The present study explored data from a survey of students’ performance in English at theend of compulsory school in 6 European countries. The aim was to gain deeperknowledge of the internal structure of the test and to discuss similarities anddifferences between the different settings regarding patterns in language proficiency.The analyses, conducted by a factor analytic approach and 2-level structural equationmodelling (SEM) techniques, indicated an overall English achievement factor at bothstudent and school levels. Furthermore, an effect of format differences at the studentlevel, constituted by a factor related to tasks demanding constructed response, wasfound. Three correlated modality factors related to listening, linguistic, and readingskills were identified but not further elaborated on as they improved the model onlymodestly. Considerable differences in between-school variation were found in thedifferent settings. The results are discussed in relation to the instrument, studentachievements, and the state of English in the participating countries.