Writing: Essay Tips for Test Week One

• English
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 2

Look closely! Can you see what today's picture is?

It's a slice of banana! :)

First Test Week

 17th of January 2025 - 10:00

Write an FCE style Essay

You have 40 minutes to write an FCE essay. The text will be an essay and should be 140-190 words long. This will be graded as a 2-Test. You will need to write a plan before you start writing your essay, the plan needs to be handed in but is not graded.

FCE ESSAY

How many words? 

How many paragraphs?

Style? - formal/semi-formal/informal?

Language? Shortened forms? Use of "I" - first person. 

Tip

Always, always, always,

write a plan.

Plan On 

The essay needs to be well organised and present a logical argument. So YOU MUST WRITE A PLAN

Prepare to write 1: Review useful language

In Writing Part 1, you need to show that you can use language appropriately to do things such as:

• Agreeing or disagreeing

• Giving opinions

• Giving information or explanations

• Giving reasons

• Giving examples

• Comparing and contrasting ideas

and opinions

• Drawing conclusions

You should also use a range of suitable expressions to organise your essay and help your reader

understand the connections between your ideas.

Look at the above phrases. Can you put them in the correct groups according to their function in an opinion essay? (The first one has been done for you as an example.)

Remember: Always make a plan!

1. introduction

2. first idea

3. second idea

4. third idea

5. conclusion

Tip: Spend 10 minutes making your plan before you start writing your essay

Prepare to write 2: Generate and organise ideas

1. Imagine that you have been given the following essay task.

2. How could you develop these first two ideas? Take notes in your notebook using a mind map like this:

Here’s a useful structure for an opinion essay:

Re-cap

Is an FCE essay formal or informal?

How many words?

How many paragraphs? 

What should you do before you start writing? 

Take five minutes  to check your essay

Grading for FCE (and the test week)

Your teacher gives you a grade for your essay based on 4 things:

Content - Did you write what you were asked to write?

Communicative achievement - Was your writing too formal, too informal, or just right?

Organisation - Did you link paragraphs and sentences? Is there a logical flow from start to finish?

Language - Did you show off your sparkling vocabulary or did you use basic words? Did you make lots of grammar and spelling mistakes?

common spelling errors

alot = a lot (actually, rather too informal, try and use many, numerous, several)

Wich = which

realy = really

Common error: teached > taught

Remember to use good topic sentences to introduce your ideas/paragraphs.....

To start off with, I'm going to talk about bad stuff we learn at school

Firstly, some reasons why what we learn at school should be more relevant to life today............

I am going to write my essay on stuff we should know more about. i have quite some ideas and want to tell them here.

It is very important for us to spend time, learning practical skills such as money management.....

common error: a weak conclusion

Your last paragraph needs to be a conclusion. 

Always sum up what has already been said in your main paragraph.

Never introduce a new topic.

Start the paragraph with:To conclude, .... / To sum up, .... / In conclusion, ...../ All in all, ......

Try to link the last sentence in your conclusion back to something you have said in your introduction.   

REMEMBER TO SAY WHETHER YOU AGREE OR DISAGREE.

Another common error: Too informal 

Try not to use too many shortened forms.

Do not use too many personal pronouns (I, she, he, it, you)

Use correct vocabulary for a semi-formal essay - 

a lot /many, numerous

gotta / got to

gonna / going to

Remember: a catchy title

Last but not least..... (not essential, but helps the reader know what your essay is about!