How I passed the CPE
A short story about how I passed the Cambridge CPE (Certificate of Proficiency in English) exam.
I saw the announcement that now Cambridge exams of English can be taken in Chelyabinsk, by chance. It turned out that last summer we had an accredited center in which all examinations of the ESOL range, including IELTS, are taken. After reading about the content of the exams, I stopped at the CPE exam, the complexity of which corresponds to the C2 level of the Common European Support Classification ( CEFR ). A particularly attractive point in Cambridge exams is that the exam results do not “become obsolete” and the certificates do not have a limited expiration date - having passed the exam once, the certificate will not have to be updated (unless, of course, you want to pass to a higher level).
The CPE examinations are held twice a year, in June and in December, and the examinations are held all over the world on the same day (except for the Speaking part, see below). This allows us not to worry that candidates from some centers will somehow be able to cooperate with candidates from other centers and let them know the test questions in advance. Speaking of confidentiality: unlike TOEFL, I did not have to sign any declarations with promises to keep everything secret. Nevertheless, the exam volume is so large that it is very difficult to remember any specific tasks (if, of course, you have to take the exam, and not to memorize questions). You need to register for the summer session and pay the registration fee before April 1, the exam itself was held on June 18.
')
After you have paid for the exam, there is no turning back - you have to prepare, or you will fly by. There are a lot of textbooks to prepare for Cambridge exams, but most of them are aimed at exams of lower levels - FCE and CAE, so I didn’t find any books for CPE. Fortunately, the head center in Cambridge sells training aids and collections of assignments from previous years, which I used. For a relatively small fee (about 25 pounds), I received last year's tests, a disc with part recordings Listening, a book for practicing Speaking skills and a DVD with video recording of the part Speaking. In addition, I found an online Objective proficiency manual published by Cambridge university press.
The book of Objective proficiency is designed for systematic and thoughtful preparation, and since I am a terribly lazy person, the first month I almost did not touch her, and in the second month I read separate chapters concerning the most difficult issues for me, in particular, the chapters writing assignments, as the TOEFL experience shows that my written English is weak. The book describes in an accessible language, how, for example, an article (article) differs from a review (review) and essay (essay), and how to give one or another stylistic and genre features to one’s text. The book contains a lot of lexical material, tips and exercises, but its most important value lies elsewhere: this textbook helps to realize that you can learn and polish English endlessly, and no one will embrace the immense. Each new section caused me a panic (“I don’t understand anything! - I will never give it up! - oh well, not everything is so scary - maybe I guess at the exam”), but in the end I calmed down and resigned to the fact that in two months I can only patch the holes, but not rise to a new level.
A collection of last year's tests and a Speaking DVD helped me to get used to the exam format, so during the exam itself there was nothing new for me, I even knew in what order the examiner would ask questions (the structure of the oral part is quite rigid, and although questions may be different, the course of the interview is quite predictable).
Here, probably, it is worth to stay in more detail on the structure of the exam. Like the FCE and CAE, the CPE exam consists of five parts (Reading, Writing, Use of English, Listening, Speaking), but takes more time and is conducted on more complex material. The first four parts are carried out on the same day and consist of manually filling in “guesses” (crossing out options on a special answer sheet with a pencil) or writing essays in a special notebook. The fifth part is held on another day, as it requires the presence of a certified specialist - a native speaker.
When evaluating each of the parts gives up to 20 points, the total for the exam can be obtained up to 100 points. Candidates who have received 60 or more points are considered to have passed the exam. They are divided into three subgroups: 60-74 points — Grade C, 75-79 points — Grade B, and 80+ points — Grade A, which roughly corresponds to the “satisfactory - good - excellent” gradation.
As already mentioned, the exam is divided into two stages. In my case, the Speaking part was a couple of weeks ahead of the rest. At this session, there were only three candidates for the CPE in the center, so we were not divided into pairs, but the three of them were interviewed immediately (this option is provided for an odd number of candidates). The examiner was very nice and did his best to reduce our nervousness, which, in general, he succeeded. After 30 minutes it was all over, and we, enthusiastic, went to prepare further.
The main part of the exam is much more tedious: the exam began at nine in the morning and ended at half past four in the evening (in the middle of the day there was an hour break for lunch). The execution time of each part is strictly regulated; no additional time is provided, even if it remains only to transfer the answers from the draft to the response sheet. However, the allotted time is quite enough to do all the work without too much haste. It is strictly forbidden for candidates to talk during the exam, there is always an observer in the audience. In order not to give candidates any advantage, the observer reads all the explanations before the beginning of the part (in English, of course) out loud with a special instruction and does not give any more explanations.
By the end of the day my head was buzzing and my hand was terribly tired, since from the time of the institute, it seems I have notjerked off writing with my hand for so much and for a long time.
After the exam, there is a tedious waiting period - the results of the June session are announced on July 31. On a special site, where each candidate must register in advance, exactly at 10 am London time, there is an exam result and a scheme explaining which parts were better and which are worse. I had the best part of Use of English (which was a surprise for me), the Reading and Writing parts were a little worse, and it was very bad, but still acceptable, I passed the Listening and Speaking parts (which was also a surprise, but unpleasant). Nevertheless, the certificate was received and quite satisfied with it.
A month and a half after the announcement of the results printed certificates come to the testing center. It should be noted that duplicate certificates are not made. If the certificate is lost or additional copies are required, only the Statement of Results containing similar information but no longer the certificate will be sent from Cambridge.
Record for the exam
I saw the announcement that now Cambridge exams of English can be taken in Chelyabinsk, by chance. It turned out that last summer we had an accredited center in which all examinations of the ESOL range, including IELTS, are taken. After reading about the content of the exams, I stopped at the CPE exam, the complexity of which corresponds to the C2 level of the Common European Support Classification ( CEFR ). A particularly attractive point in Cambridge exams is that the exam results do not “become obsolete” and the certificates do not have a limited expiration date - having passed the exam once, the certificate will not have to be updated (unless, of course, you want to pass to a higher level).
The CPE examinations are held twice a year, in June and in December, and the examinations are held all over the world on the same day (except for the Speaking part, see below). This allows us not to worry that candidates from some centers will somehow be able to cooperate with candidates from other centers and let them know the test questions in advance. Speaking of confidentiality: unlike TOEFL, I did not have to sign any declarations with promises to keep everything secret. Nevertheless, the exam volume is so large that it is very difficult to remember any specific tasks (if, of course, you have to take the exam, and not to memorize questions). You need to register for the summer session and pay the registration fee before April 1, the exam itself was held on June 18.
')
Exam preparation
After you have paid for the exam, there is no turning back - you have to prepare, or you will fly by. There are a lot of textbooks to prepare for Cambridge exams, but most of them are aimed at exams of lower levels - FCE and CAE, so I didn’t find any books for CPE. Fortunately, the head center in Cambridge sells training aids and collections of assignments from previous years, which I used. For a relatively small fee (about 25 pounds), I received last year's tests, a disc with part recordings Listening, a book for practicing Speaking skills and a DVD with video recording of the part Speaking. In addition, I found an online Objective proficiency manual published by Cambridge university press.
The book of Objective proficiency is designed for systematic and thoughtful preparation, and since I am a terribly lazy person, the first month I almost did not touch her, and in the second month I read separate chapters concerning the most difficult issues for me, in particular, the chapters writing assignments, as the TOEFL experience shows that my written English is weak. The book describes in an accessible language, how, for example, an article (article) differs from a review (review) and essay (essay), and how to give one or another stylistic and genre features to one’s text. The book contains a lot of lexical material, tips and exercises, but its most important value lies elsewhere: this textbook helps to realize that you can learn and polish English endlessly, and no one will embrace the immense. Each new section caused me a panic (“I don’t understand anything! - I will never give it up! - oh well, not everything is so scary - maybe I guess at the exam”), but in the end I calmed down and resigned to the fact that in two months I can only patch the holes, but not rise to a new level.
A collection of last year's tests and a Speaking DVD helped me to get used to the exam format, so during the exam itself there was nothing new for me, I even knew in what order the examiner would ask questions (the structure of the oral part is quite rigid, and although questions may be different, the course of the interview is quite predictable).
Here, probably, it is worth to stay in more detail on the structure of the exam. Like the FCE and CAE, the CPE exam consists of five parts (Reading, Writing, Use of English, Listening, Speaking), but takes more time and is conducted on more complex material. The first four parts are carried out on the same day and consist of manually filling in “guesses” (crossing out options on a special answer sheet with a pencil) or writing essays in a special notebook. The fifth part is held on another day, as it requires the presence of a certified specialist - a native speaker.
When evaluating each of the parts gives up to 20 points, the total for the exam can be obtained up to 100 points. Candidates who have received 60 or more points are considered to have passed the exam. They are divided into three subgroups: 60-74 points — Grade C, 75-79 points — Grade B, and 80+ points — Grade A, which roughly corresponds to the “satisfactory - good - excellent” gradation.
Exam progress
As already mentioned, the exam is divided into two stages. In my case, the Speaking part was a couple of weeks ahead of the rest. At this session, there were only three candidates for the CPE in the center, so we were not divided into pairs, but the three of them were interviewed immediately (this option is provided for an odd number of candidates). The examiner was very nice and did his best to reduce our nervousness, which, in general, he succeeded. After 30 minutes it was all over, and we, enthusiastic, went to prepare further.
The main part of the exam is much more tedious: the exam began at nine in the morning and ended at half past four in the evening (in the middle of the day there was an hour break for lunch). The execution time of each part is strictly regulated; no additional time is provided, even if it remains only to transfer the answers from the draft to the response sheet. However, the allotted time is quite enough to do all the work without too much haste. It is strictly forbidden for candidates to talk during the exam, there is always an observer in the audience. In order not to give candidates any advantage, the observer reads all the explanations before the beginning of the part (in English, of course) out loud with a special instruction and does not give any more explanations.
By the end of the day my head was buzzing and my hand was terribly tired, since from the time of the institute, it seems I have not
Waiting for results
After the exam, there is a tedious waiting period - the results of the June session are announced on July 31. On a special site, where each candidate must register in advance, exactly at 10 am London time, there is an exam result and a scheme explaining which parts were better and which are worse. I had the best part of Use of English (which was a surprise for me), the Reading and Writing parts were a little worse, and it was very bad, but still acceptable, I passed the Listening and Speaking parts (which was also a surprise, but unpleasant). Nevertheless, the certificate was received and quite satisfied with it.
A month and a half after the announcement of the results printed certificates come to the testing center. It should be noted that duplicate certificates are not made. If the certificate is lost or additional copies are required, only the Statement of Results containing similar information but no longer the certificate will be sent from Cambridge.
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/72076/
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