Don't forget...

Exam Days need a little preparation -

- take something to eat and drink - it's a long day and you never know how much time you'll have to find something

- make sure you've got a couple of pencils and an eraser or two for the computer-marked tests

- exam rooms can have strange airconditioning and may get chilly - be prepared

- take some money - make sure you have coins with you, not just notes

Since our automatic statistics came online a year ago we've had nearly 6,000 visitors - good luck to all of you doing exams soon.

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Advanced - reviewing your writing knowledge

Advanced Students - review writing with this lesson plan - there's not going to be time to do it in class, but you can teach yourself!

http://teflgeek.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/teflgeek-cae-writing-overview-lesson.pdf

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CAE - reviewing your writing knowledge

CAE Students - review writing with this lesson plan - there's not going to be time to do it in class, but you can teach yourself!

http://teflgeek.files.wordpress.com/2011/05/teflgeek-cae-writing-overview-lesson.pdf

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First: Assess an article

If you are interested in writing articles, think about this one:

Today's television

"A load of old rubbish" or
"More choice than ever before"?

Is today's television still good value for money?
How would you answer this question? Pay a visit to the flo-joe website to take a look at one student's attempt.

FCE: Assess an article

If you are interested in writing articles, think about this one:

Today's television

"A load of old rubbish" or
"More choice than ever before"?

Is today's television still good value for money?
How would you answer this question? Pay a visit to the flo-joe website to take a look at one student's attempt.

Keeping it real: Formal and Informal Emails

Link here to an interesting real webpage written by a university professor to his students about what he expects from their emails to him.

Advanced Sample - Article on the past

Article

The Times newspaper has asked the public to contribute articles for a series in their Sunday magazine supplement. If we make a concerted effort to conserve energy, could we live without electricity?

They wish to receive your views and opinions on this subject. What do YOU think life would be like with no electricity? Send your articles to us at the address below or use the e-mail number.

Write your article.

Back to the past

Can you conceive your life without electricity? Imagine a complete power cutü. Imagine [m1] your house or your job without any artificial light. Imagine hospitals, commercial centres, even the street`s lights, all gone. And now try to assume that this is the new way of living. It sounds like a terrible nightmare, doesn`t it? üü

If this had happen, it would be necessary a complete change [m2] in our world. First of all, if there was no artificial light, we would need to adapt our timetables to the sun hours⁼. In additionü, a great amount [m3] of jobs would need to be modified^F. For example, do you know how many people work with computers every day? How many call phones do we make? In my opinion, people would become lost and disoriented without electricity.

But this would be^WO not only about jobs. Almost all our entertainments^G work ^v+ [m4] with electricity. What do you normally do at home? Watching a film or playing a videogame? Not anymore! We would need to haveü candles everywhere, and of course, no more leftoversü heated in the microwave!

In conclusion, it seems almost impossible for me to imagine our life without electricity. Nowadays, we are used to have [m5]; lots of comforts, most of them dependant on electrical energy and I don`t think that we are ready, materially and mentally;[m6speakingüü, to change it.

Highlight to rad comments
Certainly a 6/10. A couple of translatey bits and a few grammar points to definitely pay attention to (used to, amount vs number/quantity), but the style and content are great.

A rewrite of this, with some of those points addressed (and perhaps rather fewer questions aimed at the reader) would probably hit 8/10 for me.

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[m1] I guess this is a delibérate repitition – I kind of like i ton one level, but wonder if “Think of…” might be a better exam option.

[m2] would to have change completely our world – rearrange to make a natural way to say this!

[m3] Uncountable nouns have amounts

[m4] Rely on

[m5] Be very careful of this – an easy trap to fall into. Used is not a verb here so’s not followed by an inf.

[m6] I think english would use psychologically

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