Hi, I just got the results on my cae exam, I passed with a score of 200 and I want to say thank you, your videos are very useful and I do think learning English through your channel is the most effective way. Thanks again for the videos ❤️
I have my test in almost 10 hours, at least I can focus on getting the details on the essay and hope I get one of the 3 options for the second part to be a letter in an issue I feel confortable writting.
A very useful video. Thank you! Could you possibly make a video in this series about writing a proposal (CAE)? That would be splendid. Thank you in advance for considering this.
Good to see you back again Christopher! I eventually passed the exam! Unfortunately just a 284 score, not bad at all. I got this low mark because my writting was SO BAD, I would have loved to see you back earlier, but I still passed the rest of the exam because of your tips. Thank you so much, and keep up with this good work.
In my opinion the money should be spent on the sports facilities. Obesity is a world-wide growing problem and by giving the citizens more space and places to practice sports this may decrease in the years to come. I hope these videos will help me pass my test in a few weeks, but at least they are very clear and nicely instructed.
As with everything, it all depends. If you make a lot of spelling mistakes with relatively common words (like 'accommodation', which appears a lot at B2 / C1 level) you will find the effect on your Language mark is stronger than if you make mistakes with less common words (like 'simultaneously', which is rarely used by students at these levels). Also remember that your word choice has to be appropriate - if you say that you went to the library to look for a book, and that you then *bought* that book, the examiners would see that as a mistake of word choice. The same goes with grammar. If you make a mistake like dropping the 's' in third person singular, and you make that mistake all through your writing, the negative effect on your Language mark will be stronger than if you make one mistake with, for example, third conditional. Hope that helps!
Hi could I ask you what format between proposal, review and report is the easiest to write? With this I mean to imply that it is has a simple structure where one couldn’t go wrong quickly.
That's a great question - and a lot of my students have asked me this in the past! Really, there's no easy answer to it - it all depends on you. If you prefer dealing with facts, go for a Report/Proposal. If you like using your imagination, go for a Review. In terms of structure, I think that formal writing types like Reports and Proposals are more structured - or at least they have a more predictable structure. So that makes it easier to write such pieces - but a lot of students struggle to make their writing sufficiently formal, so that makes it harder!
Hello! I actually offer a homework marking service through my facebook page - facebook.com/closelyobservedenglish/ - take a look and decide if it's for you :)
Is it acceptable to write in the first person as you did in 5:29 (our school)? I had this idea on my mind that it would be inappropriate to write like this
Hey, It was really helpful for me to begin my study!! Btw, is it still valid to answer the question in ur video?? If so, i would love to send it!! :) Thank you so much!
Hi Jon! Glad you liked the video. As for putting a title on the essay, no I don't think it's necessary. Titles are important for reviews, and headings are important when you write a report or proposal, but essays don't need a title or headings.
Hello! What happens if you write more than 260 words, let's say, 290? I've found the information that you are not punished for this. Is it true? How many words you have to write to start losing points?
You should be fine if it's 290 - if you go a long way over you will be penalised because it means some of your writing is 'irrelevant' - but 10% over is fine.
@@CloselyObservedEnglish I have 300 words but I didn't express anything irellevant!Will it affect my paper badly?Even if I have the right vocabulary and structure?
Hi, it is said that it is advisable to use impersonal phrases in an essay, but how do you square this with the fact that you are asked to give your opinion?...especially in the conclusion.
@@CloselyObservedEnglish what I advise my students to say is in the intro/body use the impersonal, while in the conclusion use an "I...". Another idea is to use a hybrid of the two logics in the conclusion, as in for example..."I would thus agree with those who say that..." or "based on the above evidence I believe that / it is thus obvious that..."
A good question. In the Essay it has a lot to do with putting forward your ideas clearly and with evidence, so that the reader can judge for themselves how 'agreeable' your idea is. If you make an assertion without anything to back it up, it's only your opinion, and that's not enough for a good Essay.
Hi! Thanks for the tips! I would like to ask a question: i heard that in the essays we should not use contracted forms like it's, you're, i'm ecc... but instead use the full form like it is, you are, I am ecc... is that true?
Sorry for asking this question 3 years after the video was published... Is it okay if we use the first person when writing an essay? Or will it become too informal? Thanks in advance!
You can use the first person, yes - but with care, because there's a danger that it will become too informal, you're right. But also, if you sometimes avoid the first person, you can use the passive instead, which will help both your Organisation and Language marks.
You can if you wish, but my preference is not to - I feel that rhetorical questions belong in Articles, not Essays. I prefer to see an Essay with a reformulation of the rubric in the first paragraph - but I doubt you'll lose any marks if you begin as you suggest.
I've been wanting to write an introduction that already states the "most effective way amongst the 2 options". So, it would be like "Although X is a good option, Y seems to be more effective...". Is it okay and advised to do so?
I wouldn't recommend it, personally. If you want the target reader to be convinced of your standpoint, it's best to present your ideas in full first, and then to offer a decision with justification at the end. Doing it the other way round would assume the target reader is already well informed before you begin writing - and you can't make that assumption.
What happens if I write too much? My teacher said that nobody counts the words even though it says the limit. So in every essay I write way above the limit. What would happen in the exam if I write too much?
If you write more than 10% over the word limit, the examiner marking your work will have to do a rough count of the length of the text, and will draw a line under the 10% cut-off point. This might be a problem for your Content score as it means that anything after the line will be ignored. If you only talked about one of the Content points after the cut-off, you won't get any credit for it - it will be as if you never wrote it. Don't go too far over the limit - train yourself to keep to a reasonable length in the exam. Remember - you don't want to impress the examiners with your intelligence - you want to pass the exam!
Theres also a chance that in the words u write that are over the limit that the words or the sentence/grammatics are wrong and theyll remove points for even tho its over the limit u gt do. Srry for my bad english btw it aint my first language hopefully its usefell
🥳🥳🥳I finally passed my exam thanks to Mr Clark who helped me with tutoring.He has good tips and questions for everyone willing to join his group.I was recommended to him by a friend even though it took me time to trust in him but at the end I am happy for the good work.I want to take this opportunity to tell you all to join him and trust in him despite the process
Well, seemingly, unless you are an extremely prolific book and newspaper writer, you have no chance to pass. Videos like this scare people off. In addition, and on the contrary, perhas you should consider demonstrating what is the bare minimum to succeed in the test, rather than showing off the top level and then let the students evaluate their own skills by themselves. Show both sides of the coin - the top one as well as the minimum one. This is what I do with my students.
Hi, I just got the results on my cae exam, I passed with a score of 200 and I want to say thank you, your videos are very useful and I do think learning English through your channel is the most effective way. Thanks again for the videos ❤️
Great work - congratulations!
I have my test in almost 10 hours, at least I can focus on getting the details on the essay and hope I get one of the 3 options for the second part to be a letter in an issue I feel confortable writting.
Update: I didn't like the letter but the review was easy enough.
@@0Clewi0 did you pass though
@@gabipatrascu8470 yeah, though the writting really dragged me down everything else was close to 200
@@0Clewi0 congrats
@@gabipatrascu8470 thanks
A very useful video. Thank you! Could you possibly make a video in this series about writing a proposal (CAE)? That would be splendid. Thank you in advance for considering this.
Thank you for your kind words! And since you ask so nicely, here you are - ruclips.net/video/O0nXtDa5pO0/видео.html
This is great news. Thank you for making my day!
Very nice video
Good to see you back again Christopher! I eventually passed the exam! Unfortunately just a 284 score, not bad at all. I got this low mark because my writting was SO BAD, I would have loved to see you back earlier, but I still passed the rest of the exam because of your tips. Thank you so much, and keep up with this good work.
Hi Cristopher, thank you so much for you work and for this video. :)
Thanks for insight! 🙏🏻
Thanks a lot, this was very helpful!
In my opinion the money should be spent on the sports facilities. Obesity is a world-wide growing problem and by giving the citizens more space and places to practice sports this may decrease in the years to come.
I hope these videos will help me pass my test in a few weeks, but at least they are very clear and nicely instructed.
Chris you’re ace! 👌
Thank you very much for your help!! Well done!!! :)
Quite helpful, thanks!
Thank you!!!!
Hi! thank you so much, this was so helpful! One question, how strict are they in terms of spelling errors? And just in general errors of grammar?
As with everything, it all depends. If you make a lot of spelling mistakes with relatively common words (like 'accommodation', which appears a lot at B2 / C1 level) you will find the effect on your Language mark is stronger than if you make mistakes with less common words (like 'simultaneously', which is rarely used by students at these levels). Also remember that your word choice has to be appropriate - if you say that you went to the library to look for a book, and that you then *bought* that book, the examiners would see that as a mistake of word choice.
The same goes with grammar. If you make a mistake like dropping the 's' in third person singular, and you make that mistake all through your writing, the negative effect on your Language mark will be stronger than if you make one mistake with, for example, third conditional.
Hope that helps!
Okay! Thank you, you are very helpful :)
@@CloselyObservedEnglish you definetely nailed it
Communicative is stressed on the second syllable, not the fourth. It's coMMUnicative, not communiCAtive.
Thanks for the video...quick question, would you ordinarily advise students to give their essay a title?
Essays don't need a title but if they have one the student won't lose marks.
@@CloselyObservedEnglish Interesting, I tend to do it...can be a way of showing you can paraphrase the question.
Hi could I ask you what format between proposal, review and report is the easiest to write? With this I mean to imply that it is has a simple structure where one couldn’t go wrong quickly.
That's a great question - and a lot of my students have asked me this in the past! Really, there's no easy answer to it - it all depends on you. If you prefer dealing with facts, go for a Report/Proposal. If you like using your imagination, go for a Review.
In terms of structure, I think that formal writing types like Reports and Proposals are more structured - or at least they have a more predictable structure. So that makes it easier to write such pieces - but a lot of students struggle to make their writing sufficiently formal, so that makes it harder!
I've just written an essay on that topic. Would you mind if I post it to read over it considering the main criteria?
Hello! I actually offer a homework marking service through my facebook page - facebook.com/closelyobservedenglish/ - take a look and decide if it's for you :)
Is it acceptable to write in the first person as you did in 5:29 (our school)? I had this idea on my mind that it would be inappropriate to write like this
I think so, yes, as long as you keep the language formal. Sometimes (like in the video) it's impossible to write any other way.
Hey, It was really helpful for me to begin my study!! Btw, is it still valid to answer the question in ur video?? If so, i would love to send it!! :) Thank you so much!
Sure - go ahead and post your ideas in the comments here, and I'll be happy to provide a bit of feedback :)
thank u for the video cristopeher, do you think that we should we put a a title on the essay ?
Hi Jon! Glad you liked the video. As for putting a title on the essay, no I don't think it's necessary. Titles are important for reviews, and headings are important when you write a report or proposal, but essays don't need a title or headings.
Hello! What happens if you write more than 260 words, let's say, 290? I've found the information that you are not punished for this. Is it true? How many words you have to write to start losing points?
You should be fine if it's 290 - if you go a long way over you will be penalised because it means some of your writing is 'irrelevant' - but 10% over is fine.
@@CloselyObservedEnglish I have 300 words but I didn't express anything irellevant!Will it affect my paper badly?Even if I have the right vocabulary and structure?
yes
Hi, it is said that it is advisable to use impersonal phrases in an essay, but how do you square this with the fact that you are asked to give your opinion?...especially in the conclusion.
You an state an opinion in a relatively impersonal way - that's certainly one option.
@@CloselyObservedEnglish what I advise my students to say is in the intro/body use the impersonal, while in the conclusion use an "I...". Another idea is to use a hybrid of the two logics in the conclusion, as in for example..."I would thus agree with those who say that..." or "based on the above evidence I believe that / it is thus obvious that..."
I’ve been wondering what does communicative achievement REALLY cover here??
A good question. In the Essay it has a lot to do with putting forward your ideas clearly and with evidence, so that the reader can judge for themselves how 'agreeable' your idea is. If you make an assertion without anything to back it up, it's only your opinion, and that's not enough for a good Essay.
Hi! Thanks for the tips! I would like to ask a question: i heard that in the essays we should not use contracted forms like it's, you're, i'm ecc... but instead use the full form like it is, you are, I am ecc... is that true?
More or less, yes. Avoid contractions to be safe 👍
@@CloselyObservedEnglish Thanks a lot!
Sorry for asking this question 3 years after the video was published... Is it okay if we use the first person when writing an essay? Or will it become too informal? Thanks in advance!
You can use the first person, yes - but with care, because there's a danger that it will become too informal, you're right. But also, if you sometimes avoid the first person, you can use the passive instead, which will help both your Organisation and Language marks.
@@CloselyObservedEnglish Thank you so much!
Thanks for sharing
What do you think about starting your essay with a rhetorical question?
You can if you wish, but my preference is not to - I feel that rhetorical questions belong in Articles, not Essays. I prefer to see an Essay with a reformulation of the rubric in the first paragraph - but I doubt you'll lose any marks if you begin as you suggest.
I've been wanting to write an introduction that already states the "most effective way amongst the 2 options". So, it would be like "Although X is a good option, Y seems to be more effective...". Is it okay and advised to do so?
I wouldn't recommend it, personally. If you want the target reader to be convinced of your standpoint, it's best to present your ideas in full first, and then to offer a decision with justification at the end. Doing it the other way round would assume the target reader is already well informed before you begin writing - and you can't make that assumption.
@@CloselyObservedEnglish thank you so much !
can you recommend books for writing essays??
What happens if I write too much? My teacher said that nobody counts the words even though it says the limit. So in every essay I write way above the limit. What would happen in the exam if I write too much?
If you write more than 10% over the word limit, the examiner marking your work will have to do a rough count of the length of the text, and will draw a line under the 10% cut-off point. This might be a problem for your Content score as it means that anything after the line will be ignored. If you only talked about one of the Content points after the cut-off, you won't get any credit for it - it will be as if you never wrote it. Don't go too far over the limit - train yourself to keep to a reasonable length in the exam. Remember - you don't want to impress the examiners with your intelligence - you want to pass the exam!
Theres also a chance that in the words u write that are over the limit that the words or the sentence/grammatics are wrong and theyll remove points for even tho its over the limit u gt do. Srry for my bad english btw it aint my first language hopefully its usefell
I've got my exam tomorrow morning. My mind seem to have gone completely blank. Super tense.
Good luck!
improve the sound please
🥳🥳🥳I finally passed my exam thanks to Mr Clark who helped me with tutoring.He has good tips and questions for everyone willing to join his group.I was recommended to him by a friend even though it took me time to trust in him but at the end I am happy for the good work.I want to take this opportunity to tell you all to join him and trust in him despite the process
Well, seemingly, unless you are an extremely prolific book and newspaper writer, you have no chance to pass. Videos like this scare people off. In addition, and on the contrary, perhas you should consider demonstrating what is the bare minimum to succeed in the test, rather than showing off the top level and then let the students evaluate their own skills by themselves. Show both sides of the coin - the top one as well as the minimum one. This is what I do with my students.