cae essay assignment

Breakout English

Advanced (CAE) Essay Questions and Sample Answers

The Cambridge C1 Advanced (CAE) essay is a formal, academic writing. You’ll find it in Part 1 of the CAE writing exam and, just like at other levels, Part 1 is mandatory. That means whether you like it or not, you’ll be writing an essay for your C1 Cambridge exam. Considering that, it’s probably a good idea to practise. The good news is, the CAE essay can be quite formulaic. Once you’ve done it a few times, you’ll notice the structure and style are always pretty similar. Before you know it, you’ll be writing them in your sleep! In this post, you’ll find some useful CAE writing tips and three essay questions with sample answers.

If you’re looking for a complete overview of the CAE writing exam, with CAE writing tips and much more, check out Advanced Writing Plus , our complete self-study course.

Topics for Advanced (CAE) essay questions

At C1 level, you are expected to be able to write about pretty much any topic you can imagine. However, CAE essay topics are generally going to be quite formal. You’re not going to be asked about your plans for the weekend!

These are some of the topics which are most likely to come up in an Advanced essay question:

• Environmental issues
• Public projects
• Science and nature
• Global issues

Make sure you’ve looked into these topics and studied relevant vocabulary. You can also read different articles and listen to radio broadcasts (or podcasts) related to the topics. Don’t forget to note down important vocabulary so you can remember it for your writings!

C1 Advanced (CAE) Essay Tips

You’ve probably got plenty of experience writing in English if you’ve reached a C1 level. Students who prepare for this exam often need their skills focused in the right way rather than being taught brand new ideas.

Here are my top tips for preparing the CAE essay task.

• Don’t do anything too strange – The essay question is likely to be on quite an interesting topic. It could even be on something you feel strongly about or specialise in. But be careful! When essays start to ramble too much or go too far, they lose their strength. This essay isn’t going to change the world, so don’t go overboard!
• Use advanced language – Remember that to get top points, you must use advanced structures in your writing. Take some time to practise inversion, cleft sentences and participle clauses, then use them in your essay.
• Don’t be stingy with linking words – Linking words (and expressions) are the glue of a writing. Without them, everything falls apart. This doesn’t mean you have to use ridiculous uncommon linking words, but you should use them frequently, probably more than you expect. Take a look at our post about linking words for some ideas.
• Be stylish! – An essay needs to read like an essay, just like a report needs to read like a report. This means it is a formal, academic text. Formal means no contractions, few phrasal verbs, complex sentences and an impersonal style. The essay needs to include your opinion, so you need to express that opinion through style and substance, supported by facts.
• Focus on argument and coherence – To score high in the CAE essay, it’s important to have a clear argument and structure. Plan your essay and stick to the plan, making sure each paragraph has a clear purpose. Ensure that your points are logically connected and that your writing is coherent.
• Use a variety of sentence types – Varying sentence types and lengths keep the reader engaged and demonstrate your writing skills. Mix simple and complex sentences to add interest to your writing.
• Check your writing! – Proofreading is critical for writing a top-scoring CAE essay. Check for grammatical and spelling errors and make sure the writing flows well. Also, don’t forget to check your writing style and tone to make sure you sound professional and academic.
• Practice, practice, practice – Finally, practise writing essays under timed conditions. This will help you to improve your time management and build confidence for the actual exam.

The materials

Here are three Advanced (CAE) essay questions. They each use different CAE essay topics. Use them to practise and improve in preparation for the Cambridge C1 Advanced exam. After completing your own essay, check the example answer and compare.

How to Write an Essay for C1 Advanced (CAE)

Luis @ kse academy.

• diciembre 21, 2022

As I’m sure you already know, Cambridge exams have several papers (Reading, Writing, Use of English, Speaking and Listening), and each of these components is divided into different parts. In this post, I want to focus on Writing Part 1 of the C1 Advanced, that is, how to write an Essay for the CAE . Because, remember, C1 Writing Part 1 will always be an essay 🙂 

Sample C1 Essay

New C1 Writing Guide out now!

• 3 examples of every task type
• Essay, Review, Formal and Informal Email and Letter, Report & Proposal
• 500+ useful phrases ready to use in your writings
• 95 pages of exclusive and original writing content
• Description of the C1 Writing paper
• Detailed description of each part of the Writing paper
• Assessment criteria and Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

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What are the parts of the C1 Advanced Writing?

The C1 Advanced (CAE) Writing, as we have already seen in another article, has 2 parts , and for each one you will have to write a text according to the exercise instructions. What you should know is that there is a limited range of text types that you may be asked to write in each part, so let’s see: 

• Writing Part 1: In this part you will always have to write an essay, and you will have no other options to choose from. That’s why it is really important that you pay attention to this article and learn how to write an essay for C1 Advanced to the best of your ability. 
• Formal letter/email
• Informal letter/email
• Review 
• Proposal 

Each writing task you do should be between 220 and 260 words long, approximately, and, as they are different types of writing, you should take into account the peculiarities of each one in terms of structure, register, grammar and vocabulary, etc. 

So let’s start with the one that concerns us in this article: Essays! 

What is an essay ?

An Essay is a text of opinion in which we analyse a topic, a situation or a problem from different points of view or by considering several points or solutions to the problem. In each of the paragraphs, we deal with each point and express different facts, considerations and opinions. 

Now that we know what an essay is, let’s look at how to write an essay and its characteristics. 

How to Write an Essay for CAE Writing

Here are the main characteristics of a C1-level essay so that you can keep them in mind when writing: 

• Purpose: With an essay, what we do is evaluate a topic, situation or problem that is of some interest or controversy (e.g. teenage mobile phone use ). Often, the Writing activity is set as a task that takes place after a class debate. In an exam, you will have to imagine the debate for yourself (duh!).
• Tone and register: As it is a text on a serious or controversial topic, the Essay is always written in a formal context, so we must use an objective tone. Furthermore, the linguistic register should always be formal, avoiding common words such as things , stuff , get , etc.; contractions ( can’t , don’t , won’t , etc.); or expressions that may sound informal. 
• Structure: Like all writing tasks, an essay has a fairly well-defined structure, although it is not 100% fixed and immovable. To begin with, we can choose to give it a title or not, but, personally, I find it more appropriate to write an Essay with a title. Have you ever seen a text published without a title? Probably not.  As for the body of the essay, it should be divided into the following paragraphs: introduction, point 1, point 2 and conclusion. In other words, in general, a Cambridge C1 Essay should have 4-5 paragraphs.
• Opinion: This is where we have the most leeway when writing an essay for C1. There are many ways of expressing your opinion in an Essay, so you should choose the one that best suits your Writing approach. What I usually recommend, however, is that you remain impartial throughout the whole text and only express your opinion at the end, in the last paragraph, as a conclusion. As always, the most important thing is that you justify everything you say in your writing and that your conclusion answers the main question of the assignment.
• Coherence and progression: Coherence is essential in all Writings, but especially in the essay. As it is a supporting and argumentative text, you cannot write unconnected sentences and paragraphs; the ideas must follow a logical and well-connected order, using connectors appropriate to C1 level, in this case. Furthermore, the reader must perceive a logical progression of paragraphs, without losing the thread of what you are trying to argue. Otherwise, when they get to the last paragraph, they won’t know what you are talking about and our writing will have failed catastrophically. 

CAE Writing Essay Example

Now that we are familiar with the main features of an essay for Cambridge Advanced (CAE) Writing, let’s look at a sample essay at C1 level, both the sample instructions and a possible answer.

C1 Essay Instructions

In the picture below you can see an example from the Cambridge website. 

From these instructions, we must always extract the essentials: 

• Topic: facilities which should receive money from local authorities
• sports centres
• public gardens
• «Museums aren’t popular with everybody!»
• «Sports centres mean healthier people.»
• «A town needs green spaces – parks are great for everybody.»
• Address only 2 of the 3 points given. 
• Answer and justify the main question (« to which facility is it most important that local authorities give money «).
• Justify your answer (« giving reasons in support of your answer «)
• Use your own words (« use your own words as far as possible «)

According to the task model outlined above, we can approach out writing with the following structure: 

• Introduction
• Point 1 (museums)
• Point 2 (sports centres)

Although it is not set in stone, you will normally get 4 paragraphs. So now let’s look at an example Essay for CAE Writing: 

At first glance, we can see that this Essay for C1 has an introductory title and 4 paragraphs ( introduction , museums , sports , conclusion ). In addition, if we read the text carefully, we can see the following aspects: 

• Title: The title perfectly summarises for the reader the topic to be covered in the text. Sometimes, a title in the form of a question such as « Which facilities should receive funding from local authorities? » can be a good idea, although I always prefer more concise titles.
• Introduction : introduces the topic and mentions the two options we are going to discuss in the following paragraphs. 
• Museums : Discusses the benefits of museums and the benefits of investing money in them. 
• Sports centres : Discusses the benefits of sports centres and the consequences of investing money in them. 
• Conclusion : In a very clear way, museums are seen as the ones that should receive the investment for certain reasons that are well justified. 
• Connectors: Connectors are used that clearly define the coherence and progression of the text.: on the one/other hand, in addition, ultimately, however, while, etc. 
• We do not use contractions or catch-all words.
• When it comes to
• comes to mind
• valuable cultural resource
• heritage 
• generating income
• engage in physical activity
• positive outlet for energy
• Grammar is also advanced (E.g.: Not only can…, but they also… )

In short, this is a good example of an Essay for CAE Writing. It should be noted, however, that this writing is written to simulate a strong C1 level, perhaps without necessarily going into a C2 level.

Will I be penalised if I write less than 220 or more than 260 words?

This is the most typical question in this part of the exam and the answer is: yes and no. Let me explain. The assessors won’t count the words and penalise you according to the number of words only. There is a rumour going around among students and teachers that for every 10 words they take away X points, but this is not true. However, if you have gone over 260 words by 50 or 100 words, or more, there is probably some content that is not relevant to the assignment, and that is penalised. Likewise, if you write less than 220 words, you are probably missing important information or you are not covering it in the detail required by the task instructions.

For this reason, I always recommend going over 20 words at most. That way you won’t lose points if your assignment covers the required topics and points. 🙂

The best guide for C1 Advanced Writing with examples and useful expressions

Although I will be publishing more articles explaining how to do each type of task for C1 Advanced, the best thing you can do to get plenty of information and practice is to buy the official KSE Academy guide to CAE Writing. In this guide you will find the following:

I hope you found this post useful. If you did, don’t forget to share with your friends and family. 🙂

I’ll see you in the next post. Until then, don’t forget to keep smiling! 

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Cambridge C1 Advanced (CAE): How to Write an Essay

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Introduction

An essay in the C1 Advanced Writing paper is usually written for an academic tutor and may be written as a follow-up to a class activity, such as attending a seminar or watching a documentary. The main purpose of the task is to underline relevant salient issues on the stated topic, and to support an argument with subsidiary points and reasons. An essay should be well organised, with an introduction, clear development and an appropriate conclusion. It should hold the target reader’s attention and communicate complex ideas using an appropriate range of vocabulary and structures. Source: Cambridge English C1 Advanced handbook for teachers

Essays are part of the first section of the CAE Writing paper. The task is mandatory, which means that you always have to write an essay unlike the other texts ( emails/letter , proposals , reviews , reports ) where you can choose which one you would like to tackle in the exam.

Essay writing is not that difficult…

…if you know what you are doing. For most students, essay writing feels like this huge obstacle that they won’t be able to clear when, in fact, it is not as bad as you might think.

Just like every other writing task in C1 Advanced you can apply a specific structure because the different tasks share the same characteristics. Obviously, the topic changes and the input you get from the question differs, but, essentially, it is like repeating the same task over and over again. For this, you can become pretty good at essay writing in a short time just by practising regularly until most of it becomes almost automatic for you.

Long story short, in this article I’m going to take you by the hand and guide you through all the different aspects of essay writing. We’re going to see what a typical essay task looks like, the structure and language and, of course, common problems and mistakes you should avoid on your way to mastering essays.

What a typical essay task looks like

As mentioned earlier, essay tasks in C1 Advanced look very similar to each other and once you understand what those common features are, you will see that everything becomes a lot easier. A typical task might look like the one below:

Every essay writing task looks like this with the content changing, but the structure staying exactly the same.

There are also a few things highlighted for you in bold which are definitely important for you to consider when you plan and, later, write your text.

First of all, in the bigger box there is always the question you have to answer and three option s to choose from and, as the rubric tells you, you have to pick two of them . These two points need to be discussed and compared and then you explain (with reasons!) which option you think is better, more suitable, nicer or whatever the task asks you to do (Here: Which facility is it more important for local authorities to give money to?).

Apart from that, you are also gifted a few ideas in the smaller of the two boxes . You can use these in your essay (You don’t have to.), but make sure that you don’t just copy them word for word. Instead, paraphrase them and make them your own, or simply come up with your own ideas.

If you have ever written a Cambridge B2 First essay , you will immediately see the similarities between the tasks, but in C1 Advanced there is less support for you and you have to make more decisions on your own before you can even start to make a plan for your text. Read the whole task very carefully and then choose wisely based on what feels best for you in any given case .

Formal or informal language in an essay?

I’ll keep this short for you because this works in every single task: Keep your language formal , which means no contractions ( I’m , don’t , etc.), no colloquial expressions ( Hey, what’s up? , I liked it heaps ., etc.), and no slang or phrasal verbs that convey informality ( I’m bursting vs. I have had enough to eat; carry on vs. continue).

How to organise your essay

OK, we know now what we have to do and what kind of language we have to use so it’s time to look at the organisation and structure of a good essay.

When organising a piece of writing you should always think about what it is that you have to include in your text. In a C1 Advanced essay there are basically four things:

• First topic point
• Second topic point

From that, we can make four paragraphs and this applies to every single essay you are going to write to practise or in the official exam.

Let’s have another look at our example from earlier. The three options are museums, sports centres and public gardens. Museums and sports centres are both buildings and probably similar to talk about so I’m going to choose sports centres and public parks, just because we can contrast them better in my opinion.

Adding our two topic points to the list from before, this specific essay structure looks like this:

• Sports centres
• Public parks

So there you go. I think that the process up this point is fairly simple and from there most students jump right into the deep end and start to write their essay – but not so fast!

Plan before you start writing

One of the most crucial yet most undervalued tools for excellent writing is a good plan. Unfortunately, I see too many students skip this step and they often end up revising their texts over and over until they run out of time and the result is still not satisfactory.

Please don’t make the same mistake. It takes around five minutes to make a plan which helps you organise your thoughts and ideas in a way that makes sense. You will be able to focus on your language and arguments instead of worrying about possibly forgetting to include content while saving you time. It works and you should do it as well.

To make your plan just take the list we created above and add a couple of thoughts to each point so you know what you want to write about.

• Introduction (panel discussion, local authorities, sports centres & public gardens –> Which one is more important?)
• Sports centres (public health, wide variety of activities, social aspect)
• Public parks (green lung of the city, place to relax from city life, social outdoor activities)
• Conclusion (sports centres better choice –> more variety, more social, greater health benefits)

It took me 4 minutes to create this plan. I used the idea from the task for sports centres (“Sports centrs mean healthier people.”), but I paraphrased it (public health) while the idea for public parks seems too vague for me so I left it out. Remember that it is optional to include these thoughts in your essay. if you feel that you have better ones, go for it.

The different parts of an essay

So far, we’ve looked at a typical essay task and we put everything in order. The next step, of course, is to put our pen to paper and turn our ideas into a great essay. Please be aware that these are simply my recommendations and if you feel that they are helpful, you’re welcome, and if not, modify them or change whatever you think makes more sense for you.

The introduction to your essay serves several different purposes. It presents the topic/question to the reader and puts it in context, introduces the topic points you are going to discuss and creates interest and anticipation in the reader.

All of this sounds like an awful lot of stuff to include, but with a little bit of practice you’ll find out that it is a fairly repeatable process. Once you’ve got the hang of it, you’ll produce one great introduction after another without having to think about it too much.

With all that being said, let’s look at a possible introduction for our example task.

In recent years, public funding for local facilities has become more problematic for many towns, which has become more obvious to me after listening to a panel on the financial needs of several different local facilities like sports centres and public parks. As these places battle for funds, the main question is which ones deserve the money more.

Let’s have a closer look at this intro. At the beginning the whole issue is put into the context of the financial problems many local authorities have experienced. Sports centres and public parks as our two topic points are included as well and, last but not least, a question is asked to create a little more interest in the reader.

With all our boxes being ticked we can now move on to the next part of the essay.

After you finish your introduction, you can turn your attention towards the main topic paragraphs. These are called ‘the body’ of you essay. I always compare it to a hamburger where the introduction and the conclusion are the bread bun while the patty, lettuce, tomatoes and sauce are the body. You want to make your essay tasty so make sure that the body is just as great as your intro.

Your topic paragraphs should be longer than the introduction and conclusion, but at the same time balanced and about the same length between the two of them. Remember, however, to stay within the limit of 220-260 words total.

A couple of characteristics that are useful and important for every topic paragraph are the following:

• Start with a topic sentence that makes it clear what the paragraph is about.
• Always support your arguments with reasons and/or examples .
• Avoid being too personal unless you give your own opinion at the end of the paragraph.

This is not rocket science, but let me show you what I mean in a couple of examples.

It is widely known that sports centres provide many different benefits to the local community. Someone on the panel mentioned that, from a public-health standpoint, it is crucial to offer opportunities to exercise in order to keep everyone healthy physically as well as mentally due to the social character of sports. In addition to that, exercise comes in many different shapes and forms, from team sports to individual activities like swimming, so there is something for everyone to enjoy in a dedicated group of people. While green spaces in a town or city have their own benefits, it can be difficult to maintain such large areas in order to keep parks pleasant and inviting to everyone. Nevertheless, considered by many as the green lung of a city their use as a refuge from hectic city life cannot be debated, and groups of people as well as individuals can be seen following their favourite pastime or socialising with others, which makes the discussion about allocating funds even more difficult.

At the beginning of each paragraph it immediately becomes clear what to expect as I mention sports centres and public parks (green spaces, parks). I managed to include all the points from our plan and I supported my arguments with some examples . Also, you can see that, for example, I didn’t use the word ‘I’ in these paragraphs at all even though my opinion on each point is pretty clear. Instead, I used more general statements (“It is widely known that…”, “considered by many as…”, “…can be seen”) which help convey your opinion without simply stating it .

Last but not least, both parts are balanced in terms of their length, but I don’t want you to think that they have to be perfectly equal. If there is good reason to give one part a little bit more attention over the other, that’s fine. For example, you can say in your essay that one of the ideas is more complex than the other, which tells the examiner that you actually thought about this instead of just having messed up your text. Be clear about it and think it through before you even start writing.

Finally, the conclusion of your essay is there to summarise and to give your opinion on the topic as well as to answer the question in the task (Which facilities should receive money from local authorities?). Your opinion can be nuanced and doesn’t have to be simply black or white as long as you can justify what you say.

In our example, a conclusion might look something like this:

Taking into account all the positions from above I come to the conclusion that funding should be allocated to both facilities as they provide essential resources to the local community. However, due to their more social character and possibly greater public health benefits I would give more funds to sports centres.

There you have it. The conclusion summarises the findings from the body of the essay and I answered the question giving my opinion. That’s really all you have to do in order to finish off your text well.

Time to start practising

With all the information provided in this article I hope you feel ready to start your journey to become an excellent essay writer. As you can see, the structure is clear and the tasks are always similar. Practise regularly in order to improve until essay writing becomes second nature for you.

Lots of love,

Teacher Phill 🙂

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• How to write a C1 Advanced Essay

• Posted on 26/02/2020
• Categories: Blog
• Tags: C1 Advanced , Cambridge Exams , Writing

The Cambridge C1 Advanced is an excellent qualification to aim for if you’re thinking of studying or working abroad. It’s recognised by universities and governments all over the world and also helps you prove your language skills to future employers.

One of the most demanding parts of the exam is Part 1 of the Writing paper, which includes writing an essay. For many of you, this won’t come naturally… especially in another language.

So, to give you the best chance at success, we’ve created this in-depth guide full of Cambridge C1 Advanced Writing tips and useful language to get you producing excellent essays in no time.

So, pick up your pen, and let’s get started!

If you’d like to get more help with the C1 Advanced, consider our exam preparation class!

C1 Advanced Writing Requirements

The C1 Advanced Writing exam has two writing parts, which you must complete in 90 minutes. Both parts have a word limit of between 220-260 words. We recommend getting lots of writing practice under these conditions!

Part 1 is always a discursive essay . It requires you to think about arguments for and against a topic.

Part 2 is a situationally based writing task. This could be a letter , an email , a report , a proposal or a review and you have three options to choose from.

Today, we’ll be looking at how to do your best in part 1.

Before you begin

When you turn over the paper and begin Writing Part 1, take some time to read the task instructions. Identify all parts of the question, underlining which parts are obligatory and noting which parts are optional.

Let’s take a look at an example question!

Remember, you don’t have to use the opinions expressed in the box, but they may help you to get the ball rolling . Also, you only have to talk about two of the options given, not all three.

Make a plan

Take ten minutes to lay out your ideas. Make a pros and cons list for each of the three options and then decide which two you feel most confident with. Here’s some things you might come up with, can you think of any more?

Structure your essay

The essence of a good essay is a clear structure.

Introduction

Here you want to introduce the topic in your own words. Your first line should also grab the reader’s attention, then you should paraphrase the question. Finally, try using a statistic or a rhetorical question. This will make them want to read on, right?

Paragraph 1

Discuss the first option you’ve chosen. Include a good topic sentence and remember to give reasons for your answer. Describe some of the advantages, and even some of the disadvantages too. This will give a well-balanced argument.

Paragraph 2

Here’s where you introduce the second option. Again, try to present both sides of the argument and give reasons for your ideas. Gradually work towards the conclusion.

State your final opinion. This should be a summary of the rest of the essay and point clearly to which option you think is the most important. Do not introduce any new arguments at this stage. The conclusion is where you tie-up any loose ends .

This is an advanced piece of writing, so make sure your choice of language reflects it. You will get marked for accuracy, however, occasional errors can still be present as long as they do not impede understanding. So don’t play it too safe . This is your opportunity to show what you can do, so take some risks and have fun with it!

In the writing paper you should use a range of vocabulary, including less common lexis. Brainstorm some vocabulary related to the topic. Take your time to think of nouns and compound nouns that you know at C1 level. Really let your vocabulary sparkle .

No one likes a broken record . Find synonyms for simple words. You want to use a variety of language, and try not to repeat yourself too much. Check out these different ways of saying the same thing:

advantage = benefit, positive, upside

disadvantage = downside, drawback

effect = influence, impact, result, outcome

problem = issue, challenge, difficulty, obstacle, setback, complication

important = valuable, essential, beneficial

expensive = costly, dear, high-priced, extortionate

cheap = inexpensive, affordable, economical

big = great, large, sizeable, considerable, wide, vast

small = slight, tiny, little

Quick tip: Visit Thesaurus.com to study more synonyms!

Experiment with different grammatical forms. At this level you’re expected to have a good grasp on the grammar. You should use a range of simple and complex grammatical forms with control and flexibility. So challenge yourself with some of these…

• Participle clauses
• Conditionals
• Modal verbs
• Passive with reporting verbs
• Cleft sentences
• Comparatives
• Relative clauses

Useful expressions

To make your essay flow it’s best to use some key phrases. These will link all your ideas together, and help it sound semi-formal. Take a look at the expressions below. Why not use some in your next essay?

Introduction:

It is often said that…

Many people feel that…

We live in an age when..

More and more…

Introducing & Addition:

Firstly, secondly, thirdly…

On the one hand…

In addition…

What is more…

For example…

For instance…

As a case in point…

Contrasting:

In contrast…

On the other hand…

Alternatively…

However…

Conclusion:

All things considered…

As far as I’m concerned…

In light of the above…

What the examiners are looking for

When writing your essay, bear in mind what you’ll be marked on:

Have you answered all parts of the question? Is everything relevant to the question?

Communicative Achievement

Is the style and tone appropriate? Remember it should be semi-formal and neutral.

Organisation

Does it follow a logical order? Have you used paragraphs and linking devices?

Are you using a variety of grammar and vocabulary? Is it accurate?

Now your masterpiece has come together. Remember to take time to check your work. Here’s the official Writing Checklist from Cambridge Assessment English . And our list of the most common mistakes:

• subject + verb agreement
• singulars / plurals
• question formation
• variety of tenses
• dependent prepositions

Some final tips

Avoid contractions (I’m, they’re, we’re) as this is a formal writing.

Don’t use first person pronouns (I, my, our, us).

Practise under timed conditions.

Use model answers to practise fixed expressions.

——

Looking for more help with your Cambridge C1 Advanced exam? Here are our other guides from our blog:

C1 Advanced Reading and Use of English – Part 1 , Part 2 , Part 3

And if you are not sure if you’re ready for the C1 Advanced, check out our article Am I ready for the C1 Advanced exam? to find out!

Glossary for Language Learners

Find the following words in the article and then write down any new ones you didn’t know.

Get the ball rolling (exp) : to start something.

Lay out (v): to explain something in detail.

Paraphrase (v): to say the same thing in a different way.

Tie-up any loose ends (exp): to resolve issues.

Play it safe (exp): to act cautiously.

A broken record (exp): when someone repeats themself.

Sparkle (v) : to shine.

Good grasp (exp): a good knowledge.

Bear in mind (exp) : to consider.

Masterpiece (n): an incredible work of art.

exp = expression

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Your Guide To Moving To The USA

• Posted on 04/03/2020

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CAE Writing

Writing will be the second part of your Certificate in Advanced English exam. CAE Writing is 90 minutes long and it consists of two separate tasks:

In CAE Writing Part 1 you have to read three points on a topic and then write an essay based on two of them. In your answer you have to point out which of the two points are more important. Your essay has to be 220-260 words long.

For CAE Writing Part 2 you get three different assignments to choose from. There are four possible types of assignments: a proposal, a review, a report and a letter. Again, it must be 220-260 words long.

CAE Writing Assessment Criteria Writing Part 1 Writing Part 2 — Review — Report — Letter — Proposal

You might want to read advice on  basics of essay composition before moving to the exam tasks.

CAE Writing Assessment Criteria

Your Writing score depends on four different aspects:

• Content.  How well you is your writing at achieving the task. Have you developed all the points required by the task?
• Communicative Achievement.  How appropriate is your writing in terms of style. Have you used the right register ( formal or informal )? Does your writing fill the style requirements of your text type (report, review, essay, letter)? Do you understand the purpose of the text you’re writing?
• Organisation. How logically you structure your text (introduction, body paragraphs, conclusion). How well you connect your ideas in the text ( cohesion ).
• Language. Your grammar and vocabulary. How diverse is your choice of grammar structure?  Is the vocabulary you use fairly varied? Do you make any mistakes in both and how much do they affect understanding the idea you convey?

Writing Part 1

We will use an example task as an illustration:

You have watched a TV programme about scholarship and who should get in in your country. You have made the following notes:

Who should receive scholarship?

• People with exceptional academic performance
• Foreign exchange students
• Members of low-income families

Some of the opinions expressed in the programme:

“Students have to earn their right for free education.” “Children of parents with low income are usually more diligent learners.” “Students from abroad should feel welcomed in our country.”

You should write an essay for your tutor discussing two groups of people that should get scholarship. You are free to use any of the opinions from the programme if you like, but you should use your own words whenever possible.

Your introductory paragraph should state the topic of your essay and its purpose. It is recommended to make it clear which two points (out of three) you will be writing about. Alternatively you may choose to state that in the first sentence of each body paragraph. It is possible to use both approaches together — then you will have to make sure to paraphrase these statements. Avoid making your introduction too long — 3-5 sentences is an optimal length for your opening paragraph.

Body paragraphs are the tools which you use to deliver the key message of your essay. As you will be writing about two different points it is natural to dedicate one paragraph to each point. You are advised to keep body paragraphs approximately the same size — both points should be developed equally well. Some of the tasks require you to choose which of the two aspects is more important, and to state the reason for it being more important. In that case it is acceptable to make one of the paragraphs slightly bigger. This can be done both in the body paragraph and conclusion.

Your conclusion is commonly the shortest of all paragraphs. Most students tend to write a slightly paraphrased version of ideas already mentioned in introduction or body paragraphs. This is a valid technique and there is nothing wrong about it. It is especially useful when you have exhausted the topic and therefore you have nothing else to contribute to the text. Another possible approach is to introduce extra ideas as shown in the example essay below.

CAE Writing Part 1 Sample Essay

Tuition fees have never been low — on the contrary, only the chosen few can comfortably afford paying their studying costs. To participate in a scholarship programme has always been every student’s aspiration. Not only does the scholarship spare serious expenses, it also looks good on one’s CV. In the paragraphs below I will explain my opinion on why members of poor families and students with outstanding marks should be getting preferences for scholarship programme participation. Young people from families with insufficient means are generally unable to to pay for their education. Conversely, children of financially-sound households are more likely to get into scholarship, as they usually have much better secondary education — not to mention their parents being well able to cover tuition fees. These facts eventually lead to further widening of the wealth gap between the rich and the poor, entailing a number of social and economic issues. Such opportunity inequality could be mitigated by lowering the scholarship requirements for the less wealthy. Prospective students with impressive academic records should not be discouraged from continuing their education by charging for it. Considering their mental aptitude and zeal, these young people are very likely to become highly-qualified professionals, potentially making an appreciable contribution to society. Therefore they ought to be eligible for scholarship participation even if they do not meet other, non-academic requirements. Provision of scholarship grants is not an easy task. The decision-making system should be fair and impartial, ensuring that only the most worthy and needy have their academic expenses taken care of by the government. It is only then we can ensure that the programme serves its initial purpose. (272 words)

Writing Part 2

The second part of CAE Writing gives you a choice of three different tasks to choose from. It is recommended to practice at least two out of four possible tasks (Review, Report, Letter and Proposal).

Your paper should be between 220-260 words long. Going over the limit is not penalized, but potentially leads to more mistakes. However if your text is under 220 you will have points deducted from your overall score.

CAE Review is about providing details on the task subject, giving your opinion and recommending (or not recommending) to see/watch/read it. Your review can be on a variety of things such as books, movies, plays, events and much more.

Your writing can be either formal or informal . It is clear from the task which register you are supposed to use. Whichever you use, you should be consistent and stick to one register throughout the whole essay.

Suggested CAE Review Structure

Use the introductory paragraph to name what you are going to be reviewing, state its genre (i.e. a science fiction novel, a horror movie, a vaudeville performance and so on). It is possible to write about author’s other notable works if there are any. To make your introduction more engaging, you may briefly state your general impression on it. Make your introduction at least three sentences long.

Your first body paragraph should give a short summary of the reviewed material. Give a brief overview — plot, setting, actors, general idea. Avoid giving your opinion in this paragraph — you will do this in the following passages.

Second and third body paragraphs can be used to describe good and bad points respectively. Unlike CAE Writing Part 1 your paragraphs don’t have to be of same length — if you liked the described thing then your paragraph with good points will be naturally bigger than the other one. In the negative points paragraph you can name things that could be changed to improve the quality of the product.

Conclusion will contain your general impression and your verdict. Use this paragraph to sum up the good and bad points to make an objective assessment of the reviewed material. You may then recommend or dissuade your readers from seeing/attending it.

An example CAE Review task to illustrate these points:

CAE Writing Part 2 Review Sample

The title I am going to review is a rare example when the movie manages to trump the book it is based on. Today I am reviewing Fight Club by an infamous American novelist Charles Palahniuk — his most widely-known, universally acclaimed work. It is a daunting task to find a person unfamiliar with the movie. The plot engages you from the very start — a young professional finds his apartment destroyed by an explosion of unknown origin. Agitated, he phones his newfound acquaintance Tyler whom he had met on the plane. They see each other at a bar and the story becomes increasingly complex, yet pleasantly effortless to follow. Through its narrative a number of problems are tackled – self-identity, peer pressure, middle-life crises and some other. The characters are likeable and easy to relate to. Both acting and directing are superb. But what makes it better than the book? The only objective fault I could find in the book was the order of events. It goes back and forth, which at times proves to be confusing. The movie manages the sequencing much better. Other than that the book is brilliant — vigorous prose that manages to evoke strong images. The movie however is so good that the book tends to slightly fade in all its glory. People tend to read the book after seeing the adaptation, thus coming with high expectations that can be hard to meet. To sum this up, I would recommend reading the book nonetheless. It may seem inferior in some respects, but it does help to understand the main theme of “Fight Club” better. (266 words)

CAE Review tips

• The task clearly stated that you will be writing to your tutor, which implies use of formal register.
• As you write review you will inevitably use words meaning “good, bad, very” and so forth. It is important to know as many synonyms to very and other general words .
• To get more idea of what a review should look like check some user reviews: For movies go to www.imdb.com and click on any movie. Then scroll down to see the user reviews. Click to see the full list of reviews like this one. Please note that these reviews do not follow the required CAE Review format — they are to give you some ideas and vocabulary examples. For book reviews try  www.goodreads.com . Just like the previous site you have to choose a book and read other people’s thoughts on it. The top-rated  reviews are at the top of the main page.

CAE Report task is giving your opinion on a subject or assessment of a situation. The difference between CAE Review and Report tasks is that your report should be as objective as possible. Another important difference is that CAE Report should have clear headings for each paragraph.

CAE Report has to be written in formal English. Check this page on formal vocabulary to avoid making any mistakes or inconsistencies.

Suggested CAE Report structure

In your introductory paragraph you state the subject your report will be about. It is usually done by paraphrasing the information you are given in the task (see example report below). You may also state the main points of your report to make it easier for your reader to navigate through it.

As it was mentioned before, each of your paragraphs should have a separate heading. For body paragraphs each heading will be an aspect of the thing your report is about. For example, if your report is on a local school, your headings could be:

• Staff . This paragraph will be about the school’s teachers and other personnel
• Classrooms . Description of school premises and facilities
• Curriculum . How the teaching process is organised.

The names of your headings don’t have to be that straightforward — you can show some creativity there. Make sure that the meaning of your headings is clear — your reader should understand the content of the paragraph from the heading.

Your conclusion sums up the points mentioned above and provides a general assessment. You can voice your recommendations and suggestions if the task says you to do so.

To help you structure your report you can write out possible headings. A properly structured text is much easier to write and more pleasant to follow. Use your draft paper to write up an outline plan, but do not spend too much time on it — 2-4 minutes are usually enough to come up with a solid heading structure.

CAE Writing Part 2 Report Sample

You have completed your internship at a big company. As a part of your job placement programme you should write a report to your employment counsellor. In your report you should describe the company you worked at, the problems you encountered and propose any additional training you feel is necessary.

Introduction For the past three months I had been working for Escom Limited, the biggest law firm in our town. I have participated in real working environment, gained new skills and made acquaintances with people from the industry. In this report I will sum up my experience in this company. Escom Structure The company has a well-defined tier system. Being an intern I started at the first tier with everybody except other interns being my superiors. To get used to this strict hierarchy proved to be a serious challenge but eventually I adapted to it. Such system has its merits — as you move up the ranks you get access to more documents, legal tools and get to interact with senior staff. Even though the system has its downsides it is nevertheless very effective and efficient. The Challenges As an intern I had to perform a wide array of tasks. I had to interact with the company’s clients, fill in various forms, go through tomes of legal data and sort the mail. Unfortunately some of them had no relation to my field of study whatsoever — oftentimes I would get asked to bring in some take-away food or fix a malfunctioning computer. Some of the tasks proved to be too daunting for me, but overall I think I did just fine. Improving Myself Having completed my internship I could finally see my professional shortcomings. There are many things to improve on — first and foremost I have to work on my social skills. I found it difficult to talk to clients that I see for the first time and it is a must to make them feel comfortable. I should also study up on the recent law amendments — at times I found myself unaware of the latest developments in legal proceedings. Conclusion I have thoroughly enjoyed my brief stay with the company. Even though the system has its downsides it is nevertheless very effective and efficient. (274 words)

CAE Letter/E-mail

This type of task presents a certain situation that you have to write a reply to. CAE Letter is one of the more diverse type of tasks, as it can vary greatly in content of the letter as well as the required style and register. For example, a letter to your friend is going to be rather informal and its content will be narrative. Conversely, a letter to a manager of a restaurant should stay stylistically formal as well as factual.

Narrative or factual?

The terms “narrative” and “factual” can be a bit confusing – after all, when we talk or write about something, we tell a story (we narrate) and we include facts. That is true indeed, and both styles include elements of one another. In fact, they overlap considerably. However, there is a difference.

Narrative style (Informal letters/e-mails)

Narrative style focuses on the subjective aspect of your writing. It is about making your writing piece more emotionally engaging. It is more appropriate when you want to make the reader interested in what you are writing.

You can use a number of devices to engage your reader. The two most used ones in informal types of CAE Writing are exclamation and question marks. The former makes your message stronger and more emphatic. The latter can be used for a rhetoric question (one that requires no answer) or to make the reader more included in the narrative:

Hey, how have you been? I heard that your last music album was an immediate success. Really great to hear that!

12 thoughts on “CAE Writing”

I appeared on CAE exam last month in part 2 of writing I forget to mention part number in the answer box and I did e-mail part one with full format etc .it will create any problem??

Hello Waqas! I believe you shouldn’t feel too worried about it, unless it is not clear from the context of your answer!

There is clearly a mistake on the report section. Instead of the example of the report there are two reviews. Would it be possible to fix it? Thank you very much!

Thanks you, fixed that. We seem to have some text missing here, we will have to look into this at some point 🙂

Hello, in the writing part of the exam, I did not finish my review (I only managed to write an introduction and one paragraph, but my essay was complete). Although, I am confident about other parts of the CAE exam. How does this issue affect my overall score. Does it prevent me from getting the certificate?

Hello, Jessica. You get a choice of 3 different types of writing in Part 2, you can just choose something else. In fact, you might not get a review in the three offered tasks at all. Usually students struggle with reviews as it requires a more specific set of vocabulary, so many choose to skip it and not spend their time on it.

Hello I have realized that both my essay and my letter consist of approximately 310 words each. Could it affect my score drastically? Or is it appropriate to put down more than 260 words (310 in my case) if I would like to cover all the points of the task?

Hello, Julia! As per Cambridge CAE Handbook: “Guidelines on length are provided for each task; responses which are too short may not have an adequate range of language and may not provide all the information that is required, while responses which are too long may contain irrelevant content and have a negative effect on the reader. These may affect candidates’ marks on the relevant subscales.”

In other words, the examiners might see excessive length as poor ability to organise your writing. I would recommend against going over 280 words. Your ability to write concisely and convey a message through fewer words is a skill they expect you to have at CEFR C1 level. I hope this answers your question 🙂

Hello I would like to ask you if you think writing an email to a club organiser at your college is supposed to be an informal or a formal email? You know the whole name of the organiser and the note said something like: “You can choose the next 2 movies that we will watch next Tuesday. Tell us your ideas!” I wrote an informal letter but I’m not sure if it’s right. Thank you for any answers!

Hey Barbora! Generally, exclamation marks like in “Tell us your ideas!” indicate that it would be informal. Moreover, the general context of the text hint at a more relaxed style, so sticking to informal register is the way to go. Therefore, you have made the right call!

Hello. Unfortunately, I have exceeded the word limit of the writing (a lot). I am worried that they will deduct points. Do you perhaps know how many points or what impact it has? please be detailed. Thank you very much.

Hello Hosi, I am sorry I missed your message at first. Exceeding your word limit considerably can be punished both directly and indirectly. The former way is to see it as inability to express your ideas in a structured and compact way. Indirectly you might get a penalty for all the possible mistakes that come with those extra sentences. It is a part of the four assessment aspects, so at best it accounts for 1/8th of your mark. So unless your general planning and structuring was absolutely terrible (I hope it’s not!) you should not be too worried about this.

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Free Practice Tests for learners of English

Cambridge english advanced: cae writing part 1.

Write an essay discussing TWO of the subjects mentioned above. You should explain why you think these subjects should continue to be taught at secondary schools, giving reasons to support your answer.

You may, if you wish, make use of the opinions expressed by other readers, but you should use your own words as far as possible.

CAE Writing tests

• Writing part 1 (essay)
• Writing part 2 (email)
• Writing part 2 (brochure)
• Writing part 2 (letter of application)
• Writing part 2 (review)
• Writing part 2 (letter to a newspaper)

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Cambridge English Advanced: Writing Part 1 – Essay

By Russell Whitehead and Jo Kent

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This lesson aims to help students prepare for the essay section of the Advanced Writing paper.

Cambridge English Advanced: Writing Part 1 – Essay: Lesson plan

• British English
• Cambridge: C1 Advanced (CAE)
• Lesson Plan / Teacher's Notes
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• Up to 90 mins
• Upper-Intermediate

Cambridge English Advanced: Reading and Use of English Part 1

Cambridge english advanced: reading and use of english part 2, cambridge english advanced: reading and use of english part 3, cambridge english advanced: writing part 2 – report, cambridge english advanced: speaking part 1 – social interaction, cambridge english: advanced practice tests, related articles.

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This lesson aims to help students prepare for part 3 of the Advanced Reading and Use of English paper.

This lesson aims to help students prepare for part 2 of the Advanced Reading and Use of English paper.

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CAE Essay Writing Tips: Showcase Your Language Skills in 90 Minutes

30 Jul 2022

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Best Essay Writing Tips Skills 

CAE (Cambridge English: Advanced and the Certificate in Advanced English) or C1 Advanced is an English language examination designed by Cambridge Assessment English for learners preparing for university or professional life. More than 8,000 universities around the world accept C1 Advanced as proof of high-level achievement in the learning English. CAE is made up of four exam papers- Reading and Use of Language, Writing, Listening, and Speaking. Out of all of these, the writing part is the trickiest of all - it’s where most of the students fail.

So, for all the CAE aspirants, Instant Assignment Help, the best cheap essay writing services  in the UK has brought here a few tips for writing CAE essay with perfection. But before we begin, let’s have a brief introduction on what CAE essay is.

CAE Essay Writing: A Brief Introduction

CAE essay writing paper has two parts- the first one involves essay writing in response to a given text which can be an article, leaflet, notice or a formal/informal letter. In the second part, the candidate has to choose three writing tasks- writing a letter, proposal, report or review. Both the texts should be about 220-260 words longs and have to be completed within 90 minutes.

Your CAE writing paper is assessed on the basis of four elements:

• Content: Did you completed the task you were asked to do?
• Communicative Achievement: Did you use a formal tone and writing style?
• Organization : Did you maintain a proper flow of information between the paragraphs?
• Language : Did you use the right grammar? Did you show off your vocabulary or just use First Certificate words?

So if its your next question, “How can I do my essay to get perfect scores?” take a read through the tips to writing a CAE essay and accomplish your dream of achieving proficiency in the English language

Tips for Writing an Impressive Essay for CAE (With Example)

Read the task carefully.

The first thing that you have to do is read the text given to you. You need to analyze it carefully so that you understand what is required to do.

Let’s take an example:

Here, you need to pay attention to the details given in the text so that you can write an impressive essay. You should also go through the opinions given here as they will help you come up with your point of view and arguments.

Make a Fool-Proof Plan

After you are done analyzing the text, it’s time to make a plan. Since you have got just 90 minutes to work on both the writing parts, you should plan your time well so that you can produce an impeccable piece of writing. Think about how many paragraphs you want in your essay, what kind of tone you want to use, and what special elements you want to include. Take sufficient time to plan the essay so that you can accomplish it within the given time.

Come Up with Ideas

Once you are ready with a plan, start brainstorming to generate ideas. Take the opinions presented in the text in consideration and develop more ideas on any two of them you strongly feel about. In the example above, if you feel that the governments should levy the tax on private car owners to reduce the traffic in the city centre, then present your opinion on this. You also need to give reasons and evidence (if you have any) to support your views. Take all types of assignment writing help from instantassignmenthelp.com.

Start Writing

It’s finally time to put down the opinion on the paper. But before that, you need to create an outline. Think of all the paragraphs that you want to include in the essay. A general structure of the CAE essay is given below:

#Paragraph 1: [INTRODUCTION] - In the introductory paragraph, first give a general outline of the issue and then state your topic clearly to make it concrete. Make sure that you don’t express your opinion in the introduction. It can draw the readers towards the conclusion, and if that happens, they no longer be interested in reading your essay.

Here’s an introduction for the text given in the example:

#Paragraph 2 : In this paragraph, you have to present your argument. Present one of the main ideas in this paragraph that is stated in the topic sentence. You must include relevant examples, rhetorical questions or controversial or surprising statements in order to support the main idea. However, don’t go overboard with the details as they may overshadow your opinion.

Here’s how you can develop the first paragraph for the given text:

#Paragraph 3 : Discuss the second main point given in the topic sentence as you have done in the above paragraph. Apart from including the examples and other details, you can point out the advantages and disadvantages. In case you include a drawback, make sure to give a proper solution to it.

Here’s how you can develop the second paragraph for the given text:

#Paragraph 4: [CONCLUSION] - After presenting all the arguments, it’s now to wind them up and reach to a conclusion. On the basis of what you have written above, point out clearly which of the two discussed main points is more important. Do not open a new argument in the conclusion. However, you can give your readers ‘food for thought.’

Here’s a conclusion for the text given in the example:

Your task doesn’t finish here. After you are done writing the essay, it’s crucial to go through it again and check if there’s any mistake. Proofread your CAE essay meticulously, and pay attention to mistakes in grammar, spellings, sentence structure, punctuation, etc. Make sure your essay is flawless or you will never be able to get through the exam. Hope these tips would prove helpful to you. You can find tips for writing a narrative essay , persuasive essay, argumentative essay, and more in our blog section.

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Essay – examples & model answers | C2 Proficient (CPE)

CPE Model Essay: Advertising

Example exam task:.

Write an essay summarising and evaluating the four key points from both texts . Use your own words throughout as far as possible, and include your own ideas in your answers.

Model Answer (Grade: 4-5)

Example answer:.

The two texts contrast the pros and cons of outdoor advertising, in particular in its latest digital form. Text 1 claims that outdoor advertising, like any advertising, is designed to appeal to potential customers, even creating in them a need for which it promises immediate satisfaction. In this respect, outdoor advertising is the most effective type and digitalisation considerably broadens the ways in which advertising professionals can reach and hence manipulate customers.

While outdoor advertising undoubtedly has an alluring power for customers, I seriously doubt its importance and overall impact. At least from the point of view of a European citizen, everyday exposure to outdoor advertising, digital or not, appears to be minimal. And the cheapness of digital media has to be offset against the continuous need for power to run these media, a fact that renders the term ‘cheap’ short-sighted and unconvincing.

Text 2 argues that traditional, paper–based outdoor advertising was unobtrusive and overall, unimportant. Digital advertising, however, is seen as intrusive, its attractiveness simply boiling down to it being a novelty. People sharing these opinions regard advertising practices, particularly those focusing on the young and those in need of help, as deplorable, especially when it damages the environment at the same time.

I agree with the statements in text 2 as far as the environmental damage and advertising practices, in general, are concerned. However, those practices are not solely dependent on the medium they use. Paper–based outdoor advertising can be just as unwanted and creepingly commercialising as its digital counterpart. The fundamental question is: ‘Do we want to be seduced and manipulated in such a way at all? If people answer ‘yes’, I assume that digital outdoor advertising is just another step that will be followed by yet more intrusive ones

FCE, CAE, CPE

Practice, write & improve, cpe model essays: traffic & motoring.

Essay on Motoring and Traffic Congestion

The need of motor vehicles in the modern world is undeniable. But although the benefits of owning a four-wheeled transportation device are numerous, cars can also generate a lot of problems.

On the one hand automobiles are absolutely necessary for some people. For instance, in theUSA, everybody needs a car to go to school or to go to work. With public transport being slow or simply non-existent, having a car gives people a transport solution. Furthermore,travelling by car also helps people avoid stressful situations. Owning a car means no more standing in crowded buses or fighting with people in the subway.

On the other hand, all those cars in the streets mean facing traffic jams and of course pollution. They create congestion and are one of the principal sources of contamination in the cities. As a respond to this situation, governments are implementing a series of strategies to motivate people not to use their cars so often.

Some of these government strategies involve car sharing and using bikes, while others fine drivers who use their vehicles on certain days or at certain times; but this strategy does notseem to be so efficient. Probably because doing something to avoid a fine, does not involve really understanding the nature of the problem.

All in all, I am of the opinion that cars are indispensable in the current lifestyles and living standards. We cannot disregard the impact they had on facilitating our existence,nevertheless, it is irrefutable that their numbers have reached levels where we must not hesitate to act in downsizing them.

The over-arching theme of these two texts is the use of cars in our society.

The first one adopts a more practical viewpoint on this subject , discussing different alternatives to reduce a very common problem that many big cities have to deal with nowadays, namely traffic congestions. This text makes the point that it is important to find ways to tackle this increasing problem; whether it is through raising people’s s consciousness,setting speed limits, or even using congestion charges. The main point made is that it is important that citizen not use their cars so frequently.

In my opinion, it is very important to try to reduce traffic congestions. However, the first text fails to take into consideration reducing the price of public transport. This would enable people to travel with ease and may encourage them to stop using their vehicles as much as they do now.

The second text is possibly more descriptive. It discusses how people use their own car with complete disregard for the drawbacks that this may bring. People accept drawbacks, such as ever-increasing petrol prices, expensive insurances, traffic jams, etc. However, these negative aspects do not discourage them from getting behind the wheel. The benefits of this far outweigh the drawbacks.

Expensive though it may be, using their own car gives people the freedom and independence that they would not be able to have otherwise. In addition, for some people their car is not just a means of transport, it is also, somehow, an extension of their personality.I am of the opinion that because of our fast pace of life, we have become very dependent on our cars to take us everywhere. This is simply where evolution is taking us.

CPE Example/Model Essays: Teenagers

Example answer (grade: 3).

The impact of the media on teenagers

Nowadays it has become almost impossible to ignore the media due to the fact that most of us spend some daily time either watching television, listening to the radio or surfing the internet. Specially teenagers who spend a significant part of the day exposed to all types of advertisement. Advertisers consider that teenagers are the perfect target, while some people believe that teenagers have changed marketing worldwide. Who manipulates who? That is the dilemma.

On one hand, the marketing and advertisement industry look upon the young generations as the easiest people to influence. Making them believe that certain items are the key to popularity is the strategy they have developed to sell among that generation.

On the other hand, some people believe that advertising responds to young peoples’ desires and not the other way around. It is the energy of teenagers that has had a huge impact on this industry, making it more innovative and creative. The power of young people have push advertising boundaries to become almost an art form more sophisticated and attractive than ever before.

All in all, there has been a revolution in the adversiment industry globally. While some people may be influenced by it, some others may define trends. Ten years ago people were not so worried about material offered by the media. Globalization has changed everything, advertising has become part of our daily lives and it is unavoidable. The temptation surround us, some of us fall for it.

Examiners comments & grade:

Model answer (grade: 3-4).

I have often asked myself whether it is different being a teenager nowadays than when I was that age. Are the problems still the same?

The years between 10 and 20 are certainly a difficult time in everybody’s life because one’s personality is developing and this makes a teenager generally more vulnerable than an adult. I am convinced that when it comes to media it is demanding to deal with for young people today. Advertisements are very prominent in our modern world and teenagers normally spend a lot of hours watching television or surfing the internet, which makes them potential customers. Furthermore, many teenagers have more money to spend than maybe twenty years ago and you often hear about families taking loans for expenses like technical equipment or mobile phone bills for their children. Certainly in the current economic climate many parents face tough decisions especially when it comes to what they can afford for their offspring. The most important point is that teenagers are often an easy target for companies advertising their latest gadgets. Many teenagers will buy it if they just manage to convince them that their product is an absolute ‘must-have’, because the pressure of belonging to a certain group, feeling accepted and not being an outsider is a big issue for a young person.

On the other hand, teenagers are trend setters. They have to create new ideas to be unique or just different from their own parents and this often sets the trend for a whole generation. Being special and fashionable is so important and therefore one needs to spend money on clothes, computers, games or phones to be part of your teenage generation and to find common grounds to make friends and have a fulfilling social life. Personally, I find it quite shocking when reading about the psychological strategies advertising companies use to gain influence on young people to sell a product. They are also often exploiting the creative energy of teenagers and it is almost impossible to escape the world of advertisement.

To conclude, I believe it is not feasible to prohibit adverts for teenagers. Furthermore, parents cannot avoid their children coming into contact with it, but it needs sensible adults helping and supporting teenagers in developing their own personality and sense of taste without the powerful influence of adverts.

Model Answer (Grade: 5)

These texts both deal with the relationship between teenagers and advertising.

The first one focuses on how advertisers exploit young people, taking advantage both of teenage preoccupation with the media and of their susceptibility to peer pressure combined with a wish to appear ‘cool’. The second text is less critical of the relationship between marketing and young people. It presents the young as having a very positive influence on the quality of modern adverts, helping to make them much wittier and more original than ever before. This text maintains that teenagers’ impact on advertising derives partly from their predilection for what is intriguingly new but also, more particularly, from their own creative energy. This energy has been channeled into advertising, raising it arguably to the level of an art form.

While I appreciate the arguments put forward in both texts, I tend to feel more in sympathy with the approach of the first one. I suspect that advertisers are quite cold-heartedly prepared to exploit the youth market, keen to capture the attention – and the cash – of the new generation and well aware of how young people are perhaps more easily influenced than their more cynical elders.

I would accept that advertising can be very creative and I personally often find an advert in a magazine or a TV commercial attractive to look at or enjoyably humorous. It does not seem unreasonable to suggest that many people with artistic talents are attracted into the advertising profession. However, I do not see that as having any direct connection with teenagers. Those who create the most original adverts are certainly likely to be young but in their twenties or early thirties rather than their teens. Moreover the appeal of the more sophisticated advert is surely just as powerful for the older generation as for teenagers.

Concern is often expressed about the negative effects that television can have on young people. As far as I am concerned, the most serious damage that occurs is a result of the constant commercial pressures that vulnerable youngsters are exposed to.

Advertisements every ten minutes or so as children and teenagers watch their favourite programmes are likely to lead them to believe that possessing the latest gadget or item of clothing will bring them happiness and respect from others. To my mind, the result of this can only be a generation whose values are too materialistic for their own ultimate contentment.

This is not to say that all advertisements are lacking in quality. It is not unreasonable, in fact, to consider them as an art form as many are imaginative and make original use of language, music and camerawork. They are indeed often produced by talented young people who find them an appropriate focus for their own creativity.

In my opinion, the answer lies in education. Advertisements are not harmful per se; it is just that we all need to know how to use them. We should take the information that we need from them but we should be aware of the techniques that their makers use with the hope of influencing us to buy things we do not really have any need of. Young people should be taught not only to appreciate the artistic qualities of adverts but also to recognize the tricks that are being employed. Greater sophistication should lead to less vulnerability.

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