This is a call to help. In class last night Jose admitted that he is frightened! (and I think Jesus, Antonio, Marina, Laura, Angel, Paula and Ana are too).
Jorge and Paul congratualtions you have passed the exam! With good marks I might add. Therefore if you could offer any advice to the current students via this blog I´m sure they would appreciate it. Also everyone would like to know how you are and how you are doing.
Current students! I will be posting extra information on the blog to help you pass. We really, really want you to pass. So far I have a 100% record as a teacher of students passing the FCE exam.
Let´s make sure this continues come June and you can post your excellent results on this very blog!
See you soon.
David
Hello everybody. It´s true. Fortunately for us, Paul and I passed our FCE that took place nearly two months ago. We are pleased to belong to that exclusive club of students that passed the exam in their first attempt. I really appreciate what you have done for me in order to get good results. If it weren´t for you it´s possible I would not have managed to get such result. Thanks and I hope to see you soon.
ReplyDeleteThanks Jorge!
ReplyDeleteI think you got such a good result because of all your hardwork.
Jorge must have written about 4 compositions a week.
What was your strongest part of the exam? Where did you get the best mark? Do you have any advice for the rest of the students?
D
I got my best result in the Use of English, of course and that´s because of reading every day a little in English. The strongest part, without a doubt, was the listening one. In spite of the fact that I had been practising for a long time trying to get used to different English accents, at the end the experience in the the was not satisfactory at all. It´s a good thing I got good results in the other parts. My piece of advice is the next one: try to study at least twenty minutes of English every day in the way you prefer. It´ll keep your mind busy in other way and at the end you´ll check that all the pieces inside fit almost perfectly.
ReplyDeleteThe listening part was the most difficult? Or the one you did best in (performed most strongly)?
ReplyDeleteCongratulations for getting such a good result in Use of English, that's a very difficult section and it's hard to master prepositions. So that stands you in good sted (gives you a good preparation) for the advanced exam. Well done.
Everyone else I think Jorge's advice to study for at least 20 mins a day in the way you prefer is great advice. Please take it on board.
This was written by Angel but I'm posting it here for now.
ReplyDeleteThis year I’m taking the FCE exam and like much of the students I’m making a great effort so I can pass it without problems and I thought that students who are taking it next year would appreciate more advice that the given in the college. First I’m going to give advice in general and then I will focus in each Paper.
Talking about the exam in general there is no extra advice (do your homework, listen to music, see films, read books, look for vocabulary, etc) but doing tests in the internet. It is plenty of them and I recommend specially a website: http://www.flo-joe.co.uk/
Now I’ll go Paper by Paper:
Paper 1: Reading
For improving in it, the only practice you can do is reading in English every type of text, from novels to receipts, taking notes of the unknown words. Another good practice is reading books with questions at the end so you can prove you have understood it.
Paper 2: Writing
For practicing it you can write a text every week or one each fortnight so you remember your mistakes and don’t make them again.
Paper 3: Use of English
In it is included grammar and vocabulary. For grammar the only practice possible is doing homework and studying it regularly and for vocabulary to take notes of every unknown word you see.
Paper 4 and 5: Listening and Speaking.
I have put them together because they are much related. The best practice from my point of view to improve these skills is listening to music, try to write the whole lyrics, compare it with the real ones and finally sing them imitating the singer so you improve your pronunciation. Of course you can also see films, TV programs, etc
One last advice, don’t be frightened, everything is possible if you want it.
READY, SET, FIRST!
ReplyDeleteJose Romero Porrino
When First Certificate Exam (FCE) date is coming, people feel nervous, and they just think about the fact that what could happen if they failed it. But the truth is that the more you think about it, the less relaxed you will feel. You may be wondering what you have to do. Well, let’s discover some strategies.
First of all, you don’t have to be nervous –it will never help! You just have to be relaxed, so that your brain can work better. Another point to consider is the practice, maybe the most important thing of all them. Practicing is important because it introduces you to the exam. For example, you should read several newspapers or books in English so as it will help you in the Reading Part.
Having organized your notebook, doing some tests on the Internet, or writing several articles and reviews will help you so much.
In my opinion, I think that practicing one hour everyday will improve your knowledge. What’s more, there are hundreds of tests in the Internet! And remember, don’t be nervous!
Good Jose. Mistakes are in the first paragraph, is this second or first conditional?
ReplyDeleteSecond paragraph introduces? can you think of a more appropriate word?
Third paragraph is ok, but is a little confused. Is it a sequence of events some in the present perfect and advice in the future? If so you should put effective linking words after, then etc. to mark a sequence.
Final paragraph, preposition ´in the internet´should be ...
I look forward to reading your corrections.
Ok everyone get ready because I am going to post Paul's advice and quite frankly it's the biggest and possibly best piece of written advice I've seen. It's a real essay.
ReplyDeletePaul there were very few errors and I made minor revisions down to the section entitled 'D-Day'. If anyone can see any errors please write them out and when I figure out to use google drive better I will repost this advice as a new post, because it's really good and deserves it.
Ok here we go, I think I need to post in two parts, here's part 1:
Review for David Brown – 1st Certificate exam preparations
Hey everybody! This is Paul writing and David told me if I could tell you a bit of my experience and some advices while taking this world-opening exam.
Thinking a little bit on David’s idea when he wrote telling me about giving an experience review I started thinking on a huge amount of things to say, all it intrinsic, how to dismantle all the work to take this exam I came up that the best way was like Jack the Ripper said “let’s go by parts”
Step 1: Preparation for exam
This is one of the most important parts for taking FCE since this is the time while you be getting ready to take it. There’s no secret recipe for best studying the FCE, everyone is a single person and each person is a world. YOU are the only one who knows what kind of study routine fits you the best to yourself, and yes, it’s a routine to study what will lead you to pass some parts of the exam, it really works this way. Every day you should study a couple of pages, review something you missed the last time, have a look to vocabulary by making vocab. lists and read, read and read a little bit more. English doesn’t come to you alone (by itself), to improve vocabulary read everything you can in English, switch some usual things in your daily routine to English such as cell phones, computer, watching TV, even thinking in English and much more things. You’ll see this way sometimes you don’t notice you’re learning English but someday it will show up that something you read or listened you’ll know what does that mean or the use of it.
Those in an academy, your teacher is the source of knowledge, so ask, write to him, ask about where to go to practice English; There are some kind of English-Spanish meetings where you can practice the speaking and listening to different kind of accents and training your ear to a different language, because in the exam, there’s no time to say “I’m not ready for this kind of accent” or “I can’t understand because of his speed” the tape keeps going on and getting frustrated gets you nowhere.
So now, coming to the end of Step 1, I must highlight a few ideas:
• Read as much as possible, books, magazines, food ingredients, everything that come to your hands (in English of course)
• Listen to English speaking people, via watching series or TV films; I’d say more British English than American, because in the end, FCE is a British English exam, but American English could help you to get used to other accents
• Write, use as much vocabulary as you can, doesn’t matter if you fail here, then you’ll know how to use it when the real time comes.
END of Step 1 – you now have a 15 min break, please leave the room
Part 2:
ReplyDeleteStep 2: Day before taking the exam
This day is a crucial day, today will set your body to D-Day, the day you’ll face most probably your largest time-consuming exam. You’ve been getting ready for the exam for a really long time and today, the day before the exam, you should be ready enough to take it. Today you mustn’t study anything because is most likely to be worthless. Today what you should do is to have a relaxing day, not getting anxious for what comes next day, there are still many hours left.
What I’d do? Sleep enough to be ready, review a couple of things if you need it, maybe taking a good English book to read and that’s all. Of course you shouldn’t get as relaxed as being in the mood to go partying... that’s not what I meant. Think on what you should take to the exam, maybe some fruit, juices/water or cereal bars, you’ll be getting a great deal of mental effort and you have to fuel your brain, just like if you were running a marathon, your body will need this supplies, and please, today diet doesn’t exist. You’ll need some sugar in your body just to make your brain work at 100%
Also, before going to sleep, chose what you’re going to wear next day, and one more time, loose and comfortable clothing, cotton is the best material, it is fresh, light and it stretches when needed, because while taking the exam, you’ll sweat, move, and many other things that could irritate you, so let the clothing not be one of them.
Ending this Step 2, another summary of key ideas
• Don’t study anything, what you know, you know it from the preparation months, whatever you “study” today for sure you have studied it before but your nerves has blocked your mind.
• You’ve done mock exams, you know how it works, and you know you’re up to it. You have to believe in yourself and if you have studied hard enough and you’re mentally prepared, it will come easy
• Take something to drink or eat in break time, and go to the WC even if you don’t need to go... better trying it than having to hurry in the middle of any part.
• You look perfect, nobody is looking at you shirt wrinkle.
• DON’T FORGET TO SET 2 OR 3 ALARMS!! Your cell phone, your stopwatch, your mother, whatever you have close to wake you up
Part 3:
ReplyDeleteStep 3 – D-DAY!
If you’ve followed the previous reading you should have woke up at the first alarm, but in a rested mood, happy and relax. Now another alarm will ring, just set it off.
Have a light breakfast and take your bag with the eating and drinking stuff, even a pen and a pencil could be useful. Likewise, don’t forget your ID card, don’t leave anything to the last moment, you should have left everything ready the previous night. Now get to the examination point, arrive early just in case you find traffic jams, all the traffic lights in red and so on... don’t leave anything to luck.
Now comes what you are ready for: THE EXAM, where I would tell you what I went through. These are based on true events
08:30 – Entered the building and headed to the desk with my surname. This is a checkpoint where you show your ID and they’ll tell you where will you take the exam. Remember the number they say and head to the room (go to the WC if needed)
09:00 – Reading: Sitting in my place, watching people running to their seats, sweating and nervous, what happens coming late! Just relax, breathe and keep your mind in blank. Start reading and write as many notes as you wish, don’t hurry, just keep the pace you’ve been practicing while in Step 1, there’s time enough to read everything and fill in the answer sheet
10:00 – Break until 10:15. You have to leave the room, the invigilators will prepare the place for the next part. Once out, have something to drink, go to the WC and most important DO NOT TALK ABOUT THIS PART! You know how did it went, you don’t need someone else saying “oh, that was terrible, this is my worst day, blablablah” or just “hey, I did it great! I’m going to pass it for sure, I’m the king of the exam, blablablah” This isn’t helping you, there’s no need to know it, what is written, written stays, you can’t change it and it’s time to focus to next part
10:15 – Writing: You’re called to come in again and take the same place as previous. You now have a pen on your desk to write your letter and whatever is part 2. Think you have spare sheets to write some notes and getting sure you don’t get under the minimum or over the maximum length on each part of the writing. You can have a try with pencil but remember the final writing must be written by pen. Sometimes you don’t need to do this practice, you’ve done enough writings that your brain just search in your mental library, copy text and paste it on the paper, and sooner you expect, you will have finished this part and leaving the room eating something.
11:50 – Use of English: This part is the quickest one, 45 min where you’ll be finished in 30 or less and reviewing it one and another time, ensuring you have chosen what you think are the best answers.
12:50 – Listening: Probably the toughest part, why? You can’t go on your own pace, here you’ll need to have your tricks for the exam... maybe trying to fill in all the gaps at the first try and then trying to correct everything; listening once and in the second try filling the gaps; mixing both styles. Each part of the listening needs a different skill, but in the end, you have your style and that’s what is important. Don’t get anxious if you missed something, there’s a second chance to hear it and if you don’t get it, it doesn’t matter, one or two misses won’t make you fail an entire part (but be sure there are only one or two...) at the end of the listening test, you will have 5 min to type all the answers to the answer sheet.
Part 4:
ReplyDeleteDING DING DING DING! You know what??? THIS IS THE END OF THE LISTENING TEST, you now can leave the room and say “Yeah, a great Saturday morning to get FCE” You can now go home and tell everyone you did it great in the exam, update your Tuenti/Facebook status and whatever you want, only if you aren’t as lucky as I was to have Speaking the same day 3 hours later.
What did I do? I had my lunch in the bag and I had to go to British Institute (BI) to get the speaking part and what can you do before entering this part? What I did was looking for a relaxing spot (this time was Murillo Gardens close to the BI) watching tourist coming and going, eating my sandwich and getting a bit sunbathed. Remember, not to get too asleep or completely sleep. Just to be ready for speaking part
16:34 – Speaking: When I got to the door of the BI I saw a lot of people, some of whom I talked to during the breaks (not about the exam, of course).
Once there, you wait until you’re called and you are given a sticker with your name and a evaluation sheet, be sure your names and numbers matches. You are lead to an interior courtyard where you meet who’s going to be your speaking partner. There’s something funny here, at the beginning of this part you don’t know him, you talk to him/her a little bit just to get known, talking a bit of how the morning exam went and set your exam tactic.
When you are in the room, you’ll find two invigilators, one will be the asking one and the other one will be taking notes of both of you. This part goes smooth, just be kind, smile and DO NOT answer too short “– Where are you from? – I’m from Seville” If you say this, there would be an uncomfortable silence where you think “Oh damn it, I should have said more” and the invigilator saying “oh yeah, here comes a 0 as big as the door” but don’t be greedy and try to take all the time for you.
Answer correctly, fully, relaxed (yeah, I’m sort of a tiring one with being relaxed but this is the key for doing exams) be collaborative in part 3 and don’t you worry about the timing, it’s better to be stopped in parts 1 and 2 but don’t be selfish in part 3. Collaborative task, the main point is being collaborative, ask a couple of questions and “pray” to find a competent partner. This way you’ll have an easy going test.
Nonetheless, this is the real end of the FCE exam, now you’re free to do whatever you didn’t while studying this exam, now you’ve done your best, there’s nothing you can’t change. Just have to wait till the day the marks are released, nothing more to do, nothing less to say. All your efforts, time, ups and downs, everything ends with this moment when you step outside with this partner you came in not knowing him but coming out as really good old friends even telling some jokes and laughing!
Some tips I’d like to add to finish, are this ones:
• You know you can get it
• Give the max on each part, don’t leave anything behind saying “I’ll pass with the other parts”
• Cheating is useless, there are more cons than pros in this exam
• Leave your worries out of the exam, just one morning focused on FCE
This is how my exam went and is what I wanted to tell you after thinking on David’s idea, I know it is lengthy, but hey, take it as a reading practice! I hope this is helpful to whoever reads this and know that whatever you need I’ll be pleased to help... if I can of course.
Best wishes and may the force be with you all. Good luck my friends
Paul L. Dennis (proud FCE owner :D)