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FCE IS A PLUS IN YOUR LIFE

Those hardworking pupils who put time and energy into preparing the FCE will realise that the effort was worth it when they apply for jobs after completing their studies at university level.  A good FCE result shows you can deal confidently with a range of spoken and written communications,  in everyday, business and study purposes, at an intermediate English ability.

Take a look at the advertisements published in many national newspapers and you will see how important knowledge of English is today, at all levels. If you want to study abroad, or develop a career which involves language skills, such as business, medicine or engineering, having passed the FCE means you are proficient enough in English to be able to use it in practical terms in clerical, secretarial or managerial jobs in many industries, particularly tourism, where contact with English speakers is required.

What does the exam involve?

FCE has five papers:
  • Reading
  • Writing
  • Use of English
  • Listening
  • Speaking

Reading (Paper 1), 1 hour 15 minutes

This paper assesses your ability to read and understand texts taken from fiction and non-fiction books, journals, newspapers and magazines. You are expected to be able to show understanding of gist, detail and text structure, and deduce meaning.

Writing (Paper 2), 1 hour 30 minutes

This paper assesses your ability to write non-specialised text types such as letters, articles, reports, compositions and reviews of 120-180 words covering a range of topics and target readers and also set texts.

Use of English (Paper 3), 1 hour 15 minutes

This paper requires you to demonstrate your knowledge and control of the language system by completing various tasks at text and sentence level. These include filling gaps, transforming words and phrases, and identifying errors in texts.

Listening (Paper 4), 40 minutes (approx.)

This paper assesses your ability to understand the meaning of spoken English, and to extract gist and meaning from spoken text. The texts are taken from a variety of text types including interviews, discussions, lectures and conversations.

Speaking (Paper 5), 14 minutes

The Speaking Test assesses your ability to interact in conversational English in a range of contexts. It contains four parts, including an interview section, individual long turns of about one minute, a collaborative task and a discussion. You are provided with stimulus material such as photographs and drawings. You will normally take the Speaking Test in pairs.

As you can see, doing the FCE can only bring you benefits. So, what are you waiting for?

 

1 comentario

cristina -

Felicitaciones Miss por su entretenido blog. Tus alumnos se motivarán más de lo que están.