Useful tips for the Writing Paper

Hello!
This is some material I downloaded from the excellent site www.flo-joe.co.uk
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NEWSLETTER TIP OF THE WEEK
A weekly tip to help you achieve success at FCE.
This week examines the Writing Paper and in particular...
... Checking for errors!

We all have our own particular grammar or vocabulary nightmares!
Some find using tenses difficult, while other students will often forget words like articles (a/the). Sentence structure can be a particular problem when writing, with errors in relative clauses, word order etc. Last but not least, we have spelling mistakes to deal with!
You will, of course, make mistakes because you are still trying to master certain language items. Mistakes are inevitable and you shouldn't get too worked up by them.
However, we often make 'silly'mistakes, that is, errors that we know are wrong but simply haven't noticed them on the paper.

Here's a useful tip for dealing with these kinds of mistakes.

During your studies make a note of the kind of mistakes you regularly make in your writing. Separate these into 'language you don't yet understand' and 'silly mistakes'. The next time you do a piece of work, read it through at the end, checking for those 'silly' errors. This will give you something to focus on and will give you the chance to correct things that you KNOW are wrong.


HINT FROM THE EXAMINER
This week ... a common mistake in the Writing Paper...

Did you know that one of the most common mistakes that is made by candidates in the FCE Writing Paper is to try and 'bend' the question to fit an answer that has already been prepared.

For example, let's imagine that in class you wrote an essay for your teacher on the pros and cons of different types of transport (e.g.buses, trains, cars and bicyles).
Now let's pretend that on the day of your FCE Writing Paper you see a composition on whether cars should be banned from city centres. Your first reaction might be 'How lucky! I've already done that question in class. Let's write down the same information." However, although each question is about transport, they require different answers.

Some candidates even manage to memorise whole essays before the exam. This isn't such a great idea because
a) it is hard to do and
b) you don't learn how to plan your answer before you start writing.
By all means, learn useful phrases and chunks of language (e.g. "This report will deal with...") but remember that the examiner will NOT be impressed if you just repeat a pre-prepared answer!

Well, I hope you find this useful!
Keep checking our blog as often as possible. I´ll be updating it every day.

See you soon!
Daniela (looking forward to your comments...)