FCE - Review of the Essay Writing Task

• Engels
• Middelbare school
• vwo
• Leerjaar 2

Part 1 of the Writing Paper - The Essay 

Schools are not teaching students the skills they need for their future. Do you agree? 

Question:

In your English class you have been talking about the way students are taught at your school. Now, your teacher has asked you to write an essay.

Write an essay using all the notes and giving reasons for your point of view.

Write your essay for the teacher. (around 140-190 words)

Schools are not teaching students the skills they need for their future. Do you agree? 

Notes

Write about:

1. Academic knowledge

2.Money management

3................. (your own idea)

What you need to do to pass? - Read the checklist first to understand what the examiner is looking for in a good answer.

Communicative Achievement: Was your writing too formal, too informal, or just right? Is the teacher informed about your viewpoint, did your essay hold her attention? 

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?

Content - Did you write what you were asked to write? Should include a discussion statement and give reasons why. 

Tips for improving your writing

Have you used one word multiple times? For example: a lot 

like (adjective; similar) 

stuff 

many

a great deal

such as

for example

likewise

things, equipment, items, goods, gear, material objects, possessions, paraphernalia, trappings, objects.

Other Bloopers:

1. Teaches: Gives knowledge       /      Learns: Recieves knowledge

That is why it is imortant that school learns you this.

2. Spelling of Usefull  is Useful

3. Too much use of personal pronouns - "I and you" gave the essay less impact: Because you spend too much money you get in to debt.

It is often said that money management is complicated.

A few more bloopers.....

4. Starting sentences with And and But; These are linking words, so should be used to connect ideas IN a sentence. 

5.Use of very informal language: Kids.... Stuff...... Heck! I don't know.

Finally.......................

 In school or At school but never ON school 

 You can't cook without a recipe

Many students hate the planning stage and like to just start writing as soon as possible. But the finished product is normally not very good. Imagine a chef in a restaurant - does he go into the kitchen and start throwing vegetables into pans? No - he gets a recipe and follows the plan!

So, take a deep breath, think about what you have to write, what you want to write, and how you can write it.

Always spend 10 minutes writing your plan:

Highlight the question/notes, then:

USE THIS OUTLINE EVERY TIME YOU PLAN AN ESSAY 

Introduction

first idea

second idea

third idea

conclusion

Checking your plan

You should look at your plan and decide:

Have you responded to the statement and the notes appropriately?

Is the essay organised in a clear and logical way?

Will your teacher enjoy reading your essay?

If the answer is 'no' to any of these questions then you will need to do some more planning!

 

Time management

The two texts are worth equal points and have the same word lengths, so you should spend equal time on them. That gives you 40 minutes per text. Spend some of that time planning and some checking. For example:

Planning - 10 minutes

Writing - 25 minutes

Checking - 5 minutes

You have 80 minutes to write two texts. The first text will always be an essay and should be 140-190 words long. The second text can be an article, informal email or letter, a formal email or letter, a report, or a review and should be 140-190 words.

YOU WILL NOT HAVE TIME TO WRITE A DRAFT!

Extra Help

• You can use your British Council Log-in to submit two writing tasks that will they will give you feedback on.
  
• If you got a 5.5 or less in the 1-Test, please feel free to come to an extra help session on: FCE writing the essay. I will be in room 130 on Thursday the 23rd of January at 14:20