CAE writing test tips

CAE Writing Test Tips
1. Introduction
You have 90 minutes to write two texts. Each text should be
about 220-260 words long. Part 1 is always an essay, while in
part 2 you have a choice of 3 tasks (letter/email; proposal;
report; review).
The examiners assess you on 4 elements:
•

Content - Did you do the task you were asked to do?

•

Communicative achievement - Did you use the right
tone and level of formality?

•

Organisation - Did you link paragraphs together? Is
there a logical flow?

•

Language - Did you show off your sparkling vocabulary
or did you merely use First Certificate words? Did you
make lots of grammar mistakes?

Before you continue with this guide, I strongly recommend
you read about this free tool that will help you with your
writing:
I WAS WRONG ABOUT GRAMMARLY

Last year I decided Grammarly, a free writing aid, wasn't
useful - this is the story of how one Russian student
convinced me to change my mind.

2. Time management
You have 90 minutes to write 2 texts. Both texts will be about
the same length, and are worth the same number of points.


Obviously, you should spend the same amount of time on
each! Personally, I'd spend as much time planning as
possible, since it makes everything else easier. The exact
time split will depend on how fast you write, but try
something like this:
•

Planning - 10 minutes (I've made a video about the
planning process - it's in section 8 below.)

•

Writing - 25 minutes

•

Checking - 10 minutes

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3. You can't cook without a recipe

A lot of students hate planning and think it's a waste of
valuable exam time. But do chefs walk into a kitchen and just
start cooking? Of course not - they lay out their ingredients,
make sure their utensils are clean, and have their recipe
nearby.
Your plan is the recipe you'll use to cook up a great piece of
writing. Think about how many paragraphs you want then get
some ideas about the content of each. But even at this early
stage you should start planning the language you want to
use. Ask yourself questions like:
•

Where can I use a passive form?

•

Where can I use an inversion?

•

What CAE-level vocabulary do I know about this topic,
and where can I use it?

•

How do I link from one paragraph to the next?


Thinking about solutions before you start writing is the
easiest way to solve problems!

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4. Grading: Content
PART 1
The first thing you're assessed on is your content. That
basically means reading the task carefully and doing what
you are told to do! In part 1 you are given three bullet points
but are asked to talk about TWO of them. (You're also given
some opinions on the topic that you can use if you want, but
you don't have to.) Here's an example of the three bullet
points and a task:

If I were planning my answer, I'd probably choose 'giving
rules' and 'setting an example' as my two points because I
feel like I have more to say about those topics. (How much
would I write about 'offering advice'? Nothing! Because I
should only write about two things!)


Another important point is to say which is more effective.
I'd probably write one paragraph about 'giving rules', and the
next paragraph would be about 'setting an example' - I would
be sure to give reasons why it was a more effective way to
influence younger people.

PART 2
What about part 2? Again, it's important to read the question
carefully and make sure you include everything it tells you to.
Here's the kind of task that will come up:

Here's an outline you could follow:
•

Intro

•

Evaluation of the programme

•

The most useful parts of the programme

•

Suggested changes for next year

•

Summary

Not very imaginative, but you'd be guaranteed to get full
marks in terms of content!


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5. Grading: Communicative Achievement
TONE

Which is better English:
1. Wasssssssup?!
or
2. Dear Sir or Madam
Well, it depends who you're talking to! If your task is to write
a report for your 'serious' organisation you should use a
formal tone. If you're writing a magazine article for teenagers
you can be more informal.
This is a HUGE topic and there's not enough space to go into
it in detail here. I'll list a few external resources that might
help, but a good coursebook will give you lots of guidance.
(Did we mention that Ready for CAE is the best coursebook?
Take a look on Amazon!)
The main tip is to be consistent - students often write a report
that is 95% formal, and then throw in some exclamation
points, slang, contractions, and informal vocabulary. That's
bad! It suggest you don't have control over your tone.
Learn more about formal vs informal English:
•

on the Antimoon website (run by two Polish students
who mastered English)

•

on the EngVid site

•

from the BBC

TASK TYPES
You should invest some time making sure you know the
difference between a letter and an essay, and between a
report and a proposal. Here are a few quick tips:
Essay
You need to give your opinion in an interesting way. CAE
essays are often academic in tone, so practice of formal
writing will be helpful.
Letter/email
Write an email with the same opening/closing as a letter. In
these you write about your personal experiences. Your writing
will have a purpose, like responding to a newspaper article
you don't agree with.
Report/Proposal
Use headings for each paragraph. The task will tell you some
of the content you need to include and you'll be able to use
your imagination to add some more ideas. You may be asked
to evaluate if some goal has been achieved and/or to suggest
alternative courses of action. A proposal will have more scope
for making suggestions and more need for polite persuasive
language.

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6. Grading: Organisation
Cambridge love linking words and cohesive devices. These
are bits of text like 'firstly', 'whereas', 'in addition', 'however',
and so on. Properly used, they will make your writing flow and

make your text easier to read. You can't do well in CAE
without using these phrases.


Here's a great list of cohesive devices - try to include them in
your writing.

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7. Grading: Language
Organising a text, using linking words, and getting all the
content points is a great start, but for a high grade you'll
need to use advanced vocabulary and more difficult sentence
structures.
In the planning stage of the exam think about which highlevel words you know for that topic and think in which
paragraph you can use them. For example, if the topic is
about transport you might use phrases like 'mass transit
system', 'to commute', 'congestion,' and 'pressed for time'.
Then you need to use a variety of structures - passives,
inversions, cleft sentences, questions, sentences with semicolons. The more variety the better!
Also a variety of sentence lengths. This picture explains what
I mean:
So instead of writing like this:
A lot of politicians say they will improve bus and train
services. Having trains is good for people who have to go to
work. It means they don't have to take the car to work. It is
probably faster. If everyone takes a train to work there won't
be any traffic jams.
You can produce this:
Why do progressive politicians pledge to provide mass

transit systems in their cities? The answer is clear: Not only
do pressed-for-time commuters benefit, but there is


also less pollution. Let congestion be a thing of the past; let
flowers bloom next to every tram stop.
In those three sentences there is one question; one colon;
one semi-colon; one 'not only but also'; one imperative. Not
bad, right? You can write like this if you practice and if you're
not afraid to make some mistakes along the way.

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8. How to write a CAE
essay/letter/report/proposal
ESSAYS
IMPROVING A CAE ESSAY
I rate a student's Writing Part 1 Essay, then give suggestions on how to rewrite it. Can
we take it from a B to an A?

I also made a video about writing essays - see the section
below.

PROPOSALS

HOW TO WRITE A CAE PROPOSAL
In this article I teach you how to write a CAE proposal - what
is important, what is not, and show you examples of how to
do it.

SELECTED EXTERNAL RESOURCES
Get an ultimate list of tips for essay writing on ThePensters.

9. Our Videos about CAE Writing
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10. Common Mistakes in CAE Writing
GRAMMAR MISTAKES
Most CAE students don't make obvious, basic mistakes like
your/you're or its/it's. But they do struggle with things like:
Relative clauses
You need to learn the difference between defining and nondefining relative clauses. Your non-defining clauses need
commas, while your defining clauses shouldn't have commas.
I had lunch with my grandfather, who is 90 years old. (The
second half of the sentence tells you more about my
grandfather. It's bonus information, so there has to be a
comma.)
I had lunch with my friend who lives in Prague. (I am very
cool and popular - I have lots of friends. If I say 'I had lunch
with my friend' you don't know which friend I mean. So the
'who lives in Prague' clause gives you essential information.
Therefore, no comma!)
Note that non-defining pronouns cannot be changed to 'that',
so you should never write a comma followed by 'that'. (This is
especially a problem for German speakers because in
German you HAVE to use a comma before 'that'.)
Gerund vs infinitive
Gerund means the -ing form of a verb. This is a tricky part of
grammar because there are no rules and you have to learn

every verb one by one. English! Argh! Anyway, make sure
you know these structures:
I used to live in China (= I lived in China).


I'm used to hearing German (= hearing German is normal for
me).
I look forward to meeting you.
I stopped smoking (= I quit).
I stopped to smoke (= I stopped what I was doing because I
wanted to have a cigarette).
I recommend buying new computer equipment. (Suggest and
advise are also followed by gerunds.)
I recommend you buy new computer equipment.
Prepositions
So hard! So many prepositions! So many mistakes! Just learn
as many as you can and remember, every single student who
has ever taken the CAE exam has struggled with prepositions.
You are not alone!
Conditionals
If I get the job I will move to Zurich. (The speaker is
confident.)
If I got the job I would move to Zurich. (The speaker is not
confident.)
If I had got the job I would have moved to Zurich. (But the
speaker didn't get the job and didn't move to Zurich.)

OTHER MISTAKES
Not taking risks
A lot of students always write the same, safe, things they

always write. To master advanced vocabulary and structures
you have to use advanced vocabulary and structures!


Being boring
It's hard enough to produce a well-structured piece of writing
with good vocabulary that fits the content. But remember
that the examiners read hundreds and hundreds of essays
and most of them are very boring! If you make yours
interesting (though the style, unexpectedly good vocabulary,
maybe even a joke or two) the examiners will be VERY happy
and you will be REWARDED.

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11. Writing Correction Online
Students often ask if I offer a writing correction service.
Well... to be honest I'm not very motivated to do that right
now. You should find a teacher on italki instead. Click here to
read about italki. (Watch the video with David to hear more
about writing correction.)

12. Frequently Asked Questions
Q - Do I have to use British spelling?
A - No, it doesn't matter. But if you use American spelling, be
consistent throughout your writing.
Q - How important is spelling and punctuation?
A - It's pretty important - If you make a trivial mistake it won't
be a big deal. If the mistake stops the reader from
understanding what you mean then you will lose points.

Q - How important is the word count? What happens if I write
too many words?
A - The word count is a guide, not a rule. But if you do the
task properly you will write about 220-260 words. If you write


300 words then you've probably written lots of stuff you don't
need. If you write 200 words you've probably forgotten
something.
DO NOT waste time in the exam counting how many words
you have written! And never add or remove words just
because of the word count - it'll turn out clumsy and weird.
Q - I know I need to use complex sentences to get a good
grade, but I'm worried about making mistakes. Is it better to
have a simple text with no mistakes?
A - Cambridge says that students who make mistakes while
trying to use complex structures will get credit for trying (as
long as the mistake doesn't stop the reader from
understanding).
Q - My handwriting is terrible! No-one can read it! Will I lose
points?
A - No. Your handwriting is not very important. Just make sure
it can be read. Also, you don't need to rewrite your text (and
you don't have time to rewrite it) - if it's got lots of bits
crossed out, don't worry. Every student's writing looks the
same!