Ambition will be rewarded

I was at a training session yesterday discussing the Cambridge exams and some interesting points came up. The emphasis of the meeting was the speaking exam and we had a look at some of Cambridge's most recent releases to try and judge the 'correct' score given. After some reflection I feel that I personally haven't been paying enough attention to cohesive markers and perhaps been playing it a little too safe with my KISS strategy (Keep It Simple, Stupid!). Sure, by keeping things simple and answering the question and having a few fixed phrases at the ready you can pass the speaking exam (attain a level 3 or so), but if you are (or have a student) expecting an 'A' grade then you're going to need to do more. At FCE we need to hear linking devices, such as 'Firstly', 'on the other hand', oh, you get the idea.
Also, we are going to need to hear more advanced grammar to get that 'A' grade. Let's have some decent conditional sentences, they are not so hard really, and so interesting adjectives (good, bad and nice are just not enough!).
So, get the basics right, then reach for the stars and have a bit of ambition.
Exams in May and June for my guys.... get studying.

Mocks - Sign Up Now!

We are due to have our mock exams this year for the Cambridge suite of English exams on February 6th. I've warned all my students to all sign up - and as I know some of you read this from time to time I am using this as a reminder.
I have to spend all Saturday watching you lot scratch paper!
As you know, we don't recommend students for the exams unless you have at least 65%. I know it's a long time till June, but experience teaches us that all students who achieve this pass the exam. Of course I want 80% plus and 'A' grades all round, but back on Earth I am happy with 'C' grades. I am interested in getting a look at the writing papers. I want to see how you get on with these... I am expecting the worst.
Have a good weekend, and DON'T FORGET TO SIGN UP!

Sample Papers, Answer Sheets and more

I can't stress enough how important it is to look at past/sample papers of the exam you are going to take. I have mentioned before elsewhere on this blog that I have the links below to help but it doesn't hurt to remind readers. Of particular use is the Cambridge handbooks for teachers, as this includes sample answers and sample answer sheets. http://www.cambridgeesol.org/assets/pdf/resources/teacher/cae_hb_dec08.pdf
Here's the link - and the papers themselves are from page 10 (of 96) inwards. This is for the CAE, the Advanced paper, but the others are very similar and you can navigate round and hardly need telling how.
Pay particular attention to the answer sheets. There are samples of these given too. Cambridge veterans will know that they should fill in the spaces for multiple choice in PENCIL so that they are able to correct them. It's worth printing them out and practicing on them. It WILL take you some time to transfer your answers over to them, which of course you must do accurately. I had a student fail many years ago because he can't have done this (we guessed, though couldn't know for sure, that he had staggered his answers so that they were all off by one, so that the answer for q. 10 was 11's answer etc etc). He was gutted when he failed, as I reckoned he should have easily got a 'B' grade, and maybe an 'A'.
Timing is also vital: when you do the sample papers leave yourself a little extra time for this, but not too much, you want to have ehad enough time to answer the questions properly.
While you're on the site look at the sample answers for the writing too. Look at the notes as to why particular students got a particular mark. Don't look only at the best marks but at the weaker answers too. Why did they get a 'c' or a 'd' (they will talk in terms of band 3 or 4 but you get the idea)? Ask yourself, do you make the same silly, avoidable mistakes as well?
And one more thing... I've said it before and I will say it again... be LEGIBLE!