INTRODUCTION
Aims of the book
Thisbookhas two objectives:
1 to prepare you forthe CAE exam Paper 2 (Writing)
and Paper 3 (Englishin Use).
2 to develop yourpracticalw ritingskills to an advanced
level.
There is no conflict between these two objectives,
becauseCAE writingtasks areas close toreal-life
sit uations aspossible,and the examinersuse
real-lifecriteria in assessingcandidates' work. If a piece
of w ritingwould 'dothejob' effectivelyin real life,it
should also satisfythe examiners.
WhycombinePapers 2 and 3?
For those unfamiliar withthe CAE exam,it may seem
surprising that this book combines Paper 3 (the
'g rammar'paper) as well asPaper 2(the 'writing' paper).
In fact,this combinationis inevitable, giventhe many
areas the twopapers have incommon.A characteristic
of the CAE examis that grammar is testedin context.
Paper 3 teststhe ability to usegrammar in orderto
comm unica te,andfocuseson many of the key areas of
w rittencommunication- including register,cohesion,
andevenpunctuation.
The Paper3 exercises:
- provide exam practicefor Paper 3.
- are integrated with the Paper 2work, as controlled
practice in writing skills. - are mod els (wellw ritten,well organizee, and usually
abo ut250 words long), which may be referred to when
doingthew riti ng tasksthat follow them. - demonstratedifferentregisters and exploredifferent
aspectsofthe themeof the Unit. - are usuallybasedon authentic texts.
How the book is organizedPart 1: thefirst partof the book contains anintroduct ion
to CAE Papers 2 and 3,followedby preliminaryw orkon
threekey areasof writingskills atthis level: styleand
register,cohesion ,and punctuation .It is intended that
this partof the book should be usee forpreparatory
work, remedial work,and reference.
Part2: Units1-5 dividewritingintotypes (descript ions,
instructions, narrativeand argument),to develop t he
skills specific to eachtype. Att he same time,eachUnit
looksat avariety of registers,to focuson the importance
of the contextand the purposeof a piece of writing.
Part3: Units5-10cover all the writi ngtasktypes in the
CAE Paper 2 syllabus.
Task bank:a further selectionof writing tasks, indexed to
theappropriateunits.
Key:answers to all exercisesand Paper3 questions.
Model answers to Paper 2 Part 1 tasks.Working through the book
It issuggestedthat youwork through Units 1 -5before
going on to Units 5-10, aseach writing task in Units
5-10practisesskillsthathavebeendeveloped in oneor
more of the first fiveunits.Nevertheless, asthereis no
progressionthrought he book in termsof difficulty, and
asUnit s1- 5 alsocontain writing tasks inthe style of the
exam, the Units may be taken in any order.Classroomworkand self study
This bookcan be used in class,forselfstudy, or for a
combination ofthe two.
Inclass
EachUnit is dividedinto modules whichcan be taughtin
class in about gO minutes (p lus homew ork).
Explanations, presentationsandactivitiesare followedby
Paper 3 exercisesand either miniw riting tasksor full -
scale Paper 2 tasks. Suggestionsfor pairworkare
sometimes included when anexercise wouldbe more
enjoyablydone witha partner; many ot her exercisescan
also be donein pairsand groups.
Forself-study
Manyfeat ures of the book make it especiallyuseful for
self st udy:- the int roductory units, with their thorough treatment of
register, style,cohesion and punctuation. - the useof Paper 3w riting tasks as controlledw riting
practice,easily corrected wit h the key when working
w it houta teacher. - the inc lusion ofmod el textsin theform of Paper 3
tasks, andt he inclusionof model answersin the key. - the fact that it is self-contained: it is thestudent' s
book, the teacher'sbookand the key all in one.
Non-examuse
Because of the 'real-life' nature of the CAE writ ing
syllabusand assessmentcriteria,thisbookcan be used
just as successfully as a general writing course at
advanced levelfocusing on practicalwriting tasks.3