Cambridge English - P2 - Week 1 - Essay writing

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• mavo, havo, vwo
• Leerjaar 4

CAE - Essay Writing

Today's Lesson

Check and grade  your 1st essay 

Write an essay discussing only two points. You should explain which point is more important, giving reasons in support of your answer.

Recap: Writing Exam

• You have 90 minutes to write two texts. 
• Each text should be about 220-260 words long (see the Questions section at the bottom if you have concerns about the word count). 
• Part 1 is always an essay, while in part 2 you have a choice of 3 tasks (letter/email; proposal; report; review).

Time management

Planning is important as it will structure you text and save time in the long run. 

Suggested time plan per text: 

• Planning - 10 minutes
• Writing - 25 minutes
  
• Checking - 10 minutes

How is your essay graded: max. 20 points 

5 points per category 

• Content - Did you do the task you were asked to do?
  
• Communicative achievement - Did you use the right tone and level of formality? Is it good to read? Can the reader understand you?
  
• Organisation - Did you link paragraphs together using linking words? Is there a logical flow?
  
• Language - Did you show off your sparkling C1 vocabulary or did you merely use B1/B2 words? Did you make lots of grammar mistakes?

What do CAMBRIDGE examiners expect you to do

• Cambridge examiners want to see that you can write an academic text in neutral/formal style, and be persuasive while having a good structure, using linking phrases etc.
  
• Keep the reader in mind. Make sure you follow their instructions and that they can understand what your points are.
  
• You don’t need to include a title. It’s okay if you do.
  
• You have more access to a wider range of language if you have a negative point and a positive point.
  
• Your essay doesn’t have to be factually accurate! Lie/make things up if it helps your essay!

Tips

Cambridge loves linking words and cohesive devices. These are bits of text like 'firstly', 'whereas', 'in addition', 'however', and so on. Properly used, they will make your writing flow and make your text easier to read. 

! You can't do well in CAE without using these phrases.

You also need to vary the length of your sentences. 

Linking words

• Remember there are four areas on which you are graded: 
• Content 
• Communicative achievement 
• Organisation - Did you link paragraphs together using linking words? Is there a logical flow?
• Language 
• Each of those four elements is worth up to 5 marks out of the 20 total 
• Organisation can be the easiest to score well in if you know what’s required of you. 
• What they’re looking for is cohesion. 
• The whole text has a natural flow, nothing seems out of place or disjointed. 
• Linking words/phrases are a part of helping you to achieve that.

There is more to it:

It’s not only linking words of course. There are a few simple aspects, such as:

• Having a clear Introduction
• A main body and conclusion (basically, a beginning, middle and end), and using clear spacing to separate your paragraphs.
• Keep the readers attention by varying the lenght of you sentences

Now you score your own essay:

Give yourself max. 5 points for each category / max.  20  in total

Content - Did you do the task you were asked to do?

Communicative achievement - Did you use the right tone and level of formality? Is it good to read? Can the reader understand you?

Organisation - Did you link paragraphs together using linking words? Is there a logical flow?

Language - Did you show off your sparkling C1 vocabulary or did you merely use B1/B2 words? Did you make lots of grammar mistakes?

Finished!

Well done, you have finished today's lesson. 

You practised your writing skills

Check SOM for your homework: write your second essay:

https://app.engxam.com/cae/writing/1/

See you next week!