and spend the time there first. That is our reading of the document rather than a Cambridge statement, so download it and judge for yourself.
The 20 topic groups: where the new Movers words are
The same PDF contains a thematic list that sorts the vocabulary of all three levels into 20 groups, each split into Starters, Movers and Flyers columns. For learning, the thematic list beats the alphabetical one: alphabetical order puts aunt next to awake, thematic order puts aunt with daughter and uncle, and it is the second that sticks. A tick marks the groups that contain new Movers words:
| Animals | ✓ | Numbers | ✓ |
| The body and the face | ✓ | Places & directions | ✓ |
| Clothes | ✓ | School | ✓ |
| Colours | none | Sports & leisure | ✓ |
| Family & friends | ✓ | Time | ✓ |
| Food & drink | ✓ | Toys | ✓ |
| Health | ✓ | Transport | ✓ |
| The home | ✓ | Weather | ✓ |
| Materials | none | Work | ✓ |
| Names | ✓ | The world around us | ✓ |
Two examples worth starting with. Health has no words at all at Starters; it starts at Movers with 18: cold, cough, cry, dentist, doctor, earache, fall, fine, headache, hospital, ill, matter, nurse, sick, stomach-ache, temperature, tired, toothache (Flyers adds a few more, such as bandage and medicine). Weather is just sun at Starters; Movers adds cloud, cloudy, ice, rain, rainbow, sky, snow, sunny, weather, wind, windy. The other way round, Colours and Materials have no new words at Movers.
Group names exactly as Cambridge prints them. Ticks follow the Movers column of Cambridge's thematic list (read on 6 October 2026).
Numbers and names at Movers: the two parts you can actually finish
Most of a word list has no clear finishing line. These two do, and Cambridge states them precisely, so they are worth clearing first:
- Numbers: Movers candidates are expected to understand and write 21 to 100 and ordinals 1st to 20th. The Movers column of the thematic list also includes hundred and pair. For comparison, Starters is the letters of the alphabet and 1 to 20, and Flyers is 101 to 1,000 plus ordinals 21st to 31st.
- Names: Cambridge lists the 15 names candidates are expected to "recognise and write": Charlie, Clare, Daisy, Fred, Jack, Jane, Jim, Julia, Lily, Mary, Paul, Peter, Sally, Vicky, Zoe. Make sure your child can hear and spell each one.
Both are small and have a finishing line, and clearing them removes a real source of dropped marks in Listening and Writing.
Free official sample papers
Cambridge's Movers preparation page links two free volumes of official sample papers, covering Starters, Movers and Flyers: sample papers volume 1 and volume 2 (both PDFs). In the last month before the exam, practising the format with these is worth more than learning new words.
A practical way to work through it
- Make sure the Starters words are secure. Run through the S-marked words in the combined list and pull out the ones your child does not know.
- Clear numbers and names. They have a finishing line; done is done.
- One or two topic groups a week. New Movers words fall into 18 groups. Numbers and Names are done in step 2, which leaves 16: about three to four months at one a week, about two months at two. Toys has only one new word (model), so fold it into another week. Health, which has no Starters words at all, is a good place to start.
- Say every word out loud at least once. Movers has a Speaking paper; a word your child only recognises on paper will not arrive on the day.
- Every fourth week, test back over earlier groups. What survives the test is what was actually learned.
- Spend the last month on the official sample papers, not new words. By then the gap is in how questions are asked, not in vocabulary.
Not sure which level your child should sit? Starters, Movers or Flyers walks through it. The lists one level down and one level up are on our Starters word list and Flyers word list pages. Dates, deadlines and fees are on Cambridge exam dates.
Parents often ask
What level is Cambridge A1 Movers?
Movers is CEFR A1, the second of the three Cambridge Young Learners levels: one step above Starters (Pre A1) and one below Flyers (A2). yle.tw, one of the Cambridge exam centres in Taiwan, suggests 250+ hours of study and about 900 words, for children aged 8 to 10 and up, in lower and middle primary. Those are yle.tw's suggestions, not Cambridge rules.
Where can I download the Movers word list, and is it free?
It is free. Cambridge publishes the Starters, Movers and Flyers word lists in one PDF that anyone can download, plus a free A1 Movers wordlist picture book. The two links at the top of this page go straight to the files on Cambridge's site, so there is no need to buy a "complete word list" from anyone.
How many words does my child need for Movers?
We did not find a word count anywhere in Cambridge's wordlist PDF, so we do not give an exact figure. yle.tw gives about 900 words as the vocabulary for Movers; that is yle.tw's figure, not a count of Cambridge's Movers list, so treat it as a rough guide. More useful than the number: make sure the Starters words are secure, then work through the new Movers words one topic at a time.
What is the difference between Movers and Flyers?
Flyers is one level up, at CEFR A2. The word lists show it directly: numbers go from 21 to 100 at Movers to 101 to 1,000 at Flyers, and ordinals from 1st to 20th to 21st to 31st. All three levels test Listening, Reading and Writing, and Speaking, and all three report shields. For choosing a level, see Starters, Movers or Flyers.
Are there official Movers sample papers?
Yes, and they are free. Cambridge's preparation pages offer two volumes of official sample papers covering Starters, Movers and Flyers; the links are in the "Free official sample papers" section of this page.
After the words comes the speaking
PLI's Cambridge YLE classes hold four students at most, so every child is called on many times a lesson, and the words on the list get used rather than looked at. In KET, PET and FCE, the Cambridge exams that do have a pass mark, every PLI student has passed to date. The free 45-minute trial doubles as an assessment and will tell you how far your child is from Movers.
Book a Free 45-Minute Trial Lesson
One message on LINE is all it takes. Tell us your child's age and goals, and Teacher Matt will reply personally, usually the same day. The free trial doubles as a full level assessment. No lock-in contracts, and places are limited.