How to write an article for an international exam (CPE, CAE, FCE, IELTS,...)

When taking CPE, CAE, FCE, IELTS or any other international examination, you are often asked to write an article. This can be either formal or informal and on a wide variety of topics. There are a number of things you should take into consideration before you write, while you write and after you´ve finished writing...


1. Before you write

Take a minute to read the task(instructions) carefully and decide what to write and in which style.

Ask yourself the following questions

What do I have to write about? (Content/ check task)

Who is the article for? A newspaper, a formal magazine/ a blog...? (To decide on style/check task)

How many paragraphs am I going to write? (Organisation)

What kind of language should I use? (Language/grammar I am expected to use/ check task)

2. While you write

Have into consideration that articles have two main purposes, to inform and to entertain/interest the reader. Ideally after going through your text, your readers should have the feeling that they have learnt something or at least that they have had a good time.

It is always a good idea to start the article with an inviting title and a riveting introduction. Something that makes your public continue reading. It could be a question (that they will only be able to answer after reading the text), or something intended to caputure the reader´s imagination. You are free to be creative when choosing a title but make sure it reflects what the text is about.

As you write remember to stick to your plan, check that you are truly answering the task questions and that you have clear well-organised coherent paragraphs (You shouldn´t start writing about A and end up writing about Z.)

At CAE and CPE level it is also of vital importance to include some advanced examples of the use of grammar as well as lexis (idioms, collocations, sayings.) So instead of saying something like "I had a lot of fun although I don´t normally enjoy jazz concerts" say something like " I had a whale of a time although jazz concerts are not my cup of tea" (idioms: have a whale of a time; not my cup of tea.)

3 After you write

Take your time to proofread. Check for spelling mistakes and see if you have to make any corrections. Make sure that you have used a wide variety of words and if you find one that has been used more than once, replace it for a synonym.

Avoid repetition: Don´t say "I like history programmes, I also like music programmes."
Say: "I´m into history programmes and I also like music Tv shows."

Ask yourself the following questions:
- Have I completed the task? (Content)
- Is my article well-organised? (Organisation)
- Have I used a wide range of vocabulary? (Language)
- Have I used different grammar tenses? (Language)
- Is all the article writen in the same style? (Style)
- Is the article interesting enough? (Reader)

Take a look at some examples of articles:

Sample 1
Sample 2
Sample 3


Commonly asked questions:

1. How long should a piece of writing be?
It depends on the international examination. At CPE for example, it is between 250-350. It is important to read the instructions carefully, the expected number of words must be there.

2 What is the difference between an article and an essay?
As I see it, an essay is more academic, usually written for a university/college class. An article is usually for a magazine or a blog, they can be formal or informal, the topics can be serious or trivial, they are intented to inform and also to entertain.



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CPE Article: A fun way to learn English

Need help on how to write an article? Take a look at this  CPE sample article by our guest blogger from Spain, Elena Traviesa.













Task: " You are a student at an international college. Your tutor has asked you to write an article for the college website on ways students can improve language skills outside the classroom. In your article, you should suggest ways in which students can make contact with English-language speakers. You should also assess whether the most effective way of improving language skills is to make friends with speakers of the language"

               A fun way to learn English (give your article a title)

(State your main idea in the first paragraph)
In today's intercultural society, no one can deny the importance of learning a second language, especially English. In our college we believe that major action should be taken to guarantee that all of us, the students, are given the chance to practice this ability to communicate with for people from all over the world. This task will require working with a holistic approach and will imply the participation of a very committed group of people willing to help each other. So are you ready? (use a question to motivate readers)

(organise your text into paragraphs)

Our first idea is to use the Internet. For young people surfing the net is as easy as pie and we all have access to it. We suggest getting in touch with other students from around the world. Some highly recommendable sites include a wide range of social networks as Facebook and Twitter. It is also a good idea to encourage students to chat via Skype with people from English speaking countries.

A second idea is to organise reading or conversation clubs, which can have monthly gatherings in different spots in the city. Needless to say this will be a very effective way to learn while making friends and having a blast. There are several attractive places in town such as parks, art galleries, cafés, and social artistic venues where students and professionals can give a boost to their social and language skills.

A final idea is for the college to create a web page. With the support of this effective tool, our students can have blogs with a variety of engaging tasks and games. We can have fun getting familiar with collocations and structures that can be shared as part of an exercise on our creative website. It will definitely be highly engaging for students regardless of their backgrounds and specializations, they will find an enjoyable site where they can put language into practice, as they will be well-connected and comfortable with the cuttingedge technology.

By Elena Traviesa
Sociologist/English teacher/blogger from Bilbao, Spain.

#words: 325


Need more help? Try these links:

How to write an article 

Article sample 1  

Article sample 2                               

                                   

Reading and Mind-mapping to learn new vocabulary (LABCI 2013- presentation)

How to teach vocabulary using mind maps

The whole presentation at http://www.linkedin.com/profile/view?id=266646432&trk=nav_responsive_tab_profile

These are some power point shots of what was my presentation at LABCI 2013. Basically I was looking for ways to help my students improve their writing so I came up with the idea of using mind-maps. The idea soon became a very serious project which I presented at Cayetano University (Faculty of Education) and later at the Latin American British Culture Institutions Congress in Lima this year.

Phrases with time

It is important to use a wide variety of words and phrases in the writings at CPE level. Therefore I have decided to include a vocabulary section in this blog. Here there are some phrases with TIME.


The time is ripe.- It´s the perfect time to do something.

It´s high time to do something.- "It´s high time you stop thinking about your ex and move on with your life".

To be pressed for time.- Meaning to have very little time to do something. "We would have loved to visit the National museum but we were really pressed for time".




To do time.- To spend some time in prison.

To buy time.- To try to gain some extra time.

To be in time/ on time.- To be punctual.

To kill time. To spend time doing something not important while waiting for something else to happen.

For the time being. For a short period of time but not permanently.

To arrive in the nick of time. Just in time.


To have a whale of a time. It means to have a   good time. "We had a whale of a time in Mexico."

Report on the Annual Student Games in London

Introduction

The aim of this report is to describe my experience of attending the Annual Student Games in London, which took place in August of this year. This report will also give some recommendations for the organisation of next year´s event in Lima, Perú.

Accommodation, food and transport

Finding cheap accommodation in London was firmly easy. There were plenty of youth hostels and bed and breakfasts available, which offered incredible discounts to Latin American students. And, as breakfasts and dinners were included, I only had to worry about paying for lunch (8-10 dollars a day).

Travelling through London was not difficult. There were special buses which could take you for free to the venues of the sporting events.

The social programme

The event lasted a week and was packed with enthusiastic young people. Universities from all over the world sent their "champion Olympians" to participate in track and field, football, basketball and swimming competitions.

The highlight of the event was, of course, the closing ceremony, in which the winners were presented with a medal and a posy by no other than the Queen herself.

Communication

The organisers of the event had the innovative idea of announcing the schedule for the games via e-mail, as 99% of students use smart phones and iphones. However, there was a problem with the wifi signal in some parts of the city, which made internet connectivity slow and in some cases impossible.

Recommendations for next year´s games

I strongly recommend we follow in the London´s organising committee footsteps and offer accommodation, food and transport facilities to foreign students. I also believe we can adopt their communication-via-mobile-phone idea, but we have to make sure we will have a good wifi signal available in all the youth hostels and b&bs.

Finally I suggest we invite a huge celebrity or very important political figure to be present in the closing ceremony.

Gustavo Albarracín


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CPE Article: Life and the city

In some of the University of Cambrige ESOL Examinations (FCE, CAE, CPE) you are asked to write an Article. This is an example of a CPE Article. Click here for more on how to write an article. 

Life and the city

It is said that love is blind and it must be so. 
I have got a soft spot for cities, polluted or heavily congested as they might be. 
I would not like to live in the country at all !

There is something soothing about cobblestone roads and the reek of exhausted fumes. I can´t explain it, it just makes me feel at home. It may have something to do with having been born and raised in a city. One gets used to the odours and the noise, and the sight of the hoardings advertising beer and the queues at the bus stop.

It is not true what some anti-city people say, that they are difficult places to live in. On the contrary, more  and more people are choosing to live in them, as they have so much to offer, both socially and culturally.  There is the theatre, the malls, the 24/7 multiplex cinemas, the workshops, the concerts, and so on. In the city there is always somewhere to go, someone to meet and something to think of.

That is not the case of the country. I recently travelled to the hills, in the outskirts, to visit some friends of mine. What a nightmarish experience I had ! All that quiet and peace was nerve-racking. I was constantly, secretly, expecting something seriously bad to happen, just to escape from that silence and hear some noise!

Needless to say, I did not like it at all. I got bored to the bones and arrived at the conclusion I never want to return. So never mind how heavily country dwellers criticise cities, don´t believe them. It is true that in the cities we have  muggers and hooligans, but... we also have music, and people, and cosmopolitan bars and  ginger ale! and God, don´t we love ginger ale?

Gustavo Albarracín
words: 311

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CPE Essay: Alternative Energy

Alternative energy (title)

(intro/ state an argument)
It is a fact universally acknowledged that our coal and oil resources are not unlimited, reason for which it is vitally important to look for other alternatives to generate energy. It has recently been suggested by Dr Symonds that nuclear power is the best way to produce such desired energy, however, this is a highly dubious proposition.

(P1 -support your argument -idea1)

Firstly, the cost of producing nuclear energy is ridiculously expensive and in fact, totally unaffordable for developing countries. It would be infinitely preferable for scientists like Dr Symonds to take the economic factor into consideration and to suggest more realistic ideas on how to solve the lack of fuel problem.

(P2 -support your argument -idea2)

Secondly, the statement that nuclear energy is environmentally friendly, which was propose by Dr Symonds in a seminar n 12th June, is not entirely true. There is plenty of evidence that the radioactive waste produced y nuclear plants is actually a much worse polluter than CFCs and exhaust fumes.

(P3 -support your argument -idea3)

In addition to what has already been mentioned, I would like to point out that nuclear energy and radioactive waste are not completly safe. There is no need to recall the tragic incidents in Japan in which after an accident in a nuclear plant, a whole town was to suffer the lethal consequences of radioactivity, such as infertility, malformations and even death by poisoning. To make things even worse, the pollutants produced by nuclear plants are thrown into the ocean and this, far from being "environmentally friendly", will have cataclysmic effects on the planet in the not so distant future.

(conclusion)

To sum up, it is clear that the use of nuclear power has more than a few drawbacks, not only is it highly expensive but it is also dangerous both for people and the planet. Therefore, other forms of safer and more affordable energy must be pursued by the government and the scientific community. 

Gustavo Albarracín

#words: 350

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- Essay sample 1