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First Certificate in English exam (FCE) – speaking test

March 14th, 2012 | Posted by glenn in English Exams - (0 Comments)

The FCE speaking test lasts about 14 minutes and candidates are interviewed in pairs. The times below may be a little different if there are an odd number of candidates and you are in the group of three that are interviewed together.

There are four parts to the test and here is the breakdown.

FCE speaking test: Part one

Part one is an interview which lasts about three minutes.  The questions are all about you, your family, your background etc.

  • How many people are there in your family?
  • Tell me a little about where you are from.

These questions are designed to test your ability to speak English for social purposes.

Tip: Practice making long answers in response to closed questions so that you never give a short answer no matter you are asked.

FCE speaking test: Part two

Part two will get you to compare and contrast a pair of photos.  You will be expected to speak for one minute.  After that, you will be expected to answer a question.

Tips: Practice speaking uninterrupted for 1 minute so that you get an idea of how long one minute is.  Practice using some discourse markers and conjunctions which will help you to speak about similarities and differences.  For example: while, in contrast to this, both A and B are…, in comparison to B, A is…

FCE speaking test: Part three

This part is a discussion between the two candidates.  You will need to discuss all of the options available and then to decide which one is best.  This lasts about 3 minutes.

Tips: Work together with your partner, it is not an exercise in arguing.  The discussion is important, winning the negotiation is not.  Go through each of the options and discuss the pros and cons of each one before you begin trying to make the decision.

FCE speaking test: Part four

In part four of the test, the examiner will join the candidates in a discussion about the topics raised in part three.  This part of the test is see if candidates can use English to express and justify their opinions.

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Mastering the TOEFL iBT listening test

January 8th, 2012 | Posted by glenn in English Exams - (0 Comments)

Improving your listening skills will help your ability to have a fun and effective conversation but it is especially important if you plan to undertake the challenge of a listening test like the TOEFL iBT listening test.  The secret to improving your listening skills is active listening and comprehension.

Comprehension

Communication is the sharing of ideas between two people and this goes through three steps.  The first is identifying the sounds into units that you understand.  When you listen, you are hearing sounds and connecting these sounds with words that are already in your vocabulary.  This means that if a word is not in your vocabulary, it is much harder to identify. 

The second step is being able to catch the rhythm of the speech and, in English, the rhythm is created not only by the breaks in between words and parts of sentences but also by the stress that we put on words.  This tells us which parts of the sentence are really important and which parts are just there to satisfy grammatical rules. 

The breaks help us to create blocks of language that are easier to understand than a lot of individual words.  When you do a jigsaw puzzle, it is easier to imagine where the pieces go if you focus on one area (a corner for example) rather than just finding the piece that goes next to this one.

The third part of comprehension is attaching the connotations and context to the words.  When we hear a group of words we bring to our interpretation of those words our thoughts, opinions, feelings and culture.  The same group of words can mean different things to different people.  

Also we need to apply the words that we hear to the situation in order to completely understand it.  The words “it’s your shot” have a completely different meaning if you are standing in front of a pool table than if you are standing in front of a gun.

How this helps with TOEFL iBT listening

If you are studying well already, this should all confirm what you are already doing.  If you are listening to different accents and listening for new vocabulary when you practice, you are helping to build your comprehension. 

If you listen and imitate the rhythm that people use when they speak including the breaks and the stresses, this will help you think in blocks rather than words.

If you understand that words can mean different things and that we need to understand the situation (and sometimes detect what that situation is when there are no visual clues), this will help you to avoid costly misunderstandings that lead to confusion.

Remember, in the TOEFL iBT listening test, you will be listening to identify the situation as well as get the meaning of the words and if you can do this in blocks, it will be much easier for you.  For tips on listening sections for IELTS and TOEIC, click these links.

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TOEIC speaking tips

November 16th, 2011 | Posted by glenn in English Exams - (0 Comments)

TOEIC officials are not allowed to give tips and suggestions to the public about the TOEIC exam but if they were, they may say something like this;

“I want to understand you”

This means that you need to speak clearly and at an appropriate speed.  You need to know if you are difficult to understand because you speak too fast or if you speak so slowly that you have no intonation because you will lose points for that too. 

This is where rehearsal and recording your voice comes in.  Listen to yourself on playback and listen critically.  If you have not recorded your voice at least one time, you have not prepared well enough.

“I want to hear your best English”

Don’t use slang.  Don’t use informal or impolite language.  There is a column on the marking sheet for intonation, pronunciation, grammar, vocabulary and content but not for coolness or wit.  So save the slang for impressing your friends.

“Spice it up a bit”

Imagine your job is to listen to all of those recordings.  If all of the candidates speak in boring monotonous voices, this is your opportunity to stand out with just a little intonation and varied pitch and volume.  Try it out, changing the pitch, volume and ensuring that you use intonation in your speech will make your voice instantly more attractive to listeners.

“No more vanilla!”

Many students are taught to respond to how are you? with I’m fine.  Little known secret here:  if a native-English speaker gave me that response, I would think that they don’t want to speak with me.  I would think that they are giving me the vanilla response because they have no interest in conversation with me.

Vanilla words are plain.  They have no flavor.  Words like good and fine and OK when we could be using terrific, fantastic or giving more detail.  A good teacher could be a dedicated teacher, a good day could be a memorable day, and a good dessert could be mind-bending.

Markers want to hear the vocabulary that you have so no vanilla when you are recording your answer in TOEIC, break out the double chocolate delight and the passion fruit swirl.

“Practice like you mean it”

When you practice at home or with your English tutor, simulate real conditions which means that you should practice with the distraction of background noise.  Turn on the TV and face the other direction to achieve this.  Also, when you practice, do all of the things above.  Don’t practice just the content, practice your voice, speed, intonation, vocabulary etc.

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IELTS listening tips

August 30th, 2011 | Posted by glenn in English Exams - (0 Comments)

With a lot of students studying overseas and people moving to live in other countries, IELTS is becoming a popular test.  The best advice that I can give you for succeeding in the IELTS listening test is practice, practice, practice.

How to prepare for the IELTS listening part

And when you practice, here are some good habits to build:

1)      Get used to a variety of accents.  Don’t just watch American series.  Make sure that you get a good intake of British accents but also New Zealand, Australian, Irish, and even Asian accents.  They could all come up in your test.

2)      Follow the instructions carefully.  It doesn’t feel good to lose marks for silly mistakes.

3)      Get used to guessing.  Read the question before you listen and try to predict what they might say.

4)      Use the background noise to help you to imagine the scene.  If you imagine the scene, you are more likely to predict what they are about to say.

5)      Try to read two questions.  Sometimes they come soon after the one before so reading two questions will help you especially in the latter half of the test.

6)      Be careful of speakers correcting themselves.  They might say one answer and then change to another answer so be careful.

7)      Look at any tables, labels and other visual clues.  This will help you to know what to listen for.

8)      Don’t leave any questions unanswered.  Try to eliminate ridiculous answers first and then guess from what’s left.  Also, if you leave a blank answer, you might mistakenly write the next answer there.  Now every answer you write is in the wrong place.

Good technique and lots of practice will help you to feel confident in the test so try to make these habits yours and then you can relax and achieve the score that you really want.  Good luck.

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