Contains a detailed overview of the Writing part in the CPE. Contains: General information, tips and guides on how to write the CPE Essay, Formal Letter, Informal Letter, Article, Review and Report.
Writing
Writing - General Information
• There are 2 parts in writing.
• Remember, you will have 90 minutes and it will count for 20% of your nal mark.
• For Part 1, you will have to read two texts. Using the information in the texts, you will have to
write an Essay. In the essay, you have to summarise and evaluate the key points that are
mentioned in the two texts, as well as giving your opinion. The essay must be discursive (also
called “for-and-against”): it must give a balanced view (opinion-wise) and in the conclusion it
has to summarise both sides of the argument. The essay must be formal! The word count for
your essay has to be around 240-280 words.
• For Part 2, you’ll have to choose one choice out of four choices. Choice (question) 5 is about a
book you have to have read before, so if you haven’t read the book, don’t pick Question 5. You
can choose from a: (in)formal Letter / Article / Review / Report. There will be a word limit of
around 280-320 words.
• In writing, the examiners will check the following criteria:
• Content - Have you answered the question(s)?
• Communicative Achievement - Did you use the right tone and level of formality? Is it good to
read? Can the reader understand you?
• Organisation - Have you structured your writing with paragraphs? Do you links the paragraphs
together? Is there a logical ow?
• Language - Have you used a good range of C2 grammar and vocabulary? Did you make a lot
of grammar mistakes?
Writing - Tips
• Read the question carefully 3 times and underline important parts!
• Pick a choice in Part 2 that you are interested in. You will write better if you know the subject.
• Both Part 1 and Part 2 are worth the same amount of points. You should spend 45 minutes on
both of the parts (so both parts equal amount of time). Planning is essential, without it you will
have a hard time. Per part try to use your time like this:
- Planning: 10 minutes (use bullet points on what to write down)
- Writing: 25 minutes
- Checking: 10 minutes
• Make a plan during “planning” using notes and bullet points before writing. Decide what
information to put in each paragraph. Take about 10 minutes for this. Ask yourself the following
questions:
- What am I going to talk about (use bullet points and notes to make logical content!)?
- What will my introduction and conclusion be like?
- What language must I use (formal/informal)?
- What complex C2 vocabulary do I know about this topic?
- How will I link paragraphs?
- Where can I use impressive structures, such as connectors, collocations and inversions (=
instead of “He likes to walk, even though he has a disability.” —> “Despite of his disability, he
likes to walk.”)?
• Make sure you content is logical, don’t just write something down!
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