Wednesday, February 25, 2015

CPE Sample Report

A sample report on a music festival.


CPE Sample Report

A sample report on a music festival.


Monday, February 23, 2015

Proficiency Sample - Report

A sample report. Take a look at the structure, organisation and formality.


CPE Sample - Report

A sample report. Take a look at the structure, organisation and formality.


Friday, February 20, 2015

Advanced Samples - Essay

Advanced Essay sample. Pay attention to the organisation and vocabulary content.


Advanced Samples - Essay

Advanced Essay sample. Pay attention to the organisation and vocabulary content.


Wednesday, February 18, 2015

Advanced Sample - Letter of Application


Fill the spaces in this formal letter.


Advanced Sample - Letter of Application


Fill the spaces in this formal letter.


Monday, February 16, 2015

First Practice - A Report


Fill the gaps to complete a report.


First Practice - A Report


Fill the gaps to complete a report.


Friday, February 13, 2015

Advanced Samples - Letter to a friend

Sample Letter/Email to a friend for Advanced students. Note the consistency of the formality and the expressions that produce it.



Advanced Samples - Letter to a friend

Sample Letter/Email to a friend for Advanced students. Note the consistency of the formality and the expressions that produce it.



Thursday, February 12, 2015

Proficiency Samples

Two articles

One on a travel topic.

One on Globalisation

Pay close attention to the writers attempts to incorporate suitable vocabulary for the topics.



CPE Samples

Two articles

One on a travel topic.

One on Globalisation

Pay close attention to the writers attempts to incorporate suitable vocabulary for the topics.



Wednesday, February 11, 2015

First Reading Part 5

Quick tip

Simplify the reading questions to reduce the risk of confusion!

Look at the multiple choice questions BEFORE you go to the text.

Take from each one the main idea and turn it into an open question to try to find out the information it wants directly - IGNORING the options.

With a bit of luck your answer will coincide with one of the options and it might prevent the different choices confusing your ideas.


Tuesday, February 10, 2015

First Sentence Transformations

Further advice on video for sentence transformations.





First Sentence Transformations

Further advice on video for sentence transformations.





Monday, February 9, 2015

First, Advanced, CPE How to


to write a review.


First, Advanced, CPE How to


to write a review.


Friday, February 6, 2015

First Use of English Practice


Two complete exams for you to use when you like.


First Use of English Practice


Two complete exams for you to use when you like.


Thursday, February 5, 2015

Advanced Use of English & Reading: Part 6

Here's a technique to help with this new question in the 2015 exam.

To try this example you'll need to access this webpage

You need to download the zip file, then open the Reading and Use of English pdf. 

Go to pages 10 and 11.

Our objective is to simplify finding the information you need.

1. Ignore page 10 for now. Start on Page 11 and look at the four questions, numbered 37 to 40.

2. Find the key idea in each - this is usually connected to an opinion in the text.

Roll over below with your cursor to see our choices:

37. de Botton's confidence (about architecture)
38. the significance of de Botton's book
39. other architects share de Botton's concerns
40. the originality of de Botton's work

3. Now put those ideas into four new questions which you can apply to each text equally to get a clear concrete answer. 

Again, roll over to see our attempts.

37. What does each reviewer think of how confident De Botton's opinions are?
38. How important does each reviewer think De Botton's book is?
39. Does the reviewer think architects agree with De Botton?
40. How original does each reviewer think De Botton's book is?

Notice we've changed the focus. We're treating all the texts as equal, so we collect information from each and then make a decision from there.

4. Use page 10 to answer the questions you've written (or try using ours!). Be sure to write down all four answers to each question.

  • Now look for the answer to your new Q.37 in all four texts and write down what you find for each one. You should find an "odd idea out". That's the correct answer!
  • Try Q.38. Again, write down what you find. You should find two writers have the same opinion. One is B, the other is the correct answer.
  • For Q.39 repeat the method you used for Q.37.
  • For Q.40 repeat what you did for Q.38



Advanced Use of English & Reading: Part 6

Here's a technique to help with this new question in the 2015 exam.

To try this example you'll need to access this webpage and go to pages 10 and 11.

Our objective is to simplify finding the information you need.

1. Ignore page 10 for now. Start on Page 11 and look at the four questions, numbered 37 to 40.

2. Find the key idea in each - this is usually connected to an opinion in the text.

Roll over below with your cursor to see our choices:

37. de Botton's confidence (about architecture)
38. the significance of de Botton's book
39. other architects share de Botton's concerns
40. the originality of de Botton's work

3. Now put those ideas into four new questions which you can apply to each text equally to get a clear concrete answer. 

Again, roll over to see our attempts.

37. What does each reviewer think of how confident De Botton's opinions are?
38. How important does each reviewer think De Botton's book is?
39. Does the reviewer think architects agree with De Botton?
40. How original does each reviewer think De Botton's book is?

Notice we've changed the focus. We're treating all the texts as equal, so we collect information from each and then make a decision from there.

4. Use page 10 to answer the questions you've written (or try using ours!). Be sure to write down all four answers to each question.

  • Now look for the answer to your new Q.37 in all four texts and write down what you find for each one. You should find an "odd idea out". That's the correct answer!
  • Try Q.38. Again, write down what you find. You should find two writers have the same opinion. One is B, the other is the correct answer.
  • For Q.39 repeat the method you used for Q.37.
  • For Q.40 repeat what you did for Q.38



First, Advanced Proficiency Writing. How to...

to write reports.


First, Advanced CPE Writing. How to...

to write reports.