Another tip I give my students (at all levels) is that you don't have to tell the truth! This means that when it comes to the discussion or the photo speculation, you have scope to say pretty much anything you like!...I was doing a run through with a student at B1 level, and when I asked her where she was from she replied "I'm from Valencia, it's a city in the middle of Spain"...Afterwards I told her that she failed her Geography exam but passed her English!
Thank you for your video, it was really helpful. I actually made notes when I watched it. I passed with a grade A, but my lowest result was actually in the Speaking part. I've made three major mistakes, I think. I was too worried about the young girl that was my speaking partner. I tried to cheer her up before the exam and completely forgot to focus on myself and what I had to do. So don't lose your concentration. In part two I blanked out for a second before I started speaking because (I don't know why) I decided to say what pictures I would talk about and then got confused how to describe their positions because they were not placed in a row. Don't do that, just start speaking about the pictures. And the last mistake was probably my use of English. I should've used more advanced English. But the questions were very simple (What is your favourite city/town to travel to?) and it was surprisingly hard to talk about simple things using advanced English. I was acually pushing myself to do it. So try not just answering the question but actually adding advanced level adjectives and verbs. Push them into your speech as if it was natural to you. I did well, but I could do much, much better and felt faintly ashamed of myself afterwards. Good luck!
Hope to tell the same in a few days. Tomorrow I am having the written part (reading+use of English, writing, listening), on Friday the oral one. Fingers crossed for me!!!
I love this educational channel because the way they demonstrate the topics are really useful and amazing, they all deserve to be a teacher as they are really professional and competent
I just took my exam today and I wanted to say thank you, both of the video lessons were so helpful, keep going, your work is appreciated, we'll see about the results tho...
Thank you Jack for your videos. Is it true that in part 3 we should focus going in depth rather than getting worked-up about speeding through it so we can talk about ALL the subjects in the bubbles? Our teacher says that if we miss a subject (here: e-gaming, chess, soccer, swimming, hip-hop dancing, surfing) we would miss points! So we the whole class is speeding through it. Which is actually correct?
Thank you both! Update: I passed with "A"! :-) . What happened was: As I expected, we weren't able to talk about all the subjects, but we were fluent and with good vocabulary, so we did great. @Noelf I didn't know about the discounting of one or two points in the beginning, but I see now that yes, it is a good strategy.
I'm not a CAE examiner, but I would be amazed if they deducted marks for not talking about one of the topics. In fact what I advise students is to immediately discount one or two of the points, to allow you more time to go into detail on the remainder. That said, in discounting a point or two you are indeed mentioning them (albeit fleetingly) and you have an opportunity to use "discounting" language e.g. "I'm not sure X is really that important nowadays" or "I' don't think Y is that big an issue" (Note: Your partner may very well disagree with your dismissal of the point and a discussion on the dismissal might ensue...but this is good English and good communication practice so you'd be fine!
It's a good idea to give each subject an equal amount of time when you are moving through them to give your opinions and make a selection. Of course, if you're worked up about speeding through them, that will affect your speaking negatively. So it's a good idea to practice before the exam. Work on phrases go give your opinion, ask for theirs, and move through each subject smoothly.
A lot of really good advice! However, I would take issue with the point that your ideas are what matter. It really doesn't matter what position you take on the topic, it's the language you use and the way you communicate it that matters. In the exam you can actually say the complete opposite of what you really believe and score better.
I take your point; perhaps it could have been phrased more clearly. On the other hand I still think students do better when they go deeper into their own ideas, rather than trying to guess what the examiner wants to hear (when, as I'm sure you know, the examiner doesn't particularly care). In that sense I think we're saying the same thing, and I think it's useful to stress that point to students, i.e. that there aren't 'right' and 'wrong' opinions. I must admit that personally my experience is mostly with IELTS, but as I understand it the CAE speaking assessment criteria are somewhat similar.
@Oxford Online English My experience is likewise that students find it hard to make things up, but my problem is in the use of phrases such as “it’s about your ideas and opinions” or “try to form your own opinions.” This could be construed (as indeed I have construed it) as meaning that the substance of your argument has to be valid in real terms; so I just fear that students will think they have to be correct in what they say, and lose focus on the fact that it’s not what they say per se that matters, but rather how they say it. Many students may be afraid to use their own opinions as they could fear that the examiners will hold contrary opinions.
Thanks for the comment! You're 100% right, but, at least in my experience, it's pretty hard to actually do what you say, i.e. say the complete opposite of what you think. In the exam you already have a lot to think about: what to say, which words to use, avoiding grammar mistakes, etc. Inventing new/false opinions on top of that is challenging. It's better in most cases to use your own ideas and focus on developing them in as much depth as you can. Of course, if you are fluent and confident enough to invent opinions on the fly, then nothing's stopping you :)
Hi Bob, you can treat it like a real conversation. If there are times when you feel they are too dominant, you can use some of the phrases from this lesson along with conversation cues to let your partner know you would like to speak. If they are too shy, you can use some phrases from the lesson to encourage them to share their response in a different way. Practicing with many different types of people before the exam will also help you prepare for any situation!
I teach this. 1 mintue to speak is not enough. Natural conversation btween 2 native English speakers requires more than 1 or 2 mintues to develop. Furthermore, the listening part where one has to fill in the blanks while listening is utterly unnatural. No native speaker would do this in real life. A better way of testing listening skills is thru conversation with native speaker about real life issues that are relative to people. This way one can combine, listening and speaking. Or, we can give candidates several issues to choose from where they have to develop 3 points about the issue with supporting information.
Yeah, language exams are by definition unnatural environments. The bigger issue I have though is the equal weighting of all 4 skills. I would have an expanded Speaking section worth 50%, Writing 30%, and Reading/Listening 10% each. I take your point on the listening. Maybe they should have students listen to a conversation and then ask them to answer verbally a "What do you think happens next? or a "What would you do?" question. As for the Writing, my bugbear is with having handwritten and computer based exams in parallel. This is patently unfair to the former students as illegible handwriting often results in them getting a lower mark. They shouldn't introduce a computer system until they have abolished the handwritten format.
Some say that it is better to cover all the topics outlining a couple of ideas for each, while others like in this video say that it is better to get in-depth although you might not have enough time to talk about all of them. So who should we listen to?
You must remember that a language exam is different to other exams in one fundamental way, it is more about style than substance! It's the way you fill the empty spaces in the conversation rather than the meat of the discussion. You can say almost anything in the exam (within reason of course). A language exam is not about right and wrong answers, but about good and bad ones! Thus, I advise my students to stock up on the language of agreeing/disagreeing, asking for/giving opinions and speculation and to have some knowledge of the most common topics. For example if the question was "Do young people spend too much time on the internet?" and your answer was "Absolutely, no doubt about it, I read an article that said that 88% of 12-16 year olds in the US spend, on average, 6 hours a day on the internet." That would be a good start to your answer, even if studies show that 73.6% of statistics are all made up! heehee..
Good question. I would say go straight to the source and look at the Cambridge scoring scheme. You'll see that there's no need to cover all of the topics in an activity, but there is a need to develop ideas, use rarer/more advanced vocabulary and grammar, and speak at length. It's easier to do those things by going into depth, while if you just make 1-2 points about each topic, it's harder to hit the criteria for the higher scores.
Hi Aurora. It depends on your level and your goals! Feel free to talk to an OOE teacher: www.oxfordonlineenglish.com/about-our-online-english-teachers.
@Rafhael Jaques It is a big issue when he is trying to teach others with a bad pronunciation. I suggest watching other people's channels, and most importantly, native speakers of English
Well I noticed you wrote this comment a year ago , but I wonder if you are still interested in practise via Skype. I am planning to take CAE exam and every practise will be an amazing opportunity
My exam is in 2 days and it’s honestly super terrifying. What’s the worst, it’s a week before the rest of my course group ‘cause of my dumb cousin’s wedding on the same date as the 2nd oral exam date.
Thanks for watching, Pat! Of course, it's harder than it looks, but if you have a plan and some basic ideas you can follow, at least you know how to start practicing, right?
@Xeeea Xth Well, I was getting pretty worried that I screwed up the speaking part but all you have to do is to focus not only on yourself but let your partner speak as well. And try to relax a bit, freaking out like I did won't help much. What was worse is the writing part. I actually found it hard to not go above the word limit and apparently I did not do well because out of all parts I scored the least in this one
I've seen this expressed before, and it's simply not correct. It does not matter if you use British or American vocabulary during your CAE exam. The CAE marking guide (which is publicly available, if you want to check) does not even mention British/American English. Your vocabulary score depends on the range and accuracy of your vocabulary, and nothing more.
This was really helpful plus it's a great way to go over the key points again.
Another tip I give my students (at all levels) is that you don't have to tell the truth! This means that when it comes to the discussion or the photo speculation, you have scope to say pretty much anything you like!...I was doing a run through with a student at B1 level, and when I asked her where she was from she replied "I'm from Valencia, it's a city in the middle of Spain"...Afterwards I told her that she failed her Geography exam but passed her English!
"Even if you don't have a lot of time until your exam". *watching this video 1 hour before my exam*
Same lol
samee
same rn
Same here
Mine is in 2 hours lol
Having my speaking tomorrow fingers crossed! Very constructive and informative! Thanks for the tips
Did you pass the test? :)
Thanks so much for great tips!
They turned to be really useful at my CAE session. And I'm quite happy with my results 🙂
Great!
Thank you for your video, it was really helpful. I actually made notes when I watched it. I passed with a grade A, but my lowest result was actually in the Speaking part. I've made three major mistakes, I think. I was too worried about the young girl that was my speaking partner. I tried to cheer her up before the exam and completely forgot to focus on myself and what I had to do. So don't lose your concentration. In part two I blanked out for a second before I started speaking because (I don't know why) I decided to say what pictures I would talk about and then got confused how to describe their positions because they were not placed in a row. Don't do that, just start speaking about the pictures. And the last mistake was probably my use of English. I should've used more advanced English. But the questions were very simple (What is your favourite city/town to travel to?) and it was surprisingly hard to talk about simple things using advanced English. I was acually pushing myself to do it. So try not just answering the question but actually adding advanced level adjectives and verbs. Push them into your speech as if it was natural to you. I did well, but I could do much, much better and felt faintly ashamed of myself afterwards. Good luck!
My exam is in one hour! That was very helpful, thanks a lot!!!!
I have to say, that jack's teaching methods are very clear. This was really helpful for me. Thank you Jack!
It is a very useful video for people that are preparing CAE test. Good tips and advice! thanks
Yes, I agree with you!
Glad it was useful for you, Fernando!
I have just got notified yesterday that I passed :) Speaking was my far worst part so don't underestimate it guys! :D
Roberta FI Visone Did you manage to pass? My exam is on Saturday and Sunday and I’m really nervous right now
Hope to tell the same in a few days. Tomorrow I am having the written part (reading+use of English, writing, listening), on Friday the oral one. Fingers crossed for me!!!
Congratulations, Ally!
Completely grateful for this video since my exam is tomorrow! Good luck to everyone taking an exam this year :D
Thanks for this video, made me a little less concerned about my exam tomorrow!
Thank you very much, i really like how you deliver these tips of yours. I am actually looking forward to use them at my speaking exam this weekend :)
I love this educational channel because the way they demonstrate the topics are really useful and amazing, they all deserve to be a teacher as they are really professional and competent
Awesome! I'll do my exam in one month. I feel so nervous!! Thanks for sharing this amazing video! :)
Thank you for your advices, I listened to those and I passed my CAE exam, just got my results today, I'm over the moon 🎆🎉
I have my test tomorrow, too nervous. But this was really helpful 🙂
Wow 3 hours before entering my Cae 1 speaking test today in Australia.
Thanks for the video.
I just took my exam today and I wanted to say thank you, both of the video lessons were so helpful, keep going, your work is appreciated, we'll see about the results tho...
Thank you 🙏 so much for sharing these videos. They are so helpful. I hope to pass the exam in a few weeks.
Good stuff. Thank you so much for sharing this!
Great material, I use it for all my exam prep.
Thank you so much. Those tips really helped me!
Thanks Jack, very helpful to teach!
Thank you Jack for your videos. Is it true that in part 3 we should focus going in depth rather than getting worked-up about speeding through it so we can talk about ALL the subjects in the bubbles? Our teacher says that if we miss a subject (here: e-gaming, chess, soccer, swimming, hip-hop dancing, surfing) we would miss points! So we the whole class is speeding through it. Which is actually correct?
Thank you both! Update: I passed with "A"! :-) . What happened was: As I expected, we weren't able to talk about all the subjects, but we were fluent and with good vocabulary, so we did great.
@Noelf I didn't know about the discounting of one or two points in the beginning, but I see now that yes, it is a good strategy.
I'm not a CAE examiner, but I would be amazed if they deducted marks for not talking about one of the topics. In fact what I advise students is to immediately discount one or two of the points, to allow you more time to go into detail on the remainder. That said, in discounting a point or two you are indeed mentioning them (albeit fleetingly) and you have an opportunity to use "discounting" language e.g. "I'm not sure X is really that important nowadays" or "I' don't think Y is that big an issue" (Note: Your partner may very well disagree with your dismissal of the point and a discussion on the dismissal might ensue...but this is good English and good communication practice so you'd be fine!
It's a good idea to give each subject an equal amount of time when you are moving through them to give your opinions and make a selection. Of course, if you're worked up about speeding through them, that will affect your speaking negatively. So it's a good idea to practice before the exam. Work on phrases go give your opinion, ask for theirs, and move through each subject smoothly.
Can't thank you enough for these valuable tips
This was so helpful exactly what I needed. I felt like I didn't know what I could expecf
Thank you so much for the information and tips given. Do you have any for C2 exam ??? 😅☺️👍💯
Oxford Online English thank you so much , anyway!!! 👍☺️
Oxford Online English thank you so much , anyway!!! 👍☺️
Thanks for watching, Jluis. We don't currently have any C2 lessons. However, we might in the future!
Watching this while I have my speaking exam in 10 hours and I really need my sleep... but I am too nervous 😭
MauriceRodriquez well, i’m having mine in 3hr. Did you pass?:d
Hello , can I agree or disagree on my partner’s idea even in part 4 or only in part 3?
Having my speaking test tomorrow! Fingers crossed and let's break a leg :)
Is it ok if I have a drink before the exam? So my words can flow more easily hehe
i had one, it helped hahah
I TOTALLY AGREE
@ami how’d that go 😭
nice tip🤣🤣 thank you I'll try it🤣
@ami l
This has helped me improve my skull so much. My head shape is perfect now!
Jokes aside, this video is really useful.
😄
A lot of really good advice! However, I would take issue with the point that your ideas are what matter. It really doesn't matter what position you take on the topic, it's the language you use and the way you communicate it that matters. In the exam you can actually say the complete opposite of what you really believe and score better.
I take your point; perhaps it could have been phrased more clearly. On the other hand I still think students do better when they go deeper into their own ideas, rather than trying to guess what the examiner wants to hear (when, as I'm sure you know, the examiner doesn't particularly care). In that sense I think we're saying the same thing, and I think it's useful to stress that point to students, i.e. that there aren't 'right' and 'wrong' opinions. I must admit that personally my experience is mostly with IELTS, but as I understand it the CAE speaking assessment criteria are somewhat similar.
@Oxford Online English My experience is likewise that students find it hard to make things up, but my problem is in the use of phrases such as “it’s about your ideas and opinions” or “try to form your own opinions.” This could be construed (as indeed I have construed it) as meaning that the substance of your argument has to be valid in real terms; so I just fear that students will think they have to be correct in what they say, and lose focus on the fact that it’s not what they say per se that matters, but rather how they say it. Many students may be afraid to use their own opinions as they could fear that the examiners will hold contrary opinions.
Thanks for the comment! You're 100% right, but, at least in my experience, it's pretty hard to actually do what you say, i.e. say the complete opposite of what you think. In the exam you already have a lot to think about: what to say, which words to use, avoiding grammar mistakes, etc. Inventing new/false opinions on top of that is challenging. It's better in most cases to use your own ideas and focus on developing them in as much depth as you can. Of course, if you are fluent and confident enough to invent opinions on the fly, then nothing's stopping you :)
Thank you for these useful pieces of advice, By the way, how is life down there?
Is there a visible timer or a clock during the exam so I could see the time?
I’m from Italy and there wasn’t one when I took B2
If my partner is either too shy or too dominant in part 3, what should I do to keep the conversation going?
@Oxford Online English Hi there, thank you so much for the video! The exam went really well, as I used some of the phrases!
Hi Bob, you can treat it like a real conversation. If there are times when you feel they are too dominant, you can use some of the phrases from this lesson along with conversation cues to let your partner know you would like to speak. If they are too shy, you can use some phrases from the lesson to encourage them to share their response in a different way. Practicing with many different types of people before the exam will also help you prepare for any situation!
Perfect very helpful
I teach this. 1 mintue to speak is not enough. Natural conversation btween 2 native English speakers requires more than 1 or 2 mintues to develop. Furthermore, the listening part where one has to fill in the blanks while listening is utterly unnatural. No native speaker would do this in real life. A better way of testing listening skills is thru conversation with native speaker about real life issues that are relative to people. This way one can combine, listening and speaking. Or, we can give candidates several issues to choose from where they have to develop 3 points about the issue with supporting information.
They test the writing skills in the listening part at fill in the blanks to
Yeah, language exams are by definition unnatural environments. The bigger issue I have though is the equal weighting of all 4 skills. I would have an expanded Speaking section worth 50%, Writing 30%, and Reading/Listening 10% each.
I take your point on the listening. Maybe they should have students listen to a conversation and then ask them to answer verbally a "What do you think happens next? or a "What would you do?" question.
As for the Writing, my bugbear is with having handwritten and computer based exams in parallel. This is patently unfair to the former students as illegible handwriting often results in them getting a lower mark. They shouldn't introduce a computer system until they have abolished the handwritten format.
Thank you for uploading this vid ;)
T-minus 10 hours until the exam. Wasn't nervous at all until now.
Волжский Осётр I took it and I have to say, it was *very easy* . Speaking was probably the easiest part of the exam.
Man, I feel you! Other videos make it look easier...
I wish i was able to talk like that my exam is in 30 minutes, plz pray for me🤚🏻😭
@クリスティーナちゃん thanks man. I'm sure you will get a great score too :)))
@Bogdan That's great, good job I'm happy for you! One of my friends passed with 188 too, loving the coincidence
@クリスティーナちゃん so happy for you. I got my results and I passed with 188
@Bogdan Thank you so muuch! I think I passed it but I just need to wait for the results :)
@クリスティーナちゃん you will do great man. Be focused and don't let emotions controll you.
Some say that it is better to cover all the topics outlining a couple of ideas for each, while others like in this video say that it is better to get in-depth although you might not have enough time to talk about all of them. So who should we listen to?
You must remember that a language exam is different to other exams in one fundamental way, it is more about style than substance! It's the way you fill the empty spaces in the conversation rather than the meat of the discussion. You can say almost anything in the exam (within reason of course). A language exam is not about right and wrong answers, but about good and bad ones! Thus, I advise my students to stock up on the language of agreeing/disagreeing, asking for/giving opinions and speculation and to have some knowledge of the most common topics. For example if the question was "Do young people spend too much time on the internet?" and your answer was "Absolutely, no doubt about it, I read an article that said that 88% of 12-16 year olds in the US spend, on average, 6 hours a day on the internet." That would be a good start to your answer, even if studies show that 73.6% of statistics are all made up! heehee..
Good question. I would say go straight to the source and look at the Cambridge scoring scheme. You'll see that there's no need to cover all of the topics in an activity, but there is a need to develop ideas, use rarer/more advanced vocabulary and grammar, and speak at length. It's easier to do those things by going into depth, while if you just make 1-2 points about each topic, it's harder to hit the criteria for the higher scores.
I'm having my test in less than 2 hours😅
Hope it went well, Olaya.
tres constructif offre a la reflexion
Can i prepare for the speaking exam in 7 days?
Hi Aurora. It depends on your level and your goals! Feel free to talk to an OOE teacher: www.oxfordonlineenglish.com/about-our-online-english-teachers.
My exam is literally tomorrow and I didn't have any time to study, I'm screwed 😭
How was it??
Very useful video
Why the guy always mention the name of the exam as C I A instead of CAE ?
@The AmazingHeathLedger He is Australian
Dear Davide Leardi, it doesn't seem right to criticize a person for mixing up names of exams when you make shameful grammar mistakes.
Because he works for the CIA
@Rafhael Jaques It is a big issue when he is trying to teach others with a bad pronunciation. I suggest watching other people's channels, and most importantly, native speakers of English
Because he is clearly not a native speaker of English.
my exam is in a few hours! i'm so anxious right now🤪
Hope it went well, Karen!
Do any of you guys want to practice for the oral part via Skype?
Well I noticed you wrote this comment a year ago , but I wonder if you are still interested in practise via Skype. I am planning to take CAE exam and every practise will be an amazing opportunity
My exam is in 2 days and it’s honestly super terrifying.
What’s the worst, it’s a week before the rest of my course group ‘cause of my dumb cousin’s wedding on the same date as the 2nd oral exam date.
Who else just saw parts 1+2 and has the exam tomorrow
thank you
Thanks, you make this seem easy but i'm sorry it's not at all. jajaja.
Thanks for watching, Pat! Of course, it's harder than it looks, but if you have a plan and some basic ideas you can follow, at least you know how to start practicing, right?
8:24 "...whenever you can (little burp)..." HAHAHAHAHAHA gotcha
@Michaela Dušková thank you
what the hell, man? excellent observing skills!
Anyone knows if I get less mark if I speak too fast?
If you speak in a way that is not understandable, that could have an effect on your marks.
My CAE starts in 2 hours😱😱😱😱
@Xeeea Xth Well, honestly I prepared very little in my own, I have CAE prep as a subject in my school so it kinda took care of my preparations
@Jakub Kudlej Good job! After all of these, you ve got 196 points so it s amazing! How much did you prepare for the CAE exam?
@Xeeea Xth Well, I was getting pretty worried that I screwed up the speaking part but all you have to do is to focus not only on yourself but let your partner speak as well. And try to relax a bit, freaking out like I did won't help much. What was worse is the writing part. I actually found it hard to not go above the word limit and apparently I did not do well because out of all parts I scored the least in this one
@Jakub Kudlej how was it? especially the speaking part
@Xeeea Xth If you are asking how are my results then somehow I managed to get 196 points, so yeah, I made it
merci
much love
SOCCER?.... football plz
I took you advice seriously until i saw the word soccer. If you say that during your exam it could cost you you vocabulary.
I've seen this expressed before, and it's simply not correct. It does not matter if you use British or American vocabulary during your CAE exam. The CAE marking guide (which is publicly available, if you want to check) does not even mention British/American English. Your vocabulary score depends on the range and accuracy of your vocabulary, and nothing more.
🗽
E
Soccer is American english so that is the wrong word to use
Toon Groenendijk You wont lose points for using Americanisms.