Nicer Links for Lazy Students

Knowing how lazy I can be with looking through links I have decided to spoonfeed you dear readers. I'll give you here the direct links to the teachers handbooks of the three exams that this blog is concerned about.
FCE - http://www.cambridgeesol.org/assets/pdf/resources/teacher/fce_hb_dec08.pdf
CAE - http://www.cambridgeesol.org/assets/pdf/resources/teacher/cae_hb_dec08.pdf
CPE - http://www.cambridgeesol.org/assets/pdf/resources/teacher/cpe_handbook.pdf

'Why would I, a student, want the teacher's handbooks?' I hear you ask.
Well, it's simple. They explain the marking and assessment criteria and have good example answers and sample papers with answers so that you may print out an exam, do it, mark it and know your approximate mark. Remember, 60 percent - 75 percent a C, 75 to 80 a B and 80 plus we are in A territory.
These exams are not that hard... just do it.

World English

Another really useful site (apart from the ones I have linked down on the left) is this: http://www.world-english.org/
There are all sorts of interesting things here. I reckon all learners should check it out.

Cambridge Site Link and Dictionary.com

I've added a couple of very useful links below. You'll see the Cambridge site itself, from where you may download the handbooks which will give you an insight into the exams themselves, and also includes details about timing and what it actually is they are looking for in the tests when they are marking them. Particularly useful are the sample papers, whereby you can judge what you need to focus on to push your marks up and maybe bump your self up a grade or two at the same time.
I've also added a link to dictionary.com. It's very useful and you'll also notice sound links so you can hear the pronunciation of words. A note on pron and accents - Cambridge does like to mix these up a bit in the listening so try and familiarise yourself to as many accents as you can. Usually students find standard American easiest, because of the movies, TV etc, with standard British not far behind, but be aware that there are loads of accents out there, and that Cambridge does make use of them in its listening exams. So try and hear Scots, Irish, Australian, Canadian, Jamaican, Kiwi (New Zealand) accents whenever you can. That would be a good start!

Tuesdays and Parking

I've just got back home from work after a nice, easy introductory day at school. Parking was tough though. We seemed to have to lap the city centre a few times before finding a spot. We were going through the timetable for the school year but we still haven't been allocated specific classes; that's for tomorrow it seems. We had some seminars and there were some nice ideas. Also, a friend gave me a link which I've added to my links down below - itests. A good site to practice it seems though I'm yet to explore it fully.
By the way, any of my students reading this due to take the Cambridge exams with us in December had better sign up soon. The deadline is the 14th October, and as usual I'm sure you'll all wait till the last minute to sign up!
There will be specifics about the various exam classes soon - but as I haven't started yet you'll just have to wait.

Welcome to my Blog

Hi,

My name is Dave and I have started this blog to help students with their Cambridge English exams. I've been teaching these exams now for a while, and I keep hearing the same mistakes again and again. I find I repeat myself a lot to my classes (they seem to have noticed it too!) but some of the stuff I say really can help you get through these exams. I thought I'd write up the problems and questions I hear again and again and let my students come and see this blog - to save my voice as much as anything else! Anyone else interested in the exams is welcome to have a look too. Good luck in those tests and... keep using the language. That's the key. You'll find some links on the site to places I constantly refer people to. Check them out and I hope they help.

Dave