Writing Part 1
Overview
B2 First Exam
Embedded Files
Writing Part 1
In this section:
In Part 1, you'll need to write an essay. This section will talk about how to do this.
Time Management
Time Management
During the Writing paper, you will need to complete two compositions. Both texts are the same amount of words and worth the same amount of points. Therefor, you should try to spend equal amounts of time on both tasks. On the B2 First exam, you should aim to spend around 40 minutes per text.
Make sure that you give plan to both plan and check your work. Planning will actually help you write faster and will result in better pieces.
Suggested breakdown:
Planning - 10 minutes
Writing - 25 minutes
Checking - 5 minutes
A lot of people want to skip the planning and they start writing immediately. However, this often leads to disorganized essays and can lead to frustration. It's actually much wiser to plan your writing.
Having a plan will:
help your piece be more organized, leading to a higher mark for organization
help you with idea generation
make it easier to double-check that you've done everything required in the task, leading to a higher mark under content
make the writing process will be much easier and faster
result in writing which is easier to read, leading to a higher score under communicative achievement.
Planning is actually really easy and not a waste of time at all. In fact, all high-scoring pieces begin with plans.
What you must do
What you must do
Part 1 has only one task which you must answer.
You will:
be given the topic of the essay.
be given two ideas to write about.
need to add one more idea to write about, related ot the topic.
need to give an opinion and support it with reasons.
need to write around 140 to 190 words.
Assessed Abilities
Assessed Abilities
In Writing Part 1, you need to show that you can appropriately use language to do things such as:
Agree and Disagree
Give an opinion
Give examples or explanations
Give reasons
Compare or contrast ideas
Draw conclusions
Language Assessed
Language Assessed
Your writing style and tone will be evaluated during the exam.
When writing an essay you should use either a neutral or slightly formal tone.
How to do this:
Do not use contractions (for example: write "it is" instead of "it's" or "cannot" instead of "can't)
Avoid first person pronouns (no "I" or "we")
Avoid using phrasal verbs (for example: say "emit" instead of "give off" or "continue" instead of "keep on")
Consider using passive language or impersonal phrases (for example: say "it is often believed that..." instead of "many people believe that..."
Topics Addressed
Topics Addressed
On a Cambridge Exam, you never need to be an expert. However, you still must write about the topic even if you don't know much about it.
Topics will always be of general interest; that is, they will be about something everyone knows a bit about. You do not need specialist knowledge or highly-technical words. However, it is important that you try to use topic-specific words if you can, and you should try to vary your language when you can, to create writing that's interesting and enjoyable to read.
Your examples and reasons should also be logical and relevant. They should clearly support your point.
What a Task Looks Like
What a Task Looks Like
Here's an example of a 2 First Part 1 task:
As you can see in the example, each question will tell you exactly what you must do. Here, you must write an essay and answer a question.
A Part 1 Essay will always list two bullet points which you must address and you’ll be asked to chose a third point to talk about, related to the topic:
Notes
Write about:
having a parent as a teacher
making friends
.......................... (your own idea)
General Format
General Format
An essay should have both an introduction and a conclusion.
You can organize your essay quickly and easily by dedicating one paragraph to each part.
For a B2 First essay task, I recommend:
Introduction
Introduce the topic - say what it will be about
Introduce the three points
Give your opinion (answer the question) if needed
Main body paragraph 1
One sentence introducing one of the points.
One sentence which gives an example or a reason.
One sentence which addresses the main question.
Main body paragraph 2
One sentence introducing one of the points.
One sentence which gives an example or a reason.
One sentence which addresses the main question.
Main body paragraph 3
One sentence introducing one of the points.
One sentence which gives an example or a reason.
One sentence which addresses the main question.
Conclusion
Summary the main points of your essay
Restate the opinion, if there is one
Do not add new information
When following this format, you can develop your essay very quickly and it's very easy to make everything cohesive by always addressing the main question at the end of the body paragraphs.
You will find that 190 words actually are not a lot, so you should not write too many things about each point. However, use this to your advantage; the more you write, the more possibilities there are for mistakes. So, keep your essays short and to the point and focus on communicating your ideas clearly.
Word Length
Word Length
The suggested word limit for a B2 First exam essay is 140-190 words.
Note that the word limit is only a guideline; you can go over and under without losing points. As long as you've included all the required information, you can write less words. You can also write more words provided that everything is relevant to the task.
Keep in mind:
Responses that are too short are probably missing important information, so double check that you've included everything mentioned in the task.
Responses that are too long may have irrelevant information. You will lose points for including irrelevant information. Never go off topic.
Page updated
Google Sites
Report abuse