Preparing for FCE (B2)
Are you getting ready for FCE? You can see everything you'll need to do in the exam here.
Paper One is the combined Reading and Use of English section. Do you want more practice for the Use of English tasks? If so, go to this page. You can read lots of useful advice on how to deal with the Use of English questions here. You can find reading materials here, here, here and here. As many students have problems with part 2 of this paper, you can get more practice for this section here, here and here. Flo Joe also has some useful tips for part 2 here.
The second paper is your Writing test. Can you remember how long this section is and what you need to write? If not, look here. You can do some practice activities on this page and there's a lot of advice on improving your writing skills here. There are some extra exam tasks on this website as well. If you still need extra writing work, try this site too.
The third paper is Listening. Start by checking out this page for lots of general tips on passing this part of the exam. Afterwards, try the practice materials here, here and here.
Finally, there are four parts to the speaking exam, which lasts about 14 minutes in total. In the first part, the examiner will ask you questions about topics such as school, your future plans, hobbies, family, work, technology and travel.
In part two, the examiner will give you two photographs and you talk about them for a minute. As well as briefly describing what you can see, you'll also need to speculate (They might be..../ It could be..... / I'm not really sure, but if I had to guess I'd say they're probably....), give your opinions and also compare and contrast (The first picture shows...… whereas in the second one....).
The most important advice is to start by comparing and contrasting and not just describing:
While the first picture shows...…, the second one....
Both pictures show...……. However, the second one....
Then move on to speculating:
It might / could be...
They must be...
They might have....
Perhaps they're....
It seems to me that they're...
I might be wrong / mistaken, but it looks as if they're....
Maybe it's some sort of.....
Then widen your answer to include your opinions and generalisations:
I'd say....
The way I see it....
Personally speaking, I reckon...
In my experience....
By and large,....
I'm generalising here, but....
After your partner has talked about his/her two photos, the examiner will ask you a question. You should speak for about 30 seconds when you answer this. You can read more advice on this part of the exam here.
Part three is the first time you'll speak together with your partner. You'll be given a question and five things to talk about. After looking at the paper for 30 seconds, the first part of the task is to discuss the five things with your partner (2 minutes). After that you need to decide which one (or two) of the five things are the best or most useful. This page has lots of useful advice.
Finally, part four continues the theme of part three. The examiner will join you and your partner in a four-minute discussion. You can read about this section here. If you'd like to see what the examiner will be marking you on, click here to watch two candidates taking the real exam. Do you think you could do better than Edward and Victoria? You could then take a look at these model answers. Could you improve on them?
You can find help and advice on how to prepare for the test and what to do on the exam day itself here and here. While there's no official vocabulary list for FCE, how many of the words and phrases listed here can you already use while speaking and writing? You can also practise your vocabulary with the activities from this book, while there's a list of 50 phrasal verbs that commonly pop up (= appear) in the FCE exam here. If phrasal verbs memory games are right up your street, look here.
Paper One is the combined Reading and Use of English section. Do you want more practice for the Use of English tasks? If so, go to this page. You can read lots of useful advice on how to deal with the Use of English questions here. You can find reading materials here, here, here and here. As many students have problems with part 2 of this paper, you can get more practice for this section here, here and here. Flo Joe also has some useful tips for part 2 here.
The second paper is your Writing test. Can you remember how long this section is and what you need to write? If not, look here. You can do some practice activities on this page and there's a lot of advice on improving your writing skills here. There are some extra exam tasks on this website as well. If you still need extra writing work, try this site too.
The third paper is Listening. Start by checking out this page for lots of general tips on passing this part of the exam. Afterwards, try the practice materials here, here and here.
Finally, there are four parts to the speaking exam, which lasts about 14 minutes in total. In the first part, the examiner will ask you questions about topics such as school, your future plans, hobbies, family, work, technology and travel.
In part two, the examiner will give you two photographs and you talk about them for a minute. As well as briefly describing what you can see, you'll also need to speculate (They might be..../ It could be..... / I'm not really sure, but if I had to guess I'd say they're probably....), give your opinions and also compare and contrast (The first picture shows...… whereas in the second one....).
The most important advice is to start by comparing and contrasting and not just describing:
While the first picture shows...…, the second one....
Both pictures show...……. However, the second one....
Then move on to speculating:
It might / could be...
They must be...
They might have....
Perhaps they're....
It seems to me that they're...
I might be wrong / mistaken, but it looks as if they're....
Maybe it's some sort of.....
Then widen your answer to include your opinions and generalisations:
I'd say....
The way I see it....
Personally speaking, I reckon...
In my experience....
By and large,....
I'm generalising here, but....
After your partner has talked about his/her two photos, the examiner will ask you a question. You should speak for about 30 seconds when you answer this. You can read more advice on this part of the exam here.
Part three is the first time you'll speak together with your partner. You'll be given a question and five things to talk about. After looking at the paper for 30 seconds, the first part of the task is to discuss the five things with your partner (2 minutes). After that you need to decide which one (or two) of the five things are the best or most useful. This page has lots of useful advice.
Finally, part four continues the theme of part three. The examiner will join you and your partner in a four-minute discussion. You can read about this section here. If you'd like to see what the examiner will be marking you on, click here to watch two candidates taking the real exam. Do you think you could do better than Edward and Victoria? You could then take a look at these model answers. Could you improve on them?
You can find help and advice on how to prepare for the test and what to do on the exam day itself here and here. While there's no official vocabulary list for FCE, how many of the words and phrases listed here can you already use while speaking and writing? You can also practise your vocabulary with the activities from this book, while there's a list of 50 phrasal verbs that commonly pop up (= appear) in the FCE exam here. If phrasal verbs memory games are right up your street, look here.
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