Observations of a Cambridge Examiner: Preparation of Paper 2: Writing Paper

The second Paper in the Cambridge exams is the Writing paper. This personally is the one I like the best as it gives you the chance to use your imagination whilst demonstrating all the skills you have learned.

Clear Organization of ideas:
However a lot of people have problems with this paper and it is usually a result of not having practised enough. It is not simply a matter of 'writing' something, you need to think about the organization of your text - it needs a clear structure, continuation of ideas and a clear argument at the same time as demonstrating your advanced grammar and vocabulary.

Use Advanced level writing styles:
In my personal opinion, there is nothing natural about how you write for this paper, in a natural setting we do not usually use such complicated structures and conjunctions. We often write as we speak, which is straight-forward, direct and clear. However, if you do not write to the CAE level, how do you expect the examiners to know that you understand and can use the advanced grammar, structures and vocabulary: so use them! 
Practise putting these into your texts, practise constructing sentences using the Third Conditional, Negative Inversions, Inverted Conditionals, Cleft Sentences, practise using the Passive Voice more often, and so on. Demonstrate and show off your language skills!
One point to remember though, as you are mastering your advanced grammar skills, do not neglect to review and go over the basic and intermediate grammar too - they expect you to know this perfectly.

Answer the question:
Strangely enough a lot of people do not actually answer the question, I have had a lot of students writing something 'similar' to the title, for example, there was a question about how technology could improve our lives in the future and the student wrote about technology in general today. At CAE level this is unacceptable, you need to demonstrate that you can understand the question and have answered it clearly and appropriately. Usually, the questions give sub-points, often three, and following the points of the question is a great help in organizing your text; you can use the three points as the three paragraphs of the main body of your text giving you a clear structure.

Appropriate Writing Style:
Make sure that your ideas are extensive, relevant and appropriate to the situation and your writing skills are too - is the piece to be formal or informal, who are you writing to, why are you writing this: is it to be informative or descriptive, and so on.

Mainly, enjoy the process and enjoy developing your skills and ideas.

But mostly good luck!

Paper 2: the Writing Paper 

  

The CAE Paper 2 is designed to test a candidate’s ability to write continuous English appropriate to a given task. The questions supply candidates with sufficient information, both about the content of a task and the target reader, to enable them to decide on an appropriate style and register. The questions also give precise guidelines as to the content of the particular task. Candidates are allowed 1 hour 30 minutes to produce a maximum total of 480 words across two questions.

Each paper has a compulsory Part 1 task and a choice from five questions in Part 2. Part 1 requires candidates to process up to 150 words of input material, using the information appropriately in order to carry out the task. Part 2 covers a range of task types and includes two set text options.

Marking: Examiners award marks according to a General Mark Scheme, which has detailed Performance Bands from 0–5, where Band 3 describes a ‘satisfactory’ level. They have specific things to focus on so the satisfactory Band 3 performance and covers content, organization and cohesion, range, register and format, and effect on target reader. 

Part 1: Question 1: It is the compulsory task of 180 to 220 words. You must write one of the following: an article, a report, a proposal or a letter. The focus is on evaluating, expressing opinions, hypothesizing and persuading. You are required to deal with input material of up to 150 words. This may include material taken from advertizements, extracts from letters, emails, postcards, diaries, short articles and so on. This compulsory task is less problematic if you are familiar with the different tasks of the exam, if you are well-prepared and make a good attempt to develop the tasks and your ideas sufficiently using a range of language and structures. this applies to both Part 1 and Part 2 of the Writing Paper. It is necessary to read the question and the passage with the notes carefully and to be sure that you develop each part and talk about all that has been mentioned. The examiners are looking for clearly-expressed preferences for one option over the other, using a wide range of grammatical structures (such as conditional forms and complex sentences) in well-organized, cohesive text. You should develop your points fully using your own words, and try to re-express the wording of the question in your answers. 

Part 2: QUESTIONS 2-4: You must write one of the following: an article, a competition entry, a contribution to a longer piece, an essay, an information sheet, a letter, a proposal, a report or a review. It is necessary to carefully read the question as the information that you must include in your piece will be laid out in the question. 

QUESTION 5: (Question 5 has two options) Writing one of the following, based on one of two prescribed reading texts: an article, an essay, a report or a review.  The focus of Part 2 varies according to the task, including comparing, giving advice, giving opinions, justifying, or persuading. It is a situation-based writing task specified in no more than 80 words. You must select one task out of the five options using between 220–260 words.

CAE Paper 2 is designed to test your ability to write continuous English appropriate to a given task. The questions will supply you with sufficient information, both about the content of a task and the target reader, to enable you to decide on an appropriate style and register. The questions also give precise guidelines as to the content of the particular task. You are allowed 1 hour 30 minutes. 

Recommendations for preparation for the Writing Paper:

When you are preparing for the CAE Writing paper, you should consider getting some kind of guidance and practice in writing a range of genres, such as, reviews, articles, reports, etc. and in writing for different audiences. When writing, you should focus on your reason for writing; what they are trying to achieve: to persuade, to entertain, to inform, and so on. You also need practice in extracting the salient points from input material and in organizing your answer effectively. In other words, you need to focus on what you have to

write (the content), why you are writing (the purpose) and who you are writing for (the target

reader). It may help you to have a full appreciation of the criteria you are being marked on, i.e. content, which means addressing all the points specified by the question; organization and cohesion; range of vocabulary and structure; register and tone; and effect on the target reader. It is a good idea to be in a position of receiving regular feedback on your work in terms of these five criteria as this will help you to bear the criteria in mind all of this when you write your answers in the examination. 

You will also benefit from guidance with regard to how you use your time in the examination room. You should be aware of the importance of allowing adequate time for reading the questions carefully and planning your answers. A practice paper answered under examination conditions will be of value here as too many candidates lose marks because they make basic language errors inappropriate for the CAE level. It is necessary to recognise the language errors that you tend to make and try to develop your own checking and correcting skills. 

As you have to write your answers in a booklet, you need to remember that you must write to the word limit provided, rather than attempting to fill all the space, which is likely to lead to overlong and less well-planned work. 

So there are lots of things to remember and consider. 

DOs and DON’Ts for CAE PAPER 2 – WRITING

DO try to avoid copying phrases from the input in Part 1. Use your own words as far as possible.

DO read all the instructions for each question very carefully so that you understand exactly what you need to cover in your answer.

DO develop all the parts of the task so that your answer is well-balanced.

DO think carefully about who you are writing for and how it would be appropriate to address that person.

DO try your best to vary the structures and vocabulary that you use in your writing.

DO plan your answers carefully to make sure you have addressed all the necessary points.

DO use linking devices in a way that is appropriate for a piece of writing at advanced level.

DO choose the Part 2 question where you can best demonstrate a range of vocabulary and structure.

DO allow yourself time to check your grammar, spelling and punctuation carefully.

DO write approximately the number of words required by the exam – you probably won’t be able to cover all the necessary points in fewer words, and writing too much is likely to result in irrelevance.

DON’T try to write out an answer that you worked on when preparing for the exam, as it will not be an appropriate response to the particular task.

DON’T attempt the set text question (Question 5) unless you are very familiar with one of the stories.

 For more advice go to: www.onestop-language.com