http://www.english-connection-vannes.com/blog/how-pass-fce-writing
January 8, 2010
- 16:25 | English Connection
The writing paper consists of two parts: There is a
compulsory question in Part 1
and one question from a choice of
You have 1 hour 20 minutes to complete the task.
The aim of the exam is to establish that you are able to write in different styles
and that you understand the concept of “register”. (If you don’t know what this
is – see below.)
You should start to practice the different tasks as soon as you have decided to
take the exam and it is a good idea to create a writing file.
In the writing file you should keep all the writing work you have done yourself
as well as examples of good English, such as model letters or reports. You
could also add magazine articles or a short stories.
What is “register”?
Register is the correct style of writing (and speaking) for the situation. You
don’t speak to your boss or your bank manager in the same way as you speak to
your friend, do you? You use different words for different people: “I
apologise” to your boss, and “I’m sorry” to your friend.
We do the same thing when we are writing. You write an e-mail to a friend in a
very different way to writing a covering letter for a job.
So the “register” is the choice of vocabulary plus the style of writing (formal
or informal).
When you are writing your letter or report, you should
think about the person who is READING it. The exam question will tell you to
write to a friend, or to your teacher or for a school magazine (so the readers
will be students in this case).
The examiner will consider himself as the reader (your friend, your colleague,
a magazine reader or the Director who asked for the report.)
So, don’t think, “Oh, I’ve got to write 120 – 180 words for an exam.”
Think: “I have to write a 120 – 180 word report for my boss.” Or, “I’m writing
a magazine article for teenagers.”
Imagine that the situation is REAL.
Before writing you should brainstorm your ideas & organize your answer.
When you are satisfied with your ideas write your answer as clearly as
possible. You will get zero points if the examiner can’t read your writing.
The exam:
Part 1: This compulsory question asks you to write a letter or an e-mail. You
will be given information (from an advert, a letter, an e-mail, a schedule etc)
and other notes which you need to read carefully before you start to answer the
question.
Use all the information you are given but do not simply recopy it. Add some
ideas of your own.
Don’t write any addresses for letters & e-mails.
Formal letter: Do
not use contractions. Use a formal register
: Dear Mr & Mrs Smith (not “Mister” & “Missus”)
I am writing for further information about…
I look forward to hearing from you,
Yours sincerely,
Informal letter, for example to a friend: use
contractions and a bit of chit-chat to make the letter seem real (Hi, how are
you? How’s your family? I haven’t seen them for ages!) but get to the point of
the letter quickly.
Be natural : Just thought I’d drop you a line to tell you that…/ to ask if you
could…../ to see what you think about…./
Finish with an expression such as: Hope to hear from you soon/ I’ll be in
touch/ Can you let me know as soon as possible? Then: Love, (if you are a girl
or VERY good friends) or Best regards, (men)
Don’t write “kisses”.
If you want to express a kiss, do it like this: Love from Jenny, XXX
E-mails are semi-formal, somewhere between the two, even if it is about
business. Start with Dear --- & finish with Best regards or Kind regards. You can use contractions, but don’t use “text” language. For example,
don’t write “C U L8TER” (see you later).
Part 2 The options may include: an article, a story, a
report, a review, an essay or another letter.
Letter: If you choose this option, read the instructions carefully. It will tell
you to write “in the appropriate style”. If the compulsory letter was informal,
this one will probably be formal & vice-versa. Make sure you get the style
& register right.
Story: You are often given a sentence to start or finish your story. Eg: “It
was midnight and I was all alone in the house. Suddenly someone knocked loudly
on the door.”
Or “Without saying a word, John got up and walked out of the room.”
If you enjoy telling stories, then this is a good choice for you. If you have
no imagination and you have never practised writing a story before, choose
another option.
You should be able to use the story telling tenses: simple past; past
continuous; past perfect; past perfect continuous.
There should also be plenty of descriptive adjectives .Use absolute adjectives
where possible. For example, don’t say “big”, say “enormous”; don’t say “dirty”
say “absolutely filthy”.
You should also use adverbs: suddenly, amazingly, unbelievably…
Click on the link below to go to an American website
which has short stories which have been written by amateur (but native speaker)
writers. It might give you some ideas.
http://www.writersarea.com/adults/ss.shtml
Essay: This is the classic piece of writing demanded by schools everywhere. It
should have an introduction, a clear development or discussion of the subject
and a conclusion which gives your opinion. The essay should include your
reasons for your opinion and you should give examples which can be from your
own experience, from historical or scientific facts, from current affairs etc.
Use a formal style, good linking words, make sure there is a logical progression
and don’t repeat yourself.
If you do not know what linking words are, ask me for
a list of them.
Article: If you enjoy reading magazines & newspapers and you have noticed the
journalistic style of writing, then this could be a good choice, but it is
quite difficult to do well. Magazine articles use journalistic headlines and
sub-headings. They often use rhetorical questions. You
must get the reader’s full attention and give some opinion or comment.
Review: This is to describe and give a personal opinion of a book, a film, a
restaurant, a holiday, a website… Use your own experience and conclude with
your recommendation. There are examples of book, film & restaurant reviews
on this blog which I suggest you have a look at. Keep the register formal or semi
formal.
Report: This option usually demands factual
information which you should present in a clear,
logical way. Use subheadings, don’t use contractions and make sure you control
your tenses. Is the report about something which happened in the past or which
is going to happen at some future date? You can invent some data or statistics
to make the report seem real (eg: the vast majority of students (85%) were in
favour of ….). Your personal recommendation can be given throughout the report
or in conclusion at the end of the report.
Finally, there is
a question about a set text (a book). Do not answer
this question unless you have studied the book with your English teacher.
Marking system:
When you understand how the exam is marked, you can get a better result.
There are 5 bands. I have written a simplified version of what the
examiners are looking for. The
Band 1:Lack of organization,
lack of vocabulary, lack of control of grammar, irrelevant answer, question not
understood, no understanding of register.
Band 2: Although the task is
attempted, communication is limited, many errors make it difficult to
understand, poorly organized, register inconsistent.
Band 3: All content points
are included, ideas are properly organized, linking words used, correct
register is attempted, errors will be present but will not stop the reader from
understanding.
Band 4: Ideas are clearly
organized & linked together. All points are included, shows good range of
vocabulary & structure, an understanding of the appropriate register is
demonstrated and is consistent. Grammatical or spelling mistakes do not stop
the reader from understanding.
Band 5: The candidate’s
writing full achieves the task. All points are included and expanded. Synonyms
are used showing a wide range of structures and a rich vocabulary. Errors are
few, do not stop understanding & are probably due to ambitious attempts at
difficult structures. The register is consistent and appropriate to task.
One more thing. Have you noticed that throughout this article on FCE writing (which is
about 1,500 words, by the way) I have only used an exclamation mark once and I
have not found it necessary to use the word “indeed” at all.
Would all lycée students please note that we
do not want to see “indeed” used four times in 180 words and we don’t want to
see more than two exclamation marks in your text either.
I hope this information will help you to achieve a
Band 4 or Band 5 result.
There will soon be examples of reports, stories,
essays and articles at FCE (B2) level on this blog, as well as a writing
competition, so come and visit it often.
English Connection's blog | Login or register to post comments | Tags: exams
------------------