HOW TO WRITE…

In this part of the test, you are given an email from an English friend or
relative, and you are asked to reply to it in about 100 words.
This email contains annotations which help you identify exactly what you need to
respond to.
We have 3 basic ways to greet in this kind of writing, which is usually for a
friend or family member:

• Hi Sandy,
• Hello Sandy,
• Dear Sandy,

«Hi» is less formal than «hello» or «dear». Also, don’t forget

to write a comma (,) right after greeting your friend or relative.

The opening paragraph is the place to react to your friend’s or

relative’s email. In order to do so, you can use a number of
different expressions. Here we have some examples:

• It’s nice / great / good to hear from you.

• I’m glad to hear your news.
• I’m excited about… (your news.)
• I’m sorry to hear that…
• Thanks a lot for writing!
• It was good to receive your email.
• Thank you very much for your email.

And ask your friend or relative how they are feeling: Hope
you are doing well.

• How’s it going?
• How are you (doing)?
• How are things (going)?
Write (at least) two parragraphs about the topic
you are asked and make use of connectors and
appropriate punctuation, such as:
“and”, “but”, “however”, “because”, “moreover” …

This part is used to start saying goodbye and to ask

for a response to your email. So we can use the
following expressions:

• Anyway, I have to go now.

• Well, it’s time to go.
• Anyway, gotta go.
• I really hope to hear from you soon.
• I’m looking forward to hearing from you.
• I hope you write
back soon. Make
sure you write
back soon.

Use one of the following to say goodbye:

• Best wishes,
• Take care,
• All my love,
• Love,
• Lots of love,
• See you soon,
• Regards,

And write your signature (name) at the end to finish it.

 HOW TO WRITE…

If you choose to write the article, you’ll have to write about a topic in
an entertaing and interesting way.
For example:

In here, you should write about what sort of movies you like and where do you
prefer to watch them.
Make sure you answer all the questions!
The structure of your article should be as follow:

You can write the main idea of the article in one sentence, so the readers know
what to expect.

It’s great to start your article with a question, so you make it interesting from the
beginning:
• Have you ever…?
• Do you ever wonder…?
• What do you think about…?
• Are you one of those people who…?
To start the main idea you could use: “First”, “in the first place”…
You can also start giving your opinion:
• In my opinion, …
• To my mind, …
• As far as I am concerned, …
• From my point of view, …
• As for me / As to me, …
• I would say that …
• It seems to me that …

Normally, two paragraphs about the topic should be enough, and you can lead
to the second idea using:
• Another advantage of …
• On top of all that…
• What is more, …
• Above all, …
• The reason I think this is…
• The reason I feel this way is…
• On top of that, …

You could start closing with:

• In conclusion,
• To sum up,
• On the whole,

And make some recommendations, using:

o It would be a good idea to…

o Why don’t we…?
o What about…?
o How about…?
o Let’s consider…
o Why not…?
Here you can see an example of the answer:

EXTRA TIPS:

Make the article lively and interesting (use adverbs)

• importantly
• surprisingly
• the most amazing
• absolutely
• suddenly
• amazingly
• fantastically
• frighteningly

Try to use extreme adjectives instead of intensifiers (very):

• Very good = awesome, excellent, fantastic, wonderful

• Very bad = awful, horrendous, hideous, disturbing
• Very happy: delightful, jubilant, cheerful.
• Very beautiful: gorgeous, stunning, splendid, sublime.
• Very dirty: filthy, dusty, unclean.
• Very clean: Spotless, shining, immaculate.
• Very funny: hilarious, amusing, priceless.
• Very small: tiny, miniscule, insignificant.
• Very big: huge, giant, massive.
 ❖ This is another example of Cambridge article:

❖ And the answer could be:

Don’t you enjoy eating out?

Do you ever get tired of setting up the table? Do you enjoy washing the dishes? I
really don’t. That’s why I believe eating out is great.

I know that eating out is expensive, but do it a couple of times a week. Instead of
spending money in nightclubs or clothes, I’d rather spend money in a good
restaurant, because the food is nice and it’s convenient.

My favourite restaurants are usually Italian (I love pasta!), but my favourite

restaurant in my city is a Japanese restaurant called «Kirin». They serve the best
sushi!

If you’re ever in my city, I recommend you go to Kirin or any of the Italian

restaurants in the centre. You won’t regret it!
 HOW TO WRITE…

A STORY

In this part of the test, you are given some instructions to write a
story in about 100 words. These instructions may involve the title or
the first or last sentence of the story.
Let’s see an example:

A story must follow a particular structure which makes sense to the

reader. So let’s move on to the different parts of a story.

1. Title
The title should either summaries the whole story (without spoilers!) or have
something to do with the main theme.

Write your title in capital letters.

2. Exposition
This is the beginning of the story, where the characters and setting are
established. It serves as the introduction to the next part.
When you start a story, if the first sentence isn’t given to you, you can use
phrases like these:

• It all began…
• When I first…
• At the beginning…
• It was a hot/cold summer/winter day.
•
Just to be clear, these are only some simple examples which you can use,
as there is no right or wrong way to start a story.

If you get the first sentence, just copy it and start with that.

3. Action
In this part, the characters deal with conflict and do things to solve it.
The real purpose of the story is to entertain the reader, just like when you read
a novel you expect to be entertained and a cool way to entertain is to create
suspense, which we can do by using some of the following expressions:

• Suddenly • Out of the blue

• All of a sudden • Out of nowhere
• Just at that moment • Right away
• Unexpectedly • Straight away

The characters usually interact with each other, so it is always good if you
know how to use direct speech, that is, reproduce the words the characters
actually say or think. The tricky bit about this is the punctuation and the
verbs to choose, because it’s good to use some verbs other than «say». Let’s
take a look at some examples:

• “I’m coming with you”, she said.

• She said, «I’m coming with you. »
• “Do you like it?” he asked.
• «Don’t do it!» they screamed.
•
Pay attention at where the comma (,) or other punctuation marks go (?!).
Also, don’t forget to use inverted commas («…» / “…”) to enclose the direct
speech.
 4. Resolution
This is where the conflict is resolved and the story concludes with an
ending, normally without any loose ends.

This paragraph should be separated from the rest, and it’s a good idea to start it
with one of the following expressions:

• In the end
• Finally
• When it was all over
• Eventually
• After everything that happened
• Luckily

Again, these are just a few examples. There’s no right or wrong way
to conclude a story, as long as it makes sense with the rest of the piece of
writing.

EXTRA TIPS

➢ One of the reasons why stories are particularly challenging is

that they tend to take place in the past, which makes it necessary to use
a range of past tenses appropriately. The main three past tenses you
should really try to use are the following:

• Past simple and continuous:

It was midnight and I was trying to sleep.
• Past perfect and simple:
I had completely forgotten it was my birthday.
• Past simple:
This time I picked up the phone quickly and shouted, «Hello?!».

Please avoid a simple succession of past simple tenses alone, like:

I woke up and got out of bed. Then I went to the kitchen and made some
coffee.

➢ In order to define the order of the events in the story, we must use
time expressions or time phrases. So let’s see a few:
 • Then • As
• After that • Some time later
• Not long afterwards • A little later
• As soon as • a moment later
• While • Late (that morning/afternoon/day/night…)
• Meanwhile • Just then

It is essential to use these expressions properly. Otherwise, it won’t be clear

exactly how the story develops. 😊

Let’s see two examples of real stories on Cambridge exam: