You have 80 minutes to write two texts. The first text will always be an essay and should be 140-190 words long. The second text can be an article, informal email or letter, a formal email or letter, a report, or a review and should be 140-190 words.
The examiners give you a grade based on 4 things:
The two texts are worth equal points and have the same word lengths, so you should spend equal time on them. That gives you 40 minutes per text. Spend some of that time planning and some checking. For example:
You might think that's too long for the planning stage, but the more you plan the fewer problems you will have later.
Many of my students hate the planning stage and like to just start writing as soon as possible. But the finished product is normally not very good. Imagine a chef in a restaurant - does he go into the kitchen and start throwing vegetables into pans? No - he gets a recipe and follows the plan!
So, take a deep breath, think about what you have to write, what you want to write, and how you can write it.
You can even start to think about good words you know, and advanced sentences that you can include.
Example: Before I started writing this page I listed all the sub-headings. I knew how I would start, and how I would finish. It's much easier to write with the structure already prepared.
Now let's look at what Cambridge cares about in your writing. The first point is the content itself. If you are asked to write a letter to your friend and you write a poem - well, it doesn't matter how good that poem is. Maybe you can write the best poem in the history of the world - the examiner will be impressed, and then give you zero points.
Here's a sample FCE writing task:
You have to write about pollution and the environment, and you have to include 3 points. 2 of those points must be transport, and rivers and seas. If you don't include transport you can't get full marks in the exam. If you don't write about damage to the environment, you can't get full marks.
READ THE TASK AND DO EXACTLY WHAT IT SAYS
The next thing Cambridge wants is for you to show that you understand about tone. In the previous example, you were asked to write an essay for your English teacher. How formal should that be? You're not writing to a lawyer so you don't have to be super formal, but you aren't writing to your best friend, so you shouldn't be too casual.
For that essay, you should use a neutral or slightly formal style.
That means you need to study how to write in different ways. Spot the difference in tone in this extracts from letters:
Guess what? I bunked off school and tramped up and down the beach all day. Great fun! I found some nearly-fresh muffins in a box, so that was lunch sorted. Free food! Niiiiiice.
I regret to inform you that we have taken the decision to suspend Jack from school for the next week. Not only did he fail to come to school today, but we received a call that he had stolen a container of confectionery from a local business.
In short, try to make sure that what you write is appropriate for the person you are writing to.
Cambridge love when you link sentences together with words like 'whereas' and 'however', and link paragraphs with phrases like 'Firstly, secondly'.
You must learn how to use these phrases if you want a good grade.
One easy way to get a higher score in 'organisation' is to ask a question, and then answer it.
Your writing will be more interesting and you'll get a better grade if you can use a wide variety of language. Use high-level vocabulary when you know it; don't repeat the same word too many times; don't make too many mistakes; try to use a variety of grammar (not just 'subject verb object' all the time).
You will be rewarded if you learn (and use) some appropriate phrasal verbs, idioms, and collocations. Compare these sentences:
1. The food was good and the service was good and we had a good time.
2. The food was delicious, while the service was faultless. Did we have a good time? Absolutely!
I hope you agree that the second is much nicer to read. Is it much harder to write? Not really. And if you don't know the word 'faultless' you might know a different word that would fit. Even if you said 'good' again, the sentence would get you a much better score in FCE because the 'while' connects the first two parts and the question connects the last two.
You have to write an essay, so this is the first thing you should learn to write. Essays are about giving information and your opinions, comparing and contrasting.
Title: Use a title at the top of your essay. The title should be interesting so that someone would want to read the article. Imagine two friends share a link on Facebook. Which are you more likely to click on?
Climate Change is Fake, and Here's Why
Most people would click on the second one! You don't have to be so provocative in your essay, but do try to make it interesting.
Structure: Use the task as the structure. In the example from question 4, you could have these paragraphs:
- Try to connect the title you have chosen with the conclusion. If you call your essay 'Climate Change is Fake!' you should end by saying 'and that's why climate change is not real.'
- You should write in a balanced way - don't only say that something is good or bad. Example:
'It's clear that pollution from cars is a big problem that should be looked at. The air in some cities is not fit for humans. But the car isn't totally a villain - it's also a symbol of freedom for many people. So we need a solution that lets people drive their cars, but without being too harmful. For example, electric cars let people get to work but are cleaner than diesel engines.'
- As a minimum, move from paragraph to paragraph by using phrases like 'firstly, secondly'. But try to learn some more advanced versions, too.
- There's more help in this article:
