0 FCE Exams I

Good morning!

Here we are again to keep improving and practicing the different skills needed to pass the first certificate exam.

Probably, the speaking test , together with the listening test are the hardest parts of the exam for most of the candidates, that's why today we are going to focus on these two papers first.

Speaking  

What’s in the Speaking paper?

The Cambridge English: First Speaking test has four parts and you take it together with another candidate. There are two examiners. One of the examiners conducts the test (asks you questions, gives you paper with things to talk about on it, and so on). The other examiner listens to what you say and takes notes.

Summary

Time allowed:	14 minutes per pair of candidates
Number of parts:	4
Marks:	20% total
You have to talk:	with the examiner with the other candidate on your own

Parts 1–4

Part 1 (Interview)

What's in Part 1?	Conversation with the examiner. The examiner asks questions and you may have to give information about yourself and talk about past experiences, present circumstances and future plans.
What do I have to practise?	Giving information about yourself and expressing your opinion about various topics.
How long do I have to speak?	3 minutes

Part 2 (Long turn)

What's in Part 2?	The examiner gives you a pair of photographs to talk about and you have to speak for 1 minute without interruption. As a reminder, the questions you have to answer about your photographs are written at the top of the page. When you have finished speaking, your partner has to answer a short question from the examiner about your photographs.
What do I have to practise?	Talking on your own about something: comparing, describing, expressing opinions.
How long do I have to speak?	1 minute per candidate

Part 3 (Collaborative task)

What's in Part 3?	Conversation with the other candidate. The examiner gives you some pictures and a decision-making task to do. You have to talk with the other candidate and make a decision.
What do I have to practise?	Exchanging ideas, expressing and justifying opinions, agreeing and/or disagreeing, suggesting, speculating, evaluating, reaching a decision through negotiation, etc.
How long do we have to speak?	3 minutes

Part 4 (Discussion)

What's in Part 4?	Further discussion with the other candidate about the same general topic area as the task in Part 3.
What do I have to practise?	Expressing and justifying opinions, agreeing and/or disagreeing.
How long do I have to speak?	4 minutes

(Information from www.cambridgeenglish.org)

Listening

In this part of the exam you have 4 different tasks. The Last one is a multiple choice exercise in which you will listen to a monologue or conversation of about three minutes. For each question, there will be three possible answers, but only one will be the correct.

Click HERE to practice.

Remember that the best is to practice with any type of exercise, not only with the kind of exercise it is found in the exam. So click HERE and HERE to practice wit two other exercises.ç


Use of English

One of the hardest parts of this paper is word formation. You can practice with the following exercises:

Exercise 1
Exercise 2
Exercise 3

More exercises to practice soon!Keep "living in english"!!