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Much of this page consists of edited extracts from How to Succeed in Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in
English, by Amorey Gethin, originally published by Basil Blackwell,
and The Art and Science of Learning Languages,
by Amorey Gethin and Erik V. Gunnemark, published by Intellect in 1996..
The new format of the Cambridge Certificate of Proficiency in English,
Paper 3: Use of English
Part 1
Part 1 will be of the
same type as the old Section A, Question 1. This is what the examiners call a
cloze text. The only difference will be that in the new test there will be only
15 blanks to be filled instead of 20. An example of the old type (i.e. with 20
blanks) is given below. The technique needed to do this part of the paper will
remain exactly the same in the new form of the examination.
Example
(Part 1)
For questions 1-20,
read the text below and think of the word which best fits each space. Use only one
word in each space.
Modern Medicine
Until quite
recently almost everybody in the Western world (1).......... uncritical faith
in the power of medical science. The sulpha drugs
introduced in the thirties, drugs (2).......... as penicillin, and vaccines
like (3).......... developed against polio, as well as sensational advances in
surgical techniques, were regarded (4).......... demonstrations of the triumph
of modern medicine.
Now an ever (5).......... number of people are not so sure.
It has become apparent that (6).......... was in fact cleaner water and
better diet and hygiene that won the battle against the fearful epidemics of
earlier times. The "wonder" drugs only arrived on the scene
(7).......... the job (8).......... largely been done. It (9).......... been
asserted that (10).......... having more doctors, more and better equipped
hospitals, and more food (11).......... any other nation, the
More and more people are turning to "alternative" medicine,
such as nature cure, acupuncture, or homeopathy. Alternative medicine differs
widely from orthodox medicine (15).......... that it is far less costly, is in
practically every (16).......... harmless, and treats whole individuals
(17).......... than separate, depersonalised
symptoms. A further consideration is (18).......... that possibly attracts
people to it as much as (19)..........: it does not subject patients to the
painful and frightening ordeals that most modern hospitals so often
(20)......... .
How to answer (Part
1)
Many students think these passages with blanks
are very difficult. They are much easier if you do them the right way.
Read the passage through quickly. Don't stop and
worry about the blanks until you have finished. Context is as important here as
it is with practically all language. You must keep the meaning in mind the
whole time, both the meaning of the whole passage and of each sentence. If you
forget the meaning you will find either that you fill in almost no blanks, or
that you write nonsense. Worry about the story or the argument, not about the
English Imagine, if you like, that it is a letter from a friend who has very
bad handwriting and that the blanks are words you cannot read, so you have to
guess. If you think about it like this, I think you will find most of it is
quite easy.
Above all, you must never allow your mind to
become like a robot (in this or any other question). Using a language properly,
whether it is your own or a foreign one, is a thinking action, so never
allow your mind to become like a computer where someone presses a key and out
comes an automatic response. Language does not work like that. Here are two
examples.
You might be asked to fill in the blank in the
sentence:
Lift the receiver, and listen..........the dialling tone before dialling the
number.
Many students of English react with a
mechanical listen TO and they write "lift the receiver, and listen
to the dialling tone...'. Listening to the dialling tone would be a very strange thing to do - unless
you are a telephone engineer or regard telephone dialling
tones as beautiful music. Here it must be:
Lift the receiver, and listen FOR [as in
'wait for'] the dialling tone...
Or you might get a passage with the sentences
Cosmetics manufacturers are one of the most
important groups that maintain such tests are necessary. Farmers are interested
(1)..........a rather different way (2)..........these large scale and
apparently scientifically productive experiments on animals.
where the correct word has to be put in at (1)
and (2). Most students, I'm afraid, write in at (1) and all sorts of
different prepositions - sometimes not even prepositions - at (2). This is
because they respond, robot-like, with an automatic, unthinking in after
interested. They don't think about the meaning and so they don't see
that the in at (1), although quite correct, has nothing to do with interested,
but belongs to way! We haven't had the in of interested
yet! That comes at (2). So both (1) and (2) must be in.
These are two very obvious examples. But they
show both how to think and how not to think when you are dealing with these
passages with blanks, and with many other types of question too. It has taken
me a bit of time to explain these examples, but it all goes very quickly in
practice if you yourself think clearly about the meaning all the time.
With the meaning always in mind, you will soon
discover two practical pieces of technique. One is that the key to the answer
to many blanks is in another sentence, sometimes before, sometimes after the
sentence you are dealing with. The other point is that often, when you find a
particular blank difficult, it is better to go on and do a later blank first.
Then, when you go back to the earlier blank, you find it is quite easy.
Never stare blindly at the blank and the one
word before it or after it Always look at the whole idea.
In the same way, when you have filled in the
blanks, you should read the whole of each sentence to yourself to see if it
makes sense, and finally read the whole passage to yourself.
Make sure you fill in every blank. You will
lose as many marks for putting nothing as you will for the wrong answer.
In a
Model
answers (Part 1)
First read the whole passage quickly. Don't
stop and worry about the blanks until you have finished.
(1) had. When you have decided on
your answer you should read the whole sentence to yourself, with your answer
(or answers) and make sure it all makes sense.
(2) The key word here is
"as", so the answer must be: such.
(3) Here we already have an
example of how essential it is to think of whole meanings. What is it
that was developed against polio? The answer is: vaccine. So what that phrase means
is "...and vaccines like the vaccine (or vaccines) developed against
polio". But "the vaccines" is two words, which we are not
allowed to use. So we need one word to replace a noun, and that is: that
or those.
(4) as. Now read the sentence to
yourself, and do the same with all the others as you complete each one.
(5) If you have any difficulty
with this one, remind yourself of what it says at the beginning of the passage:
"almost everybody...had uncritical faith...". Then read further, and you
will come to "More and more people are turning to 'alternative'
medicine". So it is clear what sort of number of people are now not so
sure about the triumph of modern medicine. It must be an ever increasing
one, or growing.
(6) You will have no difficulty in
seeing that it is the answer here if you have got into the habit of
looking at the sentence as a whole.
(7) and (8) should be done
together. They are a particularly good example of how the key to the problem is
quite simply always keeping the broad context, the real life situation, in
mind. What is "the job"? It is winning the battle against the
epidemics. Was this done before, after, or at the same time as the arrival of
the "wonder" drugs? Obviously, through cleaner water and better diet
and hygiene, before the drugs, which "only arrived on the scene (7)
after the job..." and this job of winning the battle was before the
drugs arrived, so the answer to (8) cannot be "has", but must be had.
(So long as we get (8) right the answer to (7) can also be when.)
(9) But don't fall into the trap
of thinking that this is "had" too. If you only look as far as
"asserted" you might reasonably feel it is a perfectly good answer;
we are still talking about the history of medicine. But if you continue to the
end of the sentence you find "the
(10)The meaning the writer is
conveying in this whole sentence - and we have to read right to the end to find
the meaning - is a contrast, something we would not expect. So (10) is
an "although" idea. However, we can't use "although" in
front of "having". But we can use: despite.
(11) is quite straightforward.
"...more...more...better...more..." must here sooner or later lead to
only one word: than.
(12) This is that very English
word; even. (It cannot be "much" here, because of
"an".)
(13) particular.
(14) Does modern medical treatment
help patients? According to the writer, certainly not. So the answer is: far.
(15) This may be more difficult. But
if we look at the whole sentence we can see that the second part of the
sentence says in what way alternative medicine differs from orthodox
medicine. So the answer is: in.
(16) Here we need another way of
saying "always", and that is "in every" case.
("way" may seem tempting, but is really illogical, as alternative
medicine that was harmful in even just one way would be undesirable.)
(17) is another contrast idea, and
"than" leaves us with only one possibility: rather.
(18) has the same meaning as we had
with (3); we can call it a pronoun to replace, or repeat,
"consideration". The only difference is that in (3) it was a definite
pronoun, while here it is indefinite, "a...consideration", one
of several. So we get: one. (something is perhaps possible, but
not, I feel, really logical: it suggests that "consideration" is a
"thing", which it is not - it is a "thought" that it.. .)
(19) You may find this very
difficult if you do not think of the real life idea the writer is expressing.
If you do, you will see that we could continue the sentence a bit like this:
"...as much as...other consideration". I think it then becomes clear
that the missing word is: any. (Perhaps anything if you
had something for (18).)
(20) This word must replace, or
repeat, the idea of "subject patients to...", and so, because of the
opinion expressed right through the whole passage, there can be no doubt that
the writer means: do.
Now read through the whole passage, with your
answers, and check that the whole thing makes sense.
It is worth studying the answers to this
question very carefully. Many of them are what we might call 'replacement'
words which you will find very useful in your own compositions, and which will
come up again and again in tests like this: that/those; one;
any; do. Other words are ones that are often 'linked' to other
words: such as; more...than; far from;
in that; in every case; rather than.
Look out for both types of words as you practise
other 'cloze' tests like this.
Parts 2 and 3
These parts are of a new kind, and I shall not
discuss them here, except to say that they emphasize (1) the ability to convert
one form of a word into another form (e.g. change repeat into repetition)
and (2) the need to know what words go together with other words, what in
linguists' jargon are called collocations (e.g. make a suggestion,
a drop IN temperature).
Part 4 seems to be a mixture of the old
Questions 2, 3, and 4, so I have kept examples and a discussion of these below.
However, Part 4 appears to be most similar to the old question 4. Both the old and
the new forms of the question put the emphasis on a knowledge of idiomatic
usage, and collocations (what words go with other words). Tests on idioms and
collocations are probably the most difficult aspects of a foreign language to
prepare for systematically. It means that candidates will probably have to do
even more observant reading and listening than before. Some candidates who are
used to the old form of the exam may find this more difficult. But in the long
run this is almost certainly a good thing.
Even in the new Part 4, though, if the
sample paper is anything to go by, the examiners' old favourite gets a lot of
attention - four out of the eight questions involve, or could involve, the use
of the – ing form. (See English
Usage and Grammar: Selected points . These are points
that were previously listed on this page.)
2 Finish each of the
following sentences in such a way that it is as similar as possible in
meaning to the sentence printed before it.
EXAMPLE: I haven't
seen her for three months.
ANSWER: I last saw
her three months ago.
(a) Without paying a large tip you won't get in.
Provided................................................................................................
(b) It is pointless to argue about the decision.
It is
not................................................................................................
(c) "You only think of yourself," she told him.
She accused
.........................................................................................
(d) The adder is the only poisonous snake in
Apart.....................................................................................................
(e) He played beautifully, but never achieved great public success as a
pianist.
Beautiful...................................................................................................
(f) I think it's better to play oneself than just watch others play.
I
prefer.....................................................................................................
(g) They
will not accept one for training unless one has previous experience.
Only if
.......................................................................................................
(h) A
skier starts every five minutes.
The skiers start at
....................................................................................
3 Fill each of the
blanks with a suitable word or phrase.
EXAMPLE: Calm down!
It's no....use losing.........your temper.
(a) They say that by the autumn the unemployment figures ........................
again.
(b) Scarcely..............................bath, when the telephone began to
ring.
(c) The government was believed..............................the journalist
murdered.
(d) If only you..............................treating me like an ignorant
child!
(e) I'm not surprised. I suspected ..............................something
nasty going on.
(f) I've made some sandwiches for you, in
case..............................hungry on the way.
4 For each of the
sentences below, write a new sentence as similar as possible in meaning to
the original sentence, but using the word given. This word must
not be altered in any way.
(a) We are determined to get something done about traffic congestion. intent
....................................................................................................................................
(b) He can put people at their ease very well. good
....................................................................................................................................
(c) He does not have enough experience as a driver for this competition. experienced
....................................................................................................................................
(d) It's silly to water the plants now. point
....................................................................................................................................
(e) Her accent shows she's not from around here. tell
....................................................................................................................................
(f) There are several reasons why he can't sing the part: to begin with it
doesn't suit his voice; furthermore, he's too fat. thing
....................................................................................................................................................................................................................................................
(g) He's being forced to work on Sunday by way of compensation for the hours
he's been off this week. make
....................................................................................................................................
....................................................................................................................................
(h)We sent flowers to show our respect. token
....................................................................................................................................
How to
answer (old questions 2, 3 & 4)
Some of the advice below is not as relevant to the new Part 4 as it was to the old questions 2,3,and 4. Nevertheless, it contains good principles that are worth remembering whenever you are faced with tests on language.
At every question in turn the first thing to do is ask yourself
"Why have the examiners asked this particular question? What's the problem
they're testing?" You may not be able to give an answer every time, but
usually you will if you have prepared properly. We are back to the basic
principle: remind yourself what the problem is! This is the key to success.
When it comes to actually doing the questions, the first and most
important thing is to concentrate on the meaning in the sentences.
Do not play mechanical games with them. Do not say to yourself "We
must replace this word in this sentence with that one in that sentence, and
this word moves to here, and rule such and such says we must do so and
so."
Instead, live the situation expressed by the sentence, see it happening
in your mind's eye, just as you would in your own language. Some simple
examples will show what I mean. Take the sentence
She learned to swim when she was three.
and imagine you have to begin "She has..."
If you approach this in a mechanical way you will very likely produce a
sentence such as
She has not learned to swim since she was three.
But what does that mean? Certainly not the same as the original
sentence. It is only by imagining the reality that we can see that learn
disappears and we need a quite different verb:
She has been able to swim since she was three.
Or suppose you have to turn the sentence
I had never been so excited before.
into a sentence that begins "I was more excited..."
Any abstract or mechanical exchanging of verbs will be disastrous. You
may produce something like
I was more excited than before.
(which does not mean the same at all) because your method has prevented
you seeing that we need two verbs:
I was more excited than I had ever been before.
Or you might have to turn the sentence
"Don't forget to turn the gas off," my
sister said.
into one beginning "My sister reminded..."
A lot of students, working like robots, immediately think of remind
OF and write
My sister reminded me of turning the gas off.
which is nonsense. It should be:
My sister reminded me TO TURN the gas off.
Do not work it out, do not calculate it. Just think of the real meaning
- of both the original sentence and of the sentence you suggest yourself. Bring
the sentence to life, dramatise it, and you will find
you immediately understand what is wanted.
You will often have to change words or expressions. That is often one of
the main purposes of this type of test. But never change anything unless it
is necessary. If you do you may, at best, get confused, and at worst,
change the meaning so much that the examiner cannot give you any marks at all.
Finally, make a last careful check of all your
answers against your list of 'favourite mistakes' to
make sure you have not fallen into any of your old traps.
Ask yourself what
each question is designed to test.
(a) Provided is a "conditional", so this is a tense problem. At the same
time, if you don't think what the sentence means in real life you will get in a
muddle and produce a very confused sentence instead of the right one, which is:
Provided...you pay
a large tip you'll/you will get in.
(b) Here the examiner is testing knowledge of worth - followed by a
noun, in this case -ing:
It is not...worth
arguing about the decision.
(A possible
sentence is "It is not a decision worth arguing about", but this
strictly speaking is not right, because it means something quite different,
i.e. the decision is so unimportant that it is silly to argue about it.
However, you might well get the full marks in a real examination, as you would
have got the worth usage right, which is the main point of the
question.)
(c) This obviously tests knowledge of accuse, which takes of,
which means we need the noun-verb -ing again:
She accused...him
of only thinking of himself.
(d) The problem is slightly hidden here, but once more, if you think of the
real life meaning of the original sentence you will have no trouble seeing that
the answer must be:
Apart...from the
adder there are no poisonous snakes in
(The main point is
of course there, but the use of no is an important point too.)
(e) An although type expression. But there are other points to watch
for. "beautifully" has become "beautiful", so we have got to
change an action (played beautifully) into a thing (beautiful playing), and as
we clearly can't say "He beautiful playing" we have to turn it into
"his playing". So we get:
Beautiful... as/though
his playing was, he never achieved great public success as a pianist.
(f) A prefer test:
I prefer...to play
myself rather than just watch others play. or I prefer...playing myself
to watching others play.
(-ing's again!
One as the object of "prefer" and the other governed by the
preposition "to".)
(g) Inversion! So:
Only if...one has
previous experience will they accept one for training.
(h) You have to know the use of intervals here, but remember, too,
the problem of nouns as adjectives – no plural:
The skiers start
at…five-minute intervals.
QUESTION 3
Again ask yourself
why the examiners have asked each particular question.
(a) This is a very good example of how important meaning is. The problem is
mainly a tense one. But do we use up (or down) or rise
(or fall)? Either is possible:
...will be up/down
or ...will have
risen/ fallen...
("...will have
been up" or "...will rise" would both be nonsense.)
(b) Inversion again! Don't be surprised even if you get the same problem in two
successive numbers of the same question. This has happened in some
examinations:
...had I/he/she
got into/out of the... or
other variations,
but they must all begin
with had.
(c) murdered at the end shows this is a have + past participle test. But it
also tests the passive "was believed" usage:
...to have had...
(d) This tests wish sentences , as if only works in the same
way as "wish". It also tests stop:
would stop...or
could stop...
(e) A there test:
...there was...
(f) This is an in case and tense problem. "in case"
is of course Conditional:
...you get/become/are...
Even in this test,
although it is more concerned with vocabulary, you should look for classic
grammatical points that may be involved.
(a) This involves the principle of the noun -ing form after a
preposition, as well as knowledge of the usage with intent:
We are intent on
getting something done about traffic congestion.
(b) Again the -ing with preposition principle, but also a test of good:
He is very good
at putting people at their ease.
(c) This tests use of enough. There are three possible ways you can
use it:
He is not experienced
enough as a driver for this competition. or He is not an
experienced enough driver for...or
He is not experienced
enough a driver for...
(d) A point in doing test:
There is no
point in watering the plants now.
(e)
One/You can tell
from/by her accent that she's not from around here.
(f)
There are several
reasons why he can't sing the part; for one thing it doesn't suit his
voice, and for another, he's too fat.
(g)
He's being forced
to work on Saturday to make up for the hours he's been off this week.
(h)
We sent flowers as
a token of our respect.
NOTE that in this type of test you must always use the word in capitals in exactly
the form that is given - you must not change infinitives into past
participles etc.
Although the tasks set for the new Part 5 are more or less the same as those set for the old Section B of the Use of English paper, there are far fewer questions. Where there were 15 or more Section B questions (including the summary question) in the old form of the exam, there are now apparently only going to be 5 in the new Part 5 (including the summary question). For this reason I am not including an example of Part 5 until we have seen what the actual papers in December 2002 and June 2003 are like. But even at this stage it may be useful to offer some general advice on answering the questions.
Start by reading through the whole passage (or passages) quickly.
When you come to words and expressions you do not know, do not stop and start
worrying about them. In most cases we discover (or ought to discover) the
meaning of a word from the meaning of the whole sentence, of the paragraph, or
even of the whole piece; do not make the mistake of thinking you must
understand every word in the sentence before you can understand the sentence.
It works the other way round - as it usually did when you were reading books in
your own language when you were a child. The sentence and the situation usually
tell us what a new word means.
The first stage is to concentrate on the general meaning, the broad
context of the passage. A rather good test to find out if you are thinking in
the right way is to try, after you have read the passage, to make up a long
title for it - perhaps about one line long. If you can't, you probably ought to
read the whole passage again! And if you constantly remind yourself of this
title it will often guide you in the right direction as you answer the
questions or write your summary.
An important basic principle is always to think of the passage as
connected parts. Don't think of the questions as artificial exercises (even if
they are!); try to interest yourself instead in the writer's ideas, argument or
information. Imagine that it is important to you that you understand exactly
what the writer is saying, because you want to argue about the ideas, or
because the writer provides some interesting facts that you want to remember
and perhaps tell other people about.
In the summary question you will be asked to "summarise in your own words as far as possible". But unless you find you can express a
particular meaning very easily and quickly in your own words, I strongly advise
you to use the words of the passage. It is true that you will lose marks if you
always use the words of the original language, or simply 'lift' sentences from
the original English of the text. But what often happens when people try to use
their own words is that they end up writing confused and confusing sentences. I
have seen many hundreds of students get almost no marks at all on such
questions because they have tried to do what they are not capable of doing.
You risk three things if you try to use your own words. First, you will
almost certainly make some language mistakes. It is much more difficult not to
make mistakes when the examiner, not you, is dictating what you have to say. It
is a strange but sad fact that most students' grammar collapses under this
strain.
A second and even worse danger is that by trying to use your own words you
may distort your sentences so much that the examiner does not understand what
you are trying to say, and therefore gives you no marks at a1l, since you seem
not to have understood the point.
Finally, and perhaps most important of all, trying to think of how you are
going to say something in your own words takes up a lot of extra time,
and time is probably just what you cannot afford. The
So here is a part of the examination where it is best for most people
not to try to achieve a perfect model. What you must always do, however, is
make sure you quote the piece of text that fits the question. And if you do
feel you must completely obey the instruction to use your own words, use the
simplest words and grammar possible
When you are asked to explain what some expression means, don't try to
be a dictionary and give some abstract general definition. In the first place,
this is often very difficult even for a native speaker, and in any case is not
at all what is wanted. What the examiners want to know is whether you
understand what you've read, and if you can show, clearly, that you do, you
will get the marks. So it is the meaning of the expression in a particular
context that matters, and the best method is usually not to define the word
itself but to explain what is actually happening in that context. If you
explain the reality described by the writer you will automatically show you
understand the expression. Once again: use the simplest English you can. That
will be easiest and safest for you, and clearest for the examiner.
I remember a passage that was set for a test of this type many years
ago. It was about making a tunnel through the
When you answer the summary question, be systematic. Number the points
you think you should include down the margin opposite the parts of the text
where you find them. As I suggested above, it is then probably best to choose
sentences or parts of sentences from the original English as far as possible,
but remember that you must keep within a limited number of words. If you try to
write a completely fresh summary of your own you will almost certainly find
that it takes far longer, that you tend to get confused, that you make language
mistakes, and that you write more than the number of words allowed.
Some people find it best to do the summary question first, precisely
because in that way they have to start by getting an overall picture of the
passage. They can then use this to guide them efficiently and quickly in
answering the earlier short questions. Others, however, prefer to use the
detailed questions to build up to the summary. I prefer the first method, which
I think is more rational, but you must experiment and find out which suits the
way your own mind works.
Important
suggestions for both teachers and students
Many candidates
will find Part 5 of the Use of English paper one of the most difficult parts of
the exam. Most will probably need help in learning how to deal with it. The
problem is that it is not always easy to find teachers who give effective help.
What students need
is a method that will work every time for everybody. Yet I fear there
are many conscientious teachers who burn the midnight oil producing splendid
answers to present to their appreciative students the next day. The effect on
most of those students will in fact be to depress them greatly, because they
know or suspect they can never do it themselves. It will probably completely
destroy the morale of any student who has great difficulty with this type of
test.
Teachers who go
about it in this way are well-meaning, but totally misguided. If candidates are
expected to produce adequate answers (in a foreign language, moreover) in
whatever time is allotted, and without any preparation, the least teachers can
do is do the same. If they can't, something is very wrong. I suggest teachers
should not even look at a practice paper until their students do; they should
only give themselves the same amount of time for thinking about the questions
and the answers to them as the students are going to get in the exam.
If they do this,
teachers won't always produce solutions that satisfy their linguistic or
literary self-respect. Producing even only near-perfect answers is difficult
and time-consuming even for native speakers, particularly if it is to be done
in their own words. What teachers should remember is that such fine answers do
not serve their students in any way.
If they put
themselves in the position of their students as I have suggested, I think they
will very soon develop a technique that is as practical and quick as it
needs to be. A proper conscientiousness will lead teachers to show their
students a method they can actually use.
And if you are a
student with a teacher you should insist that you be shown such a useful
method. Ask your teacher if she or he has prepared their answers to the test
you are discussing beforehand. If they say they have, ask them how they expect
you to produce what they say are the right answers in the time you will have in
the real exam. They must show you how.
Examination technique
for the Use of English paper (Paper 3) as a whole
Timing and Checking
There are two general aspects
of technique that you should practise in your
preparation for Paper 3. They are timing and checking.
You need to time yourself very strictly in all
three of the written papers of the Certificate of Proficiency exam. Many people
find the time they are given much too short. I think they are right about this,
but I am afraid this shortage of time is characteristic of examinations in
The first rule to remember is that you must try
to finish the paper. You cannot get marks for parts that you do not do. If, for
example, you miss the last 25% of a paper, you cannot get more than 75% even if
you get full marks, the maximum, for everything you have written. It is
like starting a race with only one leg. You have lost marks even before the
examiner begins to look at your paper.
You will find it much easier to finish if you
follow a timetable. Some people say that it isn't practical to keep looking at
their watches, or that it makes them nervous. But it is much better to have a
lot of little panics, when you can still do something about the situation, than
to have one very big panic when it is too late to do anything at all about it!
If you have a problem with time, but just go on
writing without looking at the clock, you will get further and further behind,
and possibly end up managing to do only half the paper, or even less. Instead,
you must have strength of mind, and stop immediately you get to the end
of the time you have decided on for each question. You must stop however far
you have got, whether you have finished or not. It is useless having a
timetable unless you keep to it. Once you start falling behind you will
probably never catch up again.
This method has two advantages. First, you will
make sure that you do at least part of every question in the paper. And second,
if you are behind, you will realize this at a very early stage, and
realize that you will have to go faster.
But your timetable should provide for an extra
period at the end. This time should first be used to finish the paper,
if you haven't already. Keeping to a strict timetable acts as a kind of safety
net. As we saw above, it will make sure you keep up a good speed. And then at
the end you have that extra time which you can use to prevent any catastrophes.
However, if you have to use that end period for
finishing, you should finish as quickly as possible, because there is something
else important you must do - checking. You must give yourself time to make sure
you have not made any of those 'silly' mistakes which probably as much as
anything else cause the failure of those who could pass.
We can summarise the
purposes of a strict timetable as follows. It gives you:
1 time to finish
2 time to check
3 confidence
The last point, confidence, is as important as
anything else. If you keep to a timetable, you will know that you are being
efficient, that you are going to finish, that you are going to check; in other
words, that you are in control of the situation. As a result your
work will probably be much better, because you will not be nervous - or at
least you will be far less nervous - and you will not be in a panicky rush. And
apart from the practical results, that is a much nicer feeling to have!
I suggest a timetable for Paper 3 below, but
it is essential that you experiment yourself and find out what suits you
personally. So it is obviously important to get as much opportunity as
possible to practise with questions that imitate the
new form of the exam. In this way you can make sure your timetable is about
right, and train yourself to keep to it exactly. You can probably find books
already published that contain such questions, but we shall have to wait a
little to find out whether the questions actually set are really the same as in
the samples provided by the Syndicate.
Suggested timetable
Part 1 20
minutes (because many people find
this type of question difficult and
time-consuming)
Part 2 10
minutes
Part 3 15
minutes
Part 4 15
minutes
Part 5 20
minutes (I have not suggested more
than 20 minutes, because if you find
you
are not good at summaries, it is foolish to spend a lot of time
on
the summary if it is anyway not going to give you many marks)
Finishing and
Checking 10 minutes
90
minutes
Checking is one of
the things that can make the difference between a person passing or failing,
although it will not be as important in the new form of the Use of English
paper as it was in the old..
There are many
language students who complain that checking never does any good, that they
never see any of their mistakes; and there are even many people who say that if
they read through their work afterwards, they start changing things that were
right in the first place into things that are wrong. It is true that both these
things happen; but it is because candidates check in the wrong way.
It is useless to
read through your work (probably only once) in a general way, looking vaguely
for any mistakes that may be there. If you are looking for everything at the
same time, you will probably either (if you are one type of person) see nothing
at all; or (if you are another type) lose confidence in yourself and start
thinking that half of what you have written is wrong.
You must know
exactly what you are looking for. This will make you efficient; and, in turn,
because you know you are being efficient, it will give you confidence and you
will not start changing things that are perfectly correct. This is where your
own personal list of the mistakes you often make, your 'favourite'
mistakes, comes in. During the months leading up to the exam you should
organize such a list and learn it by heart. (You can find detailed advice on
how to do this in The Art and Science of Learning Languages on pages
197-99 and 219-22.) Probably the most important part of the list for the new
Use of English paper is the list of words you often spell wrong, since all
the answers to questions 1-39 must be spelled correctly to get the marks. If
the list is not too long, the first thing to do when you get into the
examination room is to write it down, and keep it in front of you as you do the
exam.
Then your final
stage in this paper (Use of English) as well as in the Composition paper should
be to check against the list. You should take the points in your list one at
a time and read through your work looking for mistakes connected with that one
point only. Do not think about anything except that one problem.
You are then certain to see if you have made that particular sort of mistake.
You then take the next point on your list and do the same with that - read
right through and look only for that one sort of mistake. This means that if
you have got seven points on your list, you must read through your work seven
times; if you have twelve points, you must read it twelve times, and so on.
Practical information
The Certificate
of Proficiency examination is set and administered by:
ESOL stands for English for
Speakers of Other Languages,
and is part of the
You can get information about the Syndicate's
examinations in English as a Foreign Language at:
Tel. +44
1223 553355
Fax. +44 1223 460278
e-mail ESOL@ucles.org.uk
And at
their website www.cambridgeesol.org
The Syndicate also publishes from time to time
a free Certificate of Proficiency Handbook,
which contains detailed information about the examination, and can also be
downloaded free from their website.
Write to
the Editor
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like to ask about English, or about preparing and taking the Proficiency
examination, please write to the editor. He will do his best to give satisfactory
answers on the Questions and
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