CAE/CPE Writing Part 2

CAE
Complete 1 task from a choice of 3.

Tasks could include: a report, a proposal, a letter or a review.

Word limit: 220-260 words

CPE
Complete 1 task from a choice of 3.

Tasks could include: an article, a report, a review, a letter or two questions related to set texts.

Word limit: 280-320 words.

6 Step Method
1. Read task, underline content points.
2. Organise content points into paragraphs.
3. WHAT are you going to say? Add notes to paragraphs.
4. HOW are you going to say it?
1. Register? Formal/informal?
2. Range of structures: What impressive grammar are you going to use?
Inversions (not only/no sooner/not until/seldom)
Inverted conditionals (Were I to..../Had they known...)
Cleft sentences (What impressed me most was...)
Participle clauses (Having visited the city before, I know what to expect. Being a massive fan
of cheese, I had a whale of a time in France)
Double comparatives (The more cheese I ate, the fatter I became. The more I studied the
more I understood about French culture.)
3. Range of vocabulary:
How to paraphrase the content points.
Phrasal verbs. (switch over, zone out, sit back)
Idioms/similes (like watching paint dry/to be on the edge of one's seat)
Relevant vocabulary to the topic (chat show, current affairs, couch potato, remote control)
Other expressions (Something for everyone, a smorgasbord of options, kill time, etc.)
5. Forms and conventions: Report/proposal – paragraph titles, letter conventions.
6. Write!