[0:00]FCE students, I've got some good news. The good news is that the first part of the writing paper of the B2 First Cambridge English exam is easy.
[0:11]It's easy if you know the secret trick. The secret trick is basically to look at the task from the perspective of the examiner. So turn the tables. Put yourself in the shoes of the examiner. And I'm going to explain exactly how you can do that right now. Okay, let's do this.
[0:39]Now, first of all, you're going to need to know exactly what you have to do in this part of the exam. Now, part one of the the writing paper is an essay. You have no other option. So you know you're going to need to prepare for an essay. Um, and you must write between 140 and 190 words. Now, you will have about 40 minutes to do this part of the exam. You'll have 80 minutes in total for the writing to do two parts, so I recommend you divide your time equally. Some people prefer to dedicate more time to the essay, less time to part two, other people prefer to do it the other way. But I think 50/50 works for most people. Now, in this part of the exam, you will be given a title and two ideas. And you must give your opinions about this title using the ideas given and one idea of your own. So that's very important. You have to write about the title, don't forget that, but using all three ideas, the two ideas that you're given and one idea of your own. So you have to add another idea that you you come up with yourself. Now, as I said, we need to see this from the perspective of the examiner. That's how you're going to pass the exam, to really know what the examiners are looking for in order to get the best score possible. The examiners have a marking criteria, and there are basically four criteria that they look at, um, is the content, communicative achievement, organization and language. And when you understand exactly what you need to demonstrate in each of these criteria, you'll have a much better chance of of passing this part of the exam and getting the highest score possible. So, when looking at the content, the examiners are checking that all the content is relevant to the task and that the target reader is fully informed. Now, the target reader in this case is the teacher. When they say that the content is relevant to the task, it basically just means that you answer the question, or you write an essay about the title and including the ideas given and the extra idea that that you have come up with yourself. So that's quite simple. It it sounds simple, but believe it or not, some people when they're nervous and they're stressed about the exam, they actually forget to answer the question, they forget what they're writing about, or they go off on a tangent. Um, and don't realize until it's too late that they haven't really done the task that was asked of them. So, yeah, the content is very important, but it's quite simple if you stay focused. And communicative achievement. Now, here, the examiner is basically checking that the writing is appropriate to the task and that it uses the correct register. When we say register, we're talking about how formal or informal the composition is. Now, an essay is basically an academic writing, so it needs to be quite formal. So, you shouldn't use contractions. You shouldn't use colloquial idioms. But what's very important is that the writing is consistent. In that it uses the same register throughout the essay. So, you're not changing from sort of more informal to formal, or from formal to informal. It needs to flow and have the same style and register from beginning to end. And the next thing that the examiners look at is the organization of the essay. Basically, that it's logical and ordered. And this is really quite simple with an essay because really you're going to have probably five paragraphs. You're going to have an introduction and a conclusion. And then in between you'll have one paragraph dedicated to each idea. So, you have the two ideas that were given to you and your extra idea. So, that's that's a very simple way to structure it. And that's one of the advantages of the essay, is that it is very structured, whatever the the title is, whatever the subject, you can always use the same structure, the same five paragraphs. So, when you sit down to do the the essay, you know how you're going to structure it before you even read the task. That's a big advantage. And this is why the planning is so important. As I've said in a previous video, I actually recommend that you spend 15 minutes planning your essay. It seems like a long time, but when I say planning, I I mean quite thoroughly planning, really thinking about what you're going to write in each paragraph. So, in the introduction, the three ideas and the conclusion. The more planning that you do, the easier and quicker the actual writing will be. And as I said, the structure is very important, so it needs to be logical and ordered. Now, while we're looking at the organization, it's probably a good idea to look at some of the vocabulary you can use to help you organize and structure the essay. So, really what I'm talking about is linkers. So, linkers can really help to organize the structure of the essay and make it very clear for the examiner your opinions, your feelings and how the the text flows. So, let's break it down into categories. First, we're going to look at sequencing. Now, sequencing is a way to order the different parts of the writing, basically the different paragraphs. So, it's very simply, you can start the second paragraph, which is the first idea you're going to be looking at with firstly, or first of all, and then in the second paragraph, secondly, and in the third paragraph, finally. Or you could say something like, last but not least, if you want to be a bit more advanced. But you don't need to overcomplicate it or have too many options. And some good linkers for consequence you can use are therefore, as a result of, simply because. Again, you don't need too many because it's a very short essay that you're writing, so you don't need to overcomplicate things too much. And you'll probably need to add some information. So, some good linkers for for adding information are in addition, moreover, and furthermore. You may also want to use linkers of contrast, like however, nevertheless, although, or even though. And a very common one that people like to use is on the other hand. Now, you have to be careful with this because I've noticed that people use it a little incorrectly. Now, of course, you can use on one hand and then on the other hand, that's one way to use it, but sometimes we don't need to say on one hand. We don't need to to present the first argument on one hand. You just present the first argument and then say on the other hand. But the big mistake that people make is to think that on the other hand is a continuation or an addition to the argument. It's not, it's a contrast. So, you're you're giving a contrasting opinion. So, for example, if I say, music is a really good way to learn English because you can learn a lot of vocabulary. On the other hand, it's not great because you can learn a lot of bad grammar through songs. So, you see, these are two contrasting ideas. I'm presenting the positive and the negative. That's how we use on the other hand. So, be careful with that. And of course, this is an opinion essay, so you need to give your opinion. So, you can just simply say, in my opinion, or in my view, or I would say. And then you need to conclude. So, the last paragraph will be the conclusion, and you can literally say, in conclusion, or all in all, or all things considered, that's quite a nice linker to use. And finally, the examiners will be looking at the language you use in the essay. Now, here, basically, they're referring to the grammar and the vocabulary that you use. So, this is a real opportunity to demonstrate that you have the level to pass the exam. So, they're looking for a mix of simple and complex grammatical forms. Now, you think simple, why do you need to use simple forms if you're trying to demonstrate a high level? Well, part of communicating, in this case, through writing, is to know how to use the simple form, but in a in a correct way. It's not all about using the conditionals or inversion, those types of grammar concepts. So, you have to mix the simple with the more complex. And thinking about the vocabulary, you need to demonstrate a wide range of vocabulary. I mean, it's a short essay between 140 and 190 words, but you need to take the opportunities. So, what we're looking at here is collocations, common word pairs, a good range of adjectives, adjectives are very important. If you can if you can learn some adjectives to take into the exam, then that you can use in various context and with different um subjects, that will really give you a benefit. Now, before we finish, I'd like to make a couple more important points. First of all, the subject or the title of the essay will be of general interest. So, you don't need any specialist knowledge to be able to write an essay. It may be that you have no interest in the the the subject, but that's not really important. You need to write something. And the examiners don't really care if you're lying or not. They don't really care if it's your true, honest opinion. If it's easier to write the opposite of what you really think or just to invent something, that's fine. The examiners don't care what your opinion is really. I'm sorry, but they don't. So, write whatever is easiest to write. Okay, guys, don't forget, I've just started a new YouTube channel for general English learners. So, general tips on how to to learn English. So, I'll put the link in the description. You might find that interesting. Also, don't forget, I have a a Telegram group with now more than 100 students who are all preparing for the Cambridge exams and they're sharing their ideas and their their tips with each other. It's really very useful and productive. So, again, I'll put the link in the description. Send me a message and I'll put you in the group. Um, and yeah, and thank you for joining me. I'll see you again soon for another video. Take care. Bye.
