Format

Listening - 40 minutes [ 30 minutes (listening)+ 10 minutes (for answering) ]

• Recording 1 – a conversation between two people set in an everyday social context.

• Recording 2 – a monologue(1 speaker) set in an everyday social context, e.g. a speech about local facilities.

• Recording 3 – a conversation between up to four people set in an educational or training context, e.g. a university tutor and a student discussing an assignment.

• Recording 4 – a monologue(1 speaker) on an academic subject, e.g. a university lecture.

Reading - 60 minutes

• Section 1 — Social Survival
• Texts relevant to basic linguistic survival in English with tasks mainly about retrieving and providing general factual information, for example, notices, advertisements and timetables.

• Section 2 — Workplace Survival
• Focuses on the workplace context, for example, job descriptions, contracts and staff development and training materials.

• Section 3 — General Reading
• Involves reading more extended prose with a more complex structure, for example, newspapers, magazines and fictional and non-fictional book extract.

Writing - 60 minutes

• Task 1 — You will be presented with a situation and asked to write a letter requesting information, or explaining the situation. The letter may be personal, semi-formal or formal in style.
• At least 150 words (will be penalised if their answer is too short)
• Writing to a friend (informal) or writing to a manager (semi-formal or formal).
• Should ideally spend no more than 20 minutes on this task.
• This task assesses the ability to follow English letter-writing conventions, to use language accurately and appropriately and to organise and link information coherently and cohesively.
Task 1 is assessed on these parameters
• Task achievement
• Coherence and cohesion
• Lexical resource
• Grammatical range and accuracy.

• Task 2 — You will be asked to write an essay in response to a point of view, argument or problem. The essay can be fairly personal in style.
• At least 250 words
• Topics are of general interest - such as: whether children’s leisure activities should be educational, how environmental problems can be solved, who should pay for the care of old people, whether smoking should be banned in public places.
• They should organise their ideas clearly and make sure to support their argument with relevant examples (including from their own experience where relevant) or evidence.
• Should ideally spend no more than 40 minutes on this task.
• This task assesses the ability to follow English discursive writing conventions (i.e. what order to put information in, what style to use, how to start and finish discursive writing, how to paragraph), to organise and link information coherently and cohesively and to use language accurately and appropriately.
Task 2 is assessed on these parameters
• Task response
• Coherence and cohesion
• Lexical resource
• Grammatical range and accuracy.

Speaking - 11-14 Minutes

• Part 1 [4-5 Minutes] - the examiner will ask you general questions about yourself and a range of familiar topics, such as home, family, work, studies and interests. This part lasts between four and five minutes.
• Focuses on the ability to communicate opinions and information on everyday topics and common experiences or situations by answering a range of questions

• Part 2 [1 Min (prepare) + 2 Min (speaking)] - you will be given a card which asks you to talk about a particular topic. You will have one minute to prepare before speaking for up to two minutes. The examiner will then ask one or two questions on the same topic.
• Focuses on the ability to speak at length on a given topic (without further prompts from the examiner), using appropriate language and organising ideas coherently. It is likely that the test takers will need to draw on their own experience to complete the long turn.

• Part 3 [4-5 Minutes] - you will be asked further questions about the topic in Part 2. These will give you the opportunity to discuss more abstract ideas and issues. This part of the test lasts between four and five minutes.
• Focuses on the ability to express and justify opinions and to analyse, discuss and speculate about issues.

Source

Potential Mistakes / Tips

• Listening
• Sometimes information worth 2-3 Questions is in a single sentence and if the focus is on marking/filling the answers there's a high chance you might miss the important part.
• Read question carefully. The audio might list a few paid and free things but the question only asks for free stuff so you not only need to remember the items but also their cost.
• If you mess up even one of the questions you might lose focus for the rest of them so you need to take a deep breath and focus on what's coming. Don't let one mistake ruin everything ahead.
• Dont review but preview the next section questions. Review time will be at the last.
• 30 seconds are given for question analysis of the section
a)    Which section of the test are they in?
b)     What type of questions are they?
c)     What sort of information do you need to listen for?
• Memorize the section format so you know what to expect.
• If the rules say NO MORE THAN ONE WORD than adding grammar or articles is also wrong. For instance don't write "an earthquake" simply write "earthquake"

• Writing
Types of Writing Tasks



3-Step Introduction Technique



Body Paragraphs Technique
• Idea
1-2 sentences extending/expounding the idea


• Example
• Conclusion of Paragraph
Conclusion techniques
The Correlative Comparitive

Ending of a letter
• Lots of love (informal)
• Kind regards (semi-formal)
• Yours sincerely (formal) [if you know the person you are writing to]
• Yours faithfully (formal) [if you dont know the person you are writing to]
Scoring Point ⭐ : Write Complex Sentences to score more in Grammar



All other Tips