Tips for the FCE Writing Section (B2 English) - TURBOLANGS

Hey friend, how is life? In this blog post I’m going to review some useful insights to ace the Writing part of the FCE exam, also known as Cambridge English: First but also as First Certificate in English.

So you know already one fundamental notion: Cambridge Assessment English exams have as many titles as Daenerys Targaryen. 😂

This post looks in more depth at the Writing part but if you feel like having a broader vision of the FCE exam, here you have it ⬇️

First Certificate in English (FCE): How to Ace it

To pass the exam is no easy feat and the Writing is certainly one of the hardest. Language conventions, style, lexicon… 😔

In the Reading and Use of English at least you only have to fill empty spaces :-/ in here, you have to compose a text from scratch.

You are given a few guidelines and you’re left with a blank space to scrabble in. No wonder some of us find this part to be difficult.

Well, it does not have to be: with the right preparation and tools, you can pass the exam with flying colours, FCE Writing included.

⚠️ WARNING: THIS POST IS NOT FOR THE FAINT-HEARTED ⚠️

👎 Downside: you’re reading a lengthy piece. I couldn’t make it exhaustive and short at the same time, sorry.

👍 Upside: you do not need to look any further on the Internet. This <brag alert> is the most comprehensive guide available concerning the FCE Writing </brag alert>.

I invite you to put it in your Favourites in order to come back, every now and again, to explore the different parts and suggestions, as you happen to need them. 🔖

And now, let’s dive into the matter.

Cambridge English: First – The Writing section

You’re given 80 minutes for two different tasks:

Essay (compulsory for everybody).
Review, report, letter, email or article (you have to pick one of those proposed).

So, it makes forty minutes for each text. In reality, you can spend seventy minutes on one and ten on the other: it’s absolutely fine. In this time, you have to do it all:

Jot down ideas,
brainstorm vocabulary you’d like to use,
blueprint the text, 🗺️
draft it,
pass it on a fair copy,
checking GSP (Grammar, Spelling and Punctuation), 🔬 and
deliver it to the examiner.

Both texts have to be between 140 and 190 words long each.

Cambridge English: First: On paper or computer?

You can either go for the paper-based exam or for the computer-based exam: one of the two major differences between them lies indeed in the FCE Writing section.

In the paper-based exam, you write on, surprise surprise, paper. 📝

That means you have to do it the good old way: basically, draft first then neat copy. Thus, you have to factor in the time to do this all and make a final check round before to deliver it.

In the computer-based exam, you write on… (drum roll) … a digital screen. 💻

That means you don’t have to worry about initial draft and final draft: there won’t be crossing-outs, ink stains, bad handwriting. However, you still have white paper, pens and pencils in case you want to scribble some notes aside.

Also, if you go for the computer-based exam, you have some extra perks:

#1 You have a stopwatch right before your eyes, on top of the screen, flashing red when the time is about to end; ⏱️

#2 You also have a word counter, below the screen, so that you can keep your text length under control the whole time.

Are in essence the paper-based and the computer-based versions of the Writing the same? Absolutely the same. It’s just a different medium.

If you feel like scrabbling ideas on paper, you can still do it: you are provided with blank paper and pens and pencils, whereas necessary, before the beginning of the exam.

So, should you go for the paper-based exam or the computer-based one? Whatever floats your boat. ⛵ Surprisingly, many candidates prefer the paper-based one.

Want to know more about the two formats? Read: Paper or Computer: Choose your Cambridge English Exam Format.

Cambridge English: First – Writing: Traps you should be aware of

Along these years in the field, I’ve seen many students underestimating this task. Why? Because they think they’re already able to write.

Among the remarks I heard the most:

I’ve been sending emails in English in my job for years now, what need do I have to prepare?
I’m quite used keeping in touch with my Erasmus friends by sending emails and texting them 📱, no need for further studies.
I read a lot in English: British newspapers, sport magazines, travel newsletters… it shouldn’t be hard to craft a few words-text.

There are sooooo many misconceptions here. 🤔

#1 Email is just one of the six options you may have in the FCE Writing section. Besides, you may be writing for a thousand years but doing it wrong.

#2 Texting and emailing informally a friend is NOT the same as to write an email with the required language and conventions to someone who’s not a friend.
And again: email is just one of five options in the FCE writing; WhatsApp messages are not yet considered as a type of text from the Cambridge folks deserving to be introduced in any exam.

#3 Reading is the compulsory starting point if you want to write 📚, but then, there’s more work to do.

The truth of the matter is the following, beautifully articulated by Benjamin Franklin:

By failing to prepare, you are preparing to fail.

For the great majority of us, real life just does not provide the type of preparation you need to pass the exam. Who do you send an essay to? What do you write a report for?

OK, I think I made myself clear on this point. Now, an interesting question.

Mục Lục

Any textbook to prepare myself for the FCE Writing task?

Is there any book you’d recommend to improve specifically the Writing section of the FCE exam? Yes, there is this one:

FCE Writing Masterclass, by Marc Roche: this is a must-have.

You have both plain assignments and exercises geared towards sharpening your writing skills: understanding in the blink of an eye what you’re requested, the tone and style you have to use, etc.

Be VERY mindful of an irrefutable fact: if you know how to write, speaking will follow.

This is an all too often overlooked concept: a horde of learners presume talking well in a given language is all about pronouncing right and training amply the talking itself. Wrong!

First, you need to get your linguistic act together: having something to say, being able to tell it in an articulated matter; pronunciation, prosody, rhetoric come later. Writing is to speaking as walking is to running.

Want to know more about the Speaking part? Read: FCE Certificate: A Recipe for Success in FCE Speaking.

Now, let’s dig into the kinds of Writing you will encounter in the B2 First exam, one by one.

FCE Writing: Essay

The Essay is the only component of Part 1 of the Writing. It’s compulsory. In it, you have to talk about a topic, mentioning two points you’re provided plus a point of your own. 🖊️

In other words, in an essay you give info, you explain your viewpoint, you compare and contrast.

Example:

The consumption of dietary supplements has been growing exponentially and various voices call for a more stringent regulation about them. What do you think?

Write about:

The online sales of such supplements;
health hazards associated with their consumption;
… … … … (your own idea).

So, in less than 200 words you have to talk about the two points offered plus a point of your making.

What are some basic principles you should follow?

You have to show a B2 lexicon: tablets, superfoods, nutraceutical, etc;
the composition must be structured in paragraphs, linked one another with proper connectors;
you have to tap into a language portfolio to express comparisons, explanations, agreements and disagreements, personal views.

What do I mean in point 3? Making use of:

Although, despite, even if;
firstly, to begin with, first of all;
on the one hand, on the other hand; f
or example, for instance;
additionally, on top of that; to summarise, in conclusion…

You got me.

How would I organize my time? Ideally, I would:

Budget some three-four minutes to take note of all the useful words and sentences I may use to show how good is my English,
then another couple of minutes to draft a roadmap of my text,
do the actual writing, the bulk of it,
then I’ll eventually sum it all up and conclude,
to eventually make a last check round to seek and destroy any mistakes.

A word of advise (or two) (maybe three):

#1 Keep your words under control.

The maximum limit of words is quite tight: if you don’t pay attention, you’ll end up writing twice as much in order to cover all the points.

#2 Keep your brainstorming skills sharp.

Far from the exam, is a good thing to do the following exercise. Open up a newspaper, pick an article: what topic is it? Nuclear wastes? Climate change? Online banking security breaches? 🔓

Perfect! Pick them, write them on paper then brainstorm for a few minutes what words and structures to use in the essay.

#3 Save some time for the end.

It is useful to allow, at the very end of your 80 minutes, some spare 3-4 minutes to come back to the essay, to read it again in search for mistakes again and incongruences.

Why?

Because after forty minutes of being on top of the essay, you may not be able any more to spot such undesired intruders. The distance given by half an hour and attention on something else, gives a useful semi-fresh perspective on it.

What is that I shouldn’t say but it is better for me to say?

#1 Keep it simple: don’t play Alain de Botton if your name is Pedro Antuñéz or Giovanni Rossi. Better something less sophisticated but correct than something amazingly conceived but poorly rendered on paper.

#2 Care your GSP (Grammar, Spelling and Punctuation): there is no point in being Malcolm Gladwell 🦱 if you have a first grader’s GSP.

#3 Never forget that you’re not being evaluated on the originality of your ideas.

If the essay is about recycling, you don’t have to quote a pioneering study from the University of Petropavlovsk concerning the reuse of coffee pods in subarctic oceanic aquaculture.

What you have to do, in your FCE Writing, is to show that you have a B2 English, not a PhD in the subject of the essay.

And now, it’s time for you to get stained with some ink. Read the assignment below –> do it yourself –> check how I would have done it. ✒️

A real-life example of an Essay

Consider the following assignment.

More needs to be done to encourage children to spend time healthily outdoors. Do you agree? (140-190 words)

Write about:
1# Benefits and disadvantages of children’s outdoor activities
2# Recommendations for parents and teachers
3# Your own ideas

💬 Done? Very well. So, there are MANY ways to write this essay, but a decent one is the following:

Children spending time healthily outdoor

First of all, I wholeheartedly agree with the statement, but I will try to describe all the pros and cons related to the matter, before coming to conclusions.

To begin with, it’s easy to come up with several reasons why our kids ought to spend some daily hours in places such as parks, gardens or in the countryside. Physical activity is paramount to a person’s wellness, even more at a young age; besides, it would prevent obesity and subtle manipulation from TV and the internet.

That doesn’t mean there are no downsides. It’s difficult to be outdoorsy if you dwell in a 50 sqm-flat downtown or if you reside in a bad dodgy neighbourhood. In that case, we may want these children to stay indoors, watching the TV and being looked after.

However, the most crucial element in this regard is, in my opinion, parenting style. We’ve been breeding a generation of “helicopter parents”, hovering constantly over their offspring in search for hidden threats. Media play a big role in this, as they blow everything out of proportion: there’s rather plenty of evidence that such fears are irrational.

To sum up, I do admit there are pros and cons in letting the kids stay less indoor, but I firmly believe there’s a lot more to gain than to lose.

💬 And here it is. Too hard? Too long? If you prepare well, you’re going to nail it.

Any textbook to improve my Essay writing skills?

Actually, you know what? Most prep books for the FCE exam focus enough on the Essay. Why? Because it’s the only Writing exercise you’re obliged to do, hence their emphasis.

Any of the books suggested in the main post about FCE are as good as a lemon sorbet in a summer heat wave. 🍦 You may find them here:

You shall find plenty of instructions and examples there.

Nevertheless, whatever your strategy, it is neeeeeeeeever a bad idea to review and strengthen your grammar. This can be an excellent ally of yours:

English Grammar in Use with Answers: I have a hard time taking grammar books in my hands, but this is well done.

FCE Writing: Article

The Article is one of the options you’re given in the Part 2 of the FCE Writing: whether to go for this one or not, is your choice.

In the Article, you have to write an engaging text for a website, a magazine, a newsletter. ✏️

In other words, in an article you describe, provide examples and articulate your opinion, in a way that you readers feel compelled to read it all.

Example:

Consider the following assignment.

In your opinion, what would be the upsides and downsides of learning programming languages? Is it something you would invite all young people to do?

The best article will be published next month.

What are some basic principles you should follow?

Tap into your source of B2 vocabulary;
write a sentence for each paragraph you’d like to include, then expand from such sentence outwards;
always keep in mind who’s your reader persona: age, social and educational background, etc.

General suggestions:

A catchy title is recommendable, but do not go Huffington Post-clickbait-ish.
A school newspaper requires a style that a tech magazine does not. Learn how to pass from informality to formality in your writing.
Away from the exam, read as many articles as you can given that they are your raw material.

What is that I shouldn’t say but it is better for me to say?

#1 Keep it simple: if you can’t put on paper a Fareed Zakaria’s prose, don’t try. A couple of ideas, linear clauses, appropriate nouns and adjectives, good connectors: that’s all.

#2 Care your GSP (Grammar, Spelling and Punctuation): no point in writing the best article ever if you drop a wheater you leik it or not. 😱

#3 Never forget that you’re being evaluated for your English, which has to be B2. Not for your originality in terms of content or style: just for your English. Cambridge does not deliver Pulitzer prizes anyway.

💬 Now it’s your turn again: read the assignment below –> write it yourself –> check my version of it. ✒️

A real-life example of an Article

Consider the following assignment.

In your opinion, is learning programming languages necessary in today’s world? Is it something you would invite all young people to do?

The best article will be published next month in our college magazine.

💬 Again, COUNTLESS are the ways to write this. I’m just putting down one of them here below.

Human languages are the present: programming languages the future

In modern-day society, a good curriculum has no real appeal if not completed with the mastery of one or two foreign languages. But… Do you think it will always be this way? I don’t think so.

Sooner or later, human languages will be translated and interpreted by machines that will run on an entirely different set of languages: that of computers. Programming languages, we call them.

That’s the future. It will take ten years, perhaps twenty: but in that moment, these tools will be as popular and embedded into our daily life and professions, that ignoring Python, C+ or Java will be just as prejudicial as is nowadays not knowing English or French.

Hence, I strongly recommend our youth to start exploring the subject. It’s no more difficult than learning any other discipline: a bit of patience, some guidance, good materials.

So, guys: read about it, try coding, come to our so-called “Hackatons”, attend courses and hone your programming skills. Before you know it, it will be impossible to live without.

💬 And here we are. Nothing otherwordly, don’t you think?

Any material to boost my Article writing skills?

Of course. It is possible to accomplish this task even without this book, to be honest. On the other hand, if you want to learn how to write an article in an excellent way, you shouldn’t miss this one:

English for Journalists, by Wynford Hicks: it’s English for journalism, condensed in two hundred pages or theory and practice, absolutely well crafted.

It’s good for FCE but it’s also an excellent resource to pave your way to CAE and CPE.

FCE Writing: Email

The Email is also one of the options you’re given in the Part 2 of this section, so it is not compulsory.

In this, you have to write in response to a certain situation, formal or informal, being careful to include everything you’re told according to the conventions of an email. 📧

Example:

You see this ad on an English-language literary magazine website.

Writing Contest

Ready to share your novel or poem with the world? Whether you’re a newbie or more established writer, you’re welcome to take part in our Fiction or Poetry contests.

Submit by sending us an email briefly introducing yourself, as a person and an author, beside a few words on your creation. Don’t forget to attach your work!

So now, what’s the purpose of the email?

To explain
who you are

, both in life and in the literary sphere,and
to succinctly
describe the piece of fiction

you’re participating with.

Informal or formal? Kind of in between here, don’t you concur? It’s a writing contest, granted, but the phrasing used in the announcement is not Victorian literary English. 👑

The cues are:

the Ready to share… rather than a more pompous Are you ready to share…
words like newbie, rather than a formal neophyte or even novice
you’re instead of you are
the exclamation mark in the end of the ad and the absence of pleases or other expressions of deference.

What are some basic principles you should follow?

Prove that you master a B2 vocabulary: inner voice, the heart of the story, blurb, etc;
the conventions of the genre must be respected: opening, main body, closing formula;
you have to balance somehow the different points you’re asked to talk about: your biography, who you are as a writer and what’s your literary work about. 📗
You can be the new Charlotte Brontë but if you miss these three things you’re hardly going to succeed.

Again, it’s a useful exercise to take a few minutes to think of the words, idioms and expressions you may use, plus to draw a simple outline of how you’re going to unfold the email, paragraph after paragraph.

Points I want you to be aware of:

#1 The Email writing is more difficult than what it looks like.

Why?

Because in life you may read a lot of essays, articles or reports so that you will have an idea of how to draft them even if you do not specifically train yourself for them. But emails? Not really.

That’s when textbooks and prep books come in very handy: they contain this stuff, so you should rely on them. 📩

#2 A maximum of 190 words is less than what you imagine.

Don’t get carried away or you’ll still be talking about yourself by word nº 220 and you still haven’t even glossed over your writing genius and your manuscript.

#3 Don’t warp your English in an effort to make it superduper cultured.

It’s unlikely that this email will end up in a posthumous collection such as The Letters of J. R. R. Tolkien. At a B2 you know enough English to communicate richly, but to be Virginia Woolf-like, a great deal remains to be done.

💬 Time for you to test your skills: read the assignment below –> do it yourself –> check how I would have done it. ✒️

A real-life example of an Email

Consider the following assignment.

Scholarships

Every year, two scholarships are offered to candidates from overseas who can show how our one-year course in English studies would help their career.

Scholarships cover fees, accommodation and food but not transport or personal spending money.

To apply, write an email explaining why you think you deserve a scholarship.

💬 I hope you really did it, rather than scrolling down endlessly 🤨 Anyway, this is what I’d write.

Dear Sir/Madam,
I hope this email finds you well.

I am writing to your attention about the ad on your website, concerning the two scholarships for overseas students. I believe it would make a huge difference for me: allow me here to explain why.

As you know, Italy is a tourism-based country. Thus, I have been pursuing an education in Hotel Management and Sustainable Tourism. Unfortunately, in my country English teaching is not cutting-edge: neither within the education system, nor in the general society. As a result, undergraduates like me are forced to take matters into their own hands.

I have carefully read your one-year English studies program: I believe it would be very formative for me, beside being a boost for my employability.

This email would not be complete if I failed to mention either my excellent academic results (I hereby attach my curriculum) or, particularly, my limited budget. Hence, a financial aid in the form of a scholarship would be most welcome.

I look forward to hearing from you and please do not hesitate to contact me for any queries you may have.

Yours sincerely,
Tyrion Lannister

💬 And here it is. As long as you study well, the Email does not constitute any danger.

Any textbook to improve my Email writing skills?

Yes, there’s one which is as good as a granita siciliana while laying on a beach in Favignana in August. 🍦

This one:

Executive Guide to Email Correspondence, by Dawn Michelle Baude: a phenomenal textbook on how to write emails the proper way.

Not only to do well the Email assignment of the Writing section, but to learn to draft emails the proper way: to get your CV noticed by head hunters, to sell more… in a word: to get what you want.

FCE Writing: Review

The Review is one of the options you’re given in Part 2: again, it is not compulsory.

The Review assesses how well you can describe and motivate your opinion about something you have first-hand knowledge of (the like of an electronic gadget, a theatre play, a holiday package, etc.), with a final suggestion to the reader. 📝

In other words, in a review you have to describe, detail and give your opinion.

A review may be published on different media: daily newspaper, online magazine, nationwide printed cultural journal. Hence, different styles for different outlets.

Example:

The Best Tablet of the Year

On our lifestyle webzine, we’ve been gathering reviews from our readership concerning the best tablet of the year. If you have recently purchased or used one, write us your opinion including brand, model, features and other data you deem relevant.

We will then publish a chart based on the devices which have received the most praises!

So, the assignment couldn’t be clearer. You have to include in your review (I am totally making stuff up here below between parenthesis):

Brand and name of the device (Maple iMoon), 📟
what did you use it for (to track supernovas in the sky in-sync with a telescope),
relevant features (material, screen size, USB ports, Bluetooth, processor, battery life, pre-installed Apps, front camera lenses, etc.),
what has mattered the most for you (next-gen processing speed but short battery life, for instance),
a resume of your opinion and a recommendation to other readers (not the best piece of equipment for pros but good value for money for amateurs). ✔️

What are some basic principles you should follow?

Brag about your B2 vocabulary: screen-to-body ratio, headphone jack, processing power, etc;
if you are utterly uninformed about the matter (i.e. technology here), you may want to skip a review like this.
On the other hand, if you’re an electronic gadget buff, tune down your prose. No mere mortal understands stuff like “a 16MB Intel Smart Cache behind a 1080p non-touch capacitive display would earn my praise only with a our USB-C SD carbon fibre card adapter”;
organise carefully your review in sequential paragraphs.

General suggestions:

#1 Choose a title that is alluring and at the same time gives the readers an idea of what to expect from your review. 💯

#2 It’s a good thing to read reviews profusely in preparation of the exam.

A brief summary of your go-to resources:

– Gizmos: Techradar
– Restaurants & Hotels: Tripadvisor
– Books: Goodreads
– Movies: BBC Film Reviews

It’s good to remark that most of the reviews you’ll find over the Internet are user-generated but not reviewed by a proofreader: nevertheless, at a B2 level you should be proficient enough to tell the bad from the good.

#3 Don’t get lost in the analysis that you forget to include your final recommendation.

💬 Your turn: read carefully the assignment –> do it –> have a look at my attempt. ✒️

A real-life example of a Review

Consider the following assignment.

The following announcement has been published in your English-language university website magazine.

Film reviews wanted!

Have you recently watched a film in which you particularly liked the main character?

Write us a review of the film explaining what the main actor did and why in your opinion he deserves praise. Tell us also to whom you would recommend this film to other viewers.

We will publish the best review in our magazine.

💬 Not an easy one. Still, we need to be prepared. Here’s my piece.

The Call of the Wild review: a light-hearted, comforting story

The latest adaptation of Jack London’s most famous novel, directed by Chris Sanders, won’t satisfy the sophisticated appetite of our most salacious critics, but it does have an appeal, in my opinion.

Starring Harrison Ford as gruff Thornton and a CGI imposing dog as Buck, the film will likely become a young adult’s classic. Unfolding in the northern wilderness, the story is about two losers, harshly beaten by life, that come to recognize one another and team up.

I found that Ford’s acting is convincing, not entirely so that of the computer-generated Collie-St. Bernard mongrel: at times it falls short of nowadays’ FX standards, besides conferring the dog an incomprehensible, semi-supernatural ability to understand the English language.

The other characters’ performances are not subpar, nor are they Oscar-winning. There are no cliffhangers or unexpected plot twists, as it’s easy to imagine.

All in all, in my opinion is worth seeing, for those that are in search of an eighty minute-long solace, an unadventurous film evolving among the jaw-dropping Alaskan landscapes. One to relax, rather than reflect.

💬 This is one of the hundred reviews one may jot down. The genre has its own peculiar traits, but it entirely doable, as you can see.

Any volume to ameliorate my Review writing prowess?

Not really, which is a pity. However, you may want to dissect the book below.

It is not specifically for this type of text, but considering the insane variety of reviews there can be, it’s a terrific idea to review your vocabulary (no pun intended):

English Vocabulary in Use Upper-Intermediate by Michael McCarthy and Felicity O’Dell: the authors are two established names in the field of Teaching English as a Second Language.

It’s a practical book to learn new lexicon in a fast and efficient way, before to put it to test. In the FCE review you may need to write about ice cream parlours, magazines, songs, ski resorts, earphones… better be equipped.

FCE Writing: Letter

The Letter is an option you’re given in Part 2, among others. Thus, it is not compulsory.

In the Letter, you have to write a written communication to a friend, a relative, an editor in chief, a head hunter, etc. ✍️

Example:

A pet to care for

Two English-speaking friends have accepted to take care of your turtle while you’re abroad for three months, but they’d like to know more in detail what it entails. You thank and inform them through a letter.

So, it isn’t so complicated, is it?

They’re friends, so the language has to be informal;
first you thank, then you provide instructions;
you begin, end and fill the email with B2 words and expressions, in a laid-back tone.

What are some basic principles you should follow in this part of the FCE Writing?

Don’t let the informality of the letter fool you. You still have to prove that you know proper English;
you can steer a bit the composition in the direction you prefer: food, shelter, special needs of the turtle, if you prefer your friends to come at your place versus you bringing a terrarium to theirs; 🐢
A letter is similar to, but not identical, an email. Respect the differences.

General suggestions:

#1 The example I brought up above is that of an informal letter, but some – such as job applications – are so not informal. You need to be equally prepared for both styles.

#2 Just as other types of writing, you may hardly have in your daily life the chance to send and receive letters of any kind. It seems so from the Eighties now. 📨

A couple of good textbooks and prep books are what you need for this.

#3 No exception to the GSP rule (care your Grammar, Spelling, Punctuation): it’s friends you’re writing to but neither you are allowed to misspell nor to use abomination like b4 for “before”, 2 for “to” or bcz for “because”.

💬 Time to practice the Letter! As usual: read the assignment as carefully as you can –> write your composition –> compare it with mine below. ✒️

A real-life example of a Letter

Consider the following assignment.

You met an old ex colleague at a trade fair, when he informed you his current company has been looking for an experienced account manager in the publishing business.

You write a cover letter to the head of Human Resources that will have your CV attached. In the letter, you briefly introduce yourself, mention a few highlights of your profile and ask for an interview.

💬 A cover letter, an evergreen. Here’s how I’d do it.

Dear Mr Gladstone,

I’m writing under the suggestion of my former coworker, Mr Mormont, whom I have recently met at the press trade show in Zurich: there, he made me aware that your company is in need of an accomplished salesperson: I’d like to be included in the recruitment process.

I know your company to be one of the top-five providers of marketing services to publishing enterprises: ambition and commitment seems to be in the DNA of your firm, so they are of mine.

As you can see in the hereby attached curriculum, I’m a young yet experienced key clients administrator in the same field, with a proven track record. My educational background is in International Relations, which comes extremely useful when dealing with firms from all over the world. The fluent knowledge of French and Spanish complete my profile.

I’d be honoured to have an interview with you at a mutually convenient time. In the meantime, in case of further questions, please do not hesitate to ask.

I look forward to speaking with you about this opportunity and thank you for the time taken to read this.

Sincerely,
Alys Karstarck

💬 No need to write about insanely overqualified profiles, as long as your English is correct and appropriate.

Is there a book I can use to scribbles letters better than now?

Yes and no. I’d suggest you the book below: it does focus partially on emails, and it has a business inclination. Having said that, it’s a good book to study: formal language is formal language in business, in the FCE Writing and elsewhere.

Model Business Letters, Emails and Other Business Documents by Shirley Taylor: the author is a great pen in the field of Good Writing, which is an art sadly in decay nowadays, out of the literary realm.

It teaches writing theory but also offer plenty of examples of letters of all sorts:

Formulate apologies
Cancel an appointment
Express condolences
Request items or services
Apply for a job
Report a scam
Etc.

Each letter has its own style and its own style is gracious and well-written only in its peculiar way.

FCE Writing: Report

The Report is one of the options you’re given in the Part 2 of the FCE Writing: again, it is not compulsory. In the Report, you have to explain facts and express a recommendation.

Example:

After a class discussion, your English teacher has asked students to write a report on the role of pets in modern families. You have to include positive but also negative outcomes, making a recommendation on how to curb these latter.

What are some basic principles you should follow?

A title isn’t required but neither is forbidden: add it if you come up with a good one;
information has to be orderly. A paragraph structure is paramount, and if you want, you can give each paragraph a heading; 📐
don’t gloss over the requirements of the report to jump straight to recommendations.

General suggestions:

#1 Choose a report if you’re knowledgeable about the topic.

All reports follow a similar scheme, therefore there’s a lot that you can learn and use in each of them, whatever the topic is.

However… do not choose the report just for this reason. Neither should you be up for it because you like the topic. You have to consider, first and foremost, how much you know about the theme. 🧐

To follow up on the example given above, you may love pets, have two dozens of them at your place and want to discuss it: whatever! The question is: are you able to write authoritatively about it?

Passion about the topic does not help: mastery of it does.

#2 Spend time planning carefully to save time writing.

That’s it. Four to five minutes spent outlining your report are going to save you many minutes later when you do the actual writing.

It does not have to be rocket science. A very primitive plan could be:

Intro
Downsides
Upsides
Recommendations

For each of these four parts, jot down ideas; then, sentences, vocabulary, phrasal verbs and idioms you may use.📏

Then, attack the task and start writing. Why is it effective? Because without a plan, most of us get lost in the meanders of our brain.

You might spend twenty minutes writing only to realize afterwards that:

You’ve gone off topic,
you haven’t balanced the pros with the cons,
you have just made a long recommendation from the first line to the last.

#3 Headings may come to your rescue.

A report is one of these kinds of text in which headings help to define a clearer structure of the text. You certainly do not put them in a letter or email.

You know what? If for whatever reason you haven’t got plenty to say, you may want to include headings to increase your word count. 🆒

It has to be wisely done, of course: if they’re just paraphrasing what’s below them and as long as the paragraphs they’re on top of, hmmmm, not a good thing.

💬 Time for you to practice the Report: read the assignment –> do it –> check my own below. ✒️

A real-life example of a Report

Consider the following assignment.

You see this announcement on your city council website.

We are conducting research about how to save water in our town. We would like to hear our citizen’s feedback and ideas on the matter: what are we doing well? Which area of improvements do you see? What would you propose?

💬 Water management: one of the most common topics. You can’t be caught off guard.

The aim of this report is to assess the current situation in our town regarding the usage of water and how to reduce it. What follows is the result of my own investigations: recommendations are given to the best of my knowledge.

In our city, this matter is particularly relevant as it lays on a basin characterised by the scarcity of water resources. Frankly, I haven’t seen any environment-minded policies so far, that’s why I welcome such forms of citizen participation.

I am told that our Urban Cleaning Services use non-potable water to clean streets and waste containers: that’s an excellent approach, but it’s far from being enough.

There is a battery of measures that could be implemented, among which:

Substituting sprinkling irrigators in parks with more efficient dripping systems,
making new buildings water-efficient,
recurring to underground tanks to recover rainwater in public buildings,
refurbishing existing housings with water-saving taps and bath-wares.

To sum up, some proposals do need a minimum budget to be implemented: perhaps, we can start from the cheapest, most cost-effective ones, to grow in ambition according to what the municipal funds allow.

💬 Here it goes. No need to solve world’s water issues: just to deliver a fair text, with a few ideas woven in clear sentences and paragraphs.

Would I recommend a textbook in order to learn to write better reports?

I know a few about improving the way we write reports in general: How to Write Reports and Proposals by Patrick Forsyth is arguably among the best, though it does not focus on the FCE.

Cambridge English: First – Writing: conclusions

We have come to the end of this post about the FCE Writing section. I hope to have clarified one main point: no need to stress in the FCE writing task.

Unlike the other sections, here you have a degree of freedom to include structures you know and language you are proficient in. If you follow the advice listed here, your FCE Writing task will be marvellous.

Have you missed the main guide about the FCE exam? Here you have it ⬇️

Having said that…

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FCE with CAE grades