Cambridge B2 First (FCE): How to Write an Essay

in this video we are going to look at how to write the perfect essay for b2 first fce we are going to find out about the best structure for your essay the different parts from the introduction to the conclusion as well as some useful language that can improve your essay writing in an instant hello and welcome to teacher phil where i help people like you pass their cambridge exams make sure you subscribe and hit the like button and also don't forget to check out the full article in the description box below and with all that being said let's get right into it essays are the only type of text in b2 first that you have to do there is unfortunately no way to avoid them so it is even more important that you know exactly what to do in this task as you know every writing task comes with its own requirements and in this video we are going to cover all the different areas so you can focus on practicing and improving in every essay writing task there's a question that you need to answer in addition to that there are two topic points given to you you have to include these topic points and on top of that add a third idea that is your own the main things that you should keep in mind if you want to write a great sar number one giving your opinion number two presenting your arguments well number three the best possible organization of your essay and number four formal language after this brief overview let's have a look at a specific and concrete example task analysis is always the first thing that you should do before you even think about writing your essay here is a possible example task for essay writing in b2 first whenever you sit down to analyze a task there are three questions that you should keep in mind number one what is the topic of the essay knowing the topic of your essay gives you a general idea of what you have to write about it can also help you determine certain vocabulary that you might want to include in your text in our example task we are going to write about environmental issues so we can already think about certain words or expressions that might be helpful when we write about this kind of topic the next question you should look at is what exactly you have to include in your essay answering this question helps you identify the specific topic points in the task that you have to address and write about so let's have a look at our example again as you can see there are some notes included in the task there are two that are already given in our example transport as well as rivers and seas however there's also a third point that says your own idea many candidates simply forget about this part and they only address the two notes that are given in the task please don't make the same mistake make sure that you come up with a third possible idea here we could talk about different ideas for example what individuals can do to help protect the environment or other factors that might have a negative impact like factories tourism or anything else that might come to your mind the third and last question we need to consider when we do our task analysis is who is going to read my essay the good thing about essay tasks is that it's always your english teacher when you think about what kind of person your english teacher is you might come up with ideas like nice or strict whatever it is your teacher is a person that you need to respect and he or she is a person with authority because of that we need to make the appropriate choice of language style and register therefore every essay is written in a formal style formal language comes with a few features that might seem a little bit restrictive at first but with a little bit of practice it becomes easier and easier first of all you should not use any contractions in formal writing a contraction are two words that we put together for example do not becomes don't or are not becomes armed however in formal writing this is let's say not allowed and you should definitely try to avoid it the second thing that you should not use in formal writing is phrasal verbs and especially informal phrasal verbs like hang out or meet up when there are more formal options available use the more formal option and last but not least and very closely connected to phrasal verbs is colloquial expressions colloquial expressions are phrases or just certain words that we would use in an informal context and very often in spoken language obviously in a formal written context we should try to avoid expressions that we would normally use in spoken english now that we know the topic of our essay the exact topic points that we need to address in our text as well as the most appropriate kind of language we can now start to focus on the different parts of an excellent essay every great essay needs a great introduction and unfortunately many people don't take introduction writing seriously enough or make simple mistakes that set their essay up for failure don't make the same mistake and simply follow my advice so you can write amazing introductions in the future a good introduction normally does three things it puts the topic in context it restates what the topic actually is and it creates some interest in the reader let's have a look at an example introduction to the task that we've been talking about in this video here all our bases are covered the topic is clear the context is established and by giving my opinion i create some interest in the reader i didn't give any reasons or examples so the reader wants to find out more all you need to do is keep those very simple points in mind and i promise that every introduction that you write in the future is going to be really really good next in line we have our topic paragraphs they are the most important parts of your essay so they should be the longest parts and carry most of the information every great topic paragraph starts with a topic sentence which is like an introduction to the paragraph and it tells the reader what exactly the paragraph is going to discuss after the topic sentence you can support your idea with reasons and or examples you should also include different linking expressions to make sure that your ideas are well connected and in a logical order in this example paragraph i simply followed my own advice first of all i simply state what the problem is however i don't just copy the point from the task but i try to paraphrase and to describe it in my own words after that i acknowledge that the situation seems pretty bad but then i describe different alternatives to cars that could improve the situation i've also included some linking expressions that help the examiner follow our thoughts and obviously give us higher marks you can see how easy it is to apply this simple formula to every topic paragraph simply repeat that two more times to cover all three topic points and you'll be good to go into the next part of a good essay the conclusion the conclusion is really there to round off your essay it brings together everything you talked about before and it includes your opinion on the topic remember every essay task asks you a question that you are supposed to answer and the conclusion is the perfect place to give your final opinion and answer that question here is a possible conclusion for our example task you can simply break up this conclusion in two parts the first half summarizes my thoughts from earlier in the essay while the second half clearly states my opinion again to finish the essay once again it is neither magic nor rocket science to write a good conclusion just keep in mind that you summarize the essay and you give your opinion and answer the question in the task i hope you found the example useful remember that every essay works exactly the same way we can use the same structure and the same ideas to write a good introduction good topic paragraphs and a good conclusion everything put together makes an excellent essay that every examiner will love now all you have to do is take the information from this video and put it to practice try my different ideas and go through the process step by step and i'm sure that you will improve faster than you think for additional materials on essays and the other writing tasks you can download my free b2 first writing cheat sheet simply sign up for my newsletter and i will happily send you your copy for free i also offer an ebook on b2 first writing where i go into even more detail learn about all the different tasks in the b2 first writing exam learn about structure the different parts and see even more examples with detailed notes on what you should or shouldn't do and how you can take your writing to the next level all the links are in the description box below and i'll see you next time

Channel: Teacher Phill

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Length: 12min 0sec (720 seconds)

Published: Wed Jan 27 2021