Advice • Module 26HOW TO PREPARE FOR THE CAE
(Introductionmissing)Knowthe exam
Assoonas you start working for theexam.makesure
youhave aclearidea what i s testedineach of the five
papers. Whenyou know whatyou areaimingfor. you
can plan yourpreparationmore effective lyandwork
on your weaknesses.
Take responsibilityfor yourwork
You'reprobablynot in a class full of highly-motivated
students whose Englishis exactlythesame level as
yours, with ateacheryoulike and whosemet hods suit
you perfectly. But three-quarters of thework you need
to do can be doneoutsidethe classroom, so the
progress you makeis your responsibility(and lack of it
is not the faultofothers). If you have time for more
homework thanyou are given, yourteacherwill
probablybedelightedtorecommendbooks forself
study and tocorrectany extra writingyou do.
(A), _
Babies spe nd a year listeningtospo ke n language
before theystan tospeak; yet some CAEstu dents
expect tobe ableto writeEnglishwhen theynever
read any!A lot of whatyou needto know for Papers I,
2 and 3 can belearnedsimply by read ingwide lyand
extensively,from literature and magazinestosong
lyrics and foodlabels.
(8) _
It's possibleto get plent y of read ing practiceinEng lish
without having to buy books, buteveryoneneeds to
have a gooddictionary. Asmall bilingual dictionary
has its uses,but a medium-sized Eng lish-English
dictionaryis essential atCAElevelbecauseit tell syou
how and when the word is used .A good gramma r
book, a vocabul arybook and aself-study writingskills
bookcan alsobe very helpful.
(C), _
If you' re luck y enough to havethe chance of spend ing
sometime inan Eng lish-speakingco untry. this is a
good way of making quickprogress,particular lyin
listening andspeaking.Ifyou've gota lotof time and
come from an EUcountry. it's nothardtogeta low -
paid jobin Britain(e.g. hotel work ). Alternatively. if
youcanafford it, come to Britain and follo wa CAE
examcourse.
(D) _
ListentoasmuchEnglishasposs ible (BBCWorld
Serviceandotherradio andTV broadcasts,films in
English, songs , novels oncassette.etc .) andspeak
Englishwhenever you can. Talkingto your partner or
friend sin Englishis ju st asgood speaking pract ice as
talking toa native spea ker.
(E), _
In some exams, the question s areso predictablethat
you can learnto pass simply byspendi ng a lot of time
doingpracticetestsinsteadofstudy ing properly.
Happily, this is not the case withCAE. Nevertheless,
so meexampracticeis recommended(using practice
tests)inordertofamiliarize yourselfwith the formatof
the question sand. aboveall, toget the timing right.2.1 Writing
Part 2 writingt ask
An Englishlanguage magazine foryoung adults (aged 16 -18)in your country
runs a series of articlesentitledHowto get the best outof.. .The articlesare
sometimes serious, and sometimes light-hearted. Write anart icl eof about 250
wordsfor the magazine on the subject ofyour choice. (Someideas: howtoget
thebestout of beingastudent/your family/your creativity/your television.)
Task bank:Tasks, 6, 7, 41aand 41bTypes of writing • 53