Introduction
You have got 90 minutes to write two texts. Each text must be about 220-260 words long (begin to see the relevant questions section in the bottom when you yourself have concerns in regards to the word count). Part 1 is obviously an essay, whilst in part 2 you have a selection of 3 tasks (letter/email; proposal; report; review).
The examiners assess you on 4 elements:
- Content – Did you are doing the task you were asked to do?
- Communicative achievement – Do you use the right tone and standard of formality?
- Organisation – Did you link paragraphs together? Can there be a flow that is logical?
- Language – Do you show your sparkling vocabulary off or did you merely use First Certificate words? Did you make plenty of grammar mistakes?
Before you maintain with this particular guide, I strongly recommend you read about this free tool that will help you with your writing:
Just last year I decided Grammarly, a writing that is free, wasn’t useful – this is basically the story of how one Russian student convinced us to change my mind.
Time management
You’ve got 90 minutes to publish 2 texts. Both texts will soon be in regards to the same length, and tend to be worth the exact same quantity of points. Obviously, you should spend the same amount of time on each! Personally, I would spend as much time planning that you can, because it makes everything else easier. The time that is exact will depend on how fast you write, but try something like this:
- Planning – 10 minutes (i have made a video concerning the planning process https://eliteessaywriters.com – it is in section 8 below.)
- Writing – 25 minutes
- Checking – ten full minutes
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A lot of students hate planning and think it’s a waste of valuable exam time. But do chefs walk into a kitchen and just start cooking? Of course not – they lay out their ingredients, make certain their utensils are clean, and also their recipe nearby.
Your plan may be the recipe you’ll use to cook up a piece that is great of. Think about how paragraphs that are many want then acquire some ideas concerning the content of every. But even only at that early stage you should start planning the language you wish to use. Ask yourself questions like:
- Where can I use a form that is passive?
- Where can an inversion is used by me?
- What CAE-level vocabulary do i understand about this topic, and where can it is used by me?
- How can I link from one paragraph to another location?
Thinking about solutions before you begin writing is the easiest way to fix problems!
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The thing that is first’re assessed on is your content. That basically means reading the task carefully and doing what you’re told to do! In part 1 you might be given three bullet points but they are asked to share TWO of them. (You’re also given some opinions on the topic if you would like, however you need not. which you can use) listed here is an example of the three bullet points and a task:
If I were planning my answer, I would probably choose ‘giving rules’ and ‘setting an example’ as my two points because I feel like I have more to say about those topics. (simply how much would I write about ‘offering advice’? Nothing! Because i will only come up with a couple of things!)
Another point that is important to state which is more efficient. I would probably write one paragraph about ‘giving rules’, therefore the paragraph that is next be about ‘setting an example’ – I would personally make sure to give reasons why it absolutely was a far more efficient way to influence younger people.
How about part 2? Again, it’s important to see the question carefully and also make sure you include everything it orders you to.
Listed here is the kind of task which will come up:
Listed here is a plan you could follow:
- Intro
- Evaluation of this programme
- The most useful parts of the programme
- Suggested changes for next year
- Summary
Not so imaginative, you’d be guaranteed to get marks that are full terms of content!
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Which is better English:
Dear Sir or Madam
Well, it depends whom you’re talking to! When your task is to write a written report for your ‘serious’ organisation you should use a tone that is formal. If you’re writing a magazine article for teenagers you can be more informal.
This really is an enormous topic and there is not enough room to get into it in detail here. I’ll list a few external resources that can help, but a good coursebook will offer you a lot of guidance.
The main tip is usually to be consistent – students often write a written report that is 95% formal, and then throw in a few exclamation points, slang, contractions, and informal vocabulary. That is bad! You be suggested by it do not have control of your tone.
Learn more about formal vs informal English:
Task types
You ought to invest some right time making certain you understand the essential difference between a letter and an essay, and between a written report and a proposal. Here are some tips that are quick
Essay
You ought to give your opinion in an interesting way. CAE essays are often academic in tone, so practice of formal writing will be helpful.
Letter/email
Write an email because of the same opening/closing as a letter. During these you come up with your experiences that are personal. Your writing will have a purpose, like responding to a newspaper article that you don’t agree with.
Report/Proposal
Use headings for every paragraph. The job will let you know a number of the content you ought to include and you’ll be able to utilize your imagination to add even more ideas. You might be asked to gauge if some goal has been achieved and/or to suggest alternative courses of action. A proposal may have more scope in making suggestions and more dependence on polite persuasive language.
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Cambridge love linking words and devices that are cohesive. These are items of text like ‘firstly’, ‘whereas’, ‘in addition’, ‘however’, and so forth. Properly used, they shall create your writing flow and then make your text better to read. You can’t do well in CAE without the need for these phrases.
Here is a page with a few ideas about cohesive devices – you will need to include them in your writing. Here is a different one with strategies for the IELTS exam.
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Organising a text, using linking words, and getting all of the content points is a start that is great but also for a top grade you’ll want to use advanced vocabulary and more difficult sentence structures.
When you look at the planning stage regarding the exam think about which words that are high-level know for that topic and think in which paragraph you need to use them. For instance, if the subject is approximately transport you may use phrases like ‘mass transit system’, ‘to commute’, ‘congestion,’ and ‘pressed for time’.
Then you need to use a variety of structures – passives, inversions, cleft sentences, questions, sentences with semi-colons. The greater variety the greater!
Also many different sentence lengths. This picture explains what I mean:
So in the place of writing such as this:
Lots of politicians say they are going to improve bus and train services. Having trains is wonderful for those who have to go to work. It indicates they don’t need to use the motor car be effective. It is probably faster. If everyone takes a train to focus there won’t be any traffic jams.
You are able to produce this:
How come progressive politicians pledge to prov >mass transit systems inside their cities? The solution is obvious: Not only do pressed-for-time commuters benefit, but there is however also less pollution. Let congestion be a thing of history; let flowers bloom next to every tram stop.
In those three sentences there is one question; one colon; one semi-colon; one ‘not only but additionally’; one imperative. Pretty good, right? You are able to write such as this if you practice and if you’re not afraid which will make some mistakes along the way.