Objective Writing for First Certificate 100 tips for ...

1 INTRODUCTION1In this booklet you will find 100 suggestions forimproving your performance on the First CertificateExam (FCE) Writing paper 2. The exercises and advicehave been informed by a study of Spanish speakers FCE data in the Cambridge Learner Corpus, currentlya 30 million word electronic collection of CambridgeESOL examination scripts. This corpus has providedall the examples of Spanish-speaking candidates errors that are used here, together with the sampleanswers, which have been written by Spanish-speakingFCE candidates over the last ten the sample answers are examples of goodperformance at FCE and can be referred to as modelsto aim at. Of course, most Writing at this level (B2)will contain some mistakes.

2 However, the way inwhich FCE paper 2 is marked gives credit forambitious Writing , even when it contains this reason, you should try to use a range ofvocabulary and structures in your Writing . Thismaterial shows you how to develop your Writing toachieve this, along with the Objective First CertificateStudent s Book and are two parts to the FCE Writing paper 2. InPart 1, you will have to answer a compulsory questionbased on information provided in the question paper ,whereas in Part 2 there is a choice of four questions,each a different task type (an article, story, report, etc).The main emphasis in Part 1 is on the inclusion ofcontent points, effective organisation, suitably formalor informal register and accuracy.

3 You must use yourown words rather than copying phrases from thequestion, but don t worry if you don t feel able to useyour full range of language as you can do this in Part2. In Part 2, the main emphasis will be on languagerange and you should show ambition! Therefore, it isimportant to choose the Part 2 question that gives youthe best chance to include good vocabulary andstructures choose a topic that you are familiar withand a task type that you know you can do well. Neveranswer a question on a set book (Question 5) unlessyou have been studying the up-to-date information about the format andcontent of the FCE Writing paper 2, read page six oftheObjective First CertificateStudent s Book, or visitthe CambridgeESOL website: this booklet has been written specifically forSpanish speakers, you will find many examples ofcommon mistakes that have been made bySpanish-speaking learners when taking for this symbol that indicates a common mistake and focus on thecorrect form: the mistake is always crossed can use this booklet in different ways.

4 Go through the tips in order on your own, settingyourself a certain number to look at each week. Forexample, if you are going to take the First Certificateexam in six months time, cover four tips every week. browse the material when you have time, focusingon the areas of Writing that you know you havedifficulty with. work on the booklet with your teacher. Remember,the more preparation for Writing you can do inclass, the better writer you will t just complete the exercises, think about whateach tip is telling you and try to use that informationin your luck with your Writing for First Certificate ! Objective Writing for First Certificate100 tips for Spanish speakersinformed by the Cambridge Learner Corpus Cambridge University University Press978-8-483-23471-6 - Objective FCE SpainCapelExcerptMore information2100 TIPS FORSPANISH SPEAKERSC heck your spelling of are some common spelling mistakes thatSpanish-speaking learners have made at FCE.

5 Use adictionary to write the correctly spelled nouns in thegrid and reveal another commonly mis-spelled longer sentences by joining ideas the best joining word for these sentenceswritten by past Spanish-speaking FCE each word once only (one word is not needed).1 Must I take cash can I use creditcards?2I would like to apologise I broke abeautiful vase that was on your had the most spectacular birthday Iwas thing I would like to know is the rooms have showers or the lights were on I couldn t and improve your Writing by using arange of different this excellent Part 2 story written by aSpanish-speaking FCE candidate, together with theexaminer s comments. Underlineexamples of the pastsimple tense.

6 Then circle the other tenses used in thestory and name will never forget the day the electricitystopped. That day I was planning to give aparty to celebrate my 15th birthday. For thatreason my refrigerator was full of all kindof sandwiches and desserts, and manybottles of cool beverages. At First , I thoughtthat the electricity would return in a coupleof minutes, as it usually did, but, as thehours went by, I started to feel quiteanxious and felt my sweat running down myback. I should not only blame my nerves formy sweat, but also the fact that it was thehottest day of that summer and, as I learntlater, even of the decade! Of course, I hadto cancel the party I had been planning foralmost a year.

7 You know, friends don'tappreciate food poisoning and being invited toan oven (which was what my house hadbecome since the air conditioner wasn'tworking). I remember having cried for almosta week. Eventually, I got over it, but I mustsay that, as long as I live, I will neverforget that s commentsAn effective and well-written story, because of: an accurate range of past tenses. well-controlled complex sentences. effective use of linking phrases such as For that reason and Eventually . a wide variety of vocabulary. natural use of the phrasal verb get over . skilful rounding off at the end of the Cambridge University University Press978-8-483-23471-6 - Objective FCE SpainCapelExcerptMore information100 TIPS FORSPANISH SPEAKERS3 Check your spelling of past tenses of the specified past tense of the verbs below anduse some of your answers in tip (past perfect simple)2feel (past continuous)3dream (past perfect continuous)4call out (past perfect passive)5sit (past continuous) 6spend (present perfect simple)

8 Remember to bring your piece of Writing to a definite end, for example by including a conclusion in areport or essay, or a proper ending in a a different ending for the story in tip 3 to follow the sentence I remember having cried for almost a week. Use some of the verbs from tip a variety of adverbs in your Writing to add fourteen adverbs in the word square below. Choose eight of them to include in the sentences (more thanone answer may be possible). Look at the position of the adverbs in each Hotel Astrid closed last year butwe found the Riverside Hoteland stayed , as as they had gone out,the lights came on was raining and my brotherand I had to go to the airport to pick up was going out with the most gorgeous guy and Iwas in love with , the man was from thesame village as have developed such an instinct for shoppingthat we can say that we arekings of the urban Wood, dubbed the worst film director of alltime, is played by Johnny seemed to be physically ok but he wasshocked.

9 Cambridge University University Press978-8-483-23471-6 - Objective FCE SpainCapelExcerptMore information4100 TIPS FORSPANISH SPEAKERSBe careful when talking about theopening and closing times of shops,museums, etc. The opposite of closed(adjective)isopen(adjective).Opene dis the past tense ofthe verb to should be open 24 hours a :Shops should be opened24 hours a you have used the right a dictionary to check and correct any prepositionalerrors in these sentences (two sentences are correct).1 After the beautiful ten days I spent in the island Ireturned to fact, it was easier to me to search for theinformation on the sum up, I prefer going by bicycle to going by am Writing to you because I am interested on theadvertisement I saw on a college the First couple of hours everything was hope you are having fun in your holidays?

10 7It might be interesting for you to hear about somethings that happened in this around the world are more aware ofenvironmental problems job was to leave leaflets on shops about sports, I would like to chooseswimming and about the endings of certain ending in -alare often confused withrelated words, some of which are actually nouns,for example educational(adjective) and education(noun).Circle the correct word in these centre of Guadalajara2ahistoric/historicalnovel set in the 19th century3classic/classicalballet4aclassic /classical1970s car5music/musicalinstruments6education/e ducationalbenefitsBe careful with false friends words that areconfused with similar words in are some common mistakes that pastSpanish-speaking candidates have made.