John Murphy

I was born in 1951 in Liverpool, England. I graduated with a degree in History and Politics from Warwick University in 1974, and then obtained a post-graduate teaching certificate in English and communication. 

I began teaching English as a foreign language in 1978, and became the Course Director at the Swan School, Stratford upon Avon in 1986. There, as well as teaching general English, I taught and designed training courses for non-native teachers of English. I obtained yet another teaching certificate, the RSA Diploma, in 1990.

Since 1984, I have become increasingly involved in English language testing and examination development and have worked as a senior examiner and writer for OUDLES (University of Oxford), UCLES (University of Cambridge) and Edexcel (University of London). I have always been a strong believer in examinations that stimulate students and try to reward them rather than penalize them.

Over the last three years, I have concentrated more and more on materials development. As a hobby, I have always been interested in writing. As well as writing bad poetry when I was a teenager, I have produced work for BBC Radio and have completed a number of movie scripts. I am now putting these skills to a more practical use by writing English teaching videos and language skills books.

When I’m not writing, I now work at the Center for English Language Teaching, University of Warwick, where I teach academic skills to non-native post-graduate students.

I do hope you enjoy Skyline and that you find the practice tests interesting (and not too difficult!).