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What are examiners looking for in your writing?

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What are examiners looking for in your writing?

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FCE: Pass the Writing Exam - How do the examiners mark your answer? PLUS FREE CHECKLIST

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Avoid these mistakes on the Writing Paper

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Avoid these mistakes on the Writing Paper

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Top 5 FCE Writing Mistakes: Watch Out For These!

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Overall language for Speaking and Writing Paper

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About the Show

The beloved animated series focuses on the eponymous family in the town of Springfield in an unnamed U.S. state. The head of the Simpson family, Homer, is not a typical family man. A nuclear-plant employee, he does his best to lead his family but often finds that they are leading him. The family includes loving, blue-haired matriarch Marge, troublemaking son Bart, overachieving daughter Lisa and baby Maggie. Other Springfield residents include the family's religious neighbor, Ned Flanders, family physician Dr. Hibbert, Moe the bartender and police chief Clancy Wiggum.

See All

How to watch on FOX NOW?

Watch more content than ever before! Stream full episodes of your favorite FOX shows LIVE or ON DEMAND. Catch primetime FOX shows with a TV provider login. You can even restart Live TV to watch from the beginning!

Watch more content than ever before! Stream full episodes of your favorite FOX shows LIVE or ON DEMAND. Catch primetime FOX shows with a TV provider login. You can even restart Live TV to watch from the beginning!

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The Simpsons | Watch Full Season 31 Episodes on FOX

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The beloved animated series focuses on the eponymous family in the town of Springfield in an unnamed U.S. state. The head of the Simpson family, Homer, is not a typical family man. A nuclear-plant employee, he does his best to lead his family but often finds that they are leading him.

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Please, more cupcakes right now!

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7 Steps to Planning & Writing the BEST Answer: FCE Writing Tips

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Gram/Vocab/Use of English

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Reading

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Listening

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B2 First speaking test (from 2015) - Victoria and Edward

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Avoiding A1-level words and expressions

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The latest five minute news bulletin from BBC World Service

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Stranger Things | Sitio oficial de Netflix

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Después de la extraña desaparición de un niño, un pueblo se encuentra ante un misterio que revela experimentos secretos, fuerzas sobrenaturales y a una niña muy especial. Ve tráileres y más.

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NPR - Breaking News, Analysis, Music, Arts & Podcasts

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Top stories in the U.S. and world news, politics, health, science, business, music, arts and culture. Nonprofit journalism with a mission. This is NPR.

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Welcome to the official site for Disney Frozen. Watch videos, play games, listen to music, browse photos, and buy the movie on Digital HD, Blu-ray and DVD.

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When mysterious letters start arriving on his doorstep, Harry Potter has never heard of Hogwarts School of Witchcraft and Wizardry.

They are swiftly confiscated by his aunt and uncle.

Then, on Harry's eleventh birthday, a strange man bursts in with some important news: Harry Potter is a wizard and has been awarded a place to study at Hogwarts.

And so the first of the Harry Potter adventures is set to begin.

Publishers:
UK Print - Bloomsbury
US Print - Scholastic
eBook - Pottermore
Digital Audiobook - Pottermore
UK Illustrated - Bloomsbury
US Illustrated - Scholastic
UK MinaLima edition - Bloomsbury
US MinaLima edition - Scholastic

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Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone - J.K. Rowling

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Autem tantas scripserit id eum. Consul vocibus et vix, sed iusto paulo omnium ex, dicit tation ut vel.

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Gram/Vocab/Use of English

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I just spent a few hours going through all my FCE materials and typing out all the questions I could find from part 1 of the speaking test.

They are from past exams, official Cambridge test preparation books, and so on.

I've organised them into topics, but sometimes one question could go in different sections. I chose the one that seemed most logical to me.

Starters

By the way, it's a good idea to be able to spell your name!

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91 FCE Speaking Test Part 1 Questions - FCE Exam Tips

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This article lists 91 questions that you might be asked in part 1 of the Cambridge B2 First speaking test.

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Part 2: Describing Images + Answering a Question

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Part 2: Describing Images + Answering a Question

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Strategies + Useful Language

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Strategies + Useful Language

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My online learning platform

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The updated B2 First for Schools exam (for exam sessions from January 2015) is made up of four papers developed to test students' English language skills. You can see exactly what's in each paper below.

The formats below are the same for both the paper-based and computer-based exams.

Students need to be able to understand a range of texts, including how they are organised and the opinions and attitudes expressed in them. The texts will be from sources familiar to school-aged learners, such as magazines, articles, fiction and advertisements, but targeted at the interests of students.

Students' use of English will be tested by tasks which show how well they can control their grammar and vocabulary.

Students are required to produce two pieces of writing. The first piece is compulsory and will be an essay of 140-190 words. For the second, they can choose from an article, email/letter, essay, review or story of 140-190 words.

Requires being able to follow and understand a range of familiar spoken materials, such as news programmes, public announcements and other sources, but targeted at the interests of school-aged learners.

Shows you can take part in a conversation by answering and asking simple questions. Your Speaking test will be conducted usually face to face with one or two other candidates and two examiners. One of the examiners (who could be online, examining remotely) talks to you and the other examiner listens. This makes your test more realistic and more reliable. Examiners may use their mobile phones for entering marks using an app.

openbook What's in the Reading and Use of English paper?

The B2 First for Schools Reading and Use of English paper is in seven parts and has a mix of text types and questions.

For Parts 1 to 4, students read a range of texts and do grammar and vocabulary tasks.

For Parts 5 to 7, students read a series of texts and answer questions that test reading ability and show that they can deal with a variety of different types of texts.

Time allowed:

1 hour 15 minutes

Lengths of texts:

2,200-2,500 words to read in total.

Texts may be from:

Newspaper and magazine articles, reports, fiction, advertisements, letters, messages, informational material (e.g. brochures, guides, manuals, etc.).

Part 1 (Multiple-choice cloze)

What's in Part 1?

A text in which there are some missing words or phrases (gaps). After the text there are four possible answers for each gap and students have to choose the correct answer (A, B, C or D).

What do students have to practise?

Vocabulary - words with similar meanings, collocations, linking phrases, phrasal verbs, etc.

How many questions are there?

8

How many marks are there?

1 mark for each correct answer.

Part 2 (Open cloze)

Part 3 (Word formation)

Part 4 (Key word transformations)

Part 5 (Multiple choice)

What's in Part 5?

A text with some multiple-choice questions. Each question has four options (A, B, C or D), and students have to decide which is the correct answer.

What do students have to practise?

How to understand the details of a text, including opinions and attitudes.

How many marks are there?

2 marks for each correct answer.

Part 6 (Gapped text)

Part 7 (Multiple matching)

compose What's in the Writing paper?

In the two parts of the B2 First for Schools Writing paper, the student has to show that they can write different types of text in English.

Summary

Time allowed:

1 hour 20 minutes

Number of questions:

Part 1: one compulsory question
Part 2: one question from a choice of four, including one set text question

Types of task:

Article, email, essay, letter, review, story.

Set texts
Removal of set text questions in B2 First for Schools From January 2024 we are removing the optional set text questions in the B2 First for Schools Writing papers. The reason for this change is that only a few candidates choose those questions and often do not perform to the best of their ability. We have updated our support article to reflect this change.

Set text for January 2021-December 2022: Rebecca by Daphne du Maurier (Pearson Level 5 Edition).

Teachers may choose to prepare candidates for questions on this set text by studying any film version of Rebecca, as well as, or instead of, the book.

Set text for January 2023-December 2023: The Great Gatsby by F. Scott Fitzgerald (Pearson Level 5 Edition).

Teachers may choose to prepare candidates for questions on this set text by studying any film version of The Great Gatsby, as well as, or instead of, the book.

Students should not attempt the optional set text question in Part 2 unless they have the necessary understanding of the text to answer the task set. Teachers are best placed to judge if the set texts and/or film version may be appropriate and stimulating for a given teaching situation. The suggested edition is a graded reader which has been adapted to the level and is suitable for B2 First for Schools candidates. Other editions of this book may be available. Teachers and students should be aware that the language level in other editions may be less accessible.

Part 1

Part 2

playlist What's in the Listening paper?

The B2 First for Schools Listening paper has four parts. For each part students have to listen to a recorded text or texts and answer some questions. They will hear each recording twice.

Summary

Part 1 (Multiple choice)

Part 2 (Sentence completion)

Part 3 (Multiple matching)

Part 4 (Multiple choice)

megaphone What's in the Speaking paper?

The B2 First for Schools Speaking test has four parts and the student takes it together with another candidate.

There are two examiners. One of the examiners conducts the test (asks questions, gives the student a booklet with things to talk about, and so on). The other examiner listens to what the student says.

Summary

Part 1 (Interview)

Part 2 (Long turn)

Part 3 (Collaborative task)

Part 4 (Discussion)

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The B2 First for Schools (FCE) test is made up of four papers designed to test students' English skills: Reading, Writing, Listening, and Speaking

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Diccionarios de Español, Ingles, Francés, Portugués - WordReference.com

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Diccionario Ingles Español: 175.000 palabras con 240.000 significados.

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Overall + Reading, Use of English and Listening Papers

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I get this question all the time.

How do you calculate your FCE scores? How do you know if you have passed?

I wish this answer were simple.

Generally, most students add up all their correct answers - but this is TOTALLY wrong!

Some marks are worth one mark, others are worth 2. When it comes to writing and speaking, it gets even more complicated.

Here is a full video on how to calculate your Reading, Use of English and Listening scores. These are objective tests so the answer is either right or wrong so they are very easy to mark.

The Writing and Speaking papers are more subjective. I will create another video on that subject.

Watch this video for a detailed explanation. I've also written it all down so you can use this page as a reference.

First of all, your marks are divided into five sections:

They are all equally important and each part is worth 20% of your total mark.

Let's look at each section individually first.

Your practice test scores for each section needs to be converted to a 'Cambridge English Scale Score'.

Reading

You do the Reading and Use of English test together but the marks are separated for each part.

Parts 1, 5, 6, 7 are Reading questions.

Be careful here - lot's of people think that Part 1 (multiple choice, vocabulary question) is part of the Use of English score. This is incorrect!

Correct answers in part 1 and 7 are worth 1 mark each.

Correct answers in part 5 and 6 are worth 2 marks each.

There are 42 possible marks in the Reading test.

Add up your marks and check your score using the table below. The table shows the minimum score you need for each level.

Use of English

You do the Reading and Use of English test together but the marks are separated for each part.

Parts 2, 3 and 4 are Use of English questions.

Correct answers in parts 2 and 3 are worth 1 mark each.

Correct answers in part 4 are worth 2 marks each. Remember that you can score 1 mark by getting half of the answer correct.

There are 28 possible marks in the Use of English test.

Add up your marks and check your score using the table below. The table shows the minimum score you need for each level.

Listening

The easiest test to calculate scores for!

Each question is worth 1 mark. There are 30 possible questions, so the total marks for this section is 30 marks.

Writing and Speaking

The Writing and Speaking papers are more subjective.

I will create another video on that subject. Make sure you subscribe to my YouTube channel and turn on notifications so that you can see this video when it comes out!

Click here to subscribe to my YouTube channel (supereasyfce).

Overall score (Did I pass the FCE or not?)

Your overall score is calculated by adding up all the Cambridge scores for each section and dividing by 5.

For example, imagine you get:

You need to add all of these numbers and then divide it by 5. Round up to a whole number.

For example, if you get 166.6 like the example above, round UP to 167.

If your score is above 160, you have passed at a B2 level. Congratulations!

If your score is above 180, you have passed at a C1 level. Wow!

Do I need to pass in all of the sections individually? Or can I just pass overall?

Your final score is more important that the scores for each section.

If you don't get a B2 level in one of the sections, you can still pass! Hooray!

In my example, my listening score was under 160 marks. But my overall mark was over 160.

So, the result would be a Pass certificate.

Note about the overall score

As the Writing and Speaking scores are VERY subjective if you mark it without the help of a trained teacher, calculate your score with just your Reading, Use of English and Listening scores.

If you want to do it this way, divide the total score for these three sections and divide it by 3.

Still confused about the Cambridge Scale scores?

If you would like an easy score calculator, check this page in a few days. I am working on it.

In the meanwhile, aim to achieve at least 160 on each section. This will tell you that you are on your way to passing.

Keep practising and I'll see you next week!

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Calculate your FCE score | Reading, Use of English and Listening

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I get this question all the time. I wish this answer were simple. Generally, most students add up all their correct answers - but this is TOTALLY wrong! Some marks are worth one mark, others are worth 2. When it comes to writing and speaking, it gets even more complicated.

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Reading

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Listening

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Gram/Vocab/Use of English

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Reading

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Listening