C1 Advanced vs C2 Proficiency, differences explained. Which Cambridge exam to take. CAE or CPE exam?

hello and welcome my name is ben and this is to the point english and today i'm going to be talking about the difference between the c1 advanced and the c2 cambridge english exams also known as the cae and cpe exams now i'm guessing that as you've clicked on this video if you're in one of two groups of people either you have taken the c1 advanced exam and you're thinking about taking the c2 proficiency and you you'd like to know how big the step up is from one one exam to the other or maybe you've never taken a cambridge exam before but you have a good level of english and you're trying to decide which exam is the best one for you well in this video i hope to answer your doubts and your questions but first of all i must say that the c1 advanced exam is very tough right it's challenging and very demanding but the c2 proficiency is fiendishly difficult i don't think i'm exaggerating when i say that if many or maybe even most native english speakers took the exam tomorrow without preparation they would fail so really you need to be even better than a native english speaker in this exam but you don't need to be perfect now that may seem like a contradiction but let me explain you need to be familiar with and comfortable using the type of vocabulary and grammar that really native english speakers don't use in on a day-to-day basis for example fiendishly that i used a few seconds ago i think that's probably the first time i've ever used that word in my life it's an impressive word but it's not really a word native speakers use but because your time is limited in this exam and you need to demonstrate your level you need to cram in as much impressive vocabulary and grammar as possible in the time you have available but as i said you don't have to be perfect you're not going to get 100 in this exam you will make mistakes you will get answers wrong this is not about perfection yes the c2 proficiency is the highest level in the cambridge exams and i think it's one of if not the most difficult english exam in general but yeah you're not looking for perfection so you don't feel that pressure but as i said you need to almost be better than a native english speaker to demonstrate what a good level you have i just wanted to read what the cambridge assessment english says about this exam so you get an idea of what's expected of you okay so they say it is our highest level qualification it's proof that you are a highly competent speaker of english so a c2 proficiency qualification shows the world that you have mastered english to an exceptional level it proves you can communicate with the fluency and sophistication of a highly competent english speaker they also say that a c2 proficiency qualification shows that you can negotiate and persuade effectively at senior management level in international business settings so you understand the main ideas of complex pieces of writing and you can talk about complex or sensitive issues that's an important word sensitive which we'll look at more in a moment and deal confidently with difficult questions okay now i want to break it down into different sections to compare the two exams first of all grammar now actually the grammar is not so different in the c1 advanced you need to study all the grammar you need to have a good command of all the grammar and of course in the c2 proficiency you also need to know all the grammar all the different grammar grammatical concepts and structures the difference really is just that the grammar is more complex it's a higher level of the grammar so you will need to study the conditionals for example as you need to study them in the c1 advanced but in the c2 proficiency there will be more for example mixed conditionals with alternatives to if not always using if alternatives to wood just more complicated grammatical structures the same with passives and inversion all those types of things that you need to study in the c1 but you need to study to a higher level in the c2 and just have a better command of the grammar now the vocabulary next and this is where there is a significant difference really and here it's not simply about using more advanced vocabulary of of course you will need to use more advanced vocabulary but you also need to use the appropriate vocabulary precise vocabulary and sensitive vocabulary so sensitive to the subject you're talking about appropriate to the subject you're talking about and more precise than advanced of course here i'm speaking about the writing and speaking papers of the exam where you are using your your english actively so i'm just going to give you an example now to really demonstrate the difference between the advanced and the proficiency referring to the vocabulary so imagine you're answering a writing question or it's in a sp or in the speaking part of the exam and you're speaking about the environment okay now an advanced learner may may say this i'm worried about climate change therefore i tried to reduce my carbon emissions as much as possible okay that's pretty good that's a grammatically perfect sentence uses some quite impressive vocabulary but a proficiency learner would say this for example climate change for me is a major issue in today's global society i strive to cut down my carbon footprint by incorporating a variety of measures into my day-to-day life okay so can you see the difference there this this learner this this candidate has used much more impressive vocabulary it's more specific more precise um and it's more sensitive to the subject that we are talking about so that's that's the kind of thing you should be aiming for so learning that kind of vocabulary of course you don't know the subject you're going to be speaking about in the exam so you just need to prepare in general okay now let's look at the pronunciation obviously this is referring to the speaking part of the exam it's quite often a misconception about the pronunciation in the cambridge exams in general but the proficiency and advanced in particular it's okay to have an accent okay everybody has an accent i have an accent you have your own local accent this is an english exam it's a cambridge exam but if you speak english with more of an american accent or an australian accent that's fine you will not be penalized for that it's completely accepted and even if you have a strong french accent if you're french or italian or german or chinese if you speak with a strong accent that's absolutely fine you don't have to worry about your accent as long as you speak clearly enough to be understood okay that's the key there's a difference between pronunciation and accent the the examiner needs to be able to understand you if your accent is so strong that it's difficult to follow what you're saying then you have a problem but at an advanced or proficiency level that shouldn't be a problem so there's not a big difference there between advanced and proficiency with with pronunciation finally i want to look at listening and the big difference in the listening is that the conversations you will hear are more natural closer to the real english so that the speakers speak much more quickly and more fluently and they use more complex vocabulary now one of the biggest mistakes that i notice people make when they decide to take the advanced or the proficiency exam is being overconfident being a little bit cocky because maybe they have a very high level of english but they don't prepare enough for the exam and often they fail for that reason it's not enough to have a high level you need to prepare and one of the best ways of preparing is to find other people who are preparing for this same exam to help each other and maybe prepare the speaking together to practice the speaking in particular or just helping each other with tips and advice and i have some good news on that because last week i set up a telegram group for for people who are preparing for the exams in fact it's four groups i have the general group the general chat group which everybody is in and then a group for each of the cambridge exams so the b2 first the c1 advanced and the c2 proficiency so people with the same level can can chat and share share information and it's great at the moment we're still quite small but people are very active and participative and it's going really well i really recommend that you join because it's you can get so much benefit from it i'll put the link in the description you may ask why telegram well telegram apparently it's more secure it's safer than than whatsapp and you don't need to share your your telephone number so you join the group and nobody will know your your telephone number you just join the group and you can communicate there and it's very good for forming different groups so i hope to build a community there it's going well so far i would love to see you there so click on the link send me a message with the exam you're studying for and i'll put you in the appropriate groups okay so i hope this was useful for you and i hope to see you again very soon in another video take care bye

Channel: To The Point English with Ben.

Views: 11,382

Keywords: c2 proficiency exam tips, c2 proficiency cambridge english, c2 proficiency cambridge english exam, cambridge english exam tips, cpe tips, cae tips, which cambridge english exam, which cambridge english exam to take, difference between c1 and c2 english, difference between c1 advanced and c2 proficiency, how different is c1 advanced and c2 proficiency, c2 proficiency exam explained, how to pass the cambridge english exam, how to pass c2 proficiency cambridge, how to pass cpe exam

Id: GgODA5WJgMA

Length: 10min 4sec (604 seconds)

Published: Thu Feb 18 2021