Preparing for CAE (C1)
The best place to start for those of you preparing for CAE is this page, which tells you all you need to know about the format of the exam. Cambridge also have a lot of advice on how to prepare for each paper here.
Paper 1 is the combined Reading and Use of English section, which has 8 parts in all. You can find lots of practice materials for this paper on the Flo Joe website. There's also a step by step guide to the first four parts here. Having read through that, you can get much more practice here, here, here, here and here.
Paper 2 is Writing. You'll have 90 minutes to do both tasks. Should you wish to practice the compulsory essay task, go here first. As ever, Flo Joe's writing pages are also well worth checking out. In the second part, you'll need to choose one of the three options, which could be a letter/email, proposal, report or review. Remember the word count for both sections is the same (220-260 words). There's an overview of the whole paper here, while you can read more about the individual task types here, here, here and here.
Paper 3 is the Listening part of the exam. You'll have about 40 minutes, including time to transfer your answers to the answer sheet. There are four sections and a total of 30 questions. In part one, you'll hear three short monologues. There are two questions for each of the three monologues and a choice of three possible answers, as you can see in the practice activity here. There are lots more examples here. The second part is sentence completion, which means you'll need to listen for specific information in a monologue that lasts around three minutes and then fill in eight pieces of missing information. Keep in mind that you'll only ever need to write 1-3 words in the spaces. If you need more practice for this section, go here or here. Part three is another multiple choice section, although this time you'll hear a four-minute conversation and then choose from four possible answers. You can find more practice materials here or here. Finally, part four has two tasks - you'll hear five speakers talking for 30 seconds each and then have to match each speaker to one of eight possible answers. You can find more practice on this website and here too. There are lots of tips for the listening exam here.
Paper 4 is the Speaking test, which takes 15 minutes per pair of students and has four separate parts. There are lots of sites with advice on this part of the exam, including this one, this one and this one. You can find detailed tips on all four sections here. You can see how you'll be marked and watch a video of two students taking the exam here.
Unlike KET and PET, there's no official list of the vocabulary candidates should know before taking CAE. However, you can find wordlists for books Cambridge produce to help students prepare for the exam here and here. I'd also recommend looking through Flo Joe's advice on the vocabulary you'll need in the Use of English section.
Paper 2 is Writing. You'll have 90 minutes to do both tasks. Should you wish to practice the compulsory essay task, go here first. As ever, Flo Joe's writing pages are also well worth checking out. In the second part, you'll need to choose one of the three options, which could be a letter/email, proposal, report or review. Remember the word count for both sections is the same (220-260 words). There's an overview of the whole paper here, while you can read more about the individual task types here, here, here and here.
Paper 3 is the Listening part of the exam. You'll have about 40 minutes, including time to transfer your answers to the answer sheet. There are four sections and a total of 30 questions. In part one, you'll hear three short monologues. There are two questions for each of the three monologues and a choice of three possible answers, as you can see in the practice activity here. There are lots more examples here. The second part is sentence completion, which means you'll need to listen for specific information in a monologue that lasts around three minutes and then fill in eight pieces of missing information. Keep in mind that you'll only ever need to write 1-3 words in the spaces. If you need more practice for this section, go here or here. Part three is another multiple choice section, although this time you'll hear a four-minute conversation and then choose from four possible answers. You can find more practice materials here or here. Finally, part four has two tasks - you'll hear five speakers talking for 30 seconds each and then have to match each speaker to one of eight possible answers. You can find more practice on this website and here too. There are lots of tips for the listening exam here.
Paper 4 is the Speaking test, which takes 15 minutes per pair of students and has four separate parts. There are lots of sites with advice on this part of the exam, including this one, this one and this one. You can find detailed tips on all four sections here. You can see how you'll be marked and watch a video of two students taking the exam here.
Unlike KET and PET, there's no official list of the vocabulary candidates should know before taking CAE. However, you can find wordlists for books Cambridge produce to help students prepare for the exam here and here. I'd also recommend looking through Flo Joe's advice on the vocabulary you'll need in the Use of English section.
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