The whole exam lasts 45 minutes and consists of 4 parts –

 

PART 1 – SENTENCE COMPLETION

 

i)                    8-10 questions are involved here, where you simply listen to a 2 minute conversation, radio broadcast, speeches (e.t.c) and answer the questions, which are in sentence form, not usually one word answers.

ii)                   You will hear it twice, so make use of it, try to extract as much information out of the first as possible, then confirm and add new data from the second time.

 

PART 2 – SENTENCE COMPLETION

 

i)                    8-10 questions are involved here, where you simply listen to a 2 minute conversation, radio broadcast, speeches (e.t.c) and answer the questions, which are in numerical or short sentence form.

ii)                   BEWARE you will only hear this once, so write down as soon as you hear the answer and do not leave any blank.

 

PART 3 – SENTENCE COMPLETION (MULTIPLE)

 

i)                    6-8 questions are involved here, where you simply listen to a 4 minute conversation from an interview or broadcast, and answer the questions which are in short sentence form within the text sentences.

ii)                   BEWARE you will only hear this once, so write down as soon as you hear the answer and do not leave any blank.

 

PART 4 – SENTENCE COMPLETION (MULTIPLE MATCHING)

 

This may come in 2 parts, either i) multiple matching task or ii) multiple choice task.

 

i)                    multiple matching task consists of two parts.

1.      First you will hear five short extracts, where you will have to match these to the 8 multiple choice answers of peoples’ professions.

2.      Second you will hear another five short extracts, where you will have to match these to 8 multiple choice answers of topics.  You will hear it all twice.

 

ii)                   multiple choice task consists of two parts.

1.      You have 10 questions with 3 multiple choice answers for each one.

2.      You will hear 5 short extracts twice, where you have to answer 2 of the 10 questions per extract.

 

 

 

 

The whole exam lasts 2 hours and consists of 2 parts –

 

i)                    PART 1 - A compulsory question of (250 words), where the student has to present and develop arguments, express and support opinions and evaluate ideas from a 400 word text.  The areas to write about usually involve leaflets, brochures, notices, announcements, personal notes and messages, formal and informal letters, reports, proposals, reviews, instructions, directions, competition entries, information sheets and memos.  The style may be an essay, an article, a letter, a review, a proposal, a leaflet or a report.

 

ii)                   PART 2 – The student can choose here 1 of 4 questions, again with (250 words), usually between an article, a letter, a report, a leaflet or a review from a selection of material (i.e), a book, a magazine or a newspaper.

 

 

The style types you will be asked to write are either, an essay, an article, a letter, a review, a proposal, a report or a leaflet/brochure.

ESSAY

This is used when we i) explain somebody’s point of view, ii) relay information or iii) present hard facts.

 

1)      After reading the question, write the topics down which you have to talk about and tick them off one by one once mentioned them in your writing.

2)      Decide to cover either one side of an argument or both (i.e) for and against.

a.      If the question/issue is about robots, then you could talk about their benefits only (ONE SIDE) or you could talk about their benefits and their drawbacks on the human workforce (BOTH SIDES).

3)      Give an introduction (often using a rhetorical question) (i.e) So why are we here? or So what about the ozone layer?, usually something with impact (catchy to the reader).

4)      Explain the points you need to in as much depth so as to adhere to the word count.

5)      Provide a conclusion referring back to the title and your introduction.

6)      Use formal (NO don’t, Doesn’t etc, you have to use do not and does not) and third person speech.

 

 

ARTICLE

 

This is used when we want you want to write your own opinion or view on a topical subject or area.

 

1)      Think of an appropriate catchy title.

2)      Depending on audience, choose the appropriate style, humorous, formal, informal or business (e.t.c).  As an example if you writing in business weekly magazine you would write formal, but if you were writing for a students’ magazine you would use informal language and try to enter humour within your writing.

3)      Ensure to include the topics asked in the question separately.

4)      Make sure the initial sentence is interesting and performs an introduction to the topic.  As a dramatic example – What will happen if the world stops spinning?, this doesn’t have to be rhetorical.

5)       Include comments from the question; these are usually views of a society, another writer, a book (e.t.c).

6)      A final closing paragraph to reflect and conclude on your previous comments.

7)      Try to incorporate adjectives, adverbs, personal pronouns and elevated vocabulary.

 

 

LETTER

 

This is used always formally and it presents information, intermingled with your own thoughts and opinions, generally concluding all thoughts.

 

1)      Begin with Dear Sir/madam or a person’s name if known on the initial separate line.

2)      First line is ALWAYS why you are writing (i.e) I am writing to inform you ……..

3)      Try to develop a discussion on the article presented, think of new and original ideas and discuss them.

4)      Summarise what your views were and how they would affect the society we live in.

5)      Conclude with something like this.  Even though the article suggests this………., we could adopt this…………

6)      Finish with yours faithfully for (sir/madam) or yours sincerely for (Names person).

 

 

REVIEW

 

This is used for you to write your own opinion about something, usually a restaurant, a book or a film (e.t.c).

 

1)      Introduce the topic in an interesting way to try to make an impact on the reader.

2)      Ensure to cover all points asked for in the task and choose the appropriate style, humorous, formal, informal or business (e.t.c). 

3)      Talk about the location, building, amenities or service obviously depending on the topic discussed.

4)      Try to evaluate and recommend at the end in a conclusion all the positive and negative points you mentioned.

 

 

PROPOSAL

 

This is used for a proposal/suggestion for a new idea or generally a future change or course of action.

 

1)      Begin the introduction with the present situation.

2)      Make this formal and impersonal (3^rd person).

3)      Use sections with individual headings, such as:

                                                               i.      Time.

                                                             ii.      Finance.

                                                            iii.      Effect on workers.

                                                           iv.      (e.t.c)

4)      Explain your proposal and details.

5)      Conclude with why your idea/solution is the best and should be adopted.

 

 

REPORT

 

This is used to report about a past event usually a meeting.

 

1)      Begin the introduction with the present situation.

2)      Make this formal and impersonal (3^rd person).

3)      Use sections with individual headings, such as:

                                                               i.      Introduction.

                                                             ii.      Background.

                                                            iii.      Problems.

                                                           iv.      Possible measures.

                                                             v.      Comments and conclusions.

 

 

LEAFLET/BROCHURE

 

This is a brief text stating information about a topic, usually advertising something, so it would contain address/location, prices. 

 

1)      An initial first line to introduce the company/place (etc).

2)      Make this informal, friendly and humorous.

3)      Separate into paragraphs that each have a purpose, (i.e) information on prices/location/facilities (e.t.c).

4)      Try to picture all the 100’s of leaflets you have seen on car windows, in shops and posted through your letterbox.

 

 

 

 

 

The whole exam lasts 15 minutes and consists of 4 parts –

 

PART 1 – 3 WAY CONVERSATION WITH STUDENTS AND INTERLOCATOR

 

i)                    The students are asked to respond to one another’s questions about themselves and respond to the interlocutor’s question prompts for about 3 minutes.

 

 

PART 2 – LONG TURN EACH WITH BRIEF QUESTION ON PARTNER’S TOPIC

 

i)                    The first student is asked to talk for about 1 minute on the interlocutor’s question, and then the second student is asked a brief question on that topic.

ii)                   This is repeated for the other student until 4 minutes has elapsed.

 

 

PART 3 – 2 WAY INTERACTION BETWEEN THE CANDIDATES

 

i)                    The students are given a visual or written prompt and are asked to discuss it via a problem-solving approach.  Be sure to try to equally share the conversation with your partner.  Don’t be shy to disagree with your partner; you will not lose marks due to this action.  4 minutes in total.

 

PART 4 – 3 WAY CONVERSATION WITH STUDENTS AND INTERLOCATOR

 

i)                    Part 3 topic area is opened up here for discussion for about 4 minutes with about 3 or 4 questions to answer each.

 

 

 

 

 

 

The reading consists of 4 parts and lasts 75 minutes in total with approximately 3000 words of text to read.

 

PART 1 – MULTIPLE MATCHING

 

i)                    One long text of about 1,200 words, where you have to read and understand, so as to answer 17 questions on.  The multiple choice answers are given, you just have to select the appropriate one.

ii)                   REMEMBER you will use the answers more than once.

 

PART 2 – GAPPED TEXT

 

i)                    One 500 word text, with gaps.

ii)                   The missing answer text is separate to the main text and consists of anything from 50 to 100 word paragraphs.

iii)                 You have to fit the 6 answer paragraphs into the main text.

iv)                 BEWARE there are always 7 answer paragraphs, even though you only need to use 6.

v)                  In order to achieve success here, you must know COHERENCE, COHESION, TEXT STRUCTURE AND GLOBAL MEANING.

vi)                 Best advice is to skim read the entire main text first, briefly write what each text is about and then try to fit the answer paragraphs in.

 

PART 3 – READING

 

i)                    One 1,200 word text on any topic with 5 (choice of 4) multiple choice answers.

ii)                   In order to achieve success here, you must know DETAIL, OPINION, ATTITUDE, TONE, PURPOSE, MAIN IDEA, UNDERSTANDING OF TEXT, IMPLICATION, COMPARISON AND REFERENCE.

iii)                 Best advice is to read the text in depth and try to fully understand it first, and then answer the multiple choice questions.  If you don’t know one or more answers ALWAYS guess one (never leave it blank).

 

PART 4 – MULTIPLE MATCHING

 

i)                    Seven texts of about 150 words each, where you have to read and understand, so as to answer 17 questions on.  The multiple choice answers are given, you just have to select the appropriate one.  (VIRTUALLY IDENTICAL TO PART 1, EXCEPT THE TEXT TO READ IS SEPARATE INSTEAD OF COMBINED).

ii)                   REMEMBER you will use the answers more than once.

 

 

 

 

The use of English consists of 6 parts and 80 questions lasting 90 minutes in total.

 

PART 1 – MULTIPLE CHOICE CLOZE

 

i)                    One long text of about 200 words, where you have to read and understand, so as to answer 15 multiple choice questions on it.  The multiple choice single word answers are given; you just have to select the appropriate one.

ii)                   REMEMBER try to look out for the correct form of the word if appropriate (i.e) noun, adjective, adverb or verb (e.t.c) or simply the appropriate vocabulary term.

 

PART 2 – OPEN CLOZE

 

i)                    One long text of about 200 words, where you have to read and understand, so as to answer 15 questions on it.  No multiple choice answers are given here, you have to find the most appropriate word to fit in.

ii)                   REMEMBER try to look out for the correct structure of the sentence, read the whole text first, then try to fit the words in.  Again try to observe the text as to what word is expected (i.e) preposition, noun, adjective, adverb or verb (e.t.c).

 

PART 3 – ERROR CORRECTION

 

i)                    One short text of about 200 words all on separate lines with 16 questions.  You have to correct the text.

ii)                   Remember that each line is taken separately, you are looking for usually an extra word that shouldn’t be there, try to keep your wits with your grammatical skills.

iii)                 Best advice is to read slowly as if you’re reading a book and you should spot the mistakes as you hesitate reading some parts as they won’t make complete sense. 

 

PART 4 – WORD FORMATION

 

 

i)                    Two short text of about 150 words each with 15 questions.  You have to use derivatives of the words given to make the text correct.

ii)                   Each word is given, you merely have to find the appropriate derivative (i.e) adverb, adjective (e.t.c).

 

 PART 5 – REGISTER TRANSFER

 

 

i)                    Two short texts of about 150 words with 13 questions.  The first text contains the main text you have to read and fully understand.  The second is a cloze text containing the same information as the first but in a different style with some words missing.

ii)                   It is the second text which you have to fill in the missing words, which can be found from the initial text.  You have to extract all the information from the first, this is easiest to achieve by making bullet points of the most important information from the first text.

 

 

PART 6 – GAPPED TEXT CLOZE

 

 

i)                    One short 150 word text with gaps within the text.  You have 6 gaps to fill the correct phrase/sentence.  BEWARE there are actually 9 available sentences.

ii)                   Skim read the text first to ascertain an understanding, then try to fill the gaps with the best sentences.

iii)                 Once complete, read the whole text at the end as if you are reading a book to see if your added texts make sense and are correct.